As If We Needed Pursuading

A few seconds new footage but, really, is there anyone who isn't going to see 'Skyfall'.






















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Visually Stunning Trailer for 'Skyfall'

I don't care for Bond. Never have. The sexism always made James come off a tad insecure. Never liked the look, either. Camera work has always been perfunctory. Here, though, we've got an entirely new ball game with Sam Mendes helming and Roger Deakins behind the camera. This trailer is cut. Very easy on the eyes.

Don't know if Craig's Bond will seem insecure or not but whatever he does he'll look good.

Try it without sound.

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Sam Mendes Shares a bit of 'Skyfall'

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Revolutionary Road

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.

Based On A Novel

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.

Revolutionary Road

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.

Spacey On Morning Edition

I've always been a fan of Kevin Spacey. In his movies his connection with the camera is so solid he's able to bond with the viewer. As a result his characters gain the upper hand over you -- they almost seem to know what you're thinking and even make fun of your reactions to the plot. I'm sure this effect would be far more visceral when intensified by the intimacy and immediacy of a live stage performance. I haven't seen Spacey in a play but may take a trip to London to catch him at the Old Vic.

In his interview with Renee Montagne Spacey runs down how Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten is the sequel to Long Day's Journey into Night; how he became the Artistic Director of the Old Vic, the historic London theater formally run by John Gielgud, Lawrence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole; the 'Sweet Spot' in a theater and how an actor projects his voice; the creation of the first Trans-Atlantic theater company, a collaboration between the Old Vic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) -- (Sam Mendes [American Beauty] will commit to directing two classic plays a year for the next three years).

Spacey always comes across smart in movies and it's easy to see why listening to this interview. (This is the extended version of the interview which played on Morning Edition 4/9. 22 min).