Rating: 
Summary: A work of art!
Review: The movie reminds me of a painting. Every touch of paint is put on very carefully. The result is a masterpiece. This movie also reminds me of the 1950's classic, Sunset Boulevard. Spacey's character is much like William Holden's character. Both want to be better than their current state of affairs. Kevin Spacey gives one of the best performances of the decade. Sam Mendes' first movie is his finest. He would be hard pressed to make another as great.
Rating: 
Summary: enjoyed it, but,........
Review: This movie is one that I like despite its flaws. It has some great parts to it, and some terrible parts that are easy to ignore the first time, but in future viewings tend to grate.the good Most of the acting is excellent. I like Keven Spacey as the downtrodden father and "former center" of the family. A man that was obviously the bread earner at one point in time until his wife started to outshine him and the family lost respect for him in a whole(hypothesis). Annette Benning is good as the woman is is emulating strength in order to gain it, who felt she was weak and was terrified by it. So becomes the cold career woman who is terrified and emotionally weak when no one is around. Mena Suvari was nice as the shallow best friend, who doesn't want to be ordinary. As well as Chris Cooper playing the unlikable Col. Frank Fitts, someone with serious issues. The basis for the story was intersting. Characters who pretty much design their lives to hide behind their fears. The mother fearing weakness, the father fearing he was wasting his life, the daughter and her friend fearing being ordinary, and the former marine being in the closet about his homosexuality. Some of the visuals were interesting, many of them involving roses and Kevin Spacey's sexual fantasies. But it had a bright, shiny, almost too clean feel. Showing this upper middle class neighborhood as seemingly perfect until you get to know the people involved. the bad. Some of the acting was great, some of it was flat out terrible. Thora Birch is attractive in a natural sort of way, but a terrible actress. I wasn't at all interested in her character, a whiny brat that hated her parents for giving her this opulent lifestyle and wanted breast implants(pick an actress that might need them :). The love interest was supposed to be this special kid that no one understood, which I didn't either. He came off as a creepy slob who sounded like he was on the drugs he was selling most of the time. The scene where he sees god in a bag blowing in the wind was wonderfully parodied in Family Guy. All the scenes with them just seemed to fall flat. The idea of the marine in the closet was just cheesy, way too 90's. I don't believe that every person who has something against gays is in the closet. Kevin Spacey's change was enjoyable, but him speaking in soft tones like he was a monk or holy man was too much. The ending was dissapointing in some of the mechanics. What he saw as he was passing was great, but the dull boyfriend looking into his eyes and the smile he had on his face took away from the other elements that were being portrayed. This was a good movie, but like all good movies it is flawed. Great the first time through, but doesn't hold up. It is good for all types, as most people will find someting in it they like, though just as likely something they won't.
Rating:
Summary: The true champion of 1999 - American Beauty.
Review: American Beauty really was a beautiful piece of classic film making. It made me think about my own life, my path, my place in the world, how stupid life really can be but its these moments which I should give such gratitude for. It also had a beautiful take on death - I never felt so secure after watching this film. Its demonstration of how complex we make life for ourselves and what we think will make us happy was so sternly powerful and moving, for its the more subtle things all around us everyday that we should be living for and give thanks to. We have forsaken our real happiness for the things that we think should make us complete and content as individuals. Alan Ball's script was just too awesome - the way it majestically flowed was so elegant and inspiring. It contained numerous moments of comical excellence but entranced you with its unfolding drama. It managed to mix these things up into one hell of a story and with Thomas Newman's chilling, atmospheric yet sublimely beautiful score it all combined to leave you with a sense of breath-taking emotional awe. And of course the highs and lows of the film's finale - I should have felt sad but it gripped me so powerfully that all I could feel was this astounding happiness and optimism for life. No film has ever made me feel like this. And I'm not alone here or dillusional in its merits and strengths as a film. We may be able to disregard its Best Film at The Oscars seeing The Academy is so unbalanced in its pickings of past Best Picture accolades (Forrest Gump over Shawshank, Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan for example) but The BAFTA's, Australian Film Institute - Britain and Australia's most prestigious awards committee, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, the Chicago, Las Vegas, Kansas, Dallas Film Critics Association Awards, the London Critics Circle Film Awards, Online Film Critics Society Awards I could go on all gave it the Best Film title amongst other awards to its name. And it was widely accepted by the 'big' (and lesser) film critics Roger Ebert, Rod Dreher, Mike Clark etc as a top 4 star film. Too damn right!
