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Capone tiptoes through the emotional land mines on REVOLUTIONARY ROAD!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. Happy New Year and all that crap.
Not satisfied to dissect the modern American marriage with AMERICAN BEAUTY, British theater director turned moviemaker (he also directed the excellent ROAD TO PERDITION and JARHEAD) Sam Mendes has turned his attentions to picking apart the American marriage circa the 1950s, when sex roles were just beginning to change but so was the definition of the American Dream. Based on the novel by Richard Yates (adapted here by Justin Haythe), REVOLUTIONARY ROAD features some of the finest acting I've seen in recent months as Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio re-team for the first time since TITANIC broke every box office record known to mankind. They play April and Frank Wheeler, a young couple who have always set themselves apart from their friends. They weren't the same as those other suburban Connecticut dwellers who went to the office every day (in his case) or stayed home with the kids (in her case). Yet, the more time passes, the more they find those type of people are exactly who they are, and it makes them aggressive and mean.
Frank hangs with the guys from the office (including Dylan Baker), but we never get a sense he feels close to any of them. April plays the perfect homemaker and puts on a strong front when one-woman welcome wagon/real estate agent Helen (Kathy Bates) shows up at her door. Bates is fantastic, especially when she brings over her recently institutionalized grown son (live wire Michael Shannon) over for a visit. The Wheelers even have best friends, nearby neighbors Milly and Shep (Kathryn Hahn and David Harbour). Perhaps to feel just a little more special than his married life allows him, Frank even has a little something on the side, a meaningless affair with a young woman from the secretarial pool (Zoe Kazan, granddaughter of the late director Elia Kazan).
What Mendes clearly is going for with REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is to expose, irritate and perhaps even poke until it hurts the cracks in the lives of this couple that just want a little more out of life than what everybody else has. Clearly in a desperate attempt to capture what she loved about their lives to begin with, April maps out a seemingly reasonable plan to move the family to Paris for several years, allowing Frank to relax and be creative while she works at a high-paying job she's got lined up for herself. The idea grows on him, but as they begin to tell their neighbors and co-workers, you can almost feel the earth shift off its axis ever so slightly. Shortly after they begin to make the arrangements to go to Europe, we see Frank begin to lose his nerves. He gets an offer for a phenomenal promotion in his company, and he doesn't say no right away. Pulling in the other direction is April, who behaves as if this trip is not only the thing that will save their marriage but also her life.
An ill-timed visit by Helen and her still quite off-balance son for dinner sets off a chain reaction in the Wheeler household that fates the family to go through some very ugly times. Even if the rest of the movie were utter crap, Michael Shannon's "I-see-through-your-mask" portrayal of a man who has been on the wrong end of dozens of electroshock therapy sessions is worth sitting down in the theater to see this film. Shannon has been getting more and more attention of late with roles in WORLD TRADE CENTER, BUG, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD and the extraordinary Shotgun Stories, and it's great to see him working steadily and getting such meaty parts. In a weird way, his character doesn't even belong in this movie; he belongs in a better one. His performance and observations are so contrary to what every other character does and says, he sticks out in this movie in more way that one. But in a perfect way, it works. Shannon is a gift this movie almost doesn't deserve.
Winslet will get quite a few accolades for her beyond-brave performance, but DiCaprio really surprised me as this weak, waffling man who can't stand by the courage of his convictions or be empowered by the love and support of a strong woman. He puffs up his chest for the sake of his silly mistress, but can hardly look April in the eye when he tells her he's having second thoughts about their travel plans. DiCaprio as an emotional coward is as impressive as any heroic character he's ever played.
