Month: February 2019

10 Bad-relationship Movies: 4. ‘Revolutionary Road’

Jeff Mitchell

4. “Revolutionary Road” (2008) – Director Sam Mendes’ cautionary tale about marriage lives in the 1950s, a time-cradle for suburban expansion, and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler put their best feet forward to raise a family. While Frank gets tangled in the humdrum existence of a thankless corporate job, April stays home to raise children.   They soon discover that their surrounding environment does not naturally fulfill contentment, so April suggests that their family just leave it all behind and runaway to Paris. Peer pressures attempt to keep…

10 Bad-relationship Movies: 5. ‘The War of the Roses’

Jeff Mitchell

5. “The War of the Roses” (1989) – Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner starred in the wildly funny action-picture, rom-com “Romancing the Stone” (1984) and its less-magnetic sequel “The Jewel of the Nile” (1985).  Four years later the two paired up again in another comedy, but a dark one.  Danny DeVito – who also acted in both previously-mentioned films – spins the story of Oliver (Douglas) and Barbara (Turner) Rose, a couple pitted in a vicious divorce proceeding that purposely delves into cartoonish altercations. Barbara wants the divorce, and her…

10 Bad-relationship Movies: 6. ‘Blue Valentine’

Jeff Mitchell

6.  “Blue Valentine” (2010) – The title of director Derek Cianfrance’s film is exactly what one would expect.  It’s a love story that goes south, and the unfortunate man and woman caught in the downward spiral are Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams), respectively.  This young couple’s initial attraction to each other is clear, and marriage seems like a romantic forever-rendezvous and the most logical next step. Altruistic bliss is their vision, but reality sets in during a five to six year-relationship, when money, alcohol abuse and the monotony…