Word: grownup
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What's funny is that Hollywood has never been less interested in making the big serious movie: the star-laden, noble-themed, grownup film, of medium budget or higher, that the Oscars used to shower with statuettes. The big studios leave financing of prestige product to their "indie" subsidiaries; hence the proliferation of family dramas that can be made on the cheap, and the near extinction of the Out of Africas. The films Hollywood gives awards to in January and February are precisely the kind it avoids making for most of the year. The Oscars are largely an affirmative-action...
...Brits are past masters at viewing passion with precision. Atonement has echoes of 1971's The Go-Between (a youngster's confusion about a grownup love affair) and 2004's Closer (in which revenge is a stronger impulse than desire). All these films say we are creatures of our wills; it's what makes us human. Atonement says we can sink into sin and lift ourselves out. That's the message of this wise, beautifully acted parable of vengeance and contrition...
...women on TV. But it also liberated TV for adults--of both sexes. Since Mary Richards was not a wife or a mom or (à la That Girl) a single gal defined mainly by her boyfriend, her self-titled sitcom was able to be a sophisticated show about grownups among other grownups, having grownup conversations. Moore made Mary into a fully realized person, iconic but fallible, competent but flappable ("Mr. Gra-a-a-ant!"), practical but romantic. Mary was human and strong enough to be laughed with and laughed at, and that was the kind of liberation that mattered most...
...These days, choosing not to dye has become a statement rather than a casual stylistic choice. Thus the gray wars are a bit of a grownup replay of the freaks vs. squares and smart kids vs. populars from junior high and high school 40 years ago. "The emphasis in the 1960s on being yourself gives women today a cultural grounding that lets them say 'Hell, no'" to artificial color, says Weitz. "More women today are more financially independent, and that leads them to a place where they have the resources to do what they want to do." Weitz suggests that...
...knew something significant was up when, a couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail notifying me that a long-ago boss had added me as a "friend" on Facebook. This was a genuine grownup with an important and time-consuming job (that is, not a magazine writer). And here he was, asking me to be his social-networking buddy...