Cool News
Trailer For Sam Mendes's AWAY WE GO Gets Lost In America!
Beaks here...
What was once grist for piercing satire is now the stuff of whimsical, behind-the-beat comedy! Or maybe this is satire, and the trailer just isn't making that clear!
Not that I was expecting Sam Mendes to deliver LOST IN AMERICA for the hipster age - not when he's working from a script by the earnest-ish duo of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. AWAY WE GO stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a poor, unsettled married couple who roam the United States looking for the ideal place to raise their soon-to-arrive first child. Along the way, they drop in on their respective, garishly eccentric brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers, and presumably learn that "normal" is a big ol' heap of hooey. Why do I get the feeling there's going to be some Devendra Banhart on this soundtrack (to complement the Alexi Murdoch tune which scores the trailer)?
Though I've yet to connect with one of Mendes's films (his work for the stage is an entirely different matter), I really am looking forward to AWAY WE GO - which opens in limited release on June 5th. Eggers and Vida are both fine writers, Krasinski and Rudolph are always interesting, and what's not to like about a supporting cast which includes Allison Janney, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Schneider, Jim Gaffigan and Josh Hamilton (Grover!)?
Click here to to watch the trailer in HD.
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looks possibly good. Really weirdly cut trailer though.
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Yes indeed.
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Mar 17, 2009 2:48:46 PM CDT
HOW RONALD REAGAN, RELIGION AND HOLLYWOOD KILLED CINEMA
by 1978creepythinman
In the 1980's the Reagan Administration ushered in the widespread de-regulation and removal of anti-trust laws that were put in place after the Great Depression to prevent companies from monopolizing various industries and creating the type of TOO BIG TO FAIL companies that have now created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression itself. In regards to the decline of North American cinema it’s like this. With the HUGE success of movies like Jaws and Star Wars various money grubbing Wall Street types moved into the Hollywood system and reshaped the major studio’s into Corporate entities where the goal was no longer to just make movies and inspire friendly competition the way that proper capitalism is supposed to work. No, Wall Street style capitalism is about increasing market share by buying out or killing off the competition so that a few people/companies control everything which is closer to communism if you think about it. So, how did they go about this? By buying off politicians they were able to first get rid of the tax shelters that allowed low budget independent filmmakers and studio’s to raise money from private investors. Without these tax shelters people like George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead), Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead and Spider-man Triologies), Brain DePalma (Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables), Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver/Raging Bull/Goodfellas), Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather 1 & 2, Apocalypse Now) etc.. wouldn’t have been able to raise the money to make their first features. Canada offered a 100% tax shelter system for investment in movie production in the 70’s and that lasted until the 80’s. Without that Ivan Reitman (Meatballs/Stripes/Ghostbusters) and David Cronenberg (The Fly/Naked Lunch/Crash) wouldn’t have been able to make their first films Cannibal Girls and Shivers respectively. Also, in the USA, before the deregulation and removal of the anti-trust laws, studios weren’t allowed to buy up movie theatres or chains to create a monopoly. So what you had were thousands of theatres and theatre chains across North America and all those companies cared about was their box office revenue. So they would book anything that made money. If you made a low budget movie you could book it into a theatre and since the Motion Picture Association of America - MPAA was a joke back in those days you could show just about anything in theatres as in evidence of Deep Throat playing not just in porn houses but even in respectable theatres all across the country not to mention the grindhouses that played an endless stream of Horror and exploitation flicks day and night. If your movie was good and made money you could use that money to make more prints and advertise across the city, state or even the whole country if your movie was a hit. This is how AIP, Roger Corman and later New Line Cinema and Troma operated for decades, that is, until the 80’s. Now the deregulation/anti-trust laws removal (from here on in referred to as DR/ARL) wasn’t the only reason for the decline of audience attendance in the 80’s. VCR’s made it possible to rent movies and watch them from the comfort of your own home. As a result thousands of theatres and a few chains went under. Mostly these were the single venue style theatres with one screen where they would play double and triple bills and alternatively use the theatres for rock shows, stage productions etc… But the second thing was that after the DR/ARL, the major studios were allowed to buy up theatre chains and individual mom and pop theatres with the intent of shutting them down. The 1980’s saw the rise of the multi-plex, most of which were built by the major studios and a few other companies that operated such as Famous Players or Odeon Cinemas as an example up here in Canada. They were built with maximum comfort and convenience but had as much personality as your average McDonalds in comparison to a family operated restaurant. Now because these chains were all owned by corporations they would only do business with each