Just me--love it. But let's save it for some other time.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 November 2012 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
Sort of thought American Beauty was pandering to conservatives. Meh.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:12 (eleven years ago) link
God that movie sucked.
― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:13 (eleven years ago) link
Well Eric, you haven't psychoanalyzed that dick Alan Ball like I have.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
I'm psychoanalyzing your use of the word "dick" tho.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:27 (eleven years ago) link
Not a fan of that arty sitcom American Beauty, but Ball acquired a lot of good will for me with Six Feet Under. Just not enough for me to watch True Blood.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
The movie is clearly trying to be "pro-gay" "pro-sensitive-teen-rebel" and "pro-alienated-suburban-saddo," how could it be pandering to anyone but liberals in 1999?
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
pro-sensitive itinerant plastic bags too
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:30 (eleven years ago) link
It seemed more like "pro-every scene ending with a laugh line," to me.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:30 (eleven years ago) link
It also sees career women as disgusting, gays as repressed murderous psychos, and littering as the cornerstone to seeing "so much beauty in the world."
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:31 (eleven years ago) link
Don't forget pro-Guess Who, and pro-1970 Firebirds.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
What pisses me off the most about the film, though: Spacey is amazing in it.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:33 (eleven years ago) link
repressed gays in the military as repressed murderous psychos
fixed
Yeah, it's a showbiz, vote-Democrat-til-you-die gay liberal perspective.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:35 (eleven years ago) link
You still don't address its total misogyny. Oh right, gays.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:36 (eleven years ago) link
Hated Spacey in this too, ftr.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:37 (eleven years ago) link
Caveat: I haven't actually watched this dumb movie since 1999. So I could be wrong.
me neither, and no plans to ever again
Bening just seemed to be stuck in an off-week Carol Burnett Show sketch
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:39 (eleven years ago) link
guys did you notice their house was RED WHITE AND BLUE
omg
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
and being quite good at it; she gives the only watchable performance
xpost
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
Watched it again a few years back to re-test my opinion on it (then coloured by the fact of Todd Solondz' Happiness, from a year previous) and found that Spacey was actually good enough to keep me involved even through all of the piss poor writing, strident characterizations and sledgehammer symbolism.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
this
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:42 (eleven years ago) link
Bening's the only one who treats the material like Carol Burnett material.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:43 (eleven years ago) link
this is all kind of an insult to the carol burnett show
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
Oh man, I just remembered how ham-fisted the portrayal of Allison Janney's character was.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
peter gallagher's eyebrows are the real star
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
I did have lots of fun at the time pissing off the film's fans by claiming The Ref as the better Kevin Spacey suburban malaise comedy.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, November 12, 2012
but of what gallagher vehicle can this not be said
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:45 (eleven years ago) link
I. WILL. CLOSE.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
i'm pretty sure i've never actually seen this p.o.s. in full
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
i don't remember Janney OR Gallagher in this film, alas I do Spacey
so glad I linked the E Stein remembrance
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
scottie baks was nice in basically a walk-on role
― sug ones (omar little), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link
When Lester is caught masturbating by Carolyn, his angry retort about their lack of intimacy is the first time he says aloud what he thinks about her.[15] By confronting the issue and Carolyn's "superficial investments in others", Lester is trying to "regain a voice in a home that [only respects] the voices of mother and daughter".[14] His final turning point comes when he and Angela almost have sex;[16] after she confesses her virginity, he no longer thinks of her as a sex object, but as a daughter.[17] He holds her close and "wraps her up". Mendes called it "the most satisfying end to [Lester's] journey there could possibly have been". With these final scenes, Mendes intended to show Lester at the conclusion of a "mythical quest". After Lester gets a beer from the refrigerator, the camera pushes toward him, then stops facing a hallway down which he walks "to meet his fate".[16][18] Having begun to act his age again, Lester achieves closure.[17] As he smiles at a family photo, the camera pans slowly from Lester to the kitchen wall, onto which blood spatters as a gunshot rings out; the slow pan reflects the peace of Lester's death.[19] His body is discovered by Jane and Ricky. Mendes said that Ricky's staring into Lester's dead eyes is "the culmination of the theme" of the film: that beauty is found where it is least expected.[20]
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link
Professor Roy M. Anker argues that the film's thematic center is its direction to the audience to "look closer"
GOD I hate Film Studies departments
nev mind, that was the other thread
xxp
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link
by the time this came out the drudge sirens were going off whenever my film school cronies were breathlessly recommending the latest life-changing entry in the american film renaissance of the late 90s
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:48 (eleven years ago) link
i always thought that shot of ricky looking at dead lester was basically a patient zero moment for his future as a serial killer
― sug ones (omar little), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:48 (eleven years ago) link
I don't remember Janney in this either, actually, but surely she can't be worse here than when she's telling off the nurse in Juno, most assuredly the worst scene she (or anyone else on screen at the time) has ever acted in.
Gallagher I only remember here because of the "Bus-ted!" scene.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:49 (eleven years ago) link
the PK quote
"I didn't dislike American Beauty -- I hated it. It's not that it's badly made -- it isn't. It has snappy rhythms and Kevin Spacey's line readings are very smart, and Annette Bening is skillful in the scene where she beats up on herself. But the picture is a con. It buries us under the same load of attitudes that were tried out in Carnal Knowledge and The Ice Storm, with the nice trustworthy young dope-dealers of Easy Rider. Maybe audiences are so familiar with this set of anti-suburbia attitudes that it's developed into its own movie genre."
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:49 (eleven years ago) link
Bening throwing herself on her closetful of clothes in a paroxysm of grief is the most embarrassing scene she's ever played
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:49 (eleven years ago) link
Carnal Knowledge >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> American Beauty
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:50 (eleven years ago) link
One of only two movies I saw twice in a 12-hour period. I hated it when I watched it in the morning, then my best friend and his girlfriend "conned" me into a second viewing.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:51 (eleven years ago) link
AB, or CK?
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:51 (eleven years ago) link
i hated american beauty as well. cable dramas kinda took the pandering liberal fantasy world thing to new levels though. weeds, mad men, breaking bad, etc. even though i like those shows. liberals need violent wish-fulfillment too.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:52 (eleven years ago) link
hence, V For Vendetta
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:52 (eleven years ago) link
That whole thing was really just Oscar season '99, right?
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 01:11 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/165416-the-critic-as-artful-gadfly-pauline-kael/
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Thursday, 15 November 2012 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
another myth semi-punctured
http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/actually-pauline-kael-did-sometimes-watch-movies-more-than-once
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 20 November 2012 21:10 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I was pretty sure that one was BS from the get-go.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 20 November 2012 21:16 (eleven years ago) link
She said repeatedly in her reviews that such-and-such movie from the thirties played much better when she "last" saw it on TV.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 November 2012 22:43 (eleven years ago) link
Actually don't remember that--can you think off an example offhand?
I can't take all this myth dismantling. Secret Last Year at Marienbad lover, lifelong obsession with split infinitives, Hampton vacations with Andy and Molly, who knows what awaits.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 20 November 2012 23:04 (eleven years ago) link