An ill-timed pregnancy is thrown into the mix late in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, but by that point fates are pretty much sealed. The film's greatest weakness is its script. Some of the dialogue just never rung with its choppy and stagey construction. I don't always need character's motivations spelled out for me, but a few clues here and there concerning the origins of this couple's strife would have been useful, especially in such an emotionally loaded work. The acting saves the stilted writing from falling flat and it saves the film from dying a lonely death on the screen. When Winslet and DiCaprio are on screen together, the devastation is total. In many ways, these are the best two actors to play this part, effectively laying waste to their perfect (well, except for that dying part) TITANIC romance. I hope every single person who went to see that movie 10 times comes and sees REVOLUTIONARY ROAD just once in the hopes of seeing what a marriage between Jack and Rose might have been like. (Don't forget, Kathy Bates as Molly Brown was a witness to their original love affair almost 12 years ago, so it's only fitting that she be on hand in this film to watch them self-destruct.) It's not all that difficult to look past the sub-par script with the help of some outstanding performances, but it's also impossible to ignore the film's shortcomings. I'm leaning on the side of recommending the film, but don't say I didn't warn you.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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Never that I'd try that!
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...living through your own occasional domestic blowups sucks enough. I feel no urge to enjoy someone else's.
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..he tries to drown her in the home pool whilst shouting "Let's see how you like it this time, bitch?"
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Love me some Leo and love me some Kate. I'll be there, even if the movie isn't great.
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...badass acting, and the usual stunning camerawork of Roger Deakins.
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I realize that the book "Revolutionary Road" predates the series "Mad Men." However, at this point, I see nothing in that preview that doesn't look to me like the exact same story I get with "Mad Men," and in a nearly identical setting.
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...films like this just make me feel uncomfortable if it's too true to "reality". I will most likely skip it.
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His movies are all beautiful to look at, but there is a just a cold remoteness that turns me off. Granted, "Road to Perdition" intentionally had this, but it's true of all his work. I think it comes from his stage background. Everything just feels staged and remote.
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...I just tried to log on to Mori's new site from work and it was blocked as "pornography/nudity." Now I will get one of the stock "reprimand" e-mails from I.T. Figures.
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Seriously, does ANYONE need to see a movie about spoiled white upper-middle class folks whining over their "too comfortable" lives? Fuck off, Mendes. Your movies are overrated anyway.
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No way is that the worst movie of the year given Love Guru, Witless Protction, The Hottie and the Nottie and The Happening came out.
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Then we have hundreds of other movies (rom coms, dramas) where the problems of average folk have nothing to do with being "normal." Give it a rest man.
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If it's half as depressing as JARHEAD, I think I'll take a pass.
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Take THAT, Todd Haynes!
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I could tell from the trailer that this movie will hit hard. No sugar-coating, which is refreshing. And personally, it will probably hit me hard because I can feel very numb by modern suburbia like Leo's character. Leo & Kate look like they give incredible performances, and from Capone's review this is true.
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That was a good film.
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I agree with you on Hitflix. I signed up, showed up, and it's...Media News Portal Template #172!I lasted about 60 seconds on that mind numbing site. Good riddance.
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And I can tell that cuz its so angsty.
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Is it hitflix? Cuz that didn't come up as a site. Where is it?
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Sorry, it's HitFix -- don't say we didn't warn you!
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Father goes to work, wife is a homemaker. Yes, what a primitive, sexist, empty, way of living that is in desperate need of "exposure". Of course in Hollywood movies whenever one gets sick of the "traditional" life they find fulfillment by doing drugs and fucking strangers. Funny how in the real world that type of shit is what empty, boring, soulless people do, while the interesting and intelligent ones are able to find the meaning and value in "normal" life without being so fucking melodramatic about it. I don't need this pretentious bullshit. Of course there is little wonder that it will win an ass load of meaningless awards.
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Good performances but the actual film is a little too distant for its own good. Flat. Dry. Remote. Bland The book was published in 1961. Since its release we've also had adaptations of The Ice Storm and Little Children.Too late.
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You're very right. One of the most heroic things a guy can do is go to work every day for thirty years to feed his family; one of the most loving, satisfying things a mother can do is raise a family and give them their own lives. But that is typically presented as a tragedy by Hollywood.
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I have zero empathy for CT dwellers. Stepford USA. You pick that cultural void to live in, you pays your price. However, I'd like to see this because DiCaprio, Winslet and Bates all rock and Titanic is one of my all-time favorite movies.
Jack and Rose would never have ended up in CT. Rose shunned that superficiality in favor of Jack' free spiritedness. -
Winslet is perfection. And DiCaprio was quite good, as well.
