Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Sam Mendes - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Wes Bentley, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, Alison Janney, Peter Gallagher, Chris Cooper, Scott Bakula, Sam Roberts more
AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know... more
a mesmerising confidence and acuity epitomised by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine...
a mesmerising confidence and acuity epitomised by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine...
American Beauty DVD
Marking the feature film directorial debut of award-winning theatre director Sam Mendes ... more
this funny moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America follows the trials and tribulations of Lester (Kevin Spacey) and Carolyn (Annette Bening) ...
American Beauty
Look closer at the most talked about film of the year. A funny, moving and shocking ... more
journey through life in suburban America.Look closer at fortysomething ad man Lester Burnham and his status-seeking wife, Carolyn, as their marriage and lives slowly unravel. Lester's wife hates him, his daughter Jane regards him with contempt, and his boss is positioning him for the axe.Look closer as Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets, the happier he gets. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price.Look closer at an acclaimed cast led by the brilliant performances from Kevin Spacey as Lester and Annette Bening as Carolyn.
All our items are despatched from the United Kingdom. Starring - Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari We offer *** WORLDWIDE *** Delivery!, Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
fantastic American Beauty 2010 Calendar has some stunning photographs of cars from days gone by. The classic cars of America not only represent a moment in history, but also represent the true essence of the USA - big, bold and beautiful.
fall under the general heading of "rock". In fact a blend of exploratory jazz, folk, rock & roll and world music all bound together by the purest improvisatory psychedelia, few bands have attempted music of such scope and ambition. The problem was that although they could often produce music of this stature live, their inspiration nearly always crumbled when faced with a studio setting. The exceptions that proves the rule, American Beauty and Workingman's Dead, are the band's finest studio excursions. They contain more excellent songs, better performed, than any other two albums of theirs. Featuring a smooth electric/acoustic mix of instrumentation spiced by pedal steel and mandolin, American Beauty harks back to their folk and jug-band days of the mid-60s. Besides the stunning harmonies--which owe a debt to David Crosby's coaching--and the band's outstanding songwriting ability, it's Robert Hunter's lyrics which raise this album to classic status. Songs such as "Truckin" (a true story of life on the road with the Dead in early 1970), "Box Of Rain", "Friend of the Devil", "Brokedown Palace", "Attics of My Life" and the magnificent "Ripple" contain some of Hunter's most direct and compelling verses. For those who might want to hear where the Grateful Dead could take songs like these on a good day, however, an attempt should be made to get some of the many live recordings now available.--James Swift
Production Year: 2007 - Drama - Director: Mike Binder - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland, Mike Binder
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Carl Franklyn, Carl Franklin - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Meryl Streep, William Hurt, Renee Zellweger, Tom Everett Scott, Nicky Katt, Lauren Graham
Production Year: 1981 - Drama - Director: Franco Zeffirelli - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley, Penelope Milford, Beatrice Straight
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
A review by j_mcb on American Beauty (DVD) May 28th, 2004
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Good
How does it compare to similar films?
Outstanding
Advantages:
Spacey, Mendes, rose petals
Disadvantages:
Steven Spielberg
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
“American Beauty” dominated the 1999 Academy Awards, sweeping the board of biggies picking up the acclaimed Best Picture award, Best Actor, Best Director, Cinematography and Writing. It was certainly worthy of such honour, being one of the most original films I have seen in a long time, breaking the mould is not the cliché. The film is darkly hilarious; a modern satire taking a slap at white-picket-fence suburbia and America’s bold and boasted “American dream” Ironically, the phrase is more suited as an “American Socially Dysfunctional Nightmare”...
It’s not often I’ll watch a film and find that it delivers. Perhaps you’ll get that impression from my constant raving about the films I’ve reviewed on here, but there is a certain imbalance in the ratio of films I got something out of, to the films I didn’t. In other words, most films suck. I have a peculiar cheese-detector, the moment I smell cheddar in a movie it has lost brownie points in my estimation. Three strikes and you’re out. Cheese-detector up and running, only one instance was found in this strangely fantastic film – and the one instance was within reason and was OK to get away with it. When I view a film now, I really want to be impressed by it and be dumbstruck at best; films that leave you speechless are definitely ones for your top-10 faves.
Life begins at 40…?
Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is your average guy. Living in a moderately large suburban home, complete with matching mediocre job, real-estate-agent wife (Annette Bening) and typical rebellious apathetic daughter (Thora Birch), the high point of Lester’s day is jerking off in the shower and its all downhill from there. Lester is slave to the American Dream’s by-product rigid routine lifestyle and is shackled in a passionless marriage with a cheating wife… Until today; Lester’s awakening is about to begin. “I feel like I've been in a coma for the past twenty years. And I'm just now waking up.” Suffering a severe mid-life-crisis, Lester’s awakening into reality is catalyzed by his daughter Jane’s self-loving, egomaniac, cheerleader “friend” Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) – (or the chick who gets nekkid in a bathtub of rose petals, as more commonly known). After first meeting, Lester is plagued with libido-raising fantasies, fixated and obsessed and makes her a goal to aspire to. This isn’t helped by Angela’s cutesy, flirty allurement as she toys with Lester’s sexual desires. Meanwhile, paranoid Jane (saving up for breast enlargement) deals with her own flirting, with not-so-typical boy next door Ricky an ex-drug addict with a fascination for filming beauty in the world. Beauty being a dead bird or a swirling lone carrier bag. Ricky is not only distant to his Nazi homophobe father, but is careless in every respect, doing drugs, filming, living his own cock-eyed dream.
A fascinating bunch of weirdos.
Although dealing with relationships, the film never comes-off as a rom-com; the relationships dealt with are too dysfunctional to be romantic and too bizarre to be normal – the film stresses more about obsession and infatuation than romanticizing relationships. The comedy is too straight and Daria-esque to be your run of the mill “You’ve Got Mail” barrel of laughs and the occasional slip into slapstick. Instead, “American Beauty” offers a lop-sided view at what is humorous, satirical doing so; this being your average, inalterable life.
“Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go fuck himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass the asparagus”
I found it impressive the way the way first-time director Sam Mendes made us care about the characters that were on display, something not even established zillion-time director Spielberg can do justice for his characters– and why watch a movie if you don’t give a Buck if the guy lives or dies? Instead, I was faced with a bunch of realistic people, who didn’t spew cheesy spiel or have far-fetched dramatic smell-the-fart monologue faces, something unseen in most urban dramas. Although unconventional, the film doesn’t attempt to be crazily random with Lynchian photography, instead it relies on the realism of every-day random dialogue and the irony of the “norm”. While not being the first in a line of modern urban satires, “American Beauty” is the first to lack pretense and a director who doesn’t come off self-indulgent, unlike Lynch (in his own take on the American dream in Blue Velvet) who is known for his eccentricities and pretentiousness.
Spacey’s performance was fantastic, thus resulting in him grabbing the gold’un (not a euphemism for masturbation) at the Ac awards. His straight-faced comedy had me in kinks, while he was able to be empathized with concurrently - playing a man of tragedy too. The juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy is outstanding; both balanced so the film never seems either, but seems both at the same time. Spacey’s impassive attitude really defines the film in total; he’s an idiosyncratic, freak who I’d kind of like to be, but also feel sorry for as well. This too stands for Birch, who is dry as ever; think “Ghost World” with additional apathy and quotable Daria-isms. There is no-one more suited for this kind of dark satire – anyone other than Birch would tip the cheese-detector into over-drive. I don’t think many people can get away with delivering sarcastic indifference like Thora does.
Lester: So Janie, how was school? Jane: It was okay. Lester: Just okay? Jane: No dad, it was spectacular.
Bening suited the part of eccentric, fake-faced Carolyn Burnham. Her acting in the over-the-top orgasm-fest sex scene with her secret lover “King” is superbly hilarious; head-board banging funny. Perhaps the funniest sex scene I’ve seen in a movie, and I’ve seen a few. (Slaps self, perv). I found Bening to also be an extremely pathetic figure, much-needing pity and attention; she is the embodiment of every attention seeker in our generation.
The direction in “American Beauty” is superlative (hey, watch me get all hyperbolic on your ass), Mendes’ use of continually soft-lighting contrasts with the dark themes lingering beneath the surface. The obsessive fantasy scenarios were highly original and a brave move on Mendes part – using under-age Suvari as the object of Spacey’s infatuation, the rose petal scenes were not only remarkably entertaining (drools) but an unusual concept to visually depict the extent of Lester’s obsession – without resorting to Ironside woo-woos or little red animated hearts swirling around Suvari’s bonny head. I liked how Mendes didn’t patronise the audience when he wanted to make a point; instead the direction is subtle and light and didn’t feel over-bearing after the one hour fifty-seven minutes I sat on my arse watching it, unlike many other directors of the same genre. (Of a very limited genre that is). The memorable score which is featured on “American Beauty” is perfectly suited for the film; the aptly named “American Dream” is now featured (somewhat changed) on a parody Peugeot advert. Rose-petals n’all. Elliot Smith’s “Because” felt welcome at the closure – instead of a heavy-handed score or thumping song, this subtle choiry hippy-ish music fit snugly in keeping with the film’s themes.