other and book only each others movies as well as their own, effectively shutting out any independent studio’s or producers. By the late 80’s most of the independents had been killed off so now it was mostly the majors with the exception of a few studios that survived because they had highly profitable franchises (New Line and the Nightmare on Elm Street series) or they distributed some low budget independent, art-house and European films (Miramax with The Crying Game, El Mariachi, Resevoir Dogs etc…) to the single art-house theatres scattered across the country and because those movies made soo much money and received soo much national critical attention from Siskel & Ebert etc.. even the corporate owned theatre chains started booking them because money is still money. So how does the MPAA tie into this and the decline of balls out American Cinema? It’s because Hollywood is always the target of right wing mouthpiece’s and various religious organizations across the country as witnessed by the ridiculous uproar by the moral majority over movies such as Dogma, Kids, Natural Born Killers etc…. in the 90’s or if you really want to go back in time you could find examples of this with almost every single successful film made during the entire history of cinema that features any sort of violent or sexual content. Look up the Hays Code and watch some pre-code movies made in the 20’s and early 30’s and you’ll notice how much more violent, sexual and lurid movies like the original Scarface and Mystery of the Wax Museum were for the time and how North American cinema went through a period of melodramatic puritanism that lasted from the 30’s (with the exception of a few underground films) and only ended with the collapse of the studio system in the late 60’s which ushered in the most fertile era in American cinema history as a result of filmmakers being allowed to realistically and unrealistically portray sex, violence and real or not-so real life like never before. During this period the political and religious freaks bitched about all the sex and violence but their complaints didn’t catch any traction especially with all the political turmoil of the era and the fact that Government violence against it’s citizens (the Kent State shootings) and the global imperialism/war mongering (Vietnam) made Government criticisms of Hollywood on behalf of religious furor a moot point. After Jimmy Carter lost the presidency because he inherited the dismal economy of the post-Vietnam era and dared to tell America the truth, the American public stuck their heads up their collective asses and voted in an ex-actor who was the straight man to a chimp as President of the United States. But Ronald Reagan only got into power because the Republican Party aligned themselves with various snake oil salesmen such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart and their mindless followers creating the Moral Majority movement of the 80’s of which it’s existence was to paper over all of the ugliness going on in the USA and promoted the fantasy that America was a land of rainbows, puppies and sold their bullshit with all the tenacity of a used car salesman selling a rusted out shitbox with a fresh paint job. This gave the religious right more power then they had in decades and made politicians live in fear for their political lives. Once again the religious freaks put their attention onto Hollywood because all of that sex and violence was polluting their Good Christian country. So they put the screws to politicians, mostly those from the Redneck States, who then came down on Hollywood and threatened to dismantle the major studio’s monopoly by reinstating those tax shelters and the DR/ATL. It’s at this point that the religious right gained almost complete control over what got shown in theatres across North America but they couldn’t implement their control in the style of the Hays code for fear of being labeled as CENSORS so they operated in virtual anonymity under the MPAA. It’s under this system that the MPAA and the major studio’s were able to kill off independents. The scam worked like this, you’re a low budget independent Director, Producer or Studio. You make money by making the type of movies that the majors don’t such as Horror and exploitation with outrageous sex and violence. The major studios are only interested in the only two types of movies they know how and want to make, glossy big budget extravaganzas and worthy Oscar winners. They think it’s beneath them to make Horror and exploitation films with gratuitous gore and sex except for when it’s being done by a major Hollywood actor, producer or director in which case the MPAA seems to have no problem with slapping the film with a family seal of approval R-rating. They used to distribute the occasional low budget shocker or sex flick, such as the Friday the 13th series which was distributed by Paramount or Porky’s which 20th Century Fox put out, but the ire of so called “respected” critics like Siskel & Ebert along with the political pressure from the religious right forced studio’s like Paramount/Fox to stop distributing low budget gore and sex flicks which is why they sold the F13th series to New Line while Fox eventually gave up on sex comedies. Anyway, you’re an independent Director, Producer, Studio who’s made “Teenage Lesbian Orgy in the Girls Locker Room of Gore” and you’re looking to distribute it. In the 70’s if the moves was good, or at the very least had plenty of entertaining sex and violence, you could put it out on a small scale and expand statewide and nationally if the movie is successful as I previously mentioned. The problem is that because the Reagan administration removed the DR/ANL, the studio’s now own 90% of the theatres across the country and won’t distribute your movie because it doesn’t have the Siskel & Ebert types across the country slobbering over it and they don’t want the headache of enraging the religious right. So what are your