Jeff Wells at Hollywood-Elsewhere agrees with me that Revolutionary Road is one of the best of the year. Wells writes:
Revolutionary Road is a corrosive and heartbreaking masterwork. Sam Mendes‘ best film yet is exquisitely cut, blended and calibrated with superb music by Thomas Newman and legendary performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Michael Shannon. It’s the strongest heavyweight drama I’ve seen all year so far — much more searing and moving than I expected.
In fact, the film makes Mendes an artist to watch all over again. He is helped along by the exquisite source material and by those incredible performances.
No Response for "Revolutionary Road – “Strongest Drama I’ve Seen So Far”"
This is so exciting to hear. I just bought the book yesterday and have read but two chapters and I’m already hooked. I can’t wait to see what all involved have done with this story.
Himmm so far we have heard nothing but great things about this movie. I think it will get nominations for best picture, director, best actress and best supporting actor. Since it is already crowded Leo di Caprio may not make the cut to the best actor race. And if it carries all this positive publicity after it opens it may end up winning the best picture this year. And Academy may decide to award long over due KAte Winslet over already two time winner Meryl Streetp. I d like to see a tie again. Thatg would be awesome (i know almost impossible)
I feel that I must interject with my two-cents on this film as I happened to be at the same screening as Mr. Wells last night. I’m not quite sure how so many people are turning head over heels on this film as it doesn’t quite achieve the greatness it hints at. Is it a good film? Absolutely! A masterful one? I’m afraid not. The problem is that there are certainly moments in which there is a mastery of the craft of filmmaking, acting, etc. but they are more sporadic then they should be. The performances are genuinely very good, but it isn’t until the second half of the movie that I believed them. My friend that I saw the film with commented that the movie would have fallen apart without Michael Shannon and I must agree. He is my only lock for a deserved nomination in my head. I thought that Leo did a slightly better job than Kate in the film as I just believed him MORE of the time, even if not all of the time. Once the wear and tear became more evident on their faces and they started to finally just…release, that is when the movie picks up. There is one scene in the dining room towards the end of the movie that truly is one of the best acted scenes of the year. The score is so frustrating. It is incredibly redundant but beautiful. I would say it should be a best score contender if they didn’t constantly knock you over the head with the theme, but eventually its just like…enough already! Mendes’ direction was excellent I would like to say, but some of the time it was just out of focus (which is an interesting phrase to use once you’ve seen one of Michael Shannon’s best moments). The last thing I’ll say about the film is that the performance that no one is talking about that really impressed me is that of Kathryn Hahn. She really brought a whole lot of much needed heart to the film. At the talkback afterwards, Michael Shannon, Kate Winslet, Kathryn Hahn, and David Harbour all seemed very nice, but for most of it, it seemed as they were all as caught up in the mystique of the film as the film was caught up in itself. It could have been a masterpiece, but it just fell short and I walked away not really feeling like I was taking that much with me. It was a shame.
To put this in context, I saw Milk the day before and that was FAR better. That one along with Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight, Milk and Wall-E are my pics for best pic so far (maybe not Wall-E, not that it doesn’t deserve it though). I’ve seen Doubt (better than Rev. Road but not as good as the other three) and Synechdoche, NY and that was wonderful too if not best pic. material. I’m just waiting on Australia, Benjamin Button, Gran Torino, The Wrestler, and Frost/Nixon and then I’ll have my real results, but I just don’t see anything taking over my locks of Slumdog, Milk, and Dark Knight…in my own mind at least
I hope Kate and Leo win the Oscars.
Ricky, Revolutionary Road is almost guaranteed a Best Picture nomination at this point, unless every major critic agrees with you (or me, for that matter). And it will very likely be joined by Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The question is, what will be number 5? Doubt? I doubt it. Frost/Nixon? No Doubt? Then maybe. The Dark Knight? The dark horse (and my fingers are crossed). Changeling? Why haven’t I run to see this movie yet? Hmmm. Rachel Getting Married? Post-election, I wonder…
Sahsa,
Thanks for Jeff’s review.
Surfing the net seems like a lot of people have been impressed by Mendes and his troupe of actors.
With all the raves I’ve read for both Leo and Kate’s performances, they should BOTH be strong contenders for BA nods and Shannon , as well, for SA nod.
Ricky,
Glad to hear some comments about Hahn as Millie. As from reading the book, I knew that the characters Millie and Shep would have the most screen time next to the leads, so I’ve anxious to know something about their performances.
Can’t wait for Thomas Newman’s score.
Sasha:
Kathy Bates is a strong contender from your point of view?
Does she have a great character and powerful performance?
I have never been really excited to see this movie for some reason….up until a couple days ago. Suddenly something has clicked and I have realized just how well every aspect of this movie should work (“should” being the key word since I haven’t seen it yet).
I’m incredibly excited for Winslet’s performance, and I definitely hope she is nominated or wins (if not her, then Streep).
I just…can’t see the woman who gave one of my all time favorite performances in Eternal Sunshine winning for this role. It’s great, but its just not the same.
Paul,
I’m not so sure about it being a lock for a Best Picture nod. I know its VERY likely, but my audience was not raving and the reviews have not been all ecstatic, so I think its going to take the full onslaught of reviews and precursors to know. I just don’t think it would be fair to take a nomination away from The Dark Knight because its a comic book movie when it really, TRULY, is a better film than Revolutionary Road. Just from seeing them, I’d like to call Slumdog and Milk the only real locks so far, but who knows if that’s true. I just foresee a possible Crash situation with the Dark Knight. No one sees it getting nominated, but once it does it sweeps in for the win.
The fact of the matter is the ONLY movies I have seen this year that I walked out of saying this could WIN best picture are The Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire. Milk was wonderful but it just didn’t feel like a winner to me. I will cry if Rev. Road or Doubt win. Button…if its as great as it could be I could defnitely see it winning. If Australia was doing better maybe. I don’t know, its just a winner needs to FEEL like a winner. No Country did less so than most other years a la Lord of the Rings, even if it was certainly good enough to win.
I just don’t know
“The Dark Knight” never ever felt like a winner let alone a nominee, and it still doesn’t. The movie and Best Picture never crossed my head in one thought a single time… it wasn’t until I heard all the fanboy delusions that I even knew it was being considered.
And P.S.: You left out the apostrophes in ALL of your “its.”
Ricky: Just wait til you see Button — you’ve already seen Millk…
I Know winslet will be nominated maybe winning .
But I really hope Leo can be nominated too.
He is always underrated (even he god 3 nod but people still think he is nothing )
I can’t believe that if RR was nominate for many categories except for lead actor.
I’m predicting right now…
Golden Globe for Best Drama: Revolutionary Road
Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical: Slumdog Millionaire
I can’t tell if the crack about me leaving out the apostrophes in my “it’s” was supposed to demean my opinion but honestly whether or not you believe it DESERVES to win best picture is of no consequence, I mean it feels like a winner because of the scope. I also said that I feel that way. I didn’t say you did. No need to get snotty.
No, it wasn’t meant to be demeaning at all. I was just pointing out grammatical errors you made that are made far too often these days.
Daniel… how would “Slumdog Millionaire” win Best Comedy/Musical when it’s neither a comedy nor a musical? At all?
The Natural,
Maybe I’ve been missing something, but I’ve been under the impression that Slumdog is one of those movies that doesn’t fit perfectly into either the comedy or drama genre but that a lot of people has been classifying it as a comedy.
Sorry if I haven’t been paying close enough attention and have been getting the wrong idea…
Leave a reply
All comments should respect the Awards Daily House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please let us know, quoting the comment in question.