Hey reader-rinos, Harry here and ya know... I need to see this film... a half dozen or so more times before the statement can be made stronger, but I really feel this is the best film I've seen so far this year. DO NOT LET THIS ONE PASS YOU BY! As for the following review... to some there may very well be a HUGE spoiler below... but since this SPOILER is told to you in the first minute or two of the film... I don't consider it one. Suffice to say, the film drew 'ultra-kudos' from this writer... and personally I wholeheartedly agree.
I work at a movie theater as a projectionist so occasionally a little plus comes my way. Tonight was one of those pluses, because tomorrow will be a press screening of American Beauty and part of my terrible job is to watch it to make sure everything's in order.
My first thought as I came out of that empty auditorium was THANK YOU THANK YOU, OH MOVIE GODS FOR BRINGING ME THIS. This movie is so THICK. Thick with character, thick with emotion, thick with Spacey (well just about everything BUT his thickness).
It pulled me in immediately, we know he's going to die, he fucking tells us right away. We don't know, however, the way he'll die, who will kill him or if we should give a shit whether or not he's dead. This was the scrumptious appetizer.
Then we're introduced to all these characters who are basically everyone we know, but don't know. Those neighbors who you say hello to coming home from work then wonder what the hell the do once they go inside. All very well acted and all very interesting.
This was a fantastically juicy steak.
Finally we're given a cinematic beauty that just makes you smile just to watch, it fits the screen wonderfully, the colors and framing and... well it's just pretty!
This was one hell of a dessert.
After this movie I sat down, unbuckled my belt and let my gut flop out from the richness of this film. This filmmaker gets ultra-kudos from me.
CINEMASTER
And then... here's ZOMBIEBOY
Had the opprotunity to see "American Beauty" Tonight (friend is a manager at a theatre who is having a sneek preview tomorrow). It was an unfinished print (mostly just the credits missing, and some color issues). Man is this a movie to see. It is easily the best thing I have seen this year. Really well put together, though in a non traditional way. The movie starts with a home video clip which doesn't happen until the middle of the story, and is shortly followed by the main character (Kevin Spacy) telling the audience that he is going to die within a year, but he doesn't know it yet.
Basically the movie is about a family who have been living in their fake lives for too long, and it breaks down. Kevin Spacy shines in this film, having a "mid-life" crisis played out like a train wreck, kinda sad but way entertaining to watch. The acting is all supurb, and the characters are well rounded, and entertwined in such a tight fashion that you can't help but wonder what will be happening next.
Go see it when you get the chance
Zombie Boy