options? Well, there might be some small chains, mom and pop theatres that you could distribute to but there are issues when it comes to the rating of your movie and how that effects your ability to promote your epic. The situation is this, you take your magnum opus to the MPAA to get an R-Rating, now an R-Rating in the USA and the system itself is designed to censor without the appearance of censorship. An R-Rating means that no one under the age of eighteen can enter a particular movie without someone over the age of eighteen, BUT, the catch is that if you’re over eighteen you can bring anyone of any age into the theatre with you. That means that some dipshit eighteen year old, which DO exist and they are many, can bring a ten year old child into the theatre to see “Nudist Amazonian Warrior Interracial Dyke Cannibals of Sodomy” which will no doubt turn the impressionable ten year old into a peace-loving- gay-commie-pinko-liberal-Marxi st-serial killing-rapist-transexual-who- wants-Communist-socialist-Free -Health-Care-and-less-money-sp ent-on-the-military-to-finance -better-education-and-alleviat e-poverty-to-bring-about-a-new -age-of-Universal-utopia-which -will-allow-the-human-race-to- look-towards-the-stars-and-exp and-our-spieces-across-the-gal axy-for-eternity-untill-the-en d-of-creation….and that’s bad. So in order to Protect The Children™ and receive an R-rating the MPAA tells you to cut your film BUT they wont tell you what to cut because then they could be accused of censorship. They’ll just let you know when they see it. So you cut a few frames and trip a scene here or there and they tell you to keep cutting. You go back and forth until you scream in frustration about what else you need to fucking cut and they tell you that it’s not the footage as per say but the “tone” of it and how it’s this or that. The point is to get you to water down your movie until all its commercial elements (i.e. The Fucking and Killing) no longer exist and you have a movie that has an R-rating but won’t make a penny in theaters because your flick wasn’t that good to begin with and all you had was the nudity and gore. Now you could try to release it unrated which a lot of movies did up until the 80’s and many were highly successful such as Dawn of the Dead but that was when you had those independently owned theatre chains and mom & pop theatres that would play your movie even without a rating and you could still mount an advertising campaign to let the public know about your flick. Even in the 80’s there were still a few theatres left that would play un-rated movies the only problem is that with media consolidation all of the newspapers, TV stations and magazines were controlled by a few corporations and those corporations had political ties to the religious right etc, etc… so they would refuse to run advertisements of your un-rated movie and in those pre-internet days that meant that you were shit out of luck and no one would know about your masterpiece. The only other option was to tell the MPAA to fuck off and refuse to cut your movie in which case it would be given an X-Rating which effectively put it into the category of Pornography and no theatres would play it apart from porn houses and even those were being killed off by the VRC revolution of the 80’s. So without a means of finance, distribution or publicity this is how most of the independents went out of business in the 1980’s which is why North American cinema has been sliding into the shitter for the last quarter of a century as a result of corporate greed, religious fanaticism and political scumfuckery. Today not much has changed and it seems like a miracle when a good movie gets made and released in North America but they are few and far between. The great hope is the internet, on-line distribution and digital downloading but there are two main issues. The first is that without financing most independent movies today are shot on video cheapies that offer very little in the way quality scripts, production value or even competence although occasionally you get a good cheesy film like Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Janitor and Blood Car. The second problem is how do you make money off something that people can get on-line for free from torrent sites? The answer is to make a good movie against the odds and hope that people like your movie enough to want to buy the DVD but those odds are against you and as long as Hollywood maintains its corporate monopoly on national theatrical distribution, North American cinema will never recover.
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Longest talkback award?
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No Comment
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Why? Because she's married to PT Anderson?
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Say it! Say it! Say "I lost the nest-egg." Go on, say it!
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...i've just seen a simpsons you haven't :-)
finally a geek reason to feel special! -
looks like another attempt to define my reality with people who have no idea about the world i live in
and LiA was about the relationship this looks like its about odd camera shots and weirdos we call friends -
...you already trashed the CRANK 2 talkback with your boring, unnecessary and totally bland ramblings.Next time, stay at one topic, use paragraphs, and fucking leave us alone with your "thoughts" you copied from google and/or wikipedia. You fucking monkey.
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...but these characters seem vile. Well, maybe not vile, but certainly completely lame. Not only are single young Americans rootless and feckless in films, so are couples about to reproduce! And their parents and friends are weird, selfish and generally unhelpful! Jeez, for a story like this I can just trawl various advice columns. What a waste of talent.
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Just saying.
