Shannon also played a twitchy psycho in Bug (off-Broadway and the film version)... not exactly Joker-ish, but hey... there's history

A-

I didn't expect to like the film but I found it quite interesting. Shannon of course stole the film from Winslet and DiCaprio in just two scenes

I'm shocked that you liked it, Loyal.

I really really really wasn't expecting to. At all.

There is something to be said for a well-crafted film with strong acting, even if the terrority is strangely familiar.

Leo was a bit winey but it was still his best performance as of late.

DiCaprio should have been nominated instead of Pitt. Reaaally. Haven't seen The Reader, but I think it would have been a worthy win for Winslet if she got nominated/won for this. And... I'm pleased with Shannon's nomination.

I was a little underwhelmed at first, but I think it's a really strong film.

No, I mentioned the same thing in my review .

As did I - - both were just lazy Hollywoodized stereotypes of craziness...

ha! you did in fact!

I'm with most everyone else here. This movie is seriously underrated! While as a whole it doesn't offer as much as American Beauty, but it is definitely one of the best relationship dramas i have ever seen! Also, i think this is one of my more insightful reviews in awhile. Its nice since i am now the main editor for all the reviews i control how long everything can be and what movies and music i want to put into the paper!

Anyways, here is my review...


http://nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2009/01 ... c-tragedy/

The more I think about it, this is an exceptionally gape-inducing case of a movie not understanding itself.

I don't really like it. It feels a bit... stagey? I mean I'm sure it is intentionally, to represent the whole 'roles' thing of the 50s, but I feel Mendes fails to walk the fine line between that and keeping his characters as real people... For a movie so inbedded in emotional resonance, failing to sell them as real people over ones reading lines is a massive misfire, as without buying into them or the their strife everything falls down. Strangely enough I think Leo walks the line better than Winslet here. She has her moments of greatness (like her speech in the nightclub, which might be one of the best acted scenes I've EVER seen), but as a whole I bought Frank more than her and I'm happy her performance for The Reader is being recognized more.

As a whole I just don't know what this movie gives me. That the suburbia and male skewered way of life is a joke? Ok, that's revolutionary when the book is written, but now? It's been done. Nothing about the "marriage spirals into massive serious melodramatic yelling and catastrophe" plot that this movie serves excites me. Again I just didn't buy the characters enough and it just didn't pull it off special or unique enough for me to care or recognize it among the other two thousand "angry family yells at each other" films

The highlight is Michael Shannon. He brought the house down and injected some legitimate life into an otherwise flat and dull characters and movie.

It's still an above average and sound movie, but just barely. It's just sort of there. Its award season omission is justified for sure.

3/5

By the way, what is there about Brad Pitt's performance that's half as difficult or demanding as Leo's is here? Leo really got the shaft for this performance. Pitt's nomination is one of the worst of this decade, he's fucking terrible in that movie.

Yeah, Leo was so much better here than Pitt was in Button.

I though it was rather terrible, myself.

It's not just that it's horribly obvious and on-the-nose, or that it's tackling well-worn issues with nothing new to offer, or that Mad Men does this sort of thing much better on a week-to-week basis. It's that the whole enterprise is stilted and shallow and flat. I'd almost say it's kinda meta, in that it's reflecting the superficiality of the decade as a whole, but that would be giving Mendes too much credit. He's no Todd Haynes, to be sure.

Both leads horribly overact and there's nothing monumental or profound to be gleaned from their exchanges. It's just an endless circle of destruction and renewal, without any linkage between the two. Winslet almost seems to be playing different characters from scene to scene, and Leo just embarrasses himself with his over-the-top facial expressions and character blow-ups. It was nigh unwatchable at times.

Also, it's entirely purposeless and directionless. What was the point of showing these characters and their doomed fates? To warn us of the folly of the American Dream? Thanks, Sam, you taught us this ten years ago.

Luckily, Michael Shannon is pretty great and injects some much needed life into the film (much like his character does). I wouldn't say it's Oscar worthy, but it's entertaining enough.

I'm glad the Academy overlooked this, but then I see what they replaced it with, and I cry a little inside.

I think everyone's missing the point of the story...that the Wheelers never achieve their aspirations because they are no better than the place they seek to rise above. The tragedy is that they more or less belong.

But it's okay, because I think the movie missed it too.

I didn't miss it, I just didn't care.

fair enough.

9/10 -> A-

I loved the movie. I think Kate was awesome, Leo was good and Shannon pretty good too. The movie was shafted without a good reason. It's definitely one of the years highlights.

Oh and it's much better than the overrated atrocity American Beauty is.

it's certainly a powerful and hard-hitting movie, featuring three incredible performances (although Michael Shannon stole the show), and Mendes did a great job of capturing both the feel of the era and the frustration that I imagine many married couples experience. However, there's a fundamental problem with the movie that lessened the weight of its impact, in my opinion; it starts out depressing, and just gets more depressing. There's rarely a moment in the entire thing where either Leo or Kate seem happy with each other (save a scene or two at the beginning), and I think the downfall of their marriage would've been so more powerful if you had seen them as being in love, or at least happy with each other, before it happened. That said, it's a strong drama, but I think that problem held it back from being a lot stronger.

B

It's stunning how bad this is, yet I think it may have a future an easily mockable cult classic. Not joking. This fucker would kill at midnight screenings.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a triumph."

You keep fighting the good fight for crap, thompsoncory.

Oh yet another film you're desperately, desperately wrong on.

haha ok