Rating: 
Summary: These people live among us
Review: It's sad but true. A great movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Suburban Reality Check.......
Review: This review refers to the Dreamworks Awards Edition(Widescreen) DVD of "American Beauty".....If you have found yourself here because you already know this is a film that you admire and are wondering about the DVD, I can tell you that it is superb. It is a top-notch transfer of this 1999 Best Picture Oscar Winner. The picture clarity and colors are outstanding and whatever sound system you are set up for you'll be happy with the results. You have the choice of DTS 5.1 Surround, Dolby Dig 5.1 or Dolby Stereo. It is anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and you won't miss a thing. There's a ton of special features for you to peruse including commentary by Director Mendes and Writer Alan Ball(which may be viewed throughout the film if you choose), a behind the scenes look, a Storyboard Presentation(you'll find some commentary by cinematographer Conrad Hall here), DVD-ROM and more(see tech info for complete list). This film has won so many awards(nationally and internationally), Best Director, Cinematography and Actor from Oscar among them, but I would use my alloted amount of review words if I were to list them all. A much adored film by the critics and viewing audiences as well. Sooooo....I'm really going to be unpopular when I say I just didn't love this film as much as everyone else(I really wanted to). But here goes.... I did like the film and found it definately worth the view. I found it to be beautifully photographed and very much enjoyed the immaculate performances of these well seasoned actors. Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning and Thora Birch are the very dysfunctional Burnham family. They have grown so far apart from each other that their relationships seem beyond repair. I was actually very touched by a scene with Spacey and Birch, where he is trying to make things right with his daughter. The brillant Chris Cooper and wonderful Allison Janey are the neighbors, also with major problems, and Wes Bently is outstanding as the son who is just a bit different from everyone else. Their everyday lives begin to intertwine and their problems begin to unfold. There are some funny as well as dramatic moments. The story just didn't grab me enough to make me want to watch it over and over. As a suburban housewife who has already been through the mid-life thing, I could not identify with any of these "suburban" characters. Almost everyone on the block was dysfunctional and seemed to have some kind of crisis or phobia going on in their lives. The only functionally normal people on the block was the gay couple portrayed wonderfully by Scott Bakula and Sam Robards. Although entertaining, I just didn't feel like I was seeing a fresh take on a "life in suburbia" film. Maybe you will see something in it I didn't. Everyone else seems to. It should be seen at least once. If you have not seen it you may want to rent it first and check it out, and as I mentioned if you have seen it, you will be happy with the quality and content of the DVD. So Thanx... and hopefully enjoy.....Laurie
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Summary: The American Masquerade
Review: - That would also have been an appropriate title for this brilliant film. From the very beginning the viewer is given the outcome, but the journey is so consuming that we forget. The movie's plot draws out the life of Lester as an unhappy and perhaps incompetent father who is depressed by his wife's lack of affection and a job that is eating away at his life - all the synopsis of his mid-life crisis. I won't give away the movie, because I hate it when people do the same to me. But the dream sequences, the revelation of American suburbia's lies and pretenses that we accept every day, the sheer power of a person who actually lives his life, and the forgotten concept of what is happiness - all carefully crafted and tied together makes this DVD a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A contemporary classic
Review: "They call me the seeker,
I keep searching low and high.
I won't get to get what I'm after,
Till the day I die!"
Pete Townshend- "The Seeker" Les Birnam (Kevin Spacey), a man who has lost his fire and passion for living slowly rots in a job that consists of being nothing more than a meaningless cipher buried in a catacomb of desks in a bland office. His life vacillates in abuse between his success obsessed wife (Annette Benning) and his incommunicado teenage daughter. He even tells us in the opening few seconds that he has recently been killed, but then again, he had been dead for years and didn't even know it. Such is the beginning of Lester's search for rebirth in the satirically focused, poignantly funny and ultimately tragic contemporary film masterpiece "American Beauty". Borrowing from his idol Billy Wilder, British theatre director Sam Mendes makes a controversial and riveting film debut bringing visual life to screenwriter Allan Ball's superb script. Working with the brilliant visual artist Conrad Hall, Ball incorperates vivid imagery, clever framing and careful pacing to create a work of art without the least suggestion of pretension. Mendes utilizes his intense live theatrical training and follows to rule number one of directing: relate a clear narrative in an interesting manner that serves the script. Unlike many young filmmakers, he achieves rule number one while also obeying rule number two: select images that enhance the narrative while making the director invisible. The cast and crew deserve full marks (and, now as a postscript- the Oscar) for creating a movie that tells a clear story populated with characters we somehow care about. This is no mean feat considering that in lesser and exploitive hands the shallow suburbanites who populate the film could easily have become despised one dimensional cut-outs; or even worse yet, in the cameras of a self important visual wizard (think Terrance Malick or Stanley Kubrick), an obscure and distant philosophical tome. Also richly deserving the Oscar, screenwriter Allan Ball's script plays like an economical novel as there isn't a wasted scene or extraneous bit of dialogue. The dialogue itself breathes fully and truthfully as a living organism as Ball exposes every honest wart of behavior. It also allows Lester to achieve a sense of redemption at the very end of the film as he ultimately makes a moral decision and chooses the right, thereby enabling himself to "walk into his house justified" . Ball's characters are people who's obsessions and secrets lead them on a treasure seeking journey celebrating the beautiful frailty that is the human being. Although we the audience, may not desire to admit it, we certainly see either ourselves or our neighbors on the screen. Understand, that this movie is certainly not for everyone. Some certainly will find it dark, cynical and in bad taste. Others, like this reviewer, an insightful, entertaining and memorable experience. Audiences viewing this film will split into such opposing camps. No one, I believe, will say "Oh, it was okay, I guess." Such a easily quotable odyssey of a film that polarizes an audience is richly deserving of a look. "American Beauty" is that film.
