What the corpus says about American Beauty (1999)

You are a clerk at Video Culture, a video store. A customer just finished American Beauty (1999) and wants to know what to watch next.

Below is what people who love movies said on three podcasts (Blank Check, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture) about American Beauty (1999) and the films around it, one line each. Every line starts with where it came from, in brackets: [show · episode · time · speaker (how sure we are it was them)]. A [pairs] line says how often two films were put side by side. A [speaker] line says what that person likes. A [bits] line lists a show's running bits: a format, not an opinion.

[Blank Check — Patreon · The Ice Storm · 1:17:11 · unknown (0.40)] The Ice Storm ↔ American Beauty · lineage · The Ice Storm teens read as younger versions of Thora Birch and Wes Bentley in American Beauty. · "these characters are like just the younger versions of Thorpe, Birch, and West Bentley and American beauty."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 1:35:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Hanging Up ↔ American Beauty · theme · Early 2000 cinema, Hanging Up included, reflected pre-9/11 confidence that would not last. · "And like, you're not going to make a movie like this a few years later."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 1:24:05 · Bill Simmons (0.50)] The Ice Storm ↔ American Beauty · industry · Simmons thinks American Beauty blocked Ice Storm from a second wind; a B-grade version of it. · "I always felt like American beauty kind of blocked this movie from having any kind of 2nd wind."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Skyfall’ · 0:44:29 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Sam Mendes ↔ American Beauty · career · Mendes was riding a hot streak from American Beauty through Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. · "American Beauty, massive hit, best picture winner, the Road to Perdition"
[The Big Picture · ‘Captain Marvel’ Is a ’90s Nostalgia Play. Did It Work? | Exit Survey · 0:39:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.80)] Annette Bening ↔ American Beauty · career · Bening is a 1990s emblem, star of The Grifters and American Beauty, whose character was compared to Hillary Clinton. · "Star of the Grifters and Star of American Beauty."
[The Rewatchables · ‘Se7en’ · 1:11:38 · Chris Ryan (0.40)] Kevin Spacey ↔ American Beauty · verdict · Apex Mountain for Spacey: Usual Suspects or American Beauty. · "I still feel like, no, I think it's American Beauty."
[pairs] American Beauty ↔ The Ice Storm · said 2 times in 2 episodes
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 1:36:04 · Griffin Newman (0.50)] American Beauty · fun · American Beauty was so ubiquitous it was "nearly elected president." · "That movie was nearly elected president."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 0:50:18 · Bill Simmons (0.60)] The Ice Storm ⇒ Swingtown (TV) (the host's read) · programming · Swingtown tried to tap the key party idea but belonged on Cinemax. · "That show has to be on Cinemax."
[Blank Check — Patreon · You've Got Mail · 1:25:17 · David Sims (0.60)] Meg Ryan ↔ Hanging Up · programming · The Meg Ryan film Hanging Up will get a Patreon bonus episode. · "hanging up, which, Griffin, we're going to discuss on Patreon."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 1:09:25 · Bill Simmons (0.60)] Brokeback Mountain ↔ The Ice Storm · programming · Simmons eyes Brokeback Mountain as a contender for Fucked Up Family February 2023. · "Brokeback Mountain is definitely one of the contenders."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 1:19:54 · David Sims (0.40)] Hanging Up ↔ The Whole Nine Yards · programming · The Whole Nine Yards was the comedy for the boys; Hanging Up opened with the same money as the female-led comedy. · "That's like the comedy for the boys and hanging up, which is opening with the exact same amount of money, is more of a female lead comedy."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 1:26:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.50)] The Ice Storm ↔ The Squid and the Whale · programming · Fennessey says Squid and the Whale was the biggest near-miss for Fucked Up Family February. · "I think was probably the biggest one that could have made it."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 1:27:08 · David Sims (0.50)] Hanging Up ↔ Pitch Black · programming · Pitch Black opened fourth the same weekend as Hanging Up and has aged far better. · "It's just wild to think that that came out the same weekend as hanging up."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 1:27:53 · Bill Simmons (0.50)] The Ice Storm ↔ Pulp Fiction · programming · Next episodes will cover two famous movies; Ryan and Simmons tease Pulp Fiction. · "I've been watching a lot of pulp fiction lately."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 0:14:03 · David Sims (0.40)] Hanging Up ↔ You've Got Mail · lineage · Hanging Up is the phone/cell-phone sibling of the Ephron sisters' earlier email movie. · "isn't it funny that there's a Nora Efron project to, like, in the infancy of email that's like an email movie?"
