Magnolia

[Vanilla]

Review/Discuss

[acsc1312]

Thanks, Vanilla for adding all these! I'll have something to do today!Anyway, one of my all time favorite films. This is my favorite film by PTA, just above TWBB. Every single performance from a main character is phenomenal. Tom Cruise is at his best, absolutely great performance from him. This never feels long at 3 hrs; PTA found a way to keep the audience interested so the time flies by. I don't think I really have any complaints with this film whatsoever. In my top 5 of all time.A+

[CoolioD1]

One of the best films ever made, amazing performances, best are from John Reily and William Macy. Just in awe of how good it is, plus there's a lot of Aimee Mann in here!

[baumer]

Exodus 8:2 But if you refuse to let them go ( the people ) behold I will plague all your country with frogs.Okay, so the film is heavy on the subliminal message side. So it has great reference in it to the Bible and comeuppance and an eye for an eye and retribution and all that Old Testament stuff. Here is my question. SO WHAT? How does that make a film good? Why is it that just because there is more than meets the eye to a film that all of a sudden brilliance is associated with it? Whatever happened to a finely tuned script? Whatever happened to actors that don't overact? And how about an editor? These are just several thoughts that trouble me about Magnolia. Films are an expression of ones thoughts and of their mind but please don't sit there and tell me that Magnolia is the best film of the year just because Exodus 8:2 pops up everywhere. That does not make it brilliant. What I will say positively about Magnolia is that there is a good idea behind the film. But the execution of it is terrible. This to me, and from what I have seen in the general public, is not a film that screams classic, it is more of an abomination. The first time I saw this film I was angry. I sat in the theater and waited for something to happen. I waited for the pace to pick up. I waited for the script to get better. But nothing happened. I saw it second time out of morbid curiosity. You know, to see if now because I knew all of the secrets of the film, that maybe I would enjoy it a bit better and understand it a little more. Well the definitive answer to that theory was a resounding NO. I still hated it, only now I could understand why I hated it. Before it was like an annoying throbbing pain in my head, the second time, I felt like Malcolm MacDowell's character did when he was forced to watch all those disgusting movies/images on screen in A Clockwork Orange.The worst thing about this film is the script. I have never seen the F-Word used so liberally and in places that it doesn't belong. And before you pidgeon-hole me and say that that is my problem right there, that I am opposed to profanity and "real" sounding dialogue, please bear in mind, I love Kevin Smith films, I loved Eddie Murphy's Delirious and I am not opposed to profanity as long as it has a place in the story and it makes sense. In here, it is overkill. There is one scene where Rose ( who is the cocained addicted daughter ) and her dad, Stanley, the gameshow host, are in the same room and her last few words to her dad are all F-words in some variation. Get the F out of here, F you, F you, F you, F you, F you, F you, what the F are you doing in my house, what the F do you want? etc. etc. The idea here is to show pain between the two. Well her screaming and swearing maybe once would have done it, but it is just overkill the way she carries on. People actually got up and left at this point in the film and this was what? maybe a half an hour into it?Then there is the Linda and Earl characters ( Julianne Moore and Jason Robards ). I'll get to Robards after but first let's have some fun with Moore. Next to Linda, she is the most overacted character in the film and perhaps one of the most overacted characters that I have ever seen. Bette Midler bugs me sometimes with her overacting but she is Hepburn compared to what Moore does in here. Her favourite way to show emotion ( and she is as stable as a MAC Truck hanging over the edge of a cliff ) is to use the F-word as well. I don't even think she knows how to talk calmly in the film. Every scene she is in she is either crying, screaming, swearing or shaking. There is one particular scene in the pharmacy when she explodes at the pharmicist that is so poorly done, so embarrasing that I actually wanted to cringe in my seat. There is no substance to her, no reason, no rhyme. She is just a very, very bad person and one that we can't care about.Then there is Donnie played by William H Macy. His character could have been completely eliminated and no one would have noticed. He is not necessary and I think he was in here simply so there could be some sort of gay theme in the film. And did you happen to see Tom Cruise's bulge in his underwear when he was undressing? It looked like he had boulders where his sack should have been ( hey someone had to say it ). Does P.T. Anderson have an obsession with the penis? Just a thought?Okay, now to Cruise. He was good in a bad film. But all that was put to waste in his last scene with his father as he cries and tells him not to F***in die, you son of a bitch. Enough said about that.Robards. He is a dying old man that is comatose most of the film. But then when he does wake up up long enough, what does he tell us? What great big secret does he tell us that is supposed to make us ooooh and aaaaaaaah? He cheated on his wife. Just like almost every other character, he cheated on his spouse. When this came out, I wanted to yell at the screen, BIG F****N DEAL!!! It was an old theme. There was no shock left now. After Stanley divulged that information and so did Linda and with Cruise's character being the way he was, it was just a nothing speech. But it was done with close ups as if he is cleansing his sould and awaiting a trip to heaven. What trash!! What utter trash.Magnolia is a film that has nothing to say, has some of the worst performances of the year and absolutely some of the worst directing and editing. Just because you have Exodus 8:2 in your film and that is what your great finale is all about, does not mean that you have a great film. This is without a doubt, one of the dumbest films I have ever seen. And I really mean that. The praise that is being heaped on it is completely unjust. I would tell you to stay away from this film but in some strange way I want people to see it. For two reasons. One to show you how bad it really is and two, to show you that no matter how talentless you are, if you get really lucky then you can still get a screenplay produced. P.T Anderson has a really bad screenplay here and it worked for him. See how wonderfully twisted Hollywood is?0 out of 10 In the trailer for the film, one of the final things you hear from the narrator is this " And somehow this will all make sense in the end." How I wish that were true.An awful, awful film!