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Because I hate fucking yuppies and those Stepford motherfuckers in places like fucking Westport and fucking Greenwich (never will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villany), most of the places like that are central or eastern, even upstate more. I live in Bridgeport, which is close to the southwestern "tail" of the state, and it's nothing like that here. It's absolutely disgusting that these white cocksuckers consider Bridgeport such a horrible ghetto because it's the biggest city in the state, but that's what you get living in such deplorable WASP areas. We've actually some culture around here, and redently Bridgeport is starting to be used more and more by Hollywood to double for NYC. The suburbs like Shelton or Stratford are nothing like the Connecticut everyone knows it for. Hell, New Haven, despite being a city built around fucking YALE, is a real great place once you get away from the college area. Not surprisingly, suburbs like Milford and Orange areawesome places to raise a family because to the Stepfords, these places are the fucking gutter. I don't have to explain myself to anyone here, especially since these are what, five fucking towns, but just know: there's a small minority of "normal" motherfuckers around here. We do exist. And we're shouting "Fuck CT" just as loud as you guys are.
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To put in your head when you are finished trudging through this depressing as hell 2 hours of wtf. Why god?
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Some really good acting, but the plot was never really that interesting. If I want to see a married couple argue, I'll tell my mom that dad thinks she's fat.
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Leo and Winslet feed off of each other as if a true couple. A
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Jan 02, 2009 2:19:16 PM CST
I'D LIKE TO FEED OFF OF KATE WINSLET AS IF WE WERE A COUPLE
by bringingsexyback
For me, the action is Kate's juice.
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...was spot fucking on. I watched this movie last week, and felt as though I was watching an episode of Mad Men, without any substance.
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Damn You Michael Bay
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...that came up with this one?
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A harmless and dumbed down Version of Todd Solondz excellent 'Happiness'. An arthouse movie for people who dont even know what arthouse is. Also Jarhead never lived up to its themes too. And Road to Perdition was just boring.
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Yawn. Anyone else sick of the overly self-conscious 50s genre programs and suburbia-equals-death-of-the-soul films? I mean, really, what is it about the middle class that elitist hollywood finds so offensive and taboo?Also, as Yack pointed out, it is kind of hard to feel sympathetic towards those who seem to be doing economically well, are in a relationship where there once was love, and yet fail to show the moral courage, or any sort of courage, to uphold their values and strengthen their bonds. By the way, American Beauty did not dissect the american marriage; the show was about the midlife crisis. A subtle difference, to be sure, but it is rather important, if you ask me.
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True, I'm no fan of Jake Gyllenhaal or Jamie Foxx, but still, surely a movie about the gulf war could have been more interesting? As for Road To Perdition, that movie was pretty top-notch, I think. I just wish Mendes could have shown a bit more ruthlesness from Hanks' character. Also, I give full props to that scene involving Sullivan gunning down his "father."
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First, BSB, don't be fucking stereo-typing all of CT for lower Fairfield county rich mutha-fuckers. I can tell you that I used to live closer to Hartford, and it ain't like that up there. As far as I'm concerned, Fairfield County is part of NY, not CT. And you live in NY, and you boys have a bunch of the same fuckers in parts of NY too.Jackie Boy, I hear you completely. I live in Monroe now (unfortunately) to be closer to work (in New Canaan, one of the "bubble" towns), and it's fucking disgusting here in New Canaan. Every single stay-at-home-mom, who does NOT watch the kids (hello nanny) and goes play tennis, and then goes shopping driving her huge ass SUV everyday.... It's ridiculous.
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"That depends. How much are you insured for?"
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So much so in fact that while watching his performance I couldn't help but think "That would make a great Joker." I'm talking strictly performance, not a look, because what he did was make everyone else in the room uncomfortable while relishing that discomfort and retaining his own dark sense of humor. It was almost Heath's Joker w/o trying.
It would certainly be a continuation of the character, not an ape of Ledger's performance. A bit older, more hardened, but still warped as fuck. Watch the movie and you'll see what I mean. Even the facial mannerisms match. I realize this will never happen and trust me, I'm not campaigning for it, just couldn't help notice it during the film. -
It's easier to bag on the whole state, but you're right of course. And I've been to parts of Westchester bordering Fairfield to see there's really no difference between the two.
