As a way to curb my blogging desires, and an oppourtunity to fulfill an age-old and recurring News Years resolution that I never keep and rarely start, I thought I might start a blog. One that I will update on a daily basis. This is quite a useful way of doing it for me as it's on a computer, and, in no way, shape or form, means I have to decipher my useless scribbles, as my handwriting is somewhat shit, and that no bugger will ever read it as I have no desire to tell people I know about its existence. But, you know, should anyone I know find it, it might be quite nice for them to read.
As I usually need some sort of reason to spark these things, today's is quite simple. Some friends and I watched some films the other day. These films being, in the order we watched them; eXistenZ, Rushmore, American Beauty, Not Another Teen Movie and The Nightmare Before Christmas. However the only two that are noteworthy for this blog are Rushmore, which is highly noteworthy in my life, and hopefully shall remain so, and American Beauty, which is noteworthy as it was a large dissapointment. Three of the movies were top favourites of some of the people I was watching them with, these three being the two noteworthy ones and eXistenZ. And so, I kept my opinions of these movies to myself, I hope. But here, I would like to say that I doubt I will ever 'watch' American Beauty again. I'll watch it with a group of people or with someone who enjoys occasionally watching films in the background. But actually sit and watch it, I doubt it.
And I don't really know why. I just was not impressed by my gut feeling I got whilst watching it. It was undeniably entertaining, but so is any film. It was fun to watch with a group of mates, but so are most films. There were parts I enjoyed, such as Spacey's brains on the walls, the bit where his homophobic nieghbour kisses him in the garage, the bit where his wife and her lover pull up to the booth at the fast-food place where he works and, as my housemate described it, the 'window boobs bit'. And it looked nice, with some rather nice little shots and cut aways. But, as you may have predicted, there are some more obivous flaws in my eyes.
The first being; Alan Ball and his bloody trademark coincidental music, that slowly plinking piano music. Being a huge fan of Six Feet Under, in which this music is also tremendously over-used to the point it takes something away from the show, I am familiar with this piece, and the emotions it can evoke. Now, in Six Feet Under it is over-used, but it is always used in similar narrative situations, of which there just happen to be many of, and it always seem to fit. Now, unfortunatly, I can't be too specific, but in American Beauty, when it is used, it rarely seems to fit whatever is happening and evokes a feeling that doesn't relate to what is going on on screen.
I also have a gripe with the speech that the 'weird' neighbour gives to Mina Suvari in Birch's bedroom. The one about how she calls them 'freaks' because she knows that she herself, in the words of someone famous, I forget who, is 'boring, and dull, and ordinary.' Essentialy, the 'freaks' or 'underlings' kick the 'popular' and 'pretty' peoples arses. To me, it was cliched, slightly conceited and fairly crappy. But alot of my favourite films contain somewhat naff dialogue, so this wasn't a problem. But, what annoyed me most was when the three people I was watching it said all piped up, in unison, 'That's the best part of the film'. And I was genuinly shocked that this naff dialogue impressed these people, two of whom, though I do not know them well, are fairly switched on people. They had seen it before, I hadn't, and this collective outburst suggested that this bit raised their spirits. It inferred that this film, at some part in their past, had reiterated the idea that 'odd people are pretty much superb'. I expected these people to be aware of this and not need for it to be on the screen and celebrate so much. Not that I have a problem it was in the script, it is a truly beautiful concept I fully agree with, but there were much better scenes and pieces of dialogue, there really was. And I would tell neither of these two people my thoughts on this film, one because I doubt they would care, really, which is good, and the other would most likely not care too, but it might just annoy them as it is their second favourite film.
But, what I disliked the most about it is that I had heard a great many things about this film from a considerably large number of people, some whose opinions I hold in high regard, and it was flat compared to the praise that I had heard.
Should you read this and think 'this guy's a prick' to the point it evokes any strong feeling, any comments will be welcomed and read respectfully. I think It would be a good idea, also, to list films I hold in high regard, mainly because I love a good fucking list; Top Three films in an, as of yet, undecided order;
Brazil
Rushmore
Revolver
And other films I happen to think are the shit;
The Hustler, Late Night Shopping, This Year's Love, Don't Look Now, The Incredibles, Tideland, American Splendor, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Thirteen, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, The Truman Show, The Conversation, Network, Falling Down, Duel, The Squid And The Whale, The Proposition, Jabberwocky, Coffee And Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, Lost In Translation, Romance And Cigarettes, Ghost World, Monty Python's Meaning Of Life, Annie Hall, 10, Arthur, Unbreakable, The Sting, Dig! and many many more.
I hope it's obvious I fuckin' love films
Love and bubbles
The Beard
xXx