[Blank Check — Patreon · The Ice Storm · 1:07:49 · unknown (0.40)] Swingtown (TV) ↔ The Ice Storm · programming · CBS's Swingtown was a third of the way to interesting and watered the key-party era down. · "Wasn't that good, but it was sort of like a 3rd of the way to being interesting."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 0:07:45 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Hanging Up ↔ Mixed Nuts · theme · Like a movie a guest watched alone as a child, Hanging Up is a household movie in the speaker's sibling relationship. · "movies that are like, this is a household movie."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 0:08:18 · Chris Ryan (0.50)] Rick Moody's novel ⇒ The Ice Storm (the host's read) · lineage · Based on Rick Moody's 1994 book; the author cried at the end of a cut and said they got it. · "It's based on Rick Moody's 1994 book, who saw a cut of it and cried at the end and was like, my God, they got it."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 0:27:31 · Griffin Newman (0.60)] Hanging Up ↔ Birds of Prey · theme · Both make you wish the final act, where the characters finally share scenes, had been the whole movie. · "you go, I wish this had been the entire movie."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 0:12:44 · Bill Simmons (0.90)] The Brady Bunch Movie ⇒ The Ice Storm (the host's read) · lineage · Simmons traces a mid-90s wave of 70s nostalgia (Brady Bunch movies, Reality Bites) that led to harder looks like Ice Storm. · "They make the Brady Bunch movie, which is a parody of the Brady Bunch."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 0:36:11 · Griffin Newman (0.55)] Hanging Up ↔ Unstrung Heroes · theme · Keaton's earlier film about a boy and his difficult family sounds similar to Hanging Up. · "There are changes, it gets closer to his uncles, sounds similar to hanging up."
[The Rewatchables · ‘The Ice Storm’ · 0:13:48 · Bill Simmons (0.80)] The Ice Storm ↔ Nixon · lineage · Simmons says the nostalgia turned to re-examination in the mid-90s, citing Oliver Stone's Nixon. · "So mid 90s, it starts to be like, hmm."
[Blank Check — Patreon · Hanging Up · 1:10:13 · Griffin Newman (0.40)] Hanging Up ↔ One Fine Day · theme · Both are dated early cell-phone Hollywood films whose phone problems no longer exist. · "It's the same thing about one fine day, another classic of early cell phone Hollywood filmmaking"
[speaker] Chris Ryan · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · A franchise and genre scholar who likes Jason, the early sequels, and Manhattan; attention to trivia, tropes and critic reception. Treats slashers as a canon with tiers. · stances: Parts 1, 2, 4 and Manhattan are the good ones; The series finds its legs at 4
[speaker] Griffin Newman · latest sketch, Blank Check · The Last Temptation of Christ · Calls Last Temptation his college-era favorite Scorsese; loves Scorsese's smaller 80s and the film's closing transcendence and Gabriel score. Cannot stand fundamentalist outrage at it. A sucker for casting trivia and Tom Cruise-silliness. · stances: Hot take: Last Temptation structurally mirrors New York, New York as a better version; Outrage over the film is stupid; it is respectful to Jesus; Scorsese's smaller 80s work beats his later baroque phases
[speaker] Bill Simmons · latest sketch, The Rewatchables · ‘Friday the 13th’ · Loves the Friday series as a communal, rental-era memory and tells childhood stories about the ads and theaters. Likes casting what-ifs and sports analogies for everything. Skeptical of horror at Christmas and of anything that wastes the premise. · stances: Friday the 13th is not the best entry but the origin story had to be told; Friday 2 is a leap over the original
[speaker] Sean Fennessey · latest sketch, The Big Picture · ‘Resident Evil’ Absolutely Rips! · Loves gory, funny, fast genre movies with craft and confidence, especially 87-minute films that never overstay. Can't stand ponderous elevated horror that fills out its runtime with introspection and sad family history. A sucker for the Carpenter-era lineage, Die Hard homages, and directors who break studio dogma. · stances: Resident Evil is one of the best films of the year; Horror movies have become a drag; fun genre experiences are needed; Short running times are a virtue; Video-game films work best when great filmmakers get creative license
[bits] The Big Picture: Drafts (Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument); Hall of Fame (A star's or director's best, ranked and argued); Countdowns (Ranked lists, top five or top ten)
[bits] The Rewatchables: Apex Mountain (The moment a star peaks; where on the mountain a performance sits); Who Won the Movie (The hosts name the person who came out of the film best off); The Ebert review (Roger Ebert's original review and star rating read aloud. Ebert is cited, never on the show); Casting what-ifs (Who was almost cast, or who should have been); Most rewatchable scene (The scene each host would stop on while flipping channels); Aged best / aged worst (What holds up and what does not); Picking Nits (The little things in a film the hosts love that they don't think totally work: the nits); Double feature (The film each host would pair it with; a programming pick)

Recommend three to six films, and only films that appear in these lines. A series, a TV film, or a franchise counts too when a line recommends it or pairs it with American Beauty (1999); name it the way the line names it. Don't recommend American Beauty (1999) itself. For each one, give one short reason in your own words and say whose reason it is: the show, named exactly as the brackets name it, and the speaker when the line names one (an "unknown" speaker is just the show). If the lines are thin, say so plainly rather than stretching them.

Keep a contrast a contrast. When a line sets two films apart, the reason is how they differ; never turn it into a way they're alike. A line with ⇒ puts the source first and what drew on it second, and one marked "the maker said so" is still the host reporting it: say who said it, and never state an influence as fact.

You know only what's on these lines. Add no fact they don't state: not who directed a film, not what kind of film it is, not when it came out, unless a line says so. Say nothing about the store or how anything rents here.

Talk the way a clerk talks to a customer at the counter: plain text, titles written plainly with no asterisks or other markup, no headings, no lists of more than six, no JSON.