[acsc1312]

Actually, PTA has stated that the Exodus reference was thrown in after he wrote the script and he didn't know the biblical reference while writing it. He's said that he threw in the sign at the game show scene to mock people who always have John 3:16 signs at sports events, etc. The focus of the movie is not intended to be only that reference. It's a film about the correlations between human kind, a sort of "six degrees of separation" thing. I think overanalyzing this film or films in general is the problem here. Because the 8:2 references (for fun, mind you) this film is seen as just using that to make it. Block out those references and the film is still effective. The frog scene at the end is the climax of the movie where every character has a break down.

[baumer]

Actually, PTA has stated that the Exodus reference was thrown in after he wrote the script and he didn't know the biblical reference while writing it. He's said that he threw in the sign at the game show scene to mock people who always have John 3:16 signs at sports events, etc. The focus of the movie is not intended to be only that reference. It's a film about the correlations between human kind, a sort of "six degrees of separation" thing. I think overanalyzing this film or films in general is the problem here. Because the 8:2 references (for fun, mind you) this film is seen as just using that to make it. Block out those references and the film is still effective. The frog scene at the end is the climax of the movie where every character has a break down.

it's not over analyzing it. That is one part of the film that is horribly done. The rest of what i mention in the review is also horrible. Moore was simply attrocious in this film.

[fmpro]