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I get wat you are saying about never connecting to a Mendes movie. American Beauty is a masterpiece; a spot-on criticism of the American Dream that could have only worked in the hands of a non American filmmaker on the outside looking in. Everyone saw it for the masterpiece it was, yet, it felt like we were all sitting on the outside looking through Mendes' eyes. Road To Perdition held everyone at arms length IMHO, and Jarhead was just pure dreck. An anti-war movie I can take, I can watch it and whether I agree with it or not, I can absorb it and take in what the filmmaker is trying to say. An unapolegtic anti-American piece of anti-war propaganda? Not so much. Revolutionary Road really put Mendes out on a limb and stacked up with all of his other movies begs the question is there a more Anti-American film-maker out there besides Lars Von Trier? Mendes is incredibly gifted and at times has shown himself to have an outstanding poetic gift. His films, however, have proven him to be a bigot who would go so far to expose America's dark underbelly that he ignores the fact that needs exposing: America as an ideal, as a philosophical truth is the most incredible creation that man has ever come up with. It is the human condition that Mendes himself is prone to and proves by giving in to it with his unmasked hatred, that has spoiled America. It's the people that have ruined the nation, not the other way around. If you take any class of people in the world and give them American freedoms and sensibilities, within 150 years it will spioil. That doesn't change the fact that freedom is, in and of itself, a pure and beautiful thing. The American dream is alive and well, it's all of the immigrants that have come here in the last few centuries to capitalize on it that have desecrated it. All Americans are immigrants, almost, and we are all guilty to some degree of wasting the American ideal. Mendes takes that fact and exploits it to make himself feel better about not being American. It is the mindset that creates a Sam Mendes that indeed destroys what a country like America could be.
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If you say so.
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Mar 17, 2009 3:17:53 PM CDT
Motoko Kusanagi, I WROTE THAT THIS AFTERNOON OH AND.....
by 1978creepythinman
As someone who constantly repeats the catch phrase I originated back in late 07 (AVATAR - FUCKING YOUR EYEBALLS IN 2009) you can suck the shit out of my asshole you fuck.
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Magnificent drama, great performances. This new Mendes film looks like a cute change of pace. The only problem I have with this trailer is that it's longer than necessary, and I worry I've seen too much. The REVOLUTIONARY ROAD trailer also gave away too much. Some of the impact of that film's tragedy was lost for me because of things shown in the trailer.
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I love how Krasinski graduated from a bit part in Mendes' "Jarhead" to the lead in this.
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when Bay, Iron Man, Sly, or Harry's chocolate covered pussy juice isnt involved. Bunch of idiots sitting at their comps going uhhhhhhhh
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that said, it looks good
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A masterpiece in my eyes. It's not even an accurate slice of life. I don't believe a single moment of that film - it is false and contrived from the first frame to the last. To me, it is a strong contender for worst Best Picture Winner ever. I've liked other Mendes movies better, but I agree, I haven't "connected" with this guy yet either and I'm hoping I will on this one. I LOOOOOOOVE me some Maya Rudolph, that's for sure.
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Revolutionary Road and Road to Perdition were wonderful. I dug Jarhead, even though it seemed a little disjointed and reminded at point of Full Metal Jacket.
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Because it reminds me how many self absorbed, self focused, and myopic individuals exist out there who are so consumed with their own worthless shit that they can't possibly consider the needs of others. AND YET, they are now having babies! Awesome, way to start having kids to make yourself feel better!
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Long ass shots of despondent people staring blankly ahead, to act as some thoughtful rumination on life and the utter meaninglessness of it. C'mon, isn't there something else you can do filmicly to explain to us that your characters are deep emotional wells of thoughts? For God sakes be more creative!
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Hopefully it's about opening up beyond your own self satisfaction an growing into adulthood.
We'll see. Is it me or did seem that this was roll for Seth Rogen? Heh. This could have been his break through dramatic turn. -
...that came up with this one?
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That made me chuckle.
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I actually like John K. I think his work in the Office is great, because to me a sense of humor is where true intellegince lies. Talking about how Mendes movies are distant? Its cause the dude has no freaking sense of humor, he has nothing but cold thoughts. The ability to find the ironic humor in life, to see others and laugh, THAT is true genius. Not all this quiet sarcasm and cynicism, you might as well be one of the Goths from South Park. If Mendes could ever do a comedy, not a broad Farrelly brothers, but like a true Coen brothers, then I would consider him more intelligent. Instead of just moody and distant, which is what he is.
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Maybe I'm a hipster, but that looked pretty good.
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Mar 17, 2009 3:54:42 PM CDT
I'm starting to think that Krasinski will be done after Office e
by white goodman
Has he been in a good movie yet? Or at least one that didn't bomb at the box office? This looks good, but that guy doesn't have a great track record.
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Like Juno. Which is not good. I'd prefer real, I think.
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You nailed it.
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Who does that?? Looks insufferable.
