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American Beauty - I'm a fucking dumbass

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Who smokes high grade weed and then goes and lifts weights?!

a HERO

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 10:12 (nineteen years ago) link

You like getting nailed by the king!

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 10:14 (nineteen years ago) link

calling the film 'Fuck Me Your Majesteeee' would've made it loads better

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:15 (nineteen years ago) link

The Ice Storm was a better film, but I still liked American Beauty.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:24 (nineteen years ago) link

american beauty is possibly the biggest heap of shit i've watche din ages. etsotsm is fabulous, i'm with enrq on this one.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:33 (nineteen years ago) link

you want to see real estate saleswomen feeling lonely in empty apartments + alienation of the "striving class" in general + the futile attempts to recapture youth = you want taiwanese cinema, specifically Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang, each of whom takes craps that are more interesting than AB

i agree w/the person who says it's a "confused" movie. it's about a guy who gives it all up, this whole treadmill of material ambition, and we sneer at his wife's concern for her sofa yet cheer when he buys himself a snazzy convertible.

but the movie "works." the story, confused as it is, as politically nowhere as it is, is well-told. it's the kind of thing audiences used to take for granted in the forties and fifties: pedestrian tales told competently, with a few brilliant moments of performance.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:34 (nineteen years ago) link

no desire to see kevin spacey jerking off, but the movie gets points for the WEED LOVE LOVE

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:36 (nineteen years ago) link

i figure New York's got so many plastic bags drifting down the street, once that video kid gets there his head'll be spinning. so much Beauty!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:39 (nineteen years ago) link

whatever you think of SK, he has a radically more pessimistic worldview

People say this all the time, and maybe I'm just reading attitudes into him that aren't there, but... are you sure?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:41 (nineteen years ago) link

let's joke about killing Dad who has hardly even lives up to the Matos standard of fatherhood

I know what you mean by this but I must note that I'm not actually a father. Just so Googlers don't get confused

― Matos W.K. in Mpls (M Matos), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Ya hear that, googlers? Don't get confused, now.

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:34 (nineteen years ago) link

ha, i did wonder for a moment...

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Don't try it.

― Crickets Dance On Tequila Booty (Barima), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link

I think The Ice Storm is to American Beauty what Your Friends and Neighbors is to Happiness: a better, subtler film with a similar plot and themes, which got less attention because it was less in-your-face. Happiness is still better than American Beauty, and even AB has it's moments, but I prefer TIS and YFaN over these two.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Don't remember, really (as the movie is largely unmemorable), but I believe it was the nazi-crockery-collecting father next door.

Decent soundtrack, tho'.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

American Beauty is probably the movie I'm most embarrassed about really liking when I saw it. I even took notes the day after I saw it re: the film's detailed color symbolism (!!). I'm a sucker for this kind of domestic drama (I love The Ice Storm and Updike's Rabbit series), so it's not surprising that I got into it. But yeah, in retrospect, it seems completely unsubtle. I remember arguing for a long time that Chris Cooper's character wasn't really gay -- he was just lonely and confused at that moment (in the same way the kids in Elephant aren't really gay but awkwardly kiss each other in the shower). But it's mostly because I didn't want to believe the film would cave in to that ridiculous, tired stereotype (he's a hard-ass military man who's homophobic BECAUSE HE'S GAY HIMSELF!). It seems obvious now that it would, and it did.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, Alex just reminded me: I do like the score. Mmmm, marimbas. Although I think it's been mimicked for almost every similar-themed movie that's come out in the last five years.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link

The s/t was alright, yeah.

― Crickets Dance On Tequila Booty (Barima), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually, I think there are some very good things about the script, but they don't include the characters or dialogue.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link

I like Ice Storm, too. Even though, let's face it, it's a bit of an evil movie.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link

The s/t was alright, yeah.

Very similar to Six Feet Under for obvious reasons.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Even though, let's face it, it's a bit of an evil movie.

What do you mean by this?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link

adultery, evil christina ricci, electrocution, drunk kevin kline

EVIL

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Nixon masks!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

she can sigourney my weaver anytime

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link

In retrospect the whole film seems very smug and bourgeois. It's a guilty pleasure because it is totally pandering to a specific audience and the older, wiser me finds much of the tone of the film a little icky an poorly-judged. I still enjoy the way it looks.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Perhaps you disagree.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Hmmm, I haven't seen it in a few years. Perhaps I'll go back and see.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Know what's a really bad movie? Consenting Adults.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

In terms of utter creepiness, American Beauty < Your Friends and Neighbors < The Ice Storm <<<<<<<<<< Happiness.

― NA (Nick A.), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 15:42 (nineteen years ago) link

i disagree that The Ice Storm is Evil. I primarily love it because of the incredibly good acting though.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Evil with a capital E!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Spencer OTM... one of the worst movies I've ever paid money for.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 16:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Tracer: you want to see real estate saleswomen feeling lonely in empty apartments + alienation of the "striving class" in general + the futile attempts to recapture youth = you want taiwanese cinema, specifically Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang, each of whom takes craps that are more interesting than AB

This is completely OTM. I always recommend 'Yi-Yi' to 'American Beauty' lovers.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link

seconded.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:16 (nineteen years ago) link

thirded.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:18 (nineteen years ago) link

is it time for a *slurp slurp*?

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:19 (nineteen years ago) link

ewwww.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

right thread.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:21 (nineteen years ago) link

there's some fierce alienation going on in 'what time is it there?'.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:25 (nineteen years ago) link

the French film Time Out is yet another better take on this type of story.

― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

oh oh oh that's a good one too!

xpost

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Happiness is fucking BOLLOCKS.

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

seconded.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha! I used to really like Happiness.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Happiness is just an unfunny Farrelly Brothers film crossed with the worst aspects of Vice.

― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:29 (nineteen years ago) link

All of that "cinema of misanthropy" stuff is just horrible, really.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Gear!, that is the best description of Happiness that I've ever read.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link

I blame the French. Watch Amateur!st get mad at me.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link

the best shot during happiness is when PST comes over to LFB's place and there's this 60-90 second shot of him slowwwwwwwwwwwly leaning across the couch which she breaks with "This isn't going to work out"... haha, i laughed both times i saw it.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:31 (nineteen years ago) link

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