MovieChat Forums > This Is How the World Ends Discussion > That was it?

That was it?

posted 14 years ago by myownventricle
6 replies | jump to latest

***May Contain Spoilers***

Has anyone else that's seen this found it a bit disappointing? Gregg Araki is one of my cinematic heroes and I've loved all of his work, but this just felt really watered down, commercial, and off.

A profoundly uninteresting rich boy who pines for the elusive affections of a vacuous "dream girl" as the predominant plot line? Scenes that come across as a pallid middle school rehash of Nowhere? Green Day featured prominently in the soundtrack???

The brief lesbian subplot provided a modicum of respite from the puerile hetero bore of the rest of it, however. If you've been looking for this, it can be viewed in its entirety at www.patentleatherdaddy.com.
I still love you, Gregg.

[–] ckylife06 14 years ago

Well I liked it for the most part. It wasnt nearly as good as his other stuff but still I would have liked to see the rest of the show if he were able to get the green light after his pilot. there was some originality to it but then there was a lot of unoriginality to it. Gregg Araki is one of my favorite directors but this definitely isnt his best work

[–] pez_geek 14 years ago

Agree with everything you said ckylife06...I dont need to say anything else.

"If bulls**t was music, you'd be a big brass band"

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] B-Bomber 14 years ago

Pilots usually suck - the ideas are there, but the filmmakers haven't figured out what to do with them yet. A show needs time to find its groove (see: Buffy after season two, Simpsons after season three).

This pilot was interesting enough and I think, given time, it would've turned into something worth watching. I would've taken what was essentially Nowhere: The Series over Dawson's Creek, The O.C. or Gossip Girl any day. Araki just wasn't given the chance to make this into something outstanding.

[–] la_cinematheque 10 years ago

This was shockingly simlar to Nowhere and shockingly bad in comparison. The lesbian witch storyline was indeed the most interesting part, but funnily enough, when reused in Kaboom I thought it was the weakest part of that movie. This is more like a bad knock-off of Araki than the real thing and I can see why MTV passed on it.

Still, this was cool to watch after wondering about it for so long. The look, tone, and brilliant satirical style of the Teenage Apocalypse movies is so incredible, I wish there was more! But after seeing this, I guess I'm happy with quality over quantity.

Also, for what it's worth, I thought Smiley Face was a lot of fun.

[–] myownventricle 10 years ago

You know, I came around and actually watched Smiley Face properly five years later and I agree, it is a lot of fun. I was even eventually able to warm up to Splendor too. So I edited my original post to omit that detail. Viva La Raki.