Rating:
Summary: Tasteful and Interesting
Review: I can understand what all of the controversy is about American Beauty, from both sides. I think that this is a film that you either love or you hate. I loved it. The plot was twisted anyway, but the film had some twists that really make it surprising and good. Kevin Spacey delivered a character that makes it easy for the viewer to get into. I thought that American Beauty was very creative, and everything ties in together in the end. It is just the kind of movie that is real, and it makes sense, even though it's kindof weird. Life can be weird sometimes though. Anyway, you may have a completely different opinion after viewing it. Like I said, you love it or hate it. It is not a kid movie though. Its R rating is due to sexual content, including some nudity, drug content, profanity, and a scene of bloody violence. American Beauty was a piece of art. It is not your average movie.
Rating:
Summary: American beauty.
Review: Every once and a while movie is made that is so unique and so good that it lives you speechless. American beauty is definitely one of these rare films. You are invited into lives of Lester and Carolyn Burnham, a seemingly ordinary couple in a suburban neighborhood. Movie slowly unravels their lives and lives of those around them. A true underachiever, Lester movies from one day into next as a complete zombie and strives for life with the least amount of responsibilities. Spending most of his days in dreamland, the object of his obsession becomes his teenage daughter's classmate. His overachieving and superficial wife Carolyn on the other hand lives with one philosophy: "In order to be successful, you must project the image of success at all times" (no matter what you might feel). Their daughter is a typical teenager who hates everything about her life including mom and dad. Her boyfriend - a new neighbor, drug dealing filmmaker whose only obsession is death. Excellent performances, brilliant writing by Allen Ball and exquisite visuals places this movie among the best.
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Summary: great movie
Review: sad funny meaningful weird alot can be said about this movie but its definately a must see!basically a guy having midlife crisis who starts to live again by tormenting his obsessed with sucess wife the guy has a daughter whos really withdrawn named jane and her dads attracted to janes cheerleading friend thers weird kid next door who films jane hes sad cause his military dad beats him eventually jane sees hes not crazy the normals are the weird bad people and they fall in love etc i wont give movie away just buy it today! this dvd has lots great extras like hearing each actor talk about film and what it means i got this movie up there with titanic draula 92 private ryan etc its a masterpiece that won every award-----michael
Rating:
Summary: A Knockout!
Review: This movie has touched so many lives and has taught people to appreciate life a little bit more. There was not one bad thing in this movie and i for one am really picky with movies. I guarentee you that you'll love this film!
Rating:
Summary: brilliant
Review: the first time i saw this i wondered if it wasn't too slick. second time round, the slickness didn't seem to matter. contains superb performances all round and an outstanding script. it's funny, true and, right from the beginning, pretty subversive. anyone who's ever been a temp will have cheered when the Spacey character points out to the burger bar manager that he has burger flipping experience. this is a didactic film too. in this film the bag matters! the message would seem to be that the way to live life is to drift on it, like the bag, to let life carry you, rather than impose your will on it. this is the philosophy that the Spacey character embraces and the film demonstrates him to be an enlightened man - he puts other people's needs before his own; and he's seriously chilled out! the damage that occurs in the film comes from people who are too busy trying to impose their own will on life. they have forced their lives out of shape by this act, which seems to have occurred out of a desire to meet the expectations of society. the prime example is the army bloke who has bent his will on denying his sexual nature. Spacey's character's wife also tries to impose her will on life and we're shown that she's wrong to do so - she takes gun classes, cops off with a man called CAINE, and returns home with a gun in the car. her attempts to control her environment bring damage to herself and potentially to others. the portrait of her as the crazy girl before she got obsessed with home furnishings and material success is much more sympathetic. deeply serious then as well as being entertaining, this is a brilliant piece of film-making.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: With an opening voiceover stolen directly from Sunset Boulevard, this film is pretty typical of undeserving movies that win The Big Prize. Spacey and Bening are a fairly loathsome couple, only sympathetic intermittently. The truly compelling aspect of the film resides in the family next door: father Chris Cooper, mother Allison Janney, and son Wes Bentley. What goes on in this household is the true stuff of moviemaking. Janney who has achieved much-deserved fame as a result of her role on The West Wing has been around quite a while, turning in flawless performances each time out of the gate. But what she does in American Beauty, with only a few lines of dialogue, is simply awe-inspiring. I came away from this film positively stricken by her performance which is a masterpiece of understated acting. The same is true of Chris Cooper (who is, at last, getting much-deserved recognition for his fine talent) in the role of a man trying to contain massive fears about his true identity. And Wes Bentley is terrific, dark and defiant, as the son of this household. If you take a step back and look closely at the Spacey character, what you see is perilously close to pedophelia--a man lusting after an underage girl. That it's covered in rose petals doesn't make it any more palatable. Yes there are some good scenes but it doesn't alter the core thesis that a middle-aged man, fed up with his awful family, makes drastic changes to his life because he is hopelessly drawn to a teenage girl. Watch this one for the Janney, Cooper, Bentley performances. They're worth the time. The rest of this prize-winner is derivative--an apple with a worm at its core.
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