Sam Mendes

[ie]

Another missing thread.




So, I've only seen American Beauty, although I do have access to Jarhead and Road to Perdition looks like it could be a good movie. But American Beauty is in my Top 10, (#5,) so he can do some really good work.

Further discussion, go!

[agentknight]

I liked American Beauty, but it just didn't stick with me. I was a bit "meh" over Jarhead.

[captainofbeef]

American Baby and Road to Perdition are both superb films. Jarhead sucked. Period. A ton of bad acting and a story that just doesnt go anywhere turned into one of the worst war films I have ever seen.

[ie]

A friend of mine, who I feel has a pretty good taste in movies, thinks Jarhead is really great.

So, yeah.

[criterionmaster]

Yeah, tons of people either hate or love the film. I haven't seen it though. But I have seen American Beauty and I find it to be one of the best films of the 90's easily. I don't see how people can call this film overrated when it has everything to back up its love. It is just a brilliant film and I actually connected with the boyfriend character a lot. His filming and seeing hidden beauty in simple things is very much how I look at life (and how I also look at certain films as well). The footage of the bag floating in the breeze is an image that will stay with me for a long time. It is something that I had seen all the time but I had never really seen the beauty in it, until the film that is.

I find the movie to be extremely funny as well; it somehow mixes huge laughs with haunting moments of drama. I think Spacey gives his best performance in this film and is just a joy to watch. The lead actresses are just beautiful. Really everything about the film is perfect. I wish you would have liked it more AK, maybe next time you watch it, it will stick with you.

[PTAhole]

I've seen all three of his films. I love American Beauty (even though I think it's overrated). I liked Road to Perdition a lot. And Jarhead blew.

[mixed]

Yeah what was with the jarhead buzz? It was a bore, Gyllenhaal is uncharismatic and a boring lead here. It may display a level of realism in the boredom shown of the soldiers, but it doesn't make for an interesting film....

[ie]

There was quite a lot of buzz behind American Beauty, but I think it's fully justified.

As for Jarhead, most of you say it's boring crap, but I still need to check it out anyways.

[agentknight]

It's not crap, it's just dull.

[mixed]

I love american beauty and thing the buzz i completely justified. Kevin Spacey delivers a remarkable performance and the film is wholy enjoyable, touching and to me, realistic.

[kiddo]

Hello everyone! Nice to be back!

I think Mendes is a very talented guy. American Beauty is, as you all say, very, very good. No. Great. GREAT. Road to Perdiotion also worked very good; i found it very entertaining, and not just plain stupid entertainging for the sake of being entertaining. It was beautiful, escpecially in terms of the visuals.

And Jarhead. That was a good film. I did not find it boring at all. Ok, it was sometimes a bit cliche, and some heavy inspiration from Full Metal Jacket was visible at times, but overall it worked nicely. The beautiful camerawork worked as a great contrast to the not-so-beautiful content, and most of the acting was good. I liked the pace of the film, too. I thought it was very entertaining. Not a fantastic film, but a very good one, nevertheless.

I`m looking forward to more work from this director. This highly talented director.

[ie]

Okay, dull, crap, for a movie, that's pretty much the same thing.


One thing I need to say is that Mendes' (English) accent was kind of hard for me to understand, when I watched the behind the scenes documentary on American Beauty. And to a degree, I can pick up on accents pretty well. So, um, yeah.

[mixed]

Give it time man, we dont all speak like Mendes
I know what you mean with accents though, it can sound as though a foreign person is speaking giberish until you acclimatise to their accent. Like Germans, they can be so tricky to comprehend at first

[ie]

So, hey, my brothers and sisters, I have seen Jarhead and I still cannot give it a definite rating yet. It sits somewhere between a 7/10 and an 8/10. Or, essentially, does it make it into my Top 500?


I didn't think it was mehishy, the acting was decent enough, and the story wasn't exactly great but it happens. I do agree with mixed's thoughts presented here for the first time in viynl: "realism in the boredom shown of the soldiers, but it doesn't make for an interesting film...." However, I didn't think it was too dull.

Additionally, the Full Metal Jacket similarities might be because Full Metal Jacket was probably based off of true events, while Jarhead was also based off of true events. Wow.


For not being a war movie buff, I thought it was decent enough.

[kiddo]

It does sound like this was more of a 6-7 out of 10 for you, when taken in mind whay you say about it. I gave it a 7.5/10, and reading my words about it, you can easily get the impression that I like it a lot more than you.

The similarities between Jarhead and Full Metal Jacket is not only the fact that both films are based on a real story. It`s how the stories are told. There were some scenes/elements of Jarhead that felt very unoriginal. Full Metal Jacket is an original war film. At least for me.

[ie]

I actually thought most of what you said was reasonable, but you're probably right, you may have enjoyed it more than me.

Damn it, still can't decide! Probably stick it to a 7/10, just to get all of this planning over with.


edit: Oh, and good point about how the movies were set up. I hadn't thought about that, but that's probably what everyone meant.