American Beauty (The Awards Edition)

Rating:
Summary: ick
Review: A thinking person's movie for the intellectually lazy. Shallow and derivative, with fairly good acting and nice perfume-commercial style visuals... Not to be taken seriously, but still fairly entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: The Opposite of Forrest Gump
Review: Often as not the hype attached to new releases is totally unjustified. But it is nearly always the case with Hollywood's blockbuster generation of mind-numbing, effects heavy movies. Films such as Titanic,Armageddon,Phantom Menace,Saving Private Ryan and the vomit-inducing Forrest Gump seem to lack any real depth. There is no attempt to make the audience think or reflect on life in general. American Beauty made me realise that America was still capable of producing thought-provoking films in the way it used to. Contrary to other reviews I've read on these pages it does not suggest we all ditch our wonderful family lives to chase 16 year old girls.It merely suggests that we all live our lives the way we really wish to live them and not feel the need to conform to some pre-written script. Rather than fulfilling his role in a farcical marriage that has run it's natural length of time, Lester opts out and finds out what he's really about ,starts living his life again ,wakes up basically. His pursuit of his daughter's best-friend could be a symbol of his quest to find his lost-youth. Kevin Spacey is a wonderfully charismatic actor and this will no doubt attract an audience who will not be prepared for a dark portrayal of life as presented in this film. I think it has a lot to say about the hypocrisy of the times we live in and is certainly not easy viewing. Don't watch it if you think the world is some wonderful utopian paradise and that all movies should try to represent this. Certainly don't watch it with your mum! I've seen this film twice and loved it both times.If you like a film that allows you to think go for it.

Rating:
Summary: Four and a half Stars
Review: You've heard the hype about American Beauty but it's better just to see it for yourself. Everyone will take with them a different perspective of it. I don't like to use the term 'life-affirming', but that's precisely what this film is. The message is rammed home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but I actually saw this film with someone who took some aspects of the film too literally. The world of American Beauty is dark, miserable and pitiful. Yet it's also honest in it's caustic social satire. This could be any sleepy suburb of Americana. No matter how bleak American Beauty appears to be, it comes up smelling of roses.

Rating:
Summary: Where is the DVD of this awesome move! I want my DVD ASAP!
Review: OK, Dreamworks please dont pull a George Lucas with this movie and not put it out on DVD! I want my DVD of this awesome movie ASAP! Kudos to the cast and especially Kevin Spacey!

Rating:
Summary: WHAT is the BIG DEAL?
Review: I absolutely cannot believe that this movie won an Oscar. This has convinced me to never watch the Oscars again since it is obviously a "political" organization. This movie was just dumb AND disgusting in its semi-pedophilic theme. I am not a prude but I could hardly stomach Kevin Spacey's behavior. With all the discussions about "family values" I was also disappointed with the complete lack of reverance in this family and their attempt to spoof (which fell flat,by the way). I am tremendously thankful I did not waste my money at the theatre. Wasting my money on a rental was bad enough. This was the WORST movie I have seen in a very long time.

Rating:
Summary: American Beauty
Review: I first saw this movie in October and have seen it two more times since then. This was an amazing film that left me speechless the first time I saw it. It stuck in my mind for a long time after seeing it. The acting was wonderful in this movie. Kevin Spacey gives his usual wonderful performance. Wes Bentley is amazing in this movie. I would recomend everyone seeing this movie.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: I have never seen a more amazing movie. If you don't use beautiful to describe it, use amazing. Kevin Spacey did such a wonderful job. When I left the theater, I was in such awe. I was speachless. This movie really makes a person think about what is going on in their life. It is a movie about Life and it could not portray it any better. The way the movie is, is the most amazing thing ever.