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Mar 17, 2009 4:16:09 PM CDT
Krasinski was in Leatherheads, which I really enjoyed.
by the_genteel_gentile
So nobody showed out for it, but it was still a funny movie. George Clooney's a decent director and his comedy has a Coen Bros. flavor to it. Leatherheads was a real nice throwback to the screwball comedies of the 30's & 40's. If you dig stuff like Frank Capra's It Happened One Night or Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday, you'd likely get a kick out of what George Clooney was going for with Leatherheads.
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anybody seen it?
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They never fail to freeze up.
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Four Christmases...to me
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so sad.
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I'm all teared up right now...that's so awful.
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I know, poor thing i thoughts are with the family right now. she was a lovely lady.
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Fuck mendes. Pass.
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I really admire and enjoy Mendes previous efforts, especially Road To Perdition (which I think is one of the best gangster films ever, right along side Godfather 2 and Casino) and Revolutionary Road (tied as my favorite of last year with Slumdog Millionare & The Wrestler). This projest has a definite Cameron Crowe, Alexander Payne, Zach Braff, Jason Reitman, Richard Linklater,
Jake Kasdan, Noah Baumbach kind of vibe about it. Very different from what we've seen from Mendes in the past. Which I think is a good thing (as long as he can successfully pull it off), shows some versitility and demention to his artistic pallett. Looks nice, I dig these kind of movies when they're done well. -
Pretentious America Hating Prick. I'm sure he'll clean up at the Oscars. If you trash traditional America, the lefty elite loves you for it and showers you with awards and praise. So tired of this Hollywood TRASH from people like Mendes.
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they haven't revealed the condition yet, so stop spreading rumors and wait for the official word.
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"This project has a definite Cameron Crowe, Alexander Payne, Zach Braff, Jason Reitman, Richard Linklater, Jake Kasdan, Noah Baumbach kind of vibe about it." What is the point of Mendes involvement? If he's just aping past movies like Juno, Garden State, etc. I really believe these movies are made so that hipster non-conformists (i.e. self involved narcissits) can feel deep about themselves and find meaning in their spoiled existence. What bugs me about so many of these movies is that all these losers have so much, food on their table, opportunity to make money, education or some ability to get educated, and yet all they can think about is how corrupt the American dream is. They think these things in slow breathy whispers to indicate how deep their thoughts are, by the way.
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I swear!
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Mar 17, 2009 4:50:21 PM CDT
In case I haven't given you enough reasons why this movie will s
by mel gibsteinberg
In hipster movies everyone has to be a slob. Lots of hair, lots of weird beards and glasses, tons of crap everywhere they live. This, again, reinforces that they live a life askew, they aren't boring folk, who do things like work and contribute, no they are zany quirky, awesome funny people who put on goofy masks and dance and laugh and run to show the world that they love each other and get each other, while the rest of this pathetic world does silly worthless things like bathe, brush their hair, and wear clothes presentable for the workplace.
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I have been trying to tell people I am not dead.
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And we all know how reliable that douchebag is
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Stovetopstuffit up your pathetic, self-Rightious ass. I bet typing that made you feel all warm and right inside, like a evangelical at a porn convention. People like you make me sick. Did you ever stop to wonder if people actually FUCKING CARE?? If we, on this site, all.... ALWAYS waited for the final word on FUCKING ANYTHING, there would be no site. So, as stated before, stick it up your puckered up little ass along with your desire to feel like a good person by scapegoating others just trying to make sense of something.
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celebrity shit-fly Hilton than any of us.
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american Beauty- Revolutionary Road..now this
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because that's just not the case.
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It was pretentious, silly, and had nothing of interest to offer.
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The scumbag that has that name should be banned. How old are you 9 yrs old? Fucking jackass!
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Mar 17, 2009 5:57:58 PM CDT
Mel Gibsteinberg - I think toy're reading too much into things
by the_genteel_gentile
I don'think it's about "how corrupt the American dream is", to me it's about how empty superficial materialism is. About always feeling a lack because you're soul isn't being fed, I think it's not knowing why and feeling shame for being so confused. It's spiritual introspection being filtered through a scientific mind, nothing to do with hating America. You come accross as being a closed off spiteful person full of hate, wishing to channel your rage at people with different world veiws from your own. I'm not saying that is you, I really hope it's not. But everyone could stand a little self examination and doubt. I'm sure your a decent guy, but you seem to not be willing to understand a person who's spirit is bankrupt and needs to search for some measure of meaning, without the slghtest clue where to find it, only knowing it's not to be found in the cosmetics of commercialism and superficial labels. Don't be so hung up on what a person does or how they look and dress. Who are you or me to decide what constitues another persons value or worth? Who's to say a healthy dose of the population thinking outside the norm isn't beneficial to everyone in the long run? Maybe some nonconformity is contributing toward a better, more civilized and peaceful society than just mearly being a perfunctory sheep, slaving away to keep the machanics of a ambivalent or even malevolent system functioning. People have one life to try and be happy, and if that happiness can't be found in the confines of societal expectation, then so be it. Calm down on the slander baby.
