American Beauty

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Blu B How the heck did this win Best Picture...The direction is solid throughout but everything else is just....yeah. IT's half decently made all around but there is just some weird stuff.This is cut from the same cloth as something like Crash (2004) but not as egregious. It has a lot of clever biting commentary on the American Dream which I did like and pick up on throughout. Kevin Spacey is great in this and probably the best thing besides Mendes direction. Besides the direction, Spacey, and the commentary I struggle to find a lot more to say. Wes Bentley's character is just bizarre and like a Shamalyan quirky character than any real character. No human being acts like that. Second, and probably my biggest issue is the choices characters make in this is just bizarre. Cooper coming out and becoming a murderer, the daughter having chemistry with Wes, Benning getting ready to kill her husband for being a jerk. Than there is just some bizarre stuff like the Bag scene which felt like a post 2000 Terrance Malik moment, Wes's Dad thinking he's blowing Spacey, and pretty much any scene involving Wes and the daughter. Dear god, all momentum stops when it focuses on those two. They have no chemistry, and the scenes are just weird. The whole Spacey lusting over the daughters best friend I thought was creepy but if anything I could understand it and thought it was justified for the plot and tone. This jumps around too much. were led to believe Spacey is going to be the main focus but honestly he's probably only the main focus in half the film. Everyone else isn't as interesting or is just weird. This needed to focus squarely on Spacey and the crisis he goes through. It would have been nice also if Angela and Lester would've had more scenes together as there dynamic is far more interesting and exploring the taboos of a relationship like that would've been more focused and substantive. Sometimes also the dialouge can be a bit on the nose/clunky as well despite the strong direction. This starts out well enough but as it jumps around, focuses on weird characters, and just some bizarre scenes it just really becomes a slog to get through. As it went on I kept slowly losing interest more and more. It's very flawed and you can tell its trying to be a New Hollywood style satire melodrama but it feels more arthouse and weird than anything. If you like this I encourage you to watch something that satirizes the American Dream like Falling Down or Office Space. Because I think you'll adore those if this earns your high praise. Unless your a die hard Spacey fan or wanna see Mendes early works, most people can skip this. Highly Overrated in my opinion and dissappointly so. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/17/24 Full Review andy b way overrated. Poor messaging. What is the point? Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/26/24 Full Review Christian K This is a tough one cause of the big obvious reason. The script and performances are almost perfect. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/05/24 Full Review Arid S Oh god she is beautiful, this film is just mind bending, masterpiece. Never again will we get something like this. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/31/24 Full Review Ryan B he movie doesn’t exactly have a plot, it just chugs along telling you what happens in the beginning, and it doesn’t have a time reference or necessarily likable characters, but everything in here is so damn charming. half way through watching this i was inspired to clean my room and change how i felt about my situation, because i’ve been so exhausted and busy recently i haven’t been able to clean my room which is ridiculous. this movie helped me get a good nights sleep after 3 months of hell. like wow this filled me with so much awe, and it has so much style. just wow. like everything about this movie makes you feel like you shouldn’t like it, but it’s literally the beauty of it. wow. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/19/24 Full Review Pedro G Excelente película, una gran cinta romántica con toques de comedia. Esta película narra una historia con los estereotipos de idealización americana, en donde hay una familia que vive una buena vida pero que tiene problemas familiares. La película se centra mas que nada en el problema del protagonista, quien no se siente querido ni respetado y busca un cambio en su vida, siendo conocer a Angela el impulso a hacerlo. También hay diversos arcos de personajes, teniendo a cada uno enfocado en algo en especifico y tratando de mejorar su vida; mi favorito y mas entretenido es el arco del protagonista, y otro que me gusto mucho es el del personaje de Ricky. Las actuaciones son excelentes, Kevin Spacey es el mas destacado a mi parecer, haciendo un gran papel de este hombre viviendo su crisis de la mediana edad, con momentos mas serios y emotivos, y otros graciosos. Por otro lado, la historia es algo polémica por lo que cuenta, pero es excelente el mensaje que quiere dejar y para mi lo logra ejecutar de gran manera. Además, es una película muy entretenida, mi única critica es que capaz tarda unos 15/20 minutos en engancharte, pero después no podes parar de verla. Tiene un par de giros de trama muy buenos que no te los esperas y te van a sorprender; además, destaco un par de escenas que ya son icónicas para el mundo del cine. Por ultimo, destacar la banda sonora, que si bien esta un poco ausente en la película, lo poco que se puede escuchar creo que no esta para nada mal. En conclusión, una excelente película que creo yo todos deberían ver ya que es un clásico del cine, con una historia brillante y sumamente entretenida junto a un mensaje que logra transmitir muy bien. Muy recomendada. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/15/24 Full Review Read all reviews

American Beauty

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