Rating:
Summary: the new stand by me
Review: kevin spacey is going through a midlife crisis his daughter rejects him he cant get along with his wife so he buys a hotrod starts excercising and smoking pot he buys from his daughters [boy friend] a weird kid who stares at her through the window cause his nazi dad beats him thinking hes gay the whole movie kevin spacey is trying to look sexy and young to his daughters blonde cheerleader friend i wont spoil the ending but this movie won an oscar for a reason its a sad and funny look at modern familys and had thora birchs onscreen debut u must own this dvd
Rating:
Summary: To Monkeytot
Review: Let me just say that you are WRONG WRONG WRONG. First with you saying the daughter killed him is wrong. Second this is by far NOT a who done it. This is a movie about suburban life with the beginning saying "I will be dead in less than a year". Nothing is reflected upon his death for a long time except for a saying that the daughter says but it turns out she was kidding. It is truly sad that you'll miss one of the best movies ever because you THINK this is a who done it. Read a review of the movie please for further information...
Rating: 
Summary: whodunit? whocare?
Review: This movie is a who dun it where you have to guess who killed the dad. Now, i dint see American beauty because I dont like mystery. I like movies where people ACT! and not just who did the killing. My grandmother likes who dun its, though, so I know people out tehre like them, but I would rather wach a movie wioth James Dean or Marlyn Monroe. Also, even though I dint see it i know from previews for it that it was the dark haied girl who killed him, I think she's his daughter? See, I'm right and look at all the time and money i saved by not watching American Beauty!!!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This deserved Best Picture in my oppinion.This was one of the greatest films i've ever seen.It's funny,heartbreaking,controversial,and perverted,yet it somehow along the way makes you love it.Kevin Spacey,Anette Bening,
Chris Cooper,Mena Suvari,Thora Birch,and Wes Bentley were all great in this film about love and loss.Spacey plays Lester Burnham,a man who hates his life.His job,his marriage,everything.
But one day while watching his daughter Jane (Birch) at cheerleading he sees a girl Angela (Suvari) dancing and falls in love with the young girl and finally decides to take charge of his stupid pitiful little life.Bening plays his wife Carol,who also hates her marriage and begins to take charge.Another sub plot is the next door neighbors Colonel Frank Fitts (Cooper),
his wife (Allison Janey),and his camera happy son (Bentley) who falls in love with Jane.This movie was awesome,flat out incredible.It has some of the funniest lines in movie history including: CAROL:Whose car is that out front? LESTER:Mine.1970 Pontiac Firebird,the car i've always wanted,and now I have it.I rule. A for the movie.Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just so much stage craft
Review: This movie has a strong seductive appeal but ultimately is a very shallow look at lust. Lester is a bit too superficial a characterization of a man experiencing mid-life crisis, as he tries to reclaim his lost youth. Keven Spacey plays Lester with plenty of hubris but with very little meaning. More impressive, by far, is Chris Cooper's characterization of a deeply repressed father who ultimately has to confront his own sexuality. Unfortunately 3 teens get caught between these two disfunctional father-figures and thereby creating the rub of the story. Lester has become fixated on his daughter's high school friend, played with coquettish delight by Mena Suvari. Unfortunately Mena never rises above an object of affection, with the camera fawning over her every move as it would in a soft porn movie. Meanwhile, Lester's daughter (Thora Birch) is drawn to a reclusive, sensitive teen (Wes Bentley) who becomes Sam Mendes' surrogate in the fim. The young teen turns out to be a voyeur, capturing Thora's every move on digital film. This oddly narcissistic relationship also fails to develop in any meaningful way other than to provide the occasional ephemoral image such as Wes filming a plastic bag as it is picked up by a swirling wind and tossed about in the air while Thora vacuously looks on. Then we have Lester's wife (Annette Bening) who is pursuing an affair of her own with her real estate broker (Peter Gallagher) who promises to take her to great heights, only to be shocked that her husband could stoop so low as to work in a burger stand, when they pull up for a hamburger. The movie would have easily drifted out of control if it weren't for Cooper's mesmerizing performance as the authoritarian father who can no longer discipline his son. Cooper ultimately is forced to confront Spacey in the most memorable scene of this movie, and probably what earned this film its Oscar. But, Mendes makes it painfully clear in the closing scenes that he didn't know how to handle the fallout of the confrontation, opting for the easy way out. The characters will grab you and the film is well choreographed, but this is another case of style over substance. It reminded me alot of Magnolia, in its attempt to create highly emotive scenes without providing sufficient background for the viewer to identify with these emotions. I think mostly because Mendes and Ball didn't understand these emotions themselves, but see them as convenient stage tools to create this impressionistic view of suburban America.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare, Mesmerizing Film....
