American Beauty - the unofficial thread

[jokerspath]

American Beauty was the first time I left a theater excited about a movie. It completely blew me away.

It wasn't the first time I felt such immediate gratification and giddiness over a movie, but man do I remember leaving that theatre buzzing.  Such a good feeling.  

Was that 99? Such a good goddamned year.  I unfortunately did not get to see Thin Red Line in the theatre (which I believe was out in 99 as well)...

aw

[rustinglass]

I saw magnolia twice in the theater, but I didn't feel an excited crowd or anything. The second time I saw it there were only 4 people in the theater including me, it was the best cinema experience of my life

[ono]

I love American Beauty.  I even made a little homage short film as a project for a film criticism class (we were to recreate a scene from a film we saw during the semester; I did the ending).  I'm no Spacey, Mendes, Ball, or Conrad L. Hall, though.  :-P

Until I saw Magnolia, American Beauty was my favorite movie ever.  Now, it's #2.  Everything about AB is beautiful, though: the acting, writing, cinematography, music, direction.  Just such a shame it was released the same year as Magnolia.  Then again, Magnolia was almost totally overlooked at the Oscars, only nominated in two categories.  Not that Oscars matter.  Bleh.

[filmcritic]

Because The World Is Round
It Turns Me On

[modage]

elliott smith AND the beatles. is there anything better?

[blister329]

This is my first post.  'Hi' all!  Now, American Beauty used to be my favorite movie of all time.  I used to watch it and was amazed after ever viewing.  But, last month, I put it on expecting that same warm feeling I used to get, but it was no longer there.  Something was different.  I was noticing little things that just were borderline cliche (or maybe AB set the standards for new cliches?)  The whole, 'beautiful freak' thing (Ricky's character) just seemed so dated.  Of course he's weird and confident and deep!  Would you have it any other way?  Some of his lines were so wooden and probably sounded great on paper, but lame when they came out of his mouth. ("... video is a poor excuse, I know..." "there's just so much beauty in the world...")  My ears were just a little sensitive to these things this time around.  Also, the ending was nowhere near as fulfilling as the first couple of times.  Okay, there's a gun shot and Angela's in the bathroom, Ricky and Janey are in the bedroom and Kate (was that Annette's name?) is outside.  There's a gun shot, where is everybody?  Why do they all come seperately?  Weren't they bound to run into each other?  And where did Angela go all together?  We see her look, but nothing after that.  And wouldn't Janey be a little more shocked to see her father's corpse there w/ a bullet in his head?  And all Ricky can say is "Wow."  I don't know.  A little heavy handed if you ask me.  But it wasn't at all the first few times I watched it.  Well, I've got some more gripes if anybody wants to hear them.  I'm going off on a tangent right now so I'll quit while I'm ahead.  I look forward to hearing your responses!

[SHAFTR]

One of the first films to really blow me away.  I don't remember when I saw it...but it wasn't in the theatre.  I think I recall seeing the 2 Video Copy of American Beauty Awards Edition and my friend and I rented it.  It later became the 2nd DVD I owned.

[dufresne]

I love American Beauty.  I even made a little homage short film as a project for a film criticism class

hehe, my college roommates and i made a mock american beauty movie too.  for fun though, not class.

[chainsmoking insomniac]

elliott smith AND the beatles. is there anything better?

Nope.

[ElPandaRoyal]

themodernage02 wrote:
elliott smith AND the beatles. is there anything better?


Nope.

What about sex with Brittany Murphy and Mira Sorvino at the same time?... Makes you think, right?

[markums2k]

themodernage02 wrote:
elliott smith AND the beatles. is there anything better?


Nope.

What about sex with Brittany Murphy and Mira Sorvino at the same time?... Makes you think, right?

You stay away from Mira.  She's MINE.

[ElPandaRoyal]

You stay away from Mira. She's MINE.

Well, ever since I saw Mighty Aphrodite, I decided that I would commit suicide if I ever get to touch any part of her with the tip of my finger, 'cause I firmly believe that from that moment on, life would never get any better than that. I would even challenge you to one of those medieval competitions if that meant I could be around Mira for a second.


As for American Beauty....... great movie. I can't say anything of any sense when I'm talking about Linda Ash... I can't say anything of any sense at all.

[filmcritic]

[Rudie Obias]

the thing that bugs me ablut AMERICAN BEAUTY is when the go from dv to film and the aspect ratio stays the same.  i really like when movies that use both dv and film change the aspect ratio between 4:3 and 2:35.1 (wow!  i'm a huge film geek!)  PTA and spielberg changes aspect ratios, why can't others do the same.

but all in all i liked the film (i guess).

[filmcritic]