Exodus 8:2 But if you refuse to let them go ( the people ) behold I will plague all your country with frogs.Okay, so the film is heavy on the subliminal message side. So it has great reference in it to the Bible and comeuppance and an eye for an eye and retribution and all that Old Testament stuff. Here is my question. SO WHAT? How does that make a film good? Why is it that just because there is more than meets the eye to a film that all of a sudden brilliance is associated with it? Whatever happened to a finely tuned script? Whatever happened to actors that don't overact? And how about an editor? These are just several thoughts that trouble me about Magnolia. Films are an expression of ones thoughts and of their mind but please don't sit there and tell me that Magnolia is the best film of the year just because Exodus 8:2 pops up everywhere. That does not make it brilliant. What I will say positively about Magnolia is that there is a good idea behind the film. But the execution of it is terrible. This to me, and from what I have seen in the general public, is not a film that screams classic, it is more of an abomination. The first time I saw this film I was angry. I sat in the theater and waited for something to happen. I waited for the pace to pick up. I waited for the script to get better. But nothing happened. I saw it second time out of morbid curiosity. You know, to see if now because I knew all of the secrets of the film, that maybe I would enjoy it a bit better and understand it a little more. Well the definitive answer to that theory was a resounding NO. I still hated it, only now I could understand why I hated it. Before it was like an annoying throbbing pain in my head, the second time, I felt like Malcolm MacDowell's character did when he was forced to watch all those disgusting movies/images on screen in A Clockwork Orange.The worst thing about this film is the script. I have never seen the F-Word used so liberally and in places that it doesn't belong. And before you pidgeon-hole me and say that that is my problem right there, that I am opposed to profanity and "real" sounding dialogue, please bear in mind, I love Kevin Smith films, I loved Eddie Murphy's Delirious and I am not opposed to profanity as long as it has a place in the story and it makes sense. In here, it is overkill. There is one scene where Rose ( who is the cocained addicted daughter ) and her dad, Stanley, the gameshow host, are in the same room and her last few words to her dad are all F-words in some variation. Get the F out of here, F you, F you, F you, F you, F you, F you, what the F are you doing in my house, what the F do you want? etc. etc. The idea here is to show pain between the two. Well her screaming and swearing maybe once would have done it, but it is just overkill the way she carries on. People actually got up and left at this point in the film and this was what? maybe a half an hour into it?Then there is the Linda and Earl characters ( Julianne Moore and Jason Robards ). I'll get to Robards after but first let's have some fun with Moore. Next to Linda, she is the most overacted character in the film and perhaps one of the most overacted characters that I have ever seen. Bette Midler bugs me sometimes with her overacting but she is Hepburn compared to what Moore does in here. Her favourite way to show emotion ( and she is as stable as a MAC Truck hanging over the edge of a cliff ) is to use the F-word as well. I don't even think she knows how to talk calmly in the film. Every scene she is in she is either crying, screaming, swearing or shaking. There is one particular scene in the pharmacy when she explodes at the pharmicist that is so poorly done, so embarrasing that I actually wanted to cringe in my seat. There is no substance to her, no reason, no rhyme. She is just a very, very bad person and one that we can't care about.Then there is Donnie played by William H Macy. His character could have been completely eliminated and no one would have noticed. He is not necessary and I think he was in here simply so there could be some sort of gay theme in the film. And did you happen to see Tom Cruise's bulge in his underwear when he was undressing? It looked like he had boulders where his sack should have been ( hey someone had to say it ). Does P.T. Anderson have an obsession with the penis? Just a thought?Okay, now to Cruise. He was good in a bad film. But all that was put to waste in his last scene with his father as he cries and tells him not to F***in die, you son of a bitch. Enough said about that.Robards. He is a dying old man that is comatose most of the film. But then when he does wake up up long enough, what does he tell us? What great big secret does he tell us that is supposed to make us ooooh and aaaaaaaah? He cheated on his wife. Just like almost every other character, he cheated on his spouse. When this came out, I wanted to yell at the screen, BIG F****N DEAL!!! It was an old theme. There was no shock left now. After Stanley divulged that information and so did Linda and with Cruise's character being the way he was, it was just a nothing speech. But it was done with close ups as if he is cleansing his sould and awaiting a trip to heaven. What trash!! What utter trash.Magnolia is a film that has nothing to say, has some of the worst performances of the year and absolutely some of the worst directing and editing. Just because you have Exodus 8:2 in your film and that is what your great finale is all about, does not mean that you have a great film. This is without a doubt, one of the dumbest films I have ever seen. And I really mean that. The praise that is being heaped on it is completely unjust. I would tell you to stay away from this film but in some strange way I want people to see it. For two reasons. One to show you how bad it really is and two, to show you that no matter how talentless you are, if you get really lucky then you can still get a screenplay produced. P.T Anderson has a really bad screenplay here and it worked for him. See how wonderfully twisted Hollywood is?0 out of 10 In the trailer for the film, one of the final things you hear from the narrator is this " And somehow this will all make sense in the end." How I wish that were true.An awful, awful film!