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is a bag blowing in the wind really "beautiful"? How can anyone take that seriously. Does it make you want to cry? Dude should see the lot next to my office, he couldn't make it through without looking like he lost his dad.
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You're a piece of shit and I hope you die slowly surrounded by everyone who ever hated you just so they can clap as your breaths leave your body.
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the couple looked a little too emo to me, if you know what I mean.
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Mar 17, 2009 6:07:42 PM CDT
To be perfectly honest, if certain names were not attached...
by rbatty024
to this film then I probably wouldn't be interested. I think Mendes has an incredible range as a director and Eggers has shown that he is interested in pushing his craft as far as he can. Both are fantastic artists. However, that trailer left me cold.
The winsome pseudo-indie rock music could have been used for just about any other independent film (that is actually financed by a huge corporation). I usually laugh when people on these boards try and make fun of people who listen to alternative/indie music because it becomes so painfully obvious that the only reason they think they know anything about the "scene" (if we can call it that) is through these crappy trailers and those lame McDonald's commercials. Well, this trailer isn't helping any.
If you want to make a film for those entering their quarter life crisis then you should probably make sure the trailer doesn't look like every other introspective navel gazing bore out there. -
That shit made me giggle. Life is too short to be so goddamned serious all the time.
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It really doesn't scream of being a wholly original effort does it. I hope it's not as warmed over and redundant as you suspect though. I have fairly high expectation for any project bearing Mendes name.
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Mar 17, 2009 6:18:42 PM CDT
Very few of these small films seem resemble real life to me
by drewlicious
It would be nice to see an independent feature that has a family that is somewhat traditional every now and then. If I went by the families I see in indie films I'd swear such a thing never existed without being tragically flawed (closested gay father etc.). I'm not saying I need a feel good film about this sort of thing but an honest would be great. They're always drug addicts or detached intellectuals, but almost never blue collar or middle class anymore. There is real drama there because it's all so fragile no matter quirky your family is. The closest I've seen so far to what I'm talking about is "Junebug."
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Although, to be fair, it's not like blue collar America is terribly interested in seeing themselves on screen. I don't remember a ton of people lining up to see Soderberg's film Bubble.
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suburban movie > road trip > suburban movie > road trip = america beauty > road to perdition > revolutionary road > away we go.
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Yea that is f'ing hysterical I think too. Esp. for their two kids that are 10 and 12 yrs old. And of course Liam gets to say goodbye to his wife and partner today. That screams hilarity to me. Just wait for somebody you love dies tragically or out of the blue, freak thing, out of left field type.
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Mar 17, 2009 6:43:30 PM CDT
I feel bad for people that have to hate this type of movie
by badmrwonka
I mean, I get it. I got it when you had to hate Juno. you just can't bear watching something that's a little hip or modern. you can't accept that even in that wrapper, something can still be touching or funny, or meaningful.but still, I feel bad for you. movies come in all shapes and sizes, and the more corners you're unwilling to go into, the more good films you'll miss.
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BARF!!!
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Was pretty amazing. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I think the trailer (like always) will be better then the movie.
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...and rips your lungs out from your wide open jaws.
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I hate to see this happen.
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skipping HIV and going directly to AIDS.
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By that I mean the little animation clips in between scenes. It also reminded me of the phillip seymour hoffman movie, The Savages, which also had weird animation at least on the dvd. I wasn't a huge fan of Juno or Little Miss Sunshine and this is another "independant" movie with pretty big stars made by a large film corporation as someone said. I guess what I'm saying here is this movie is part of a larger trend of movies like it that play up the ironic hipster characters who are intellectual but "adrift" in life, and even their ad campaigns all seem the same now. Maybe a movie will come along to "kill" this niche genre like "The Wild Bunch" killed the western. Or maybe I'm hoping for something substantial to come out of these films.
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there. i said it.
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Mar 17, 2009 7:39:56 PM CDT
Series7 - I thought the TRAILER for Revolutionary Rd
by the_genteel_gentile
was embarassingly self-important and melodramatic. Alot of flailing hands and showey acting, a thespian's wet-dream of over reaching, self aggrandizing indulgence. I actually winced while watching it. However I always felt the film was ultimately going to be good and found the final film to be a a sublime masterpiece of carefully nuanced, subtle character study. As I stated already, Revolutionary Road turned out to be tied for my favorite of the year with Slumdog & The Wrestler. So it just goes to show that a trailer doesn't always give an accurate impression. But the fact that you liked the trailer for Revolutionary Road tells me that you're really in for a treat once you get around to seeing the actual film. I trust Sam Mendes this trailer's obvious similarities to other movies doesn't necessarily portend anything.
