The most striking thing about Glenn Kenny's review of 'Revolutionary Road' is him calling it 'far and away the best Mendes has made'. Pretty high praise considering Sam Mendes gave us the brutal and poetic 'American Beauty'.
My attempts to read the novel by Richard Yates have been interrupted again and again, but so far it's a precise and uncomfortably honest examination of an unhappy marriage. It's that rare novel that is both a page-turner and written on the highest level.
Anne Thompson has an exclusive preview of 'Revolutionary Road'. Looks better all the time.
I'm just getting into Richard Yates' novel Revolutionary Road. This is going to be a brutal read. The story is written with unaffected insight and objectivity. The kind that usually only comes decades after events, after the author has had time to process things enough to write about them honestly. I imagine Yates must have been driven by outrage as much as creativity in order to publish this novel in 1961.
While the story is set in the 50s it could just as easily take place today. So many today are trapped in the same soul-killing jobs and lives as Frank and April Wheeler. So many today face the same daily compromises, frustrations, and embarrassments. Really, nothing has changed in five decades.
Sam Mendes brought Alan Ball's examination of suburban duplicity, 'American Beauty', to life with frightening aplomb. I'm sure he will do the same with Justin Haythe's script for 'Revolutionary Road'. The difference is Revolutionary Road is anchored in everyday reality. For that very reason, because it is concerned with the mundane, it's a much more frightening story.
I can't think of two better actors than Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio for this story. I'm looking forward to this movie.
I hadn't thought much of 'Australia' until I saw this latest trailer. We get a pretty good idea of the plot and, Nicole Kidman's character has appeal because she starts out so stand-offish, but warms up later. I'm not sure I've ever seen this from her. This type of character arc could be exactly what Kidman needs at this point.
Based on what I saw in the teasers for 'Australia' I wasn't looking forward to seeing this movie. I've changed my mind now, but it makes me wonder why my opinion was so low in the first place. Why was the teaser for 'Australia' so poor?
Lately, teasers have done more harm than good. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and now 'Australia' (and to a lesser extent, 'Revolutionary Road') all looked dull, or at least weren't compelling in their teasers, and all of them look far better in later trailers. The teasers fail completely. They seem to be constructed to inform the viewer that the movie is to be avoided. They're boring, unengaging, no fun. Lately, teasers have been just plain bad.
The problem is, once a potential audience gets a bad feeling about a movie it's an uphill battle to change their minds. If teasers are going to turn people off, studios would be better off not offering them. They create a lot of negative press and cast doubt as to whether the movie can succeed.
This is certainly what happened after the teaser and 20-minute amalgam for Curious Case. Bad buzz was everywhere after Telluride. It's fair to say that, rightly or not, Curious Case has a stigma to overcome as a result of teaser footage. The producers have done some good damage control with the latest trailer, but the question remains: Why shoot yourself in the foot with bad teasers in the first place?
Lately, teasers don't tease, entice, or make me want more -- they're just a turn off.
NPR has a review of Richard Yates' novel Revolutionary Road by writer Anthony Giardina. A movie of the same name starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio directed by Sam Mendes will open in January.
It looks like Sam Mendes cuts to the bone once again. 'American Beauty' is one of my favorites -- a bald expose of derailed life found behind the locked doors of suburbia. 'Revolutionary Road', if anything, is more honest, less fanciful than 'American Beauty'. If it's possible, this one is a more direct indictment.
I have to go get the novel (of the same title) that the movie is based on, written by Richard Yates.
