Poll: Do you like AMERICAN BEAUTY?
-
ToastedCheese — 4 years ago(September 20, 2021 10:55 PM)
Well, look at it as an ironic twist of fate, because Spacey himself doesn't lust over females and then there is the homophobic subplot of the military neighbor who is actually lusting after Spacey's character.
I won't let any hype surrounding Spacey and his behavior as reported by the MSM, stop me from enjoying this instant classic.
It was nice to see the 20th century end on a strong note in film. I feel 1999 provided us with a slew of very memorable films that had waned since 1996, and an artificial and shallow drama like
Titanic - '97
ends up winning a best picture Oscar.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
jriddle73 — 4 years ago(September 21, 2021 03:06 AM)
One of the only occasions in the '90s when the Academy Awards actually called it right; a great movie.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
jriddle73 — 4 years ago(September 21, 2021 05:50 PM)
UNFORGIVEN and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS were both solid movies that won Best Picture at the beginning of the decade but leading into AMERICAN BEAUTY, they had, for years, given that trophy to movies that were either undeserving or outright awful. The 1990s were one of the greatest filmmaking decades in the history of the medium but the Academy seemed to remain blissfully ignorant of this.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
ToastedCheese — 4 years ago(September 21, 2021 10:43 PM)
I agree with both wins for '90 and '91,
Wolves
and
Lambs
, (never really made the animal correlation till now after typing that), but I would have liked for
Howard's End
to win picture in '92.
Never cared for
Schindler's
but I can get the reverence for it. '95 I felt was the last really best year, (that year also had a slew of terrific female performances), and then '99 I feel gave some really out there stuff with a bit of a lull in-between.
Best and personal taste in film is all subjective though and while merits and quality can be discussed and critiqued, I felt that the last year of the decade hit the mark with quality and memorable screen gems.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
jriddle73 — 4 years ago(September 22, 2021 01:11 AM)
Years ago, I wrote a piece about the history of the Academy Award for Best Picture, focusing on movies that were completely ignored while signficantly inferior ones were nominated and given the win. It goes through most of the history but it does spend a lot of time on the '90s.
As I wrote earler, I thought the 1990s were a
really
great time for movies, and I got to be offended that the Academy filled their top award with a bunch of crap, as if it was a low-point for cinema, while great movies, often instant classics, were treated as if they didn't exist.
https://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/2009/01/best-picture.html
SCHINDLER'S LIST is a relatively solid movie, often even a great one, that is repeatedly undermined by Spielberg's insecurities as a filmmaker. No matter how far he comes–and SCHINDLER'S LIST was pretty damn far–he just can't resist the impulse to explain to viewers what they're supposed to feel about what he's putting on the screen, like he's absolutely terrified that someone out there will somehow conclude the Holocaust was a
pleasant
experience, if he doesn't schmaltz it up and use a sledge-hammer to their heads to make sure they don't get that impression.
The problem with giving the award to DANCES WITH WOLVES–a movie one could uncontroversially grant the award in a lot of years–is that it was up against GOODFELLAS, and there's simply no way to justify that. There were other really great movies that year that weren't even nominate, while some that were nominated were terrible (people probably wouldn't believe it now but both AWAKENINGS and GHOST were nominated for Best Picture that year).
A lot of this–probably all of it–is just down to personal taste, I guess. When I was younger and less wizened, I liked the idea of the Oscars, a big, culturally-shared event that theoretically honored excellence in cinema, and always hated when it failed to live up to that. These days, I don't give a damn about them. Which, I would argue, puts me in alignment with the Academy voters.
"The Dig"
http://cinemarchaeologist.blogspot.com/ -
ToastedCheese — 4 years ago(September 22, 2021 09:02 AM)
If there is a slew of quality films within a calendar year, many will just have to go unrecognized. They can have more nominees for best picture now which still doesn't really fix much, but when only 5 nominees, it undoubtedly will leave some deserved titles left in the dust.
The Academy is also about popularity, image and bias too regarding certain genres.
Thing is, awards don't prove much, compared to what people regard as favourite or best to their own minds and taste. As has been proved countless of times, time is more often than not the true maker of a classic.
Its interesting with
Schindler's List
, that Spielberg could deploy a somewhat heavy hand, yet still manage to make it bland and boring. I have discussed this film recently on another thread, so I won't go into much more here.
Goodfellas
perhaps deserved the adapted screenplay award.
Wolves
was apparently a screenplay first, before being adapted into a novel and then back into a screenplay. A layered argument could be made was it original or adapted?
Scorsese co-wrote a terrific script for
Goodfellas
, yet for me, that is where its top award should lie. It also wasn't dignified like the passionate and majestic
Dances With Wolves
which is pretty much a perfect film in terms of execution if there ever was one.
I don't really give much of a damn about the Oscars anymore, because I don't like the quality of film being produced compared to yesteryear, even if blunders were still made last century.
I am sometimes of the notion, that even those that may not have been as deserving of Academy recognition in the 20th century, are still better than what gets churned out this new century.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
Deluded Juice — 4 years ago(September 22, 2021 01:21 AM)
The Grateful Dead released American Beauty around the same time they also released Workingman's Dead.
This pair of albums were two of the best ever released back to back and was one of the major highlights of their long career.
If one does not like even just one song off of this excellent album, really one of the best of all time, then they are dead, deaf, have zero taste in music or all the above. -
Donna Acacia — 4 years ago(September 23, 2021 01:36 AM)
It's not bad for 70s folk rock? It doesn't fit in with the movie American Beauty.
The title of the film was disappointing. The contrast was stsrtling. Innocence destroyed was tragic.. I think America at that time had happier stories than the lives of the families the story is about. I guess that's just me seeing reality through rose colored glasses. At times while I watched the plot unfold I felt a sense of dread and impeding doom. All those creepy parts involving pedophilia, was taking a risk and yet executed with beautiful technicolor cinematography. I felt uncomfortable throughout the movie. -
ToastedCheese — 4 years ago(September 23, 2021 10:13 AM)
How do you equate paedophilia, with Lester's lust for a flirtatious mid teen girl, when the technical term applies to pre-pubescent children?
Lester was being creepy which his daughter Jane even commented on, but he didn't go there and still got his brains blown out. You should have been happy.
If you were uncomfortable, it would be because the film held a mirror up to your face, which confronted you with your own sexual perversions.
Norman! What did you put in my tea? -
Donna Acacia — 4 years ago(September 23, 2021 10:46 AM)
I'm ****ing with you because you have no sense of ****ing humor. When you wrote equate. That word reminded me of Walmart. Why did for your sentence using the word equate? And your criticisms for using the wrong word to describe Lester's totally inappropriate sexual desire and flirting with a high school student??? He's a grown man married with children and in his 40s.