Rating:
Summary: "Sometimes, there is so much beauty in the world....."
Review: AMERICAN BEAUTY is a new and absolutely perfect film. After seeing it, your whole outlook on life changes completely. We find beauty in things never before realized to be so. A simple shopping bag can tell a vast array of stories and deliver unforgettable images. At the end, after the conclusion, the camera does a slow zoom-out of the neighborhood. This, in my view, is the most brilliant element of the film. It starts with a zoom-in and ends with an -out. For a film to touch me as this did, it must be powerful and it is. Intense, dramatic, well-acted, entertaining, all of these and more describe this fantastic film. See it, love it, and please, after seeing it, look at a grocery bag, and say what you really think.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful but still hollywood
Review: When I stare down hollywood boulvevard today, it seems packed to the slightest ounce in unoriginality. What puzzles me is just why everyone is claiming "American Beauty", the supposed masterpiece of freshmen Sam Mendes, so original. What like tales of confused human souls in suburbia is something new? Anyone who has seen Todd Soldoz's "Happiness" (which is much more funny) and Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" (which is much more artistic) will realize that the men behind "Beauty's" lense had were lacking new thoughts. Even the main plot of "Beauty" is also nothing new: a middle aged man going through a typical mid-life crisis, who even has the proper 1960's props-muscle car to marijuana memorbialia. In short Kevin Spacey is funny, but thats it. The performance is barely comparable to that of Jim Carrey in "Man on the Moon" who's got the funny aspect as well an utterly timeless performance. Ditto in terms of Mendes direction. Interweaving characters in a rather simple fashion is a footnote compared to the highly-detailed, and breathtaking direction of Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) David Fincher (Fight Club) Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut) and Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out the Dead) but I guess the Academy still looks towards money, success and public nod instead of complete artistic originality, considering those latter three directors weren't even nominated. But "Beauty" in it's own right is never close to insipid, as it still retains a low spot on my years top ten list. For a first time screenwriter, Alan Ball chose the right influence when he constructed the character of Ricky Fitts, the film's voyeur neighbor. Fitts is a typical 18 year old: a pot smoker, heavy into technolgy, but in the same breath he seems to be a transcendal prophet in his time. Almost a modern day Emerson. Ball must have viewed Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" before editing the final script, because Wes Bentley's Fitts resembles Jim Caviezel's Private Witt so closely, its amazing. Set against a world that is ravished to hell in terms of true eligance and emotion, they seem to have found their own world where heaven does exist, whether it's Guadalcancal Island 1943, or a modern middle class consumerville. When he can't keep his eyes of Jane, a girl who "try's to look unattractive" instead of Angela, an ego-blonde sexpot, we realize that Ricky is different, and at this point most watching this film are through off (considering a majoirity of the audience consists of old people and high school jocks slumming with their priss girlfriends.. well that's what I've seen anyway) Although Mendes hopes you don't notice, Ricky is the film's pivot, not Spacey's played pedophile. Ricky causes the Burnham family to twist and shutter, as Spacey realizes his youth, and Jane realizes their is someone who she can connect with and even trust ( on a spiritual level that streches so much beyond the borders of rural love it has to be unreal) Like Witt, Fitts may not have many lines, but his quiet intensity and feeling cause the film to be perhaps more memorable than sheer originality (such as "Being John Malkovich"). So in the end I say this; take back all the Oscars, and hand only one to "Beauty", the one it should have deserved: Best Supporting Actor-Wes Bentley.

Rating:
Summary: American Beauty- Beauty At It's Best
Review: Words cannot describe this film. It is art. It is a very realview into the all too real and extreme banal realities of life. Weforget of these sometimes, but only because of the beauty we see. American Beauty portrays this on screen perfectly. The director, Sam Mendes, does an excellent job of as well. There could not have been a more real cast for the film also. Kevin Spacey was at his best. He certainly deserved his Academy Award. Anette Benning portrays Carolyn to a tee. Wes Bently was believable. He made us see beauty in our own lives, no matter how cynical they may seem. Other cast members deserve congrats also. Mena Suvari, Thora Birch, Peter Gallagher, Chris Cooper. And how could it all have been done without the touch of Alan Ball's genius. The composed music was in sync with the film perfectly, thanks to Thomas Newman. Extrodinary, and incredible. END