Movies: A Mini Rant

I think about movies too much. This is strange, since I don't watch all that many movies, and most of the ones I do are silly fun action movies, but really I do.

I suppose I do because I expect certain things out of different sorts of movies. Action movies I just want fun entertainment. Sci-fi/fantasy, coherent plot and a decent story.

Drama, well, I don't watch much drama and here's why: Real life has enough drama for me!

What brings on this hatred (not really) of all things dramatic? Well, Katrina rented Revolutionary Road last night. It was critically acclaimed which I'm starting to decide is a real strike against a movie being watchable.

The premise is this. Leonardo Decaprio and Kate Winslet are married with 2 young kids in the suburbs in the 1950s. They hate their lives as Leo works as an ad-man for Knox Business Machines (IBM) and Kate is a housewife who is in community theater.

The movie starts with a huge fight between them and it really goes down from there. Its a litany of 1950s stereotypes, questioning of life, bad behavior and just painful things to watch on screen.
A list of the issues "dealt with (brought up I should say): Consumeristic life in the suburbs, the pointlessness of many corporate jobs, the housewife's lament, the having more kids to prove you wanted the first, abortion, greed, dreams of a different life.

The movie doesn't so much deal with these issues as chronicle them. The life of Leo and Kate is miserable, unhappy, and all too common in America of the 1950s or today.

Which brings me to my point. Why would I want to watch a movie about this? I know people who's lives are like this. This isn't raising my awareness to anything. This isn't making me "deal with" or "confront" any issues.

Its merely a sad depressing tale of two people who's lives didn't turn out as they wanted and who don't seem to really want to work on themselves.

The movie might end great. About 90 minutes into it give or take Katrina hated it enough to give up as well. Or she just wanted to shut my sarcastic comments up. Either way.

Avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Unless you like reveling in other people's misery.

edit- Thinking about this a bit more, I'm not sure the movie was even well made. Its set in the period very well. But, the flashbacks are few, far between and seem sort of an after thought. It, I dunno. Just avoid it.