Suburbia (1984)

That was an excellent one.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Escaping from boredom of family home, where you just sit and watch tv, have a few insults ... to a garbage bin, where you WATCH TV, having idiotic conversations, hunger and diseases. what a glamorous presentation of human looseness.

I've owned this movie for quite a few years now. Having lived through the UK punk scene around the same time that this movie was made I can relate to a lot of it. If one is expecting a movie that has had a lot of money put into it then maybe this is not your kind of flick. For the budget that this was made with, I feel its a great movie for its time and like a few other movies in that time period its great to look back on.The 'old' America, with the big old gas guzzling cars, buses that had the black cloud of smoke that came out the back of them and the attitude is all part of what WAS back then.I love this movie and I put it on about every six months just to remind me of the past and how different it is now.

Penelope Spheeris, loyal punk film director, presents a starkly depressing tale about a handful of ostracized teenagers known as The Rejected Kids. They're a group of punks who left home, neglected in one way or another (except for the main character, Jack) and take up living in condemned housing in Los Angeles. Trouble seems to follow them wherever they go because they make easy targets.This is a treat in several respects, despite being such a horribly depressing and, sadly, honest film. First, you get to see performances by old punk favorites, T.S.O.L., DI, and The Vandals. Second, Wade Watson (bass player for the US Bombs) and Flea (in his film debut) are casted as two of the delinquent teens. The instrumental soundtrack, too, is very good. And third, is the sheer honesty with the disappointment of the suburbs, which were once proclaimed as the future Utopia. What it turned out to be was a disaster of crass consumerism that denied too much human affection, replacing it instead with the satisfaction of consumption, so much so that in the end, the suburbs had their problems just like everyone else, only they did a better job of hiding it behind the imagery of white picket fences and perfect lawns. This film is one of many to make that point.

I'm 15 years old, i live in Melbourne, and i love old Los Angeles punk. bands like the germs, black flag, fear and the circle jerks make my world work. i was born 5 years after this film was made. this year, it was made 20 years ago, yet its good enough to make me sign up to this site and try to convince you to watch it.watch it.i love that fact that Penelope didn't use any actors with the rejected (the punk gang) so they all seemed to know what they were doing. not the best movie in the world, but in my opinion its up there, i really enjoy it. 10/10 for entertainment and honesty