movies

[GatewaySnayke]

Crap, I missed a discussion about "American Beauty"?

lol my favorite part is when he tells Annette Benning the new him beats off when he's horny. What a line!

[omaha_red]

Crap, I missed a discussion about "American Beauty"?

lol my favorite part is when he tells Annette Benning the new him beats off when he's horny. What a line!

sorry.. we already decided the movie is terrible..

[GatewaySnayke]

I don't give a [expletive] what you guys decided. Kevin Spacey getting high with a 17-year-old is just great stuff.

[maddash]

This. When I first saw it, I liked it a lot, and then the more I thought about it I felt it was manipulative. You're conned into rooting for Kevin Spacey's character, who'd be a lot happier if he could just ditch his insane wife and go back to acting like a college student again. The ending was a cop out - realistically there's no way to keep his feel good story going - he'd have to pay some emotional price for all this fun he's been having and make some sort of compromise. So they have a closeted homosexual who hates himself come over and shoot him. Not to mention Annette Bening's character is a crude stereotype. I'd almost say misogynist, though I think that term gets overused.

The paper bag thing gets made fun of a lot, but I find it genuinely moving. I've had a lot of great small moments in my life like that.

If we're going to be this critical of movies, then we should probably cancel the Best Picture award most years.

I don't follow you. I'm this critical of this movie because it deserves it (in my opinion). And really, Annette Bening's character is just awful. That's the worst part of it for me. She's a one-dimensional straw man that exists mostly to justify the husband's midlife crisis. To me he's clearly made out to be the good guy and the wife is just making life hard for everyone.

Having said that, canceling the award is fine with me. Fight Club was out the same year, touches on the same themes in a much more fair and interesting way, and wasn't even nominated.

And see, I thought Fight Club was not a very good movie.

In general, I think everything is a bit too critical in the internet era. All movies have flaws in one way or another. Somebody is going to rail on those flaws, then all of the sudden a movie is crap. I've always liked American Beauty, flaws and all.

The internet brings a lot of criticism of many different things out in the open, but there's always been harsh or negative reviews of movies, and more severe than anything I've said. As far as this film goes, my critique isn't that original. You can find newspaper critics with similar complaints. I think it's a decent movie, but it's overrated and I don't think it was the best movie that year (which was a really good year for movies).

I wasn't really commenting on your comments in the first place (more maddash's with his jibberish about metaphors and such). I probably should have just said "ditto" to omaha's response.

I don't think I even understand what you're saying. Are you saying you guys took a story about painfully stereotypical characters at face value with no thought whatsoever about the director's attempt to have the audience find any kind of deeper meaning in the film? Like how the paper bag scene was an attempt to show the beauty in something as worthless as a paper bag (literally trash) against the backdrop of a very materialist suburbia... it was just just floaty bag to you?

I actually don't believe either of you guys. I think you associate words like symbolism and metaphors with something an elite critic would say, and you're trying to distance yourself from that. I don't actually believe you feel that thinking about a film and trying to find a deeper meaning in it "ruins" it for you.

But maybe I'm wrong... heck, maybe Huckleberry Finn really was just a grand adventurer about a kid and a slave floating down the river.

[omaha_red]

The Peoria Theater just opened, a little two screen theater that serves beer and wine, and they're showing nothing but Indie and old films. They're currently showing Milk and Rachel Getting Married. Friday starts 130 minutes of Academy Award nominated shorts and a film called Waltz With Bashir. Has anyone here seen Waltz With Bashir and, if so, is it worth seeing?

That's nice. I love old rep houses. Yes I've seen Waltz with Bachir, and it is worth seeing.

I've never actually seen 'Kids' or 'Bully', but I do want to watch both (and have both). But I've always known that you gotta be prepared and in the proper frame of mind to watch Larry Clark's movies.

Clement, do you like the book?

I haven't read the book.

i can dig larry clark movies.. i "liked" bully.. have you seen "gummo" or any of Harmony Korine's movies?

[JL21]

I don't think I even understand what you're saying. Are you saying you guys took a story about painfully stereotypical characters at face value with no thought whatsoever about the director's attempt to have the audience find any kind of deeper meaning in the film? Like how the paper bag scene was an attempt to show the beauty in something as worthless as a paper bag (literally trash) against the backdrop of a very materialist suburbia... it was just just floaty bag to you?

I actually don't believe either of you guys. I think you associate words like symbolism and metaphors with something an elite critic would say, and you're trying to distance yourself from that. I don't actually believe you feel that thinking about a film and trying to find a deeper meaning in it "ruins" it for you.

But maybe I'm wrong... heck, maybe Huckleberry Finn really was just a grand adventurer about a kid and a slave floating down the river.

Actually, I think it was a plastic bag.

[JL21]

I rented The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and then my brother came into town and I didn't get a chance to watch it. Had to return it to the library last night. I'll check it out again in a couple days. It's a 2 disc DVD but I'm not sure what all is on it. I liked the other two in the trilogy so I expect to really like this one. I was on a huge Western kick this past summer. It's tough to get off once you're started. I recommend any of the Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann pictures.