Review: ~~~I have a dysfunctional family. My mother is a crazed realtor who's failure only leads to an affair. She never talks to me anymore, probably because she only cares about her career. She and my dad fight more often now. My dad is...I don't know what my dad is. He quit his job technically, but I guess he conned his way into getting paid without working. We used to be really good, but not anymore. He's obsessed with my friend, Angela. She's a cheerleader at our high school. She thinks she's so sexy and brags about all the people she's slept with. She even wants to sleep with my dad, which I think is gross. My dad knows this and is working out like mad just for her. Pft. Ricky Fates...that's my new neighbor. He is a strange boy that goes to school and walks around with a video camera taping dead birds. His father abuses him and is pro nazi. I think I like Ricky. Lately, I've been talking to him more. He is...beautiful.....Oh, and me? I am just an ordinary girl who's depressed. I hate my parents because everything they do is for themselves. They pretend to love me. And as you can see, my life is not exactly the best........~~~ That is the what life would be like in the shoes of Jane Burnham, who's life she believes to be one of the worst. Portrayed by Thora Birch, Jane is not your typical "hot" chick you're used to seeing in high budget films. Of course, she is not ugly either. Perhaps...beautiful? So says Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), who is the boy with the camera next door. He likes to tape "beautiful" things, and has a strong interest in Jane. Now Jane's friend, Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) is your stereotypical cheerleader--a little snotty, a little popular, attractive, and blonde. Her physical features is what drives Lester Burnham, who narrates the film from underneath the tombstone. Feeling the adversities of his marriage, job, and family relations, Lester feels dead. It takes a scent to wake him up from his slumber and live again....a certain scent.....a rose perhaps.....Angela..........
This film is about beauty. It is about stereotypes and judegements. The stereotypical features that are shown from the outside that are not always true. In fact, they are far from true. An ordinary girl may not be as ordinary as you think. The strange freak with the camera who just got out of a mental house may not be such a freak afterall. The typical blonde cheerleader may not be as sexually active as perceived. And the seemingly ordinary parents are soon to be discovered as not quite so ordinary. The only beauty in life does not come from all the sunsets, sunrises, snowy mountaintops, the accentuating blue sky, or the glow of the silver moon surrounded by millions of specks in the everlasting sky. Perhaps beauty can be sought out within a dead bird? A plastic bag? In this heavy movie which contains a bit of sex, drugs, money, power, and discrimination--all themes of drama--director Sam Mendes delivers a powerful, dramatic, yet comedic tale of America's beauty. He defines America not as a wealthy country with independence and refinement. Rather than depicting the Eagle that symbolizes America, he defines it with the Turkey--the actual symbol Benjamin Frankilm wanted as the Nation's bird. Why? Because turkeys are humble. America is humble. That is where our beauty lies. Mendes perfects this rendition of America with the help of cinematographer, Conrad Hall, and Thomas Newman with the musical score (Also did score for Shawshank Redemption). Both played an important role to depicting the film's thesis. The cinematography was tender, yet vivid in the most simplest sense. My favorite shot was of the raindrops falling. Watch and you'll see. The music was mesmerizing....nothing more to say but great. 5-star movie, especially for those who rate films on high standards (more than just acting and plot). This film was deep, comedic, sexy, romantic in an absurd way, and dramatic. If you are looking for a hilarious comedy or something to lighten your mood, this one may not be the wisest of choices if you're not into deep drama.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning 'Beauty'
Review: One of the best movies I have seen in the recent past. I had a chance to watch DVD version of the movie recently and its never boring rather, I find it more thoughful. No doubt - this is Kevin Spacey's best. Lot of venueus for exhibiting his acting skills. So many to point out - while at the fast food drive through meeting his wife with her boy friend, while clarifying the neighbor that he is not 'that', while talking to her daughter's friend after the game, and the best of all, while hearing that it is her first time. I don't see Kevin in the movie but Lester himself. He has lived the character. Class of acting! The Oscar he got was well acclaimed! Interestingly most of the crew in the movie have excellently acted - be it her daughter or wife or the neighbor or neighbor's father. There is enough fun in the movie - the dialogue commenting the two partners jogging with his neighbor is one best example. Cinematography - another wonder in the movie. The flying dirt bag shot by the boy is a beautiful poem of its own. Dialogues, Direction, Screenplay, Story - everything deservers appreciation - Flawless. If at all critics complain about too much of reality or too much of abnormal characters in the movie - well! life is not normal always. Not everyone is perfect! And everyone with our own idiosyncrasies. But inside, the movie is very deep and requires varied serious thoughts. And we cannot forget the silent serious and thoughtful emotion existing throughout the movie. The movie is never dirty or vulgar rather 'beautiful'.
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