I'm not saying being rich is bad - quite the contrary, it is glorious. Just don't live superficial lives. Shit, one of my fav shows is Real Housewives of the OC. If that aint Greenwich West I don't know what is. -
Jan 02, 2009 3:01:50 PM CST
GLAD TO SEE EVERYONE FROM TITANIC HAS MADE STRIDES SINCE 97
by bringingsexyback
Except for Cameron ...
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Poor guy.
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granted, it was the star of the film saying it so maybe he's biased.
fuck you capone for bashing speed racer...this will continue for at least a week. -
I think movies like these are important for people like you. If you have enough drama in your lives and domestic problems then I think 'Revolutionary Road' would be therapeutic for you. I'm not going to pretend I know what problems you are going through but if it is so bad that you don't want to see a great movie because it might REMIND you of what's waiting for you at home then it sounds like there is something really wrong in your life. Fix your problems to achieve happiness instead of avoiding them and drowning with them. Then you can enjoy movies like this along with the rest of your life.
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I think I share the same sentiments as Flicka and Eskimo. I don't hate life or find it miserable, but I rarely wish to see a film in which I have to endure one hum drum, depressing moment after another. For me, that is more of an endurance than an enjoyment. Now, I'm sure that for you, these sorts of films are theraputic, but for me, its largely a drain. I prefer more inspiring, heart warming stories, which affirm my sentiments and idealism. Its not that I'm avoiding some sort of cathartic release...its just that I find it far more healing and theraputic to watch films with optimism, courage, and all the other things that make life great. A bit capraesque, I admit, but hey, different strokes for different folks.
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Hollywood isn't hating on the suburbs so much here - Yates' novel from the 60s has little to do with typical suburban claustrophobia than deconstructing the Wheelers whose fatal flaw is in assuming they are better and more unique than everyone around them. It isn't as one dimensional as you think - the suburbs don't destroy these characters, they themselves do. But maybe if you left your fucking one story concrete shopping arcade strip mall enclave that's now been reduced by corporate influence to having a Border's books for culture and an Applebee's for fine dining you might actually learn something about the history of literature and stories that operate on more than one emotional dimension in which social environment is subtext. As JG Ballard liked to say "previous dictators and madmen and prophets all came from cultural wastelands - the desert, the jungle... Will the next Pol Pot or HItler emerge from the suburbs of America?" There's nothing wrong with having an ordinary life at all. Accepting however to live in zones in which life is predetermined by a homogenous culture of consumption fucking sucks. You're the one sucking on the tit of Hollywood while your name is loserguy, vacuuming up all the product they pour down your gaping maw. Here in New York I can walk out my door at 3am and find pretty much anything a person could be looking for and have no idea where it will take me. Fuck, I could do that in Austin, Texas even. Oh and this movie looks way too hamfisted. Mendes' films since American Beauty have sucked ass. Jarhead was woefully miscast and way too over the top, Road to Perdition put me to sleep, and fuck it, this looks like great actors and photography trapped under histrionics.
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You've actually got it exactly backwards in the case of this film. Capone isn't explaining it very well, but both the novel and the film are EXACTLY ABOUT annoying pretentious people who think they're too good to be suburbanites - who think that there's something special and unique about them that entitles them to significant and romantic lives - who then fail to achieve those significant and romantic lives, find themselves in suburbia like everyone else, and take it out on each other. The novel and film are most definitely NOT saying, "Suburbia is bad". They're saying, "If you are one of those people who thinks you're too good to live like everyone else, you better get over that because if you don't you're going to end up like these people here."
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revolutionary roads and speed racer rules.
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And yet in one post, you rant against the american melting pot, link us with Hitler, and sycophancy. Nope, no reason to be defensive against asenine freshman level elitism.
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Carry on.
