Austin Movie Roundup

I already missed my second Sunday Movie Roundup, but I have a good excuse: I was out of town visiting my bro-for-all-eternity Beckey, her boyfriend Seth, and their roommate Danny, all of whom are supremely awesome. I hadn't seen them for something like four years, I guess because I am a terrible friend. But I will be better in the future.

As it turns out, while I was in Austin, we watched a lot of movies (one new, the rest mostly '80s movies). So I have something to talk about after all!

Despicable Me (2010)

We saw this in 3D (because it was not playing in 2D) at the Alamo Drafthouse, Austin's famous theater/restaurant chain. I wasn't expecting a lot from it, and maybe that's why I found it pretty delightful. The basic premise--a supervillain protagonist--appealed to me right out the door, and Despicable Me kept things sharp, clever and fun for most of its runtime, even when the plucky orphan girls got involved. It dropped the ball toward the end, when the story veered off into saccharine sappiness that was on the border of embarrassing.

I felt like I got my money's worth out of it, but it's more of a DVD rental kind of movie, if you were thinking of seeing it.

Rad (1986)

This is an '80s teen movie centered around BMX bicycles. There is a scene involving BMX bike stunt dancing at a high school dance. To be honest, I kind of feel like this is all you need to know.

This is the movie we watched that I remember the least about. We didn't actually finish it. We were drinking, and I pretty much hit a peak of drunkenness sometime toward the end of this film. Did the main character win the big BMX race? We may never know (but I suspect he did).

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

I was the one who suggested Fast Times. Because I love Fast Times. It's one of those movies where everyone's kind of a jerk, and most of the characters are always lying or manipulating or, at the very least, fronting, and they are near-constantly thinking about and talking about sex. Basically it is one of the most realistic movies about teenagers ever made.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

It is probably a crime that I had never actually seen Revenge of the Nerds before. Not even heavily edited on TBS. Yet I was already familiar with the plot through cultural osmosis: nerds are kicked out of their dorm by frat boy jocks, nerds form their own frat, war ensues based on the jocks' irrational hatred of nerds.

This movie has a strange definition of the word "nerd"--they are mostly conventional science- and computer-loving doofuses, but they also include a flamboyantly gay guy and Booger, who defies categorization, unless "delightfully skeezy" is a social category now. (Note: Everyone present during the viewing of this film agreed that they would have sex with Booger if given the chance.)

The whole thing is basically a cartoon, and it will be sort of baffling to anyone who has actually been to a real college (where exactly zero people go to the homes of nerds to scream, "NEEEEEEEEERDS!"). But it is a funny movie, and part of that is because so little of it has any basis in reality.

I hope you have enjoyed the Mostly '80s Teen Movies Edition of the Weekly Movie Roundup. There are a few movies in theaters I'm hoping to catch this weekend, and a few more coming out next weekend. Here's what I'm looking forward to over the next couple of weeks:

• The Kids Are All Right


• Winter's Bone


• The Other Guys


• Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World


• The Expendables (guilty pleasure, sorry)


• Tales from Earthsea