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Sam Mendes Hauls A Trailer Down REVOLUTIONARY ROAD!

It Will Be Fine by georges garvaren	Sep 29th, 2008 07:48:25 PM
All his movies are "fine". Ripley, perhaps, the finest of the lot.
Er... by mrbeaks	Sep 29th, 2008 07:52:27 PM
RIPLEY was Minghella.
Give us all a break, please. by CreasyBear	Sep 29th, 2008 07:53:13 PM
"Waa! Waa! We live in a wealthy nation where all our needs are met comfortably, except we're burdened by pesky responsibilities (like having a job and raising our children), preventing us from racing off to Paris and living REAL LIFE. Working for a living and having a family just isn't REAL enough for me! Washing dishes and earning a paycheck just isn't REAL! Waaaaa!" Give me a fuckin break. I'm sure the book is beautifully written, but damn, the yearning whine of this trailer is like a parody of itself.
so is this a remake of titanic? by chipps	Sep 29th, 2008 07:54:32 PM
ahhh phewy. damm women always complaining.
So this is about two people by DRACULA_WANTS_THE_AMULET	Sep 29th, 2008 07:54:53 PM
who want something more out of life, and they don't know what that is, but all they found themselves doing is whateverone else does and they hate that this is what they are- ordinary plain simple and trite. And they like to fuck a lot. Cause fucking is a good way to cope for being nothingness.
Sweet A will do that to ya by DRACULA_WANTS_THE_AMULET	Sep 29th, 2008 08:01:49 PM
You sell it all. Your dreams, your hopes, your believes, and yourself for a Aweet Piece of A. One day it was you and your world and your goals. Then came Sweet A and you were sure to have you some of that Sweet A. Playing with that Sweet A got you married and eventually it got you kids, and they came first and the Sweet A got sour, and you stopped getting it, and all your friends dissapeared cause kids are annoying and Sweet A got mad anytime you wanted to hang around them. Maybe you still got one friend and that freinds also married to some Sweet A. Now you find yourself working some shitjob that keeps the A and the kids happy and whole. And now, well- Isn't Sweet A Great!
Chills by pont	Sep 29th, 2008 08:12:55 PM
I think it incredbile.
Beaks, you're wasting your breath by BadMrWonka	Sep 29th, 2008 08:18:54 PM
look at the range of contempt, just in a few posts. people that never dip below the surface in life, and never question their lot, they (not surprisingly) never latch onto art that explores this uncomfortable feeling. if you read (or see) Eugene O'Neill's ""Long Days' Journey into Night", and you don't feel anything, you don't GET anything out of it...then you are not going to like Sam Mendes' films. he chose to adapt this work because it inspired him in the way that the American Beauty script inspired him. we all have a surface life, this daily incessant whir that we begin to focus on as though it really is our life. but what is under the surface is much more interesting. and if you chalk it stupidly up to "suburban whining", then you have completely and tragically missed the point. Beaks, you and I can see it opening weekend, and contribute to it's $3 million opening weekend. these guys can see it 10 years from now when they get it.
American Beauty 2! by BurgerKing	Sep 29th, 2008 08:23:18 PM
YEAHHHH. Had to say it, someone was going to eventually.
I like Mendes but cmon by BurgerKing	Sep 29th, 2008 08:26:02 PM
As I said before, this is familiar territory for him. If the book is good then fine, but still doesn't look like it's setting itself apart. I am a Mendes fan, think he's 3 for 3 but I want something different! However these movies are impossible to tell whether or not they are good until they actually hit theatres.
Looks alright by O_Goncho	Sep 29th, 2008 09:18:26 PM
Though I disagree that to dip below the surface in my life I have to align myself with Beaks and his love of a suburban couple going through an existential crisis. I can knock those out for myself just fine.
Straight Oscar bait by terry1978	Sep 29th, 2008 09:20:29 PM
Granted, I ain't saying it doesn't look good, but it's obvious what that it is, and coupled with the "just before 2009" release date...yeah.
Who cares if it's similar to American Beauty? by The_Squid	Sep 29th, 2008 09:48:07 PM
Looks like it has a completely different tone. And no goofy art kids.
The book is brilliant. by CatVutt	Sep 29th, 2008 10:00:39 PM
It's stuck with me as much as any book I've ever read, and I've reads tons. The Easter Parade is top notch too. It's disturbingly uncomfortable at times...Yates knew how to really get into the mechanics of anxiety and how the simplest of disconnects between a couple catches fire and implodes. You hate identifying with the characters, and yet you can't help it. A film won't be able to capture it completely, but it'll definitely be interesting to see the attempt.
Basketball Diaries 2: Overtime! by RexGattling	Sep 29th, 2008 10:03:35 PM

