It’s the catch phrase of suburban consumerism, that simple line personifies the human instinct to always do better than our neighbors. When Mr. Jones next door pulls into the driveway in his new Audi S4, you stop mowing the lawn and stare in awe of his new ride. You go over and have a look for yourself, complimenting Mr. Jones on his new purchase, and then get back to mowing your lawn. The next day you’re looking at your old car with dissatisfaction, and you are soon at the Audi dealership test driving an R8, knowing that when you pull into your driveway, all your neighbors will want what you have. Yup, your just keeping up with the Joneses.
Cue in this years film titled just that: The Joneses. The film stars David Duchovny and Demi Moore as they portray a wealthy suburban family moving into a new neighborhood. Their perfect family easily blends into their new community and soon becomes the family that has what everyone wants. They drive the cars you want, they have the phone you didn’t even think was out yet, and they dress the way you wish you looked. However if it all seems to good to be true, then you might be catching on.
That perfect family turns out to be no family at all, instead, they are a corporate team of advertisers working for an agency that places ‘families’ in neighborhoods just to show off the latest consumer products. It all seems so perfect until the father figure Steve Jones played by Duchovny starts to see the crippling effect their sales tactic is having on the neighbors as they desperately try to keep up.
Coming into this film I thought it was going to be a clever and entertaining movie, but as the credits rolled up, it ended as a touching experience as well. The film exposed the tragic reality of how consumerism can push people out of their element, and into a world full of debt and regret. The current economic situation will resonate in your mind as you watch, and start to ask yourself; are you living within your means?
Thumbs up for a quality film that both entertains and leaves you with something to think about. Check out the trailer below.
Can challenging yourself, both physically and mentally drive you to change, inspire others to change, and to view the world differently? In 180 South, Jeff Johnson embarks on an epic journey for adventure, and also a journey to save one of the largest untouched wilderness spaces on the planet; Patagonia.
A somewhat obscure film, Tokyo Sonata was recently released on DVD this past week. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, it’s a story about a seemingly typical middle class Japanese family. But appearances are only skin deep, and as the plot opens up, we discover that this typical family has a myriad of problems tearing at the fabric keeping the mother, father, and their 2 sons together. We witness a family trying to cope with a series of unexpected events, and ultimately break down under the pressure, only to redeem themselves through their own means.
So if your browsing the headlines today you’ll come across a couple articles with a common theme; flight. First off, today is a big day for Chicago based airplane manufacturer Boeing. Today is the day that the companies newest plane the 787 Dreamliner took its maiden test flight over the skies of Everett, Washington. Boeing hasn’t released a new plane in over ten years, and while their biggest competitor went for big, with the Airbus A380, Boeing which revolutionized the large aircraft market with the 747 long ago, is shifting its focus to smaller, but more efficient flying. The Dreamliner is designed with mostly composite materials which make it lighter, and capable of flying longer distances. With capacities of 210-330 passengers, its aiming for the point to point long distance flight market. Not surprisingly, carriers such as Air Canada will be one of Boeing’s biggest customers, the airline struggles to fill its large aircraft on long flights between major Canadian cities, and has already ordered 37 of the aircraft priced at $150 million US each. .
