So Doug and I talked about a few of the Oscar films in contention this year on the Big Show. Slumdog Millionaire (the favorite and righty so), Milk and the really, really depressing Revolutionary Road. Now I’m not sure what it is about Sam Mendes, but maybe he has it out for the American suburban middle class. In two of his most lauded films (American Beauty and Revolutionary Road) he really seems to go after the illusion of suburban life in America. I mean thematically there’s a lot of similarities between DeCaprio’s and Spacey’s characters in each film. Both try to change their suburban lives dramatically and both get rewarded with a huge kick in the soul. And that makes me wonder if that says more about American culture or more about Mendes himself.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download