Oops. How'd I Mess That Up? by georges garvaren	Sep 29th, 2008 10:06:15 PM

Mad Men fans will love it by Smithys.Bark	Sep 29th, 2008 11:02:32 PM
This looks great. Looks like similar territory...except a tad more visibly existential.
Benjamin Button comes out the same time.... by TheWaqman	Sep 29th, 2008 11:25:32 PM
I'd rather watch that. Still this looks great too.
Putting it with Mad Men is a bit of a gift/curse by Mr. N	Sep 29th, 2008 11:33:24 PM
Because people might expect the same tone. However, making suburban melodrama riveting entertainment is no easy task. Is this the acting role Leo is banking on this year or is Body of Lies a real Oscar threat? Looks beautiful, either way. Tops my list of what to see this fall along with Benjamin Button, Brother's Bloom, Synecdoche NY, Milk and of course, Sexdrive (that last was a joke, obvi. seriously, who the fuck thought we needed another lame movie about kids trying to get laid?)
Road To Perdition is awesome by applescruff	Sep 29th, 2008 11:43:54 PM
and this doesnt look as good as that. But whatever they're both good actors so i'll watch that shit.
The book is brilliant by Lovecraftfan	Sep 29th, 2008 11:51:14 PM
One of the great and for a long time lost American classics
The book is Whos Afraid of Virgina Wolf not American Beauty. by Lovecraftfan	Sep 29th, 2008 11:52:35 PM
The book makes AB look like playtime. The level of bitterness, depression, and anger are only rivaled by Burton's and Taylors shouting matches in Wolfe.
This will suck. by thebearovingian	Sep 30th, 2008 12:31:50 AM
Who the hell would watch this? And why?
i'd be one of those saying "wah suburbia" by Holodigm	Sep 30th, 2008 12:35:06 AM
but this is sam mendes. he gets an immediate $10 from me.
Who would watch this? by Lovecraftfan	Sep 30th, 2008 12:54:33 AM
Wow I don't know people who like the book for one or did you not read beak's article.
Get out of my head Creasy Bear by moviemenace	Sep 30th, 2008 01:09:10 AM
Suburban Angst is my favorite genre. I love these white-folks-in-despair films. But when I saw this trailer over the weekend, it comes off as whiny. The Artie Lange "WAAAA!!!" repeatedly rung in my head each time they moaned about how perfect their lives are. I'm still seeing it. Mendes is a great director. But it does seem to have the same air to it as rich people complaining about taxes.
Looks good by unionJACKass.webs.com	Sep 30th, 2008 02:46:08 AM
But what would be the bare minimum you would expect when you've got Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet starring, and Sam Mendes directing, eh?
Jesus these responses are depressing by dogstardude	Sep 30th, 2008 03:24:27 AM
The point of the book is not that these people are whiny fucks. It's the point that capital gain and wage slavery are inherently soul-crushing, regardless of who you are. The idea that we give up our dreams and ideas and are squashed like bugs just to earn a living and most of us never get beyond mediocre. We're told again and again that we're happy and we've got nothing to complain about but we have no time to explore ourselves, we sell it away to keep warm and fed. You don't like it? Starve. Wow. Truly that's great. The point is not that these people are worse off than others living in shithole conditions in the 3rd world. But they are at the supposed apex of human civilisation. They have what every ad and every government says they want, but it's not what they're after. They don't want to just be comfortable. They want to be human. Just read the book.
"Who made these rules anyway..." by AllieJamison	Sep 30th, 2008 05:15:51 AM
Amen, dogstardude. The film looks really beautiful and good.
If they're whining about an arbitrary system, by CreasyBear	Sep 30th, 2008 06:25:43 AM
that's one thing, but the trailer certainly makes it seem that the "system" being questioned is basic responsibility for earning a living and raising children. (And this AICN post is clearly about the trailer to the movie, not the book.)
Raising children, yes I could see that by dogstardude	Sep 30th, 2008 08:09:50 AM
Part of what makes the book so great is that it directly expresses how suburbia and alienation have largely killed human capacity for community and collective responsibility. It's not that they don't want to care for their kids, but that they're so isolated and run down by their "responsibilities" that they find themselves almost hating their children for killing their capacity for freedom and a life on their terms. This isn't expressed so directly in the book, but it's an undercurrent. That the way we live forces us to give up so much and we have to ask whether it was worth it at all in the end, children included. The notion that the system we participate in which is meant to make us happy and keep us fed for ourselves and for our offspring, makes us despise it and those we're forced to participate in it for. The "earning a living" isn't being questioned so much as the manner in which we're required to achieve this. I can't comment on the movie but the trailer seems to be sticking pretty damned close to the general tone of the book. Seriously, it's an incredible novel.
