Revolutionary Road

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A couple (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) are smitten by each other in the first scene. Cut to the part where they're married and fighting and grasping at straws to keep the dream alive.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, Michael Shannon, Zoe Kazan, Dylan Baker, Jay O. Sanders, Richard Easton, Max Casella, Max Baker

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This movie makes the point that marriage is a hopeless, desperate prison, in which people get locked so securely by the traditional entrapments of life's occurrences, that-- much like the vows say-- the only way out may well be death.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Only if you're a confirmed bachelor or bachelorette. And even then, it's not the movie that will make you laugh, so much as all the idiots out there who were dumb enough to get married.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it might make you wish you were watching Titanic... And if you do that you might cry.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The hype is there, but the feeling that this film will become a classic is not. Still, I wouldn't count out the score, which is good despite the fact that it's reminiscent of the score this director and composer turned in for American Beauty.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I liked them better in Titanic, when they had the decency to die before getting a chance to get married and ruin all the romance.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Sam Mendes consistently makes movies with poetic visuals and well though out composition. This is no exception.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I haven't read the book it's based on, but I can tell from seeing the movie that the book is much more powerful. Maybe pick that up first, to get the full effect.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Since I wrote this last night, Leonardo, Kate, and the movie itself have been nominated for Golden Globes. If any of them beat out the much stronger performances in their respective categories it would be a travesty.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/revolutionary%20road/trailers

Back To Top

Doubt

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A nun (Meryl Streep) tries to take down a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who she believes has seduced one of the children.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Joseph Foster

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. While they manage to avoid making any outrightly disparaging remarks about sex and the clergy, by keeping the battle between two of its committed members (a priest and a nun), the ultimate conclusion that the story comes to feels more intellectual than emotional, and for that, the movie ends up feeling less important than it should.  On the other hand, for those interested in an exercise in thinking, rather than feeling, you may have fodder, as many of the sermons are interesting, and the clergy makes for a perfect setting within which to explore themes of faith versus doubt.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: This movie is so totally devoid of humor that it's hard to believe it comes from the writer of Moonstruck and the producer of Clueless.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's too heady to incite those emotions, but when Viola Davis cries her nose runs and she licks it up. Eiw. Was there no one on set to give this woman a tissue?!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: All Meryl Streep has to do to get an Academy Award nomination is be in a movie. But if she has to get one this year, it would be more original to see her get it for Mamma Mia!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Watching such pros as Streep and Hoffman battle it out in scene after scene is a true pleasure to anyone who appreciates fine acting. Their performances, as well as Amy Adams'-- who's always delightful--, are the number one reason to see this film.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Shanley opens it up a little from the staged version, but it still feels like a play. That said, if you like theater, you will probably like this play. On the other hand, any good theater aficionado should have already seen it.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: When I was an acting student at UCLA, I remember always wanting to do scenes from such John Patrick Shanley plays as Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Women of Manhattan. I also remember then sitting down to read the entirety of his plays and never finding them to be as  moving as the individual scenes within them. That is also true of this movie, where there is a plethora of highly intense, dramatic, and well thought-out scenes interwoven into a story that amounts to not very much.  

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Before seeing this movie, I had never stopped to think about how severely sexism is woven into the church. In the hierarchy, Mother Superior is the highest ranking for a woman, which is below Priest-- the lowest ranking for a man. How can women ever gain equality in a world where the primary religion suppresses their rights to it completely? I'm just saying.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/doubt/29875/trailers

Back To Top