Magnolia, some thoughts

[suzzer99]

Of the people who dis/didn't like this movie--did you see it on the big screen first? Like I said most of the people I know who really like it saw it at the theaters first.

Supposedly Lost in Translation is great on the big screen, slow and boring on a TV (according to an Ebert and Roeper theory anyway). I've never seen it, so I can't say either way.

[tuq]

suzzer,

Yes I saw it in the theater first. With great anticipation. The great anticipation was probably the problem.

Contrast this with a similar situation, "The Big Lebowski". Coming off of "Fargo" and always having been a huge fan of Coen Bros. films, I went into that one with massive expectations. However, I was initially disappointed because it was so off-the-wall. However, like movies such as "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Swingers" it gets better with every viewing, and is now one of my all-time favorites. Repeated viewings of "Magnolia" just didn't do that for me.

[CharlieDontSurf]

I prefer Mag on a small screen...
Lebowski was a work of pure brilliance..it was superb on both large and small screens.

I'm still waiting for Lebowski in 3D

[Michaelson]

Can someone explain the ending of Magnolia to me? I had no idea what was going on. Liked it up until then, though.

My fave PTA movie is Punch Drunk Love. Not quite sure why. I've seen it a few times now and I always like it more in retrospect than in viewing it, strange as that sounds. Its the complete opposite with Boogie Nights, which is very stylish and completely compelling, but somehow doesn't amount to all that much IMO.

I think PTA has some amazing films in him, though, once he refines his style and gets the right material to work with.

[FortunaMaximus]

Cruise at his absolute, manic best. He seems to find some deep well of talent, if harnessed properly, and isn't gigastaring it for revenue (Magnolia, Collateral).

PTA did apologize for the raining frogs scene sometime afterwards. Apparently it was a "it seemed like a good idea at the time" bit.

He's filming "There will be Blood" currently, release '07. Apparently Daniel Day-Lewis and a no-namer female lead, turn of century early oil boom Texas, it's an Upton Clair novel. (IMDB barebones source) Should at least be interesting.

[Dominic]

I've always founds films that bite off more than they can chew very enjoyable and worthwhile, and Magnolia is defintely one of those. Give the guy credit for trying to say something and doing it a different way. Personally, I loved this film, raining frogs and all.

[ThomasPHoolery]

Everytime I watch Magnolia I'm really conflicted. It's impossible for me to deny the talent of PTA when I watch it, but at the same time, I keep getting the feeling that PTA is constantly reminding me how talented he is. My biggest problem with the film is that it is just so unbearably heavy-handed. I couldn't figure out how exactly to put into words my feeling towards the film until I read Roger Ebert's review of "Death For Smoochy," where he said, "Only enormously talented people could have made 'Death to Smoochy.' Those with lesser gifts would have lacked the nerve to make a film so bad, so miscalculated, so lacking any connection with any possible audience." While Magnolia wasn't that bad, it takes a lot of ambition to make a film that is bad in the way that this film was.

Giving Anderson final cut of the film may have been the fatal error. The middle two hours of the film just has this sense of an inevitable build to nothing. The raining frogs, the entire cast singing 'Wise Up'-- I just couldn't get behind it.

I didn't hate the movie, I was just very frustrated by it. There's a great movie in there somewhere, and a great talent finding his voice, but seeing movies that are so close to being great (He Got Game is another film that falls into this category for me-- that movie is about 15 degrees off being a masterpiece, but it's ultimately just not very good) just ends up frustrating me and makes me focus on the negative more than I probably should.

[suzzer99]

I don't really ask a ton from a movie. Boogie Nights to me isn't so much a masterpiece, but has a collection of absolutley incredible scenes. Like maybe 10. That's enough for me to put it at the top of my list. Magnolia has 2 - Tom Cruise on stage and Cruise in his underwear.

[Frank TJ Mackey]

Just a difference we'll have to remain disagreed upon then. I think there are 4 or 5 scenes in Magnolia that are better than every single one in Boogie Nights, save maybe the coke dealer scene. Also, almost every actor that is in both films does a better job in Magnolia than in BN.

[suzzer99]

Here are my favorties from BN:

Firecracker scene

Scene with Heather Graham and Julianne Moore manically doing coke

Scene where Hoffman tries to kiss Marky Mark and bawls his head off

"Feel feel feel feel my heat."

Opening scene/shot

There have to be a couple more I can't remember.

What are yours from Magnolia?


Also hope this isn't too much of a hijack but I found this pretty interesing:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118749/trivia

Leonardo DiCaprio was originally offered the role of Dirk Diggler, he liked the screenplay, but turned it down because he had already signed on to do Titanic (1997). But he suggested Mark Wahlberg for the role.

Gwyneth Paltrow was originally offered the role of Rollergirl but turned it down.

Warren Beatty was originally offered the role of Jack Horner

Yuck. Talk about a different movie.