“Because the world is round, it turns me on. Ahhhhhhhhh”
Bonus material featured on the region 2 DVD is in stacks. Being Mendes’ first motion picture I think he was pretty proud of his final cut. Not only winning one Oscar for his first outing in the movie-world, but FIVE, something beyond envious to other directors – especially at the prestigious Best Director award. I believe Mendes is well-established in Hollywood due to this. The first bonus feature is a behind the scenes feature with the cast and with Steven Spielberg (random?! I wasn’t aware Dreamworks was part of this picture) which featured dire ramblings and over-indulgent talk. Fairy nuff, I loved the film, but I didn’t want it forced down my throat, with over-thought babble. As for the audio commentary it was all a little bit too cheesy for this kind of film, where I’d rather have Mendes leave his masterpiece as a mystery and leave much of it to interpretation, Mendes explains his intentions for using a particular scenario or theme. I can’t complain however and I must admit I didn’t watch the whole thing. I find commentaries a little dull, unless they involve group discussion, like in “Donnie Darko” which was particularly enjoyable. The story-board presentation however, was interesting. The visual presentation of the directorial devices used to storyboard the movie was not only visually pleasing, but enjoyable in its own right.
All in all, a worthwhile purchase for anyone. The film on its own is worthy of a five-star plus rating; the filming, the acting, the ideas and concepts are incomparable; the film is definitely worth the #29 rating it currently ranks in the Internet Movie Database’s top 250 movies of all time, ranked alongside classics such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Sunset Blvd.) the contemporary drama is bound to become a classic. If you don’t believe me, go watch it yourself, I highly recommend this.
Advantages: Cast/ Visuals/Script/Ending Disadvantages: Different from book
AMERICAN BEAUTY
Certificate; 18 (Sexuality, language, violence and drugs)
Duration; 122 minutes.
Direction; Sam Mendes.
Cast; Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula.
The ‘American Beauty’ of the title refers to the beauty of the American dream. Living in a beautiful home surrounded by beautiful gardens with a beautiful white picket fence in ... ...lift the lid on the American dream and delve deeper to find out what goes on beyond those front doors. The film begins with an aerial shot of a typical American neighbourhood, slowly drifting from street to street like a leaf being guided by the wind. Accompanying this is a narration by Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey);
“I’m 42 years old and even though I don’t know it, in less than a year, I’ll be dead”
These words from ...
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Advantages: One of my favourites Disadvantages: Nothing worth mentioning
Released in 1999, Sam Mendes’ American Beauty is one of my favourite films, and achieved the rare double of receiving both critical and commercial acclaim. A big screen debut for both director Mendes and writer Alan Ball, it was nominated for eight Oscars, and won five. It’s a film of some depth, taking an everyday suburban existence and examining its appearances and relationships in terms of (amongst other things) personal fulfilment, family ties, ... ...the film was ‘look closer’ – and guided by Mendes’ skilled direction, you do.
Lester and Carolyn Burnham (Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening) are a typical middle class suburban couple: nice house, decent jobs and a teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) in high school. They get on well with the neighbours, drive nice cars and gather each night for a family dinner with no TV. Carolyn is an ambitious, driven and success-hungry realtor, while Lester works ...
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Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
very helpful
17.08.2007
American Beauty Review ofAmerican Beauty (DVD)by
jaygami1986
Advantages: Read opp Disadvantages: Read opp
...on the academy award winning American Beauty, starring Kevin Spacey. Now im actually a really big Spacey fan, some of his work including The Usual Suspects and K PAX have been some of his best work. He has the knack of just making you admire what ever character he plays, he has a sort of presence that makes you feel this film is going to be powerful. He has a humorous side, he can play a dark side you name it, I even liked his recent portrayal of ... ...Jane, who is the typical American teenager. The family live what is pretty much a normal life, the wife wanting to move up in the real estate world, a dad who just gets on with his life and a teenage daughter who's really just embarrassed about her parents. All of a sudden, one magical and gifted day Jane brings home a friend named Angela Hayes, who instantly attracts the attention of Lester. He can't seem to lay his eyes off her; Angela is simply ...
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very helpful
08.02.2008
Two old bulls Review ofAmerican Beauty (DVD)by
dave27
Advantages: Spacey, the story, oh and everything Disadvantages: None
...is an amazing depiction of American life and the generation gap and despair at the passing of life, but at the same time a reassuring promise that the maturity of age has its own benefits. So when your paunch is sagging, and your heart sags more heavily, just think of this masterpiece and the startling performance and renaissance of Kevin Spacey.
When it takes you all night to do what you used to do all night....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
... ...of this intriguing portrait of American life, but it's all I'm going to give you because it would only spoil the pleasure for you, and would come over poorly on the printed (or HTML) page. You really need to see the tale unfold to appreciate it.
Spacey and Bening are wonderful in this film, particularly Bening, who plays a materialistic, shallow, domineering moneygrabber. Being has said: "Carolyn really doesn’t have any insight into what Lester’s ...
