two nights; two films; one theme

It has been a movie-watching kind of weekend. We'll skip any discussion of the Friday night Netflix fare -- 10,000 B.C., a Hubby request. It was, umm... not so good. (Hubby's cute so it's ok.)

But last night we watched Sideways, a wonderful film from 2004 about two middle-age men who take a road trip through California wine country just before one is to get married. The two friends have very different personalities and very different agendas which leads to, shall we say, complications.

And tonight we went to the Kelso Theater Pub -- where you can eat pizza and have a glass of beer or wine while watching the movie which is cool -- and saw Revolutionary Road, the film version of the Richard Yates novel of the same name. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet play a 1950's American couple who, feeling trapped in suburbia, make plans to move to Paris. Difficulties ensue.

Both films grapple with the "big picture" issue of living life to the fullest -- and the cost of taking and/or not taking risks. Yet the approaches have little in common: Sideways interjects quirky humor along the way, and Revolutionary Road sticks with the pathos.

I think it's important to ponder the Big Questions in life, and Sideways and Revolutionary Road both get 'thumbs up' from me. But I'll admit when I ponder I do prefer the inclusion of a little humor...