Agree with Baumer

[IndustriousAngel]

The only thing saving this from complete negligibility is Tom Cruise. Don't plan to rewatch this anytime soon but his performance was at least memorable

[The Creator]

I'm sorry, but the bashing of this film I've seen so far in this thread is just wrong. This is an amazing film. All I have to say is this:

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_phQnNE80

I really like all the interlapping character arcs, from a "male sex doctor" (Cruise) whose interview with a reporter isn't quite going in his favor, to a washed-up game show star (William H. Macy) who's coming to grips with the bitter realities of his life, from a police officer (John C. Reilly) who develops a crush on a girl he's interogatting, to a nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) tending to a dying man, and his wife (Julianne Moore) who comes to realize how much she actually loves him. Paul Thomas Anderson makes one hell of a movie, and that scene I posted above is easily one of my favorite scenes of all time.

A+

Edited August 24, 2012 by The Creator

[acsc1312]

I think the whole Mackey interview is brilliant. It's probably the best stuff PTA's ever written/shot. It makes you want the camera to stay on him the whole time while going back and forth to the other story lines. April Grace was perfect for the role of Gwenovier, and probably should've gotten an Oscar nom for her fantastic performance with so little screen time. I need to watch this (for the sixth time this year) again soon.

[acsc1312]

[Webslinger]

Some movies simply must be experienced; Magnolia is one of them. While the story and the acting are certainly up to snuff (especially the latter), it's first and foremost a directorial tour de force for Paul Thomas Anderson. I also loved Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, but whereas those movies are relatively straightforward, this one is incredibly audacious in that not only does it trust its audience's patience enough to immerse us in these characters' universe for three hours, but it also introduces some odd story developments (like the impromptu sing-along in the video a few posts above and the, ahem, biblical climax) that certainly have the potential to backfire, but instead work beautifully. The ridiculously talented ensemble is also wholly brilliant, with a career-best performance from Tom Cruise (it's hard to say which is the more convincing "Oscar clip" - his insanely charismatic Seduce & Destroy presentation, or his cathartic reunion with his dying father), heartbreaking performances from Julianne Moore and Melora Walters, and excellent low-key work from John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, and William H. Macy. Anderson dares to do things few other filmmakers would do and go places few others would go, and the result is a film of exceptional power. See it if you haven't already.

A

[Gopher]

baumer, that's the worst thing I've ever read.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I love this movie truly great film and stunning expereince9.5/10

[acsc1312]

I've been visiting this page too much. Now I really wanna watch this. I'm gonna do a PTA marathon before I see the Master

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I am going to watch it this week.

[Michael Gary Scott]

This was my last movie of my PTA rewatch since seeing The Master. I thought it was good and the performances were very strong especially Cruise. 4/5 My ranking of PTA films1.There Will Be Blood2.The Master3.Punch Drunk Love4.Magnolia5.Boogie Nights6.Hard Eight

[Jack Nevada]

This is an astonishing piece of filmmaking. Fucking phenomenal performances all around. I think the writing on the female characters is unfortunately weak, but in a monumental movie like this it's a small complaint.  During the Wise Up scene I was trembling and holding back tears. One of the most beautiful scenes I've seen. 

 

4/4

[luna]

i'm finding myself constantly underwhelmed by PTA after watching there will be blood.

 

there is some fantastic stuff here: the two introductions, the complex intertwining of the stories, and that brilliant frog decision. but unfortunately for me, the characterisation and drama was mostly irritating and contrived. i rolled my eyes at the singing montage, and the whole message pretty much boiled down to "isn't life just funny now"? felt like a more ambitious punch-drunk love. thankfully, with there will be blood and the master, PTA seems to have mostly dropped his cloying melodrama.

 

9.2 there will be blood

6.0 the master

4.5 magnolia

1.5 punch-drunk love

[Jake Gittes]

Boogie Nights is very entertaining, not messy in any way and has very little melodrama so you might like that one better than most PTAs.