The Age of Commercialism

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Absolutely Fantastic

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Caught this while flipping through premium channels one afternoon. Dano usually plays the same character, so I was anxious to see if he'd do something different here. He doesn't. I missed about the first 20 minutes of the film, so no idea if anything happened then, but I can assure you nothing happens after. I got rather frustrated waiting for something of interest. In the toy store scene with the little girl, you'll see one of the most painfully slow scenes in the history of cinema. I guess it was rather realistic, but realism can be painful. Dano's character in 'Little Miss Sunshine' is a younger version of his character in this film, but much more volatile and interesting to watch. Perhaps this is a 'thinking man's' movie and I'm just not smart enough for it. I will say that some of the cinematography, particularly with wide shots, was quite well done at least.

As someone who detests most rock music, particularly the screaming histrionics of performers like the one played by Paul Dano in "For Ellen," I was surprised to find myself empathizing with his character, Joby Taylor. As the lead singer in a band, he may be on center stage surrounded by shouting fans, but in this movie we see him against a backdrop of ordinary suburban life, and he seems like a creature from outer space--a weird alien, cut off from the mainstream of life, a stranger in a strange land.It is clear almost from the start that Joby has been reckless, self-centered, and irresponsible. This is driven home like the impact of a judge's gavel when, late in the film, his little daughter Ellen--custody of whom Joby has loudly refused to relinquish to his wife in their divorce negotiations--simply asks, "Why didn't you come to see me?" Father and daughter have a precious two hours together at a local mall, and then it is time for him to leave her with her mother. But he returns to the house and sneaks in through the window in order to ask Ellen what she thinks of him. To the end, it is his own self that he is focused on. When she answers that he seems like a nice person, I waited for him at least to say that he liked her too--but he never did.The movie does manage to satirize ordinary middle class life through its portrayal of the young lawyer Fred Butler, played by Jon Heder. This sad sack, who still lives with Mom, seems downright goofy next to the "cool" Joby Taylor--to use Joby's term for just about anything that requires his approval. But in being so cool, Joby has lost out on any of the good that comes with ordinary "un-cool" life.Paul Dano's performance is outstanding in this film. The director, So Young Kim, lets the camera linger a little too long on bleak landscapes and nearly deserted highways, but her long closeups of Joby Taylor's face are effective, thanks to Paul Dano.The very final sequence is something of a cop-out. Even before we see where it is leading, I knew that it would be a replay of the final sequence in "Five Easy Pieces." And that explains why I have tagged this review with a Spoiler Alert.

I think the acting for Dano was very spot on but unfortunately it just developed his character and did not advance any storyline very well. The spoiler is that the ending was just a cop-out with the lead character leaving his car, guitar and other belongings to run away. I guess that was supposed to be symbolic of his life in general. I also will almost agree with the other reviewer who said it should have been two short films. I think one really good short film could have been edited from this one film. The fact that reviews need to be ten lines is a foolish rule that needs to be protested and spotlighted for the inane babble that it will foster in that people will write a lot of crap so that they can have their ten lines whereas I think I expressed my sentiments and thoughtful comments succinctly and concisely with just the first five lines of this review and thus I had to write this five line single sentence so that my first five lines might be read and appreciated and that this very long sentence will be admired for the lack of brevity it represents. I think that is ten now. Peace BWadd

I am pretty sure that a lot of people will not like this film due to the slow pace but it's most definitely worth a watch. Paul Dano the main actor has done a great job in his career and this is no exception, he carries this film all the way through and although he plays a very passive role you have to look a little beyond this to realise it.A fantastic film from So Yong Kim and the cast. This was visually effective too. One scene that stood out for me was the bar scene (not going into any details for people reading this). Definitely a high rated film and executed well. Make sure you give this film a view.