Based on the period novel by Richard Yates, the new Sam Mendes film Revolutionary Road concerns the plight of unhappy 1950’s suburbanites Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his wife April (Kate Winslet), and their desire to escape from the trap of their existence.  After an attempt at acting fails, April feels that her mundane life in suburbia has no more to offer her, and convinces Frank – who is similarly bored with his job, and even has a meaningless affair …

“Welcome to the Suck”. That’s the tagline for Jarhead, the Sam Mendes flick about a sniper’s experience in the Gulf War – where he didn’t even get to fire his gun. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Starsgaard and Jaamie Faaxx (err, Jamie Foxx), the movie runs about two hours long, but… nothing really happens. I’m not really sure if that’s the point – we get to see a bit of Jake’s training, and then they’re shipped off to Saudi Arabia, where …

For his second feature film, director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) throws us into a dark, gritty adaptation of a graphic novel set in the world of crime in 1931 in The Road to Perdition. Tom Hanks is Michael Sullivan, a hitman for John Rooney (Paul Newman). Sullivan’s son Michael Jr., curious about his father’s work, hides in the car when Sullivan goes out on a job. He ends up witnessing the execution of a business associate of Rooney’s, and before …