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There isn't any inherent superiority or inferiority that exists in rural, urban, or suburban life within the United States. You can rant all you want about the corporate teat, but the fact is that this is a facet of life in ALL areas in this country. Consumerism and homogenization are not the boogey men you paint them to be. Now, I realize that nuance and objectivity are hard things to come by at AICN and Hollywood in general, but the fact is that those skills are necessary ANY TIME culture is discussed. With that in mind, I find it extremely difficult to counter the notion that elitist Holywood routinely depicts american suburbia as socially claustraphobic, rampant with hypocrisy.
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Jan 02, 2009 5:47:18 PM CST
I don't know how you can watch that trailer....
by dannyglovers_dickblood
...and not think it looks like some unbelievably powerful shit. This same crowd gets rock hard from shit like Watchmen, but a dramatic trailer about real issues real couples face doesn't do shit for you? Wow. I guess thats what happens on a site populated by a bunch of man-children. It seems any time a film deals with grown up issues everyone starts crying. And for the record, American Beauty and Jarhead were both fucking shit. This looks amazing.
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Jan 02, 2009 5:49:09 PM CST
this will probably sell more DVD's than Avatar.....
by dannyglovers_dickblood
....but that won't be hard to do. 12,000 copies isn't really that much if you think about it.
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The trailer that uses Nina Simone's rendition of Wild Is The Wind is quite stunning. Unfortunately the trailer is far better than the actual film.
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You speak the truth. And Mori's site is sadly a piece of utter shit. I like the guy....but fuck me was that a shit move on his part.
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The irony of us suburbanites being charged with sycophantic need to consume is that it was made by a film geek in an internet fansite. Oh well...
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How are you doing, sir? I havent spoken to you an a dog's age. Everything is fine on this end of the internet.
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There is nothing wrong with doing drugs and fucking strangers (with their permission of course).
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Hey dude, whats happening? You always come and go for weeks at a time. I guess thats the healthy alternative to my lame obsession with this shithole. Fuck me I need a more challenging job.
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Not sure you remember, but I'm a teacher. My schedule tends to revolve around mid-terms and semester breaks.
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Awwww thats right, because you were asking about something you wanted to show in class I believe. Good for you. Thats a great profession. My wife is a teacher.
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And how is Mrs. Dickblood? You two doing fine and all that?
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With 2012 on the horizon and economic collapse merely months away what better way to spend one's time than in a theater watching fictional characters have shitty lives?
I hope this gets Winslet her Oscar, because if the Mayans were right, time is running out. -
I'll order a few cokes and sneak some friends in the back exit! Its showtime!!!!
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Jan 02, 2009 6:44:42 PM CST
So, Mori leaves AICN and he suddenly is a pretentious hack?
by yackbacker
Guys, you're missing the point of what Mori's doing. He didn't want to re-create AICN elsewhere. He's changing the way he writes about film because he's been doing it one particular way for 10-plus years! I give the guy credit for taking a risk. Is hitfix.com the best site out there? No. Do I check it as religiously as I check AICN? No. But we (TBers) are using AICN as a makeshift messageboard to shoot the shit, etc. It seems like Hitfix is aiming for a different kind of internet consumer. Let's wait and see what happens (the thing just launched!).
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...and I've been waiting since then for Kate & Leo to get back on screen together. Nice to know they still have some chemistry. Looking forward to this one.
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Hope you doing well.
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...but everything's cool at home. I might even see this movie and like it a lot someday...call me escapist, but if I'm going to sit and watch a couple fight for two hours I prefer that they do it in Gormenghast...or in space...or in Edwardian England...or in a lab exploring the ocean floor. When I was younger I had a strong appetite for real slice of life cinema...but a few years later I find myself pleasantly waist deep in life and want to be taken somewhere new for a couple of hours at the end of the day.
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Things are great with me, how about you? Have you seen SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE yet? If not, get to it, I think it puts the other "contenders" to shame.
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No, I havent seen slumdog millionaire yet. Believe it or not, I don't even know what the film is about. The last movie I've seen at the theater was Dark Knight, Yack. What can I say? Been a busy bee, have I.
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Sam Mendes has a very skewed vision of life. I wonder why people take him seriously. American Beauty only works as a comedy, otherwise it is simply absurd. But folks are going to assure each other that this bullshit is deeply meaningful.