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I guess I'm the only one who LOVES this film. Modern classic in my mind. Beautiful to look at, like a moving painting, great performances all around, and an amazing score by Thomas Newman. Whenever I mention this to friends or strangers, I always get the same silly responses: "I didn't like Tom Hanks playing a bad guy" or "There was hardly any dialog" - to which I respond, "Uh, what?"
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i liked it also. now everybody go to empireonline and take the attack of the clones quiz. you know you want to. fuckers.
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Mar 17, 2009 8:24:54 PM CDT
Blood Simple - Agreed. Perdition was my top for 2002.
by the_genteel_gentile
I too Love Road To Perdition as the best film of that year and one of the finest gangster films ever made, right along side Gondfather 2 and Casino. The ONLY Oscar for 2002 that was accurately awarded was the one that went to Conrad Hall's amazing Edward Hopper meets Andrew Wyeth inspired cinematography. Thomas Newman is my favorite film composer and I'm no layman. Road To Perdition is a masterwork and should have garnered every conceivable award if the Oscars weren't such an outright farce. It's just astonishingly good.
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is anyone willing to make the case that the film was making fun of the kid thinking the plastic bag was beautiful? also, the beard on john krasinski is all you need to know about this one.
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Mar 17, 2009 8:51:50 PM CDT
it's trying too hard to be cool/indie. like Dan in Real Life.
by irrelevntelefant
it's like the writer watched a really great indie movie and tried to copy it's tone unsuccessfully. it's what is going to happen to the American remake of "Let the Right One In". They are going to fuck that movie up royally.
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It's Albert Brooks' high water mark and also probably the best movie ever about the 80s yuppie mentality.
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When Brooks is asking Gary Marshall for his nest egg back- classic.
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Road To Perdition is a MASTERPIECE IMHO thanks to Mendes, the cinematography of Conrad Hall, Hanks, pre-bond Daniel Craig, Paul Newman and of course the gripping, very human story amidst all the gun-fire and gangsters.Also, the machine-gun-shootout-in-the rain scene was outstanding from beginning to end.
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even with the beard, Jim is still Jim.
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she was an SNL cast member.
what makes her so interesting "always."
as far as i can see, she has yet to prove herself "interesting." -
Mar 17, 2009 11:00:57 PM CDT
No joke i just finished watching Revolutinoary Road like 2 minut
by t 1000 xp professional
hmm I guess i have to see this. btw Road to Perdition is one of my fav movies. Another fun fact: Revolutionary Road made me a sad person
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I just got the PDF - if you want to read it, give me your email and I'll send it to you.
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Read the article and I had to jump in, Road to Perdition is a film I love more everytime I view it. And I get the indie backlash, especially after the heap of unearned praise on films like Little Miss Sunshine, but still, I thought this trailer looked cute, and I may dig the film.
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I will hear nothing else. I think she's a fucking comedic genius for starters. Plus she's lovely. Plus she's smart. And I'll predict, now that she's in film, she will much success as an actress. You'll see.
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And yes, I would do her in a minute. Too bad about that PT Anderson thing.
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I meant, I have the PDF to AWAY WE GO if anybody wants it, not ROAD TO PERDITION.
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Needs to be fucking banned. You fucking bottom feeding pond scum asshole. How dare you mock the death of a mother and a wife. Twit.What gives you the right to mock the death of somebody who was loved and who loved another human being. Go fuck yourself. Harry delete this ass wipe.
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Why has this site allowed such a disgusting name to be posted. Really, end this shit now.
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Looks like a boring flick to me. No clever response needed.
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...a dead one. I loved Cloverfield just for that. I want a sequel. Sam Mendes can direct it. Cloverfield monster attacks Silver Lake in LA. Broken IPhones, Destroyed Cafes, bloody vintage clothing. Everybody dies to the soundtrack of Vampire Weekend. Applause.
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1) I hate hipsters. Seriously. Fuck their shitty "ironic" beards and overly tight pants. Never met one I didn't have the urge to kick the shit out of. Live in Chicago- fucking hipster capital.
2)Natasha Richardson ain't dead. Still critical- but not dead. Best wishes to her family. -
It never held much weight for me. Sorry, but I'll have to disagree.
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Why does everything have to be subdued, so desaturated, as if aging the milieu does anything for the digestion of the material. This is SO soft-balled, and so UNRELENTING in its understated nature that I have to gag myself with a wooden spork. I want to LIVE through characters, not sleepwalk through them.