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Advantages: Life like characters caught in the quicksand of social chaos Disadvantages: Language, drug content
...first shot of the movie American Beauty, is very placid and looking harmless. The image is a very desirable one for any town. But below this camouflage of living in decency, one can feel the tense palpable heart throbs, a fearfulness and an imbalance. It is said that beauty is skin deep, but American Beauty nudges deep through to the marrow of American society and explores its spirit. Sam Mendes, the debutant director, very fresh from his experience ... ...There enters the self declared American Beauty Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) who is Jane’s best friend. She advocates her sermon, “there is nothing worse in life than being ordinary”. Lester spots her in a basket ball game an indulges in a series of very beautifully filmed fantasies that drive him lustfully crazy, and he hatches plans to possess her. To impress the Lolita of his fantasies he quits his job, starts lifting weights, jogs ...
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...so hopeless in helping her obviously torchured son. She makes triangle pancakes for him, takes him for a joy ride in a supermarket parking lot, and arranges get-togethers with the other kids, but she can't help him. Only Malcom Crowe can (Willis). But maybe Cole can also help Malcom. Only AmericanBeauty was better in '99. Buy the DVD. Extra footage is very engrossing....
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Advantages: Very funny Disadvantages: Comedy not to everyones taste
...of women being angry at Will.
The directors, Chris and Paul Weitz, had very interesting ways of shooting the scenes. These are the dudes who did AmericanBeauty.
Features in the DVD
=
For once, I have found a DVD that contain a reasonably large amount of additional features other than the movie itself. There was a full length commentary by the directors for the entire movie. It was interesting to hear what they had to say on some of the scenes and what they had to do to achieve them. For example, in one of the scene, I could see the backgarden of Marcus's house and I really believed that. In the commentary, the directors kindly informed us that the outside scenery was actually a painting!
There were short interviews with the main casts, so it was nice to hear what Toni Collette, Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult had to...
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Advantages: Excellent DVD production, Good special features, Fanastic series Disadvantages: Collectors edition box a bit flimsy.
...opinion the best character). All the acting is superb!
The series is produced and co-written by Alan Ball who won an Oscar for writing AmericanBeauty.
The series also features the best title sequence on TV!
On the DVD:
It is a 4-disc set with 13 episodes
You get a 20 minute featurette with interviews from cast and crew.
Episode commentries by Alan Ball.
A deleted scene from the pilot episode.
A 15 minute featurette on the making of those excellent titles.
All the episode summaries
And more...
My only major problem with this purchase was the box the dvds came in. It is designed to lift out the dvds when you open it, but mine ripped after the first opening. However, it was nothing some tape didnt fix, and it may have just been mine was faulty - so don't let you discourage you at all!!
Don't miss out on this wonderful series!!...
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AMERICAN BEAUTY tells the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. Burnham lets us know in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), a technique that adds an inevitable tension to the proceedings and keeps the story moving forward at all times. On a whim, Lester quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis of sorts. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is pursued by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's militaristic father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes.
Technical information
Special Features: Making-Of - 1. AMERICAN BEAUTY...LOOK CLOSER, Audio Commentary - 1. Sam Mendes - Director, 2. Sam Mendes - Director, Film-to-Script Comparison, Trailers - 1. 2 Original Theatrical Trailers, Production Notes, Storyboards, Biographies - 1. Cast & Crew
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Surround 5.1, DTS Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English DTS Surround 5.1 English, DTS Surround 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Award information
BAFTA: Best Actor 1999 (Kevin Spacey)
BAFTA: Best Actress 1999 (Annette Bening), Best Actress 2000 (Annette Bening), Best Actor 2000 (Kevin Spacey), Best Actor 1999 (Kevin Spacey)
OSCAR: Best Director 1999 (Sam Mendes)
OSCAR: Best Actor In A Leading Role 1999 (Kevin Spacey), Best Director 2000 (Sam Mendes), Best Actor In A Leading Role 2000 (Kevin Spacey), Best Director 1999 (Sam Mendes)
Professional reviews
Review: "...AMERICAN BEAUTY is that rare instance where all the elements of a movie -- story, setting, acting, shot construction -- come together to convey its message..." (Box Office, p.166, 01/11/1999)
"...Sees beauty in our most common mistakes and failures. This is a masterpiece..." -- 5 out of 5 stars (Premiere, p.99, 01/06/2000)
Ranked #1 in Rolling Stone's "Ten Best Movies of 1999" -- "...[A] justly celebrated look at what gets lost in life when we numb ourselves to feeling..." (Rolling Stone, p.63-4, 20/01/2000)
"...Consistently provocative and devilishly amusing....AMERICAN BEAUTY is a real American original..." (Variety, p.40-50, 13/09/1999)
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