Diner (1982)
Directed by Barry Levinson
Set in 1959, Diner shows how five young men resist their adulthood and seek refuge in their beloved Diner. The mundane, childish, and titillating details of their lives are shared. But the golden moments pass, and the men shoulder their responsibilities, leaving the Diner behind.
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What critics compared Diner to
At its best "Don't Think Twice," valentine on one side, cautionary tale on the other, harkens to some unexpected films not explicitly about improv comedy — Paul Mazursky's "Next Stop, Greenwich Village," or Barry Levinson's "Diner" — but very much in the improv spirit, about dreamers living in what Stephen Colbert refers to as a "humorocracy."
The group's chemistry evokes the best sad-sack male bonding tales of Barry Levinson (" Diner ," " Tin Men "), and the performances are all superb, particularly Frost, who steals the film with an explosive physicality that's John Goodmanesque.
But he never said we couldn't call it Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Diner, so there you go.
"ATL" is refreshing without going all goody two-shoe, its four friends and their ties to Atlanta not unlike the bunch of guys in Barry Levinson's Baltimore "Diner."
In their confusion over leaving one part of their life to move on to an uncertain future, they could be the kids in "American Graffiti" or "Diner."
At its best the film is reminiscent of early Jonathan Demme and Barry Levinson’s workplace comedies like Diner and Tin Men.
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(There is one affectionate moment between Seth and Evan in a sleeping bag that suggests a suburban "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and one disagreement between them evokes the wounded spats in Barry Levinson's "Diner.")
The tone is sometimes reminiscent of the one struck by Barry Levinson in his memory films (“Diner,” “Tin Men,” “Avalon”), with Gray, in this case, trying to present his experience of growing up in as genuine a way as possible, as if he were ripping pages from his diary.
Broadly, this is a coming-of-age movie in the Diner mold: Trier tracks Phillip and Erik and a few of their pals as they stagger into a world that can’t be attuned to their (male adolescent) expectationsespecially in regard to women.
Slightly less cinematically obsessive viewers, however, might see this as a fairly arty, literary, more sensitive punk rock take on “Diner” and possibly even “ Swingers ,” with a generous de-heroined dash of “Trainspotting” and a gimmick or two on loan from “ Run, Lola, Run .”
The talk doesn’t reach the levels of Barry Levinson’s Diner (what does?) but it’s pungent and often double-edged.
This is a movie in the spirit of Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni or Barry Levinson’s Diner – a witty and affecting drama about young bucks out to have as much fun as possible and who are so busy trying to enjoy themselves that they don’t even realise that they are at a pivotal moment in their lives, on the cusp of adulthood.
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Long ago, Levinson established his career exploring the personal journeys of blue-collar Baltimore denizens in such films as “ Diner ,” “ Avalon ” and “ Liberty Heights .”
Though perhaps best known as the director of Rain Man and Diner, Levinson has never been one to shy away from genre entertainment, whipping out films like Disclosure, Young Sherlock Holmes and Sphere betwixt more well regarded films like Avalon and Wag the Dog, albeit with mixed success.
Then it was Jaws; now it is The Bay. Director Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man) has done everything in his career bar eco-horror; now he ticks that box.
Director Barry Levinson returns to his native Maryland for “The Bay,” which unfortunately is not part of the delightful series of autobiographical films he began with “Diner.”
A change of pace is what he must have been looking for, and, save for a return to his old Maryland stomping ground much like his "Baltimore" trilogy?1982's "Diner," 1990's "Avalon," and 1999's "Liberty Heights"?"The…
The veteran director of such earnest endeavors as Rain Man, Diner, Bugsy and Sleepers has always entertained a lighter streak.
Here's Mickey Rourke in Baltimore, talking with Kevin Bacon in “ Diner .”
Favreau, who co-produced and wrote the screenplay, manages to touch on Tarantino, as well as Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" and Barry Levinson's "Diner," which this delightful, but ultra low-budget comedy (which was produced for much less than $1 million) is actually closest to in tone.