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Given the standard complaints listed above, I am inclined to agree that YET ANOTHER indictment of the American Middle Class, esp during more "innocent" years grows tiresome. It was tiresome when Halberstam did it and it's tiresome now. The trouble is, I genuinely like Sam Mendes. His theater background and everything down to the way he works with his cast to even the crew he uses to light his sets reflects traditions that at times seem different from what we're used to Hollywood. I'll probably skip this theaters as I did with Jarhead (moreso b/c of Anthony Swofford than Sam Mendes) and rent this.
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Basically. Not Seventh Seal Bergman ... Scenes from a Marriage Bergman.
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The ending of Titanic was not a dream. It was her ascent to Heaven, where Jack waited.
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Jan 02, 2009 9:59:27 PM CST
UNLESS AVATAR FEATURES JONAS BROS, ROB PATTINSON AND MILEY CYRUS
by bringingsexyback
it ain't gonna do 1/30th what Titanic did. Leo got a nation of tweenies to cream their panties ... leading to a cool Billion.
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Watch the Greenwich divorce rate rise by 1000%.
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The acting in this movie is simply superb. DiCaprio and Winslet are phenomenal and, amazingly, Shannon manages to steal the couple of scenes he is in (which really is remarkable, considering the level his costars were at). But, the movie is depressing as hell and does ring a bit hollow at times. Dialogue is uneven. BUT, Mendes works his magic and with the A+++ acting on display, how can you not recommend this? It's far from perfect, but has so much going for it that it should not be missed. This is a movie where I could, without hesitation, nominate for 3 acting Oscars, even if it doesn't deserve a Best Picture nod.
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MM is brilliant because it is so very subtle and manages to make points very deftly and without characters constantly whining. There is an economy to the storytelling that is mesmerizing and it never devolves into two characters having a shouting contest (as in RR). It is also very even-handed in its social commentary (Matthew Weiner makes no real effort to hide his disdain for JFK's legacy or the beatnik movement). So in conclusion, even if the novel of RR pre-dates MM by 40+ years and happens to cover similar themes, it is in a class by itself.
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Mendes' "crew he uses to light his set" currently for the past two movies has consisted of Roger Deakins, a top class gent who makes other cinematographers weak at the knees when he walks in the room. A man whose first background was in shooting documentaries, and thus far has shot the very playlike and stagey No Country for Old Men, Assassination of Jesse James, Kundun amongst others. Puhlease. What you're saying is a dishonorable slight to the two truly transcendental DPs Mendes has worked with, the other being Conrad Hall.
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that yes, I used the argument that Revolutionary Road isn't necessarily about the suburbs to then denote that ignorance and the cultural wasteland in the suburbs leads to such an assumption. that doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong. i have actually traveled through 48 of the 50 states and seen firsthand how homogenous the US has become. but it's not just the US. the same chain stores have infiltrated Puerto Rico by the rainforest to the outskirts of Warsaw Poland to London's high street to the KFC they're building in Vietnam. Loserguy3000, the fact of the matter is that a few people liked transporter 3 and actually said so. the rest of us dreamed of life on another level, and craved discourse and communion of the highest order, and yes we actually did love a swedish vampire movie, just as much as we loved a movie about a vigilante who dresses as a bat, a lonely robot, and a family of Mennonites in South America. We didn't think that puerile escapism was the only thing that mattered because we were dulled by dull life. Let me ask you this, loserguy3000, what was the last thing you saw with your own eyes in front of you that actually made you feel more alive and aware and connected to a sublime truth you can't understand? If it was Transporter 3, then you just proved all my points right, that the reactionary guardians of the suburbs are narrow minded, infantile, and pathetic.
Oh yeah there's one other thing - the simple fact of the matter is that the middle class American lifestyle expressed in suburban living is not sustainable for the entire planet. We're exporting a dream and invading other countries on a predicated future that cannot exist lest it wipe us all out. -
Isn't that the point of these movies?
