AmericanBeauty Tagged Articles at Cinematical

After Cinematical's new "Movies I Will Never See" series elicited a strong variety of reactions – both positive and negative - from readers, it occurred to us that there's a huge, untapped reservoir of existing films that we have actually seen, and it would probably be at least as interesting, if not more so, to go back and see how well they held up in the years since their release. These may be acclaimed classics that audiences simply haven't revisited on a regular basis, or condemned failures that might deserve a second look; but setting a statute of limitations of five years or more old (meaning before '04), we're going back to see how good are the bad movies, and how bad are the good ones - in other words testing their shelf life.

After last week's look at Titanic, it seemed somewhat appropriate to revisit other noteworthy Oscar winners. But while there were certainly a wealth of questionably worthy titles celebrated in the Academy's history, one in particular seemed especially ripe for consideration: American Beauty, Sam Mendes' directorial debut. Perhaps it's because so many movies followed its lead in deconstructing suburbia, or perhaps it's just because it's been ten years, but Mendes' film doesn't seem as relevant, important, or even as good as it once was – which is why we recently popped it in the DVD player for another look.

Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) don't quite have things figured out yet. I mean, they pretty much have each other pegged, enjoying a marriage-less relationship, keeping each other warm on those cold Colorado nights, and they know that they want to bring a kid into this world -- well, want to or not, the baby's coming, and so they'll keep it warm as well.

Their parents won't be of much help. After all, his (Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) are making plans to take off for Europe just before the baby's due, a trip years in the making and selfish as all get out, while hers passed away some time back. So Burt and Verona decide to visit other family and friends, looking for people they can depend on in places they could grow up in, let alone grow old in -- looking for a place that might help them figure out together the whys and hows of keeping it all together.

The other day, I decided to take on The Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but it got me thinking; what about us girls? Don't we have ridiculous expectations from our cinematic boy-toys? Of course we do, and that's why today's installment is all about the Soulful Bad Boy (or SBB). So what is an SBB? Well, the SBB is the guy who won't win any congeniality awards, but damn if his tortured and deep emotional side isn't enough to make you put up with just about anything (it helps if you think Wes Bentley in American Beauty, or Robert Pattinson in Twilight). Everywhere you look, these beautiful male specimens are emoting all over the place; I mean, you know you have reached a new level of 'sensitivity porn' when even Bond and Batman are getting misty-eyed.

But this isn't just about sensitivity; otherwise the Lloyd Doblers of the film world would be king. Because as much as we girls might like a sensitive guy, we like them more if they have a little 'edge'. If you don't believe me, take a look at some of the arguments out there on the web about the character of Edward in Twilight. You'll find equal amounts of people labeling him as an abusive boyfriend as their knight in shining armor, but what is that makes an SBB any different from your average villain? Well, to be blunt, the difference is probably that a Soulful Bad Boy is hot, and I mean like weak-kneed hot. So for anyone who wants to pretend that us gals can't be just as shallow as our male counterparts, I challenge you to explain to me why it just so happens that every SBB that has ever made the movie crush list is simply put, gorgeous. Seriously, when was the last time anyone said "you know that Joe Pesci? Well, in Goodfellas when he shot Spider in the foot? Ooh girl!"...not likely

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Is Alan Ball's new drama Nothing Is Private really the most controversial film of the Toronto International Film Festival? You'll be able to find out when it hits theaters, courtesy of Warner Independent and Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment, which bought the film for about $1.25 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian, the film reportedly includes graphic depictions of rape, pedophilia, menstruation, and racist dialogue. Fox News' Roger Friedman has already worked himself into a lather about it, calling it "the worst and most offensive movie I've seen in a while" and "the feel-awful movie of 2007." (What, he didn't see Bratz?)

Writer/director Ball (Six Feet Under, American Beauty) cast a young actress named Summer Bishil in the lead, playing an Arab-American girl who suffers all manner of abuse at the hands of her neighbor, her boyfriend, and her father. Aaron Eckhart (Erin Brockovich) plays the neighbor, whose actions toward the girl are despicable indeed.

The film has garnered enthusiastic responses, both positive and negative, and surely the distributors know that controversy often equals cash. Furthermore, it's the first movie to be directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ball, and his first screenplay since American Beauty -- so it would have been a hot ticket even without the incendiary subject matter. No word yet on when Warner Independent will release it, but you can bet we (and Roger Friedman) will keep you posted.

I haven't picked up an issue of Premiere Magazine in quite some time, but a friend of mine recently recommended I visit the publication's newly refurbished website. So I did. Pretty solid content across the board, I'm happy to opine -- but one particular article caught my eye, tickled my fancy, and squatted in my brain long enough to recommend it here.

Basically, a bunch of the Premiere writers were asked to come up with their picks for Most Overrated Film of All Time -- and while most of the sacred cows slaughtered here are pretty darn obvious ones, the opinions and explanations as to why each film was chosen, well, I thought they were fairly compelling. Frankly, I'm thrilled to see someone call Field of Dreams "just too on the nose," because it absolutely is.

Fully prepared for the onslaught of How Dare YE!! hate mail, the Premiere posse has wisely decided to add an equally pithy rebuttal in defense of each movie. So when someone has the audacity to impugn The Wizard of Oz, we sane people have a defender who'll say Dude, Please. I've placed the 20 titles under the jump, just to help spark discussion, but do not let that stop you from reading through the whole article. It might make you think a little differently about some of those Unquestioned Classics that everyone's afraid to admit they don't really dig. (Yep, 2001: A Space Odyssey is overrated; I said it and I'm proud.)

Published early this year, Manhattanite Maria Dahvana Headley's debut, The Year of Yes: A Memoir, details the year she spent saying yes to every (non-violent, unmarried, non-addict) person who asked her out. Though the book is just another in the depressingly trendy chick-lit genre, the only thing that's surprising about the news that the movie rights have been picked up is that it took this long for them to sell.

Variety reports this morning that the lucky studio is Paramount, which has assigned the film to producer partners Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen. Though it's far too early to even have a screenwriter on board, even a cynic like myself has to admit that this project is loaded with potential. First of all, the many encounters in the book lend themselves naturally to a picking choosing process, by which a writer can easily craft a narrative made up of the best/funniest/most awful of them. Secondly, the fact that Headley actually MARRIED ONE OF THE MEN gives story a magical - and true - happy ending. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Jinks and Cohen make good, sometimes unusual films. Together they produced American Beauty, Down with Love, and Big Fish, three films that are distinctive and quirky enough to lead one to the shocking conclusion that the pair might actually be more interested in originality than following box office trends.