Oh man you're in for some good [expletive]. Let me know what you think, it's one of my absolute favorite movies.

Most definitely. I liked all three of the Leone trilogy, but The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was my favorite.

And while you're at it, Richie (and Third Man), I'd highly recommend stepping away from the spaghetti Westerns and watching High Plains Drifter if you haven't seen it already.

I know I'm going to piss off some people, but I like the Eastwood westerns about 100 times more than the John Wayne westerns.

[maddash]

I don't think I even understand what you're saying. Are you saying you guys took a story about painfully stereotypical characters at face value with no thought whatsoever about the director's attempt to have the audience find any kind of deeper meaning in the film? Like how the paper bag scene was an attempt to show the beauty in something as worthless as a paper bag (literally trash) against the backdrop of a very materialist suburbia... it was just just floaty bag to you?

I actually don't believe either of you guys. I think you associate words like symbolism and metaphors with something an elite critic would say, and you're trying to distance yourself from that. I don't actually believe you feel that thinking about a film and trying to find a deeper meaning in it "ruins" it for you.

But maybe I'm wrong... heck, maybe Huckleberry Finn really was just a grand adventurer about a kid and a slave floating down the river.

Actually, I think it was a plastic bag.

You're probably right.

[omaha_red]

I rented The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and then my brother came into town and I didn't get a chance to watch it. Had to return it to the library last night. I'll check it out again in a couple days. It's a 2 disc DVD but I'm not sure what all is on it. I liked the other two in the trilogy so I expect to really like this one. I was on a huge Western kick this past summer. It's tough to get off once you're started. I recommend any of the Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann pictures.

Oh man you're in for some good [expletive]. Let me know what you think, it's one of my absolute favorite movies.

Most definitely. I liked all three of the Leone trilogy, but The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was my favorite.

And while you're at it, Richie (and Third Man), I'd highly recommend stepping away from the spaghetti Westerns and watching High Plains Drifter if you haven't seen it already.

I know I'm going to piss off some people, but I like the Eastwood westerns about 100 times more than the John Wayne westerns.

there's nothing better than a leone western on a sunday afternoon..

[Popeye_Card]

This. When I first saw it, I liked it a lot, and then the more I thought about it I felt it was manipulative. You're conned into rooting for Kevin Spacey's character, who'd be a lot happier if he could just ditch his insane wife and go back to acting like a college student again. The ending was a cop out - realistically there's no way to keep his feel good story going - he'd have to pay some emotional price for all this fun he's been having and make some sort of compromise. So they have a closeted homosexual who hates himself come over and shoot him. Not to mention Annette Bening's character is a crude stereotype. I'd almost say misogynist, though I think that term gets overused.

The paper bag thing gets made fun of a lot, but I find it genuinely moving. I've had a lot of great small moments in my life like that.

If we're going to be this critical of movies, then we should probably cancel the Best Picture award most years.

I don't follow you. I'm this critical of this movie because it deserves it (in my opinion). And really, Annette Bening's character is just awful. That's the worst part of it for me. She's a one-dimensional straw man that exists mostly to justify the husband's midlife crisis. To me he's clearly made out to be the good guy and the wife is just making life hard for everyone.

Having said that, canceling the award is fine with me. Fight Club was out the same year, touches on the same themes in a much more fair and interesting way, and wasn't even nominated.

And see, I thought Fight Club was not a very good movie.

In general, I think everything is a bit too critical in the internet era. All movies have flaws in one way or another. Somebody is going to rail on those flaws, then all of the sudden a movie is crap. I've always liked American Beauty, flaws and all.

The internet brings a lot of criticism of many different things out in the open, but there's always been harsh or negative reviews of movies, and more severe than anything I've said. As far as this film goes, my critique isn't that original. You can find newspaper critics with similar complaints. I think it's a decent movie, but it's overrated and I don't think it was the best movie that year (which was a really good year for movies).

I wasn't really commenting on your comments in the first place (more maddash's with his jibberish about metaphors and such). I probably should have just said "ditto" to omaha's response.

I don't think I even understand what you're saying. Are you saying you guys took a story about painfully stereotypical characters at face value with no thought whatsoever about the director's attempt to have the audience find any kind of deeper meaning in the film? Like how the paper bag scene was an attempt to show the beauty in something as worthless as a paper bag (literally trash) against the backdrop of a very materialist suburbia... it was just just floaty bag to you?

I actually don't believe either of you guys. I think you associate words like symbolism and metaphors with something an elite critic would say, and you're trying to distance yourself from that. I don't actually believe you feel that thinking about a film and trying to find a deeper meaning in it "ruins" it for you.

But maybe I'm wrong... heck, maybe Huckleberry Finn really was just a grand adventurer about a kid and a slave floating down the river.

I'm down with symbolism and metaphors in movies. I'm just not going to rail on American Beauty because of it. I don't think there was anything "painful" about the characters. And personally, I think focusing on the stereotypes and the suburban backdrop is selling the film short.

You don't like the movie. That's fine. But your critique of the film reeks of the pretentiousness that I have come to loathe in the internet era. Nothing against you. Just one of the reasons I hate the internet.