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Reviews
Shooting Gallery (2005)
Unwatchable
Giving it a 2 only because a few scenes are actually quite interestingly photographed. But otherwise this is pure, odious, drivel. Insulting that this guy Keoni Waxman actually expects people to sit all the way through this mess -- I sure didn't. Why is it so apparent that the writers of pool movies have never set foot in actual pool rooms? Why are we allowing these hacks to make movies? I saw the bad reviews on this one, and decided to rent it anyway because I love pool and I'm still waiting for a decent pool movie. (Poolhall Junkies is bad, sure, but at least it offered some laughs. It's worth the rental just to hear Christopher Walken say "Benz," and to see Rod Stieger overacting to the point of hilarity.) I'm begging you: don't make the same mistake I made. Skip this one entirely. Anything to dissuade Waxman from making another movie. Please!
American Beauty (1999)
Astonishingly overrated
That this is among the IMDb's top-rated movies of all time is . . . very sad. Ahead of Apocalypse Now? Ahead of Vertigo and To Kill a Mockingbird? Right. It's a nice movie, better than halfway-decent even. But Top 50? To quote Mr. Taggart, I am depressed. If I hear another person (likely a Dr. Phil fan) tell me how "profound" they found the movie, I'm going to puke.
I expect that in 25 years, films like Memento, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and The Usual Suspects will continue to make top-films lists and will become classics. I expect American Beauty to be largely forgotten by then. It certainly will be by me.