American Beauty- Page 2

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 2:23pm

I've often thought that there should be a special annual "What Were We Thinking? Give That BACK!!" Oscar, to correct past wrongs. Oscars would be publicly confiscated from the undeserving winners, and given to the deserving losers.

Example: Kevin Spacey's ridiculously undeserved Oscars would be redistributed to the far more deserving Tim Roth (ROB ROY) and Russell Crowe (THE INSIDER).

[Pippin]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 2:25pm

would the dethroned be allowed to give a speech?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 2:27pm

Nope, their disgrace would be public but silent.

[Pippin]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 2:28pm

I wonder how Jennifer Hudson would feel....

[broadway86]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 9:54am

I wouldn't have given Spacey the Oscar (Russell Crowe), but the movie is brilliant. A masterpiece, and is - sorry, detractors - destined to become a classic. Updated On: 9/16/08 at 09:54 AM

[blueroses]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 9:57am

I wanted to yank that statue out of his hands and give it to Crowe!

[Jon]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:08am

Crowe deserved an oscar for The Insider.

Crowe deserved an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Crowe did NOT deserve an Oscar for that silly gladiator movie.

The Gladiator win was to make up for The Insider. The Beautiful Mind loss was because he had won the year before. Denzel's win for Training Day was a lifetime achievement award.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:35am

I think the dynamic between Birch, Bentley, and Suvari works.

On the whole, Kevin Spacey's performance comes off as him hitting all of the notes he's always been comfortable hitting to me.

I go back and forth on whether Bening's performance is terrific or ludicrous.

I think if Cooper's character had shown a bit of humanity earlier on, the reveal at the end would have had more of an impact.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 11:54am

Allison Janney was wonderful...she was my favorite part of this good, but slightly overrated film. Noone deserved oscars for their performances, imo. I dont think Bening was any better than Spacey, and neither deserved to win.

As for taking back oscars? I'd put Kim Basinger at the front of that line.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:16pm

The famous 'plastic bag blowing in the wind' scene from American Beauty is quite Narmy — not so much for the idea that the scene represents (that art and beauty are all around us in unlikely places), but for the sheer pretentious awe that the characters in that scene regard that little plastic bag and the message it represents, as if it's something really deep and original that no one else has ever thought of, with one character intoning "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I don't think I can take it," as if he's just discovered the cure for cancer.

I almost agree. Almost. The one thing that saves that scene for me is its perspective. That attitude really fits the character. It is exactly what you would expect a pretentious morose young artist to say (and a young angsty teen with a crush to eat up). Is it cliche? Perhaps. Is it realistic? Absolutely. Look no further than this very board to find post after post of this type of idealistic perception of art and beauty posted by characters of the like.

I liked the film, but I felt Magnolia deserved Best Picture that year.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:19pm

Ugh, MAGNOLIA. God in heaven.

[cubanpab]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:24pm

well, i think it's a brilliant film. and i think AB was fantastic, definitely the best performance in the film.

However, I think Swank deserved both her Oscars. AB gave her a run for her money with "American Beauty", but when it came down to "Being Julia" vs. "Million Dolar Baby"... please... Swank deserved that hands down. MDB was a fantastic film with fantastic performances from everyone.

"Being Julia" was crap.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:27pm

Oh, I know you hate it, Roscoe, but Magnolia was my favorite film that year. I absolutely loved it. There wasn;t a single element of the film that disappointed me. But of the actual nominees, The Insider should have won Best Picture, Crowe deserved Best Actor and Supporting Actress should have gone to Toni Collette for The Sixth Sense.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:31pm

Well, I thought MAGNOLIA was a definite step up from the abomination of BOOGIE NIGHTS, a film that only gets more repulsive with each passing year.

MAGNOLIA is just a big batch of boring stories all tied more or less together, and it moves from expertly intercut five-way scene to expertly intercut five-way scen to experly intercut five-way scene etc. etc. etc. etc. for a really interminable amount of time. I lost count of the number of times I had to watch Julianne Moore choking back the tears. And the big bogus climax of the rain of frogs, I mean really. Yeah, it ties in with that "random" theme that keeps popping up, but come on. A rain of frogs? At least Altman came up with assassinations and earthquakes to tie up his multi-strand epics. Altman made NASHVILLE work in a way that Anderson can't make MAGNOLIA work.

Anderson does seem to have shed some of his bad habits for THERE WILL BE BLOOD. We'll see what he does next.

But MAGNOLIA. >shudder<

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 9/16/08 at 12:50pm

Swank definitely deserved both of her Oscars. Still, Benning was drop dead brilliant in BEAUTY.

It's one of my favorite movies....brilliant and perfect.

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 1:17am

I agree with anyone on the board that said Hillary Swank deserved both of her Oscars- she is one of the few young actresses that I adore. I also adore Annette Bening...so, since she didn't win for "AMerican Beauty" or "Being Julia," (and I thought both movies were fabulous) what about "Running With Scissors?" Was she even nominated for that movie? I honestly can't remember, but she was the best part of that movie. I actually enjoyed Alec Baldwin too in his small yet significant role.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 8:52am

I've never really seen what the big deal is about Annette Bening. She's fine, she's fine, she's perfectly competent, the one scene of hers that I really admire is that scene in, of all things, AMERICAN BEAUTY, where she is getting ready to show a house, and gets more and more tense until she finally just stands there and screams.

Otherwise, I've never seen a performance of hers that really did much for me. I saw BEING JULIA and mostly liked it but have managed to mostly forget it, which is kind of how I feel about Bening in general.

I will always be grateful to Warren Beatty for impregnating Ms. Bening, which forced her withdrawal from BATMAN RETURNS and allowed Michelle Pfeiffer to give one of the great performances in film history. Way to go, Warren!

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 8:56am

Even though it has nothing to do with this thread, I will echo that Swank deserved both of her Oscars.

Back to Beauty...

I do think it's a modern American classic. I also think it's more of a dark comedy than it is a "serious" (or as originally discussed "important") film.

It's satirical and at times surreal in its view of the typical perfect American suburban family. I think when I saw it that way, after all the Oscar hype and awards discussions, I saw it for the lesser-important gem that it is.

It's not "important," it's not even "deep." It's a darkly funny, brutal, often disturbing "joke" about idealized American life at the end of the 20th century. The joke's on them, and the joke's on us... and by the end of the movie, no one's laughing.

Not even the dead guy who's narrating it.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:24am

It's entirely subjective, of course, but I've always found Benning to be just about terrible. And I have no animosity toward her; she seems charming and intelligent in interviews. It just always seems to me that she's putting air quotes around every one of her lines.

I actually did like her in "Being Julia"--probably because that artifice is part of who that character is. But otherwise, I've never for an instant bought her as whoever she's meant to be in a film.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:27am

You didn't think her character in American Beauty was speaking in air quotes?

I could practically see a comic book bubble!

And I agree with you, except about the "terrible" part. She plays "sincerely, stylistically insincere" quite effectively.

Some actresses can't do that. Because you don't see the truth underneath.

I guess that's it, Reggie. I see the truth underneath the air quotes.

Updated On: 9/17/08 at 10:27 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:35am

As I said, Besty, it's completely subjective.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:36am

But of course!

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/17/08 at 10:41am

Annette Bening does nothing for me. I could take her or leave her. I thought she was over the top in AB.

But, as another side remark-not only did Swank deserve the oscar for Boys Don't Cry, I thought it was one of the finest performances on film. Ever.