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And in every major city, and nearly ever major town, in these United States. Also, I used to frequent Europe and a smattering of Asia. I don't mean to sound overly superior, drturing, but I seriously doubt you've traveled even half of the areas I've visited and frequented in this country. I'm not saying this to denograte your position, but rather, to make it clear that I understand where you're coming from.That said, I find your positions on cultural evolution to be largely reactionary and myopic. You bemoan the "exportation" of American culture and yet say nothing of others' embrace of our ideals and lifestyles. You seem to imply that we should enjoy differences and yet rail against "homogenization" (which is really just your code word for Americanization) and yet despise our ideals, our dreams. Your real problem, it would seem, is that you don't like America and feel that we are a nation of conformists, and what better example of conformity, in your view, then suburbia. Well, my friend, all I can say is that cultures change, evolve, grow, and even die. Even now, what you think of as suburbia is not really the suburbia generations ago. In your illogical and blind need to stop cultural absorption, adaptation, and ultimately change, you fail to see that America and the suburbs you despise have changed as well. For good or ill, drturing, you cannot stop time, stop change. To rail against that fact of sociology, of nature itself, is not only a waste of time, but it smacks of the very same sort of views expressed by the KKK, WWII era Germany, and every other fascist screwball in history. "We need breathing room, living space," they say. "Our culture is in danger of being lost," they cry. Grow up and get with the times: America is the great melting pot and its culture is based upon idealism. The real fact is, drturing, its not our culture that you despise...its our ideals. That is what makes you an elitist. That is what makes you a reactionary...And that is what makes you wrong.
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Your panties are in a twist when it comes to the KFC opening in Vietnam, but what about all the Vietnamese, Chinease, Japanese, Italian, French, Indian, and Mexican resturaunts that have been in our country for decades? Oh wait, WE are supposed to embrace other cultures, but those cultures must shut their gates against the barbarian influence, correct? How stupid can you be? Cultural influence is a two-way street. Unless, of course, you are some sort of Wahabi wanabe or other fascist dweeb hell-bent on holding back the sands of time. In which case, I wish you all the worst luck in the world and enjoy your thatched hut. I think I'll enjoy this air-conditioned home and order some take-out chinease. I may even pop in Rear Window, too.
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This Looks Great.Leo's continued making great films.Body Of Lies was excellent
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Not even the acting talents of Leo and Kate can save this disapointing tale of complacency.It lacked the substance that made NCFOM or There will be Blood great Oscar contenders.As far as I'm concerned the only payoff was at the end and even that wasn't good enough to live up to it's hype.It felt more like a HBO Movie if anything.Thank gawd for screeners.
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Typical night at the Smith household in Stepford USA.
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Jan 03, 2009 8:09:23 AM CST
I'VE TRAVELLED THROUGH 1 OF 50 STATES - CONNECTICUTT
by bringingsexyback
And let me tell you something. The McDonalds' along I95 are the best in the country.
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These movies are almost always the products of baby boomers who, having grown up as the most spoiled and self-centered generation in US history (thank you, Dr. Spock, now burn in hell), and finding out that their lives aren't perfect, now need to direct more rage at their parents for not being as "cool" as they wanted them to be. I live for the day that the last baby boomer drops dead.
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And vice versa.
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I like KFC original recipe. Don't diss the Colonel.
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Don't go see the fucking movie then. Everyone here is making a judgement about the film without having actually seen it.
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Welcome to Aint It Cool News. Is this your first time posting?
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The movie misses the book almost entirely. We never get inside the Wheelers' heads or understand why they are so unhappy. As a result they come off as incredibly self-absorbed and petty and I did not care about them at all. The book is fantastic, though.
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i mean come on, been there, done that. both dudes wanna be kubrick and just don't have the chops.
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catlettuce4, its not. Pointless to say that, I'm sure, but what I was feeling at that particular moment.
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You're take on the baby boomers is dead on. How could the greatest generation produce the "me, me, me, I, I, I, now, now, now" baby boomers?
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It seriously was Dr. Spock. He told an entire generation of parents that they should spoil their kids. The "me, me, me" mindset of the baby boomers is the result
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I feel you on that one. Movies like this no matter how well received are not for me. Good review though, 'pone.
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You're more obsessed with this movie than I am with pussy.
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