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Post by JangoB on May 23, 2024 23:57:41 GMT
Steven Soderbergh joins the 72 club. And now for 1999's winner, Sam Mendes for American Beauty
How would you rate this achievement from 0 to 10?
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Archie
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Post by Archie on May 24, 2024 0:00:07 GMT
2/10. Pretentious self-important BS.
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Post by Kings_Requiem on May 24, 2024 0:34:25 GMT
6
The movie itself gets way too much hate and everything that goes into it kinda follows along, but it and the direction are perfectly fine. I think the big issue with it now is looking back at how great a year 1999 was for film and seeing which films have endured over the last 25 years and how this one was chosen as the big winner that year makes it seem much worse in retrospect than it actually is.
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Post by TheAlwaysClassy on May 24, 2024 1:23:41 GMT
6
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Post by stephen on May 24, 2024 2:28:50 GMT
6.
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Post by countjohn on May 24, 2024 2:37:53 GMT
5/10. Don't see what's so beautiful about that stupid plastic bag.
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Post by mrimpossible on May 24, 2024 2:44:33 GMT
10.
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Post by finniussnrub on May 24, 2024 3:07:31 GMT
6, the screenplay is the worse offender.
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Post by countjohn on May 24, 2024 3:57:02 GMT
Respect for sticking to your convictions man
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Post by stabcaesar on May 24, 2024 4:22:01 GMT
4.
I actually find it hard to rate the pedestrian/bad winners as they are all kind of the same to me.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on May 24, 2024 4:45:58 GMT
6.5 - agree the screenplay is much worse than the directing
always loved that scene of Bening driving home from the shooting range singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" on this sunny day in all-American suburbia, and Mendes cuts to the gun just casually sitting on her front seat. Not subtle or revolutionary especially by 1999, but I love the shocking juxtaposition of the idealized "normal" with the violence underneath the surface ("look closer" blah blah). Great scene, almost campy with Bening belting out that showtune, and I wish the whole film had been that playful instead of completely disappearing up its own ass. I also wish Spacey's character wasn't a pedophile given how uninterested the script was on commenting on it.
I like to imagine what Alexander Payne or Todd Solondz would've done with this story (with re-writes), but Mendes is one of the better things about it.
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Post by ingmarhepburn on May 24, 2024 4:48:12 GMT
10/10
Lots of bad takes here... as expected whenever this movie is brought up.
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Post by Pavan on May 24, 2024 6:26:13 GMT
7.5
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Post by ibbi on May 24, 2024 8:48:22 GMT
7
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Post by thomasjerome on May 24, 2024 9:59:37 GMT
4
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Post by franklin on May 24, 2024 10:41:14 GMT
5
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Post by notacrook on May 24, 2024 11:25:18 GMT
4.
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on May 24, 2024 12:34:29 GMT
7.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on May 24, 2024 13:50:41 GMT
7 / 10
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on May 24, 2024 14:46:49 GMT
Warms my heart to see that Nolan is a consensus top 5 winner of the century.
Anyway, 7 for Mendes.
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Post by JangoB on May 24, 2024 17:54:20 GMT
8.5/10
I still like and have always liked this movie quite a bit, even if it plays more as a time capsule now as opposed to a timeless masterwork. But I think it's a very good time capsule, and Mendes's direction in particular has always impressed me, mainly for 1) how he deals with the humor of it all and 2) how cinematic he makes this material. You'd think that a British theatre director wouldn't have such a strong visual sensibility on his first movie try, and yet he absolutely does.
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