Master Index of Archived Threads


Revolutionary Road (2008)

0 plastic suburban smiles

0 votes

1/2 cup of sugar

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1 picture window

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1 1/2 tabs of Mother's Little Helper

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"2 bundt cakes! How does she think we'll finish TWO bundt cakes? We didn't even finish the one last time."

1 votes

2 1/2 leftover Salisbury steaks

1 votes

3 more weeks until the timeshare

1 votes

3 1/2 bedrooms and southern exposure

0 votes

4 o'clock appointment at the dentist

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"4 1/2, but I can fit into a 4 if I squinch my toes-- aren't they darling?"

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"5 years-- I can't believe I put up with this for FIVE YEARS!"

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LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jul 10 2009 11:27 AM

DiCaprio and Winslet are really polite, then yelly, then really polite, then yelly, then bleedy. From the unsparing but fantastic Richard Yates novel. The leads are great-- LD and KW are effortlessly believable. Mike Shannon, as the creepy son of a neighbor who sees right through the is a hell of a find (don't recall seeing him elsewhere... and you'd remember this guy). But man... this shit be airless onscreen. (The helmer doesn't help, I suppose; from American Beauty to Jarhead, Sam Mendes doesn't so much direct films as he does impeccably-acted dioramas.) It just feels... unnecessary. I mean, I get why you make exploitation horror movies, or inspirational melodramas about sports, or porn-- there's an audience for these things. But jaysis, who's the audience for yet another tastefully-done depiction of hang-the-stifling-suburbs 50s angst... and one that doesn't cover nearly the ground of the book? Did anyone dig on this one?

themetfairy Jul 10 2009 12:11 PM

I found it pretentious, self-absorbed and boring.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jul 10 2009 01:02 PM

You would, Jersey. /ScotchPlainsFanwoodHighSchoolfootballrules!

themetfairy Jul 11 2009 05:26 AM

I'm NOT Jersey! I'm a New Yorker living in exile!

RealityChuck Aug 11 2009 02:05 PM

Story wasn't all that original and was really just an excuse in futility. The Winslet character was certainly stifled with life, but was also very self-centered. She wanted to go with her husband to Europe and take a job so he could find himself, but what if he found himself with this new promotion? OTOH, the husband could have said, "I'll take the job in October, after we spend a month in Europe." Too much shouting, too. That gets tedious and screaming is no substitute for acting. Oh, and this wasn't a tragedy. It was, as I said, futility. In other words, "Life's a bitch and then you die" is hardly a new or entertaining idea these days. The acting was decent, but the script was tripe.