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I'm new to the forum.
Where I can I find your email address so I can request a copy of the script? -
do you actually own a wooden spork? 'cause that would be AWESOME.
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Write me at RudeRabbit@aol.com and I'll send it to you.
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Mar 18, 2009 1:24:44 AM CDT
yea apparently only u.s. dollars matter...so
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
even if watchmen makes 350 world wide to its 120-140 budget, its a bomb!
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Mar 18, 2009 1:26:58 AM CDT
god i get butthurt over watchmen
by supercowbell4therequestformorecowbell
maybe because its awesome and i need to get laid by a girl with a tight vag
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I thought someone said she was a comedienne???
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come on, give chicago a break. there are a lot of hipsters in some areas of this city, but i don't think anybody here gets as obnoxiously hipstery as NY and LA.
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and Natalie Portman has a fuck of a tan in Garden State 2.
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The great Sirk films (All That Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life, Written on the Wind etc) really put American Beauty in the shade. I seriously want to like Mendes, but I just don't think he's got the craft or the intellect or the sense of cinema to put him on a level of someone like Ang Lee. (I know they are about different eras, but The Ice Storm was better than Revolutionary Road.)
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True- but it's pretty well known that Wicker Park and Bucktown are epicenters of hipster douchebaggetry. Yes- I just made that word up.
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Mar 18, 2009 8:20:02 AM CDT
It never held much weight for me. Sorry, but I'll have to disagr
by wee willie
Yeah, apologize for your opinion. Grow a SPINE boy!
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But got this looks turgid. However, who knows. I bet the trailer for Sideways was horrible, but god I loved that film. There's a problem here, though. The characters look so damn self-conscious, so dreadfully knowing. They all look horrible. Hell, though, I could be wrong. Maybe it's just the trailer editor who's the asshole.
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By far Mendes' best work. Perfect structure, masterful direction and some of the best acting you'll see all year. It's been ages since I've been that involved with characters in a film. It's a shame it was so ignored during awards season. Hopefully, time will be kind to it, although films that depressing usually have a hard time finding an audience.
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Albert Brooks at his best! I love when he's chastising his wife after she spent the "nestegg"...telling her she can no longer use that word, nor the word "nest" or "egg" seperately.
"...a bird lives in a round stick and you have 'things' over-easy with toast"
Or "Las Vegas...a Christmas place to be!"...and Frank Marshalls deadpan expression..."We're thru talking"
This makes no sense if you have not seen the movie. Do yourself a favor and rent it.
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since Idiocracy. That whole business about her pimp Upgrayedd was hilarious.
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You are and always shall be a prick.
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WITF is the Lost talkback? After a two-week hiatus, the best hour of television returns tonight on ABC!!!!!
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Mar 18, 2009 11:23:20 AM CDT
The trailer for Revolutionary Road looks DEPRESSING as HELL
by doctorwho?
Seriously, I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry....yet I will be seeing it. American Beauty is one of my all time faves.
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Typical Oscar bait.
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--Watchmen won't get anywhere near 350 worldwide. It's total cume worldwide is about 113 mil. as of yesterday. It finished second internationally to fucking 'Marley & Me' over the weekend. I wish more people were into it, but they're not. --Sure Revolutionary Road was depressing, but the acting was top-notch. Watching those two argue was like listening to a synphony.--My favorite bit in the classic Lost In America was Albert Brooks trying to pitch Gary Marshall on giving them their money back. Santy Clause...
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I was too busy typing up my Larry King column of a talkback to check for typos. Ah, fuck it! Nobody's reading this thread anyway.
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"Road to Perdition" is one of my favorite films of all time. The story, acting, direction, music, and cinematography are all vibrantly memorable. I find something new to admire every time I see it.
I hope "Away We Go" gives me some of those same goosebumps. -
if it bit him in the butt. But then that doesn't make him much different from the folks in Hollywood.
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was a well written well acted fantasy, but it had absolutely nothing to do with reality. It was to America what Bizarro-land is to Metropolis, a weird and distorted opposite.
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But that is part of it's appeal. And that gorgeous cinematography!
I love it's message though and it has a core of 'spirituality' which I love. Virtually all of the character arcs are perfectly resolved and the ending is bitter sweet.
I loved walking out of the theatre noting most of the locals scratching their heads at witnessing not quite the cookie cutter film they expected. -
...were not "hipsters." Modern day yuppies, yes. Hipsters? No. The women had shaved armpits and the guys seemed to have bathed in the previous week. A Hipster wouldn't be caught dead at a party like that, either. Not enough hemp or patchouli oil.
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