Your Movie Monkey has been quite unfaithful in posting to this blog, but has been posting to his facebook page through rotten tomatoes. He has decided to transfer his reviews here… therefore you should see a cascade of oldish movie reviews. Oh, and now he will use the “star” format (up to 5 stars) for his overall rating.
Your Movie Monkey has felt a little guilty of late that he hasn’t been terribly faithful to this blog. (But then again, as the only person in American who didn’t like “Up”, he felt he might get threatened.)
Part of his issue is that he has discovered that, unless the movie is really bad like “Twilight”, he doesn’t enjoy doing the plot recaps. So now he will just talk about whatever he wants, in some cases doing full reviews, and in some cases just babbling on.
He also plans to add a new section called “The Pitch” to each review, which is an amusing hypothetical look at how the movie might have been pitched to the folks with money who can make it happen.
Thanks for your patience, and hope you enjoy the new style. And hope that The Monkey actually does it now.
Your Movie Monkey was sitting minding his own business, waiting for Brad Pitt to age backward in front of his eyes, when a preview for the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio/Kate Winslet movie Revolutionary Roadcame about. It appears to be about a young, beautiful couple who are in love, and compromise that they will life–horrors–in the suburbs. They have two gorgeous children, and, according to the previews, hate their lives. Leonardo DiCaprio hates his job, they hate their life, etc., etc. It’s a Sam Mendes film, the same guy who brought us American Beauty (which, due to subject matter, Your Movie Monkey has chosen not to see. His choice.)
Hollywood’s constant put down of traditional families was once again in full force in this ad. These two chose to get married and have kids, and of course, they hate it. The implication here is that everyone in suburban life is unhappy. But this is a lie. Lots of folks are happy being with their spouses, raising their kids, etc.
In the preview (which could admittedly be misleading with regard to the rest of the film) it appears that the two are unhappy because they can’t do exactly what they want to do every second of the day. The tone in DiCaprio’s voice when he says “I go to a job that I hate” is astounding. It conveys the idea that one should be happy every minute of every day, and that if you’re not, life is treating you unfairly.
Almost everything Your Movie Monkey has experienced in life that is of any value to him required sacrifice in the short term in order to gain in the long term. The idea that there should be no sacrifice, no momentary displeasure, is ludicrous. Everything requires work. And work can be unpleasant at times.
At Your Movie Monkey’s high school, there was a course offered that was essentially a “home ec” for both guys and girls, and lots of folks took it as a “blow off” class. Most folks in that class made an A, or at least those YMM talked with, but in general, the fact that they made an A in something so easy didn’t bring them a lot of pride or pleasure or value. There was no pain. And correspondingly, there was no gain.
Your Movie Monkey understands that family life is not for everyone. Even the Apostle Paul recommends remaining single. And Your Movie Monkey lauds those who know that married life or family life would not suit them, and choose not to go down that road. But YMM is also quite tired of Hollywood making constant fun of those who live for their families as being unhappy, or, more often, stupid.
For one, it’s a lie, as described above. There are lots of folks who are happy in the suburbs. But for another thing, it’s not exactly a new idea, is it now? Movie makers appear to think they are brave and cutting edge by telling this story: “what if there were a suburban family and they weren’t happyhuh? Did you ever think of that?” Of course we did. It’s old. It’s hackneyed. It’s been told a million times. (But maybe not quite so often as the rag-tag sports team that against all odds and with the motivating coach goes ont to win some competition. Surely, surely we have now covered all sports and all not-likely-to-win groups of youths and all tough talking, boundary breaking coaches? Please?)
Sorry about the rant. There is little new in this post that hasn’t been described. But it’s Your Movie Monkey’s website, and that ad got him stirred up.
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