American Beauty 2: Rise of the Suckier by DRilL	Sep 30th, 2008 10:33:31 AM
Mendes is a hater. He loves to try and stick his finger in the eye of mainstream America, trying to show he is better because he hasn't "settled". He wants to convince us all that comfort and success is measured in the leftist artists eyes and not your own. If you judge by the critics, this will be an "emotional powerhouse" but it will really just suck.
This will be great by Reckoner	Sep 30th, 2008 12:05:52 PM
I think people will relate to this in a big way... Surburbian numbness that many Americans feel. The dialogue from the trailer seems very real and honest with what looks like great performances and chemistry between DiCaprio & Winslet. Really looking forward to this now.
Can't see it dogstardude by moviemenace	Sep 30th, 2008 12:18:57 PM
The problem with this argument is there are people out there with real problems, Not cry-baby problems. Not arbitrary problems. Real problems. There are plenty of people out there that really do "starve". People who have problems stringing together a decent living. I was in a third world country over the summer. I saw people living in filthy shanty towns. Homeless children addicted, begging for my pocket change. Most of these people were sick, dirty, and malnourished. These people have problems. Real problems, not make believe problems. To look at this trailer, it just seems like yuppies crying over spilt milk. I couldn't even get a decent glass of milk over there.
Moviemenace by dogstardude	Sep 30th, 2008 12:30:26 PM
Of course. I wouldn't for a second claim that people in the 1st world even remotely have it as bad as those in the 3rd. It's incomparable. We have the luxury here of being able to comment on the merits of this film which cost more money than most people would dream of. We don't have to scrape a living out of shit like so many others. I totally recognise that our problems in comparison seem insignificant. But I don't think it's a closed-off system. I think one feeds the other. Our life of comfort and ease is essentially provided thanks to our continual fucking over of the poor and exploitation of their desperate need. Moreover, it doesn't produce what we want anyway! Most people here are desperately unhappy, isolated and spiritually dead inside. They while away their time working jobs they hate and trying to forget how much they're wasting their time by saturating themselves in entertainment and narcotics. They feel guilt over how much luxury they have, yet simultaneously want more to while away their time and fire off those endorphins, the only surefire protection against their emptiness. That we get to eat regularly and have shelter is truly a good thing. But we don't get it out of some divine blessing. We're actively screwing billions of people out of even remotely the same thing so we can have a workable economy. The human soul requires more than food and shelter to survive, it needs meaning and fulfillment. Our society can address some of our needs, but not all. That's the tragedy that Yates' book is about.
Road to Perdition by Subtlety	Sep 30th, 2008 01:44:11 PM
has the worst DVD box art I've ever seen. Direct-to-DVD action flicks starring Lorenzo Llamas have better art! It's just a big, slightly distorted headshot of an extremely goofy-looking Tom Hanks, who has this expression like he was just zipping up his fly in a public bathroom when he notices a drunk, plug-ugly biker has been staring at his crotch for the last few minutes. Its a mix of being annoyed, aroused, and vaguely ill. Meanwhile, the poster art (which is actually quite nice) is squashed down in the corner underneath his enourmous tie like he's about to gobble it up. So to summerize, it looks like a disoriented and aroused giant Tom Hanks has just been caught in the act about to devour a two tiny, rained-on toys. Which is to say, WORST BOX ART EVER. Especially since the movie was kinda really good. And now, one of Newman's last truly great roles.
dogstardude-- by Raymar	Sep 30th, 2008 01:44:47 PM
"Most people here are desperately unhappy, isolated and spiritually dead inside." Are we projecting here? That's the popular lie that intellectuals try to tell us. The U.S. actually ranks very high on the national happiness index. As crazy as I know it may sound to some people, most Americans are able to find some pleasure in family, friends, individual passions, their career, and yes, even the faith of their choosing.

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Sam Mendes Hauls A Trailer Down REVOLUTIONARY ROAD!

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