The dynamics in Magnolia, particularly between Cruise/his character’s dad/PSH are emotionally dense and the work Cruise/PTA/PSH do in their scenes is among their career best moments
I think I bought Inherent Vice on Blu-ray when it came out, having heard good things, then never got around to watching it and eventually sold it with a bunch of other movies I had when I moved in like 2021
Magnolia is beautiful. It is such a bold film for a young filmmaker to even try. Licorice Pizza was very fun and did lighter Anderson better than Inherent Vice. Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, and The Master are his top tier.
This is true, but it also doesn't sustain those highs for it's ultra-long runtime and can feel a bit messy at times. That musical number still really doesn't work with me.
I'd like to rewatch a few of these, and I haven't seen Hard Eight, but my initial ranking would be: There Will Be Blood Boogie Nights Inherent Vice Punch-Drunk Love The Master Phantom Thread ------------------ Magnolia ------------------ Licorice Pizza those first five are pretty much interchangeable depending on the day.
All of his stuff is worth watching, but The Master, Punch Drunk Love, and Boogie Nights should be next in line. Top tier.
The Aimee Mann soundtrack and the Wise Up scene are some of my favorite aspects so I disagree lol. I think every frame is engaging and serves the interconnected narrative and character relationships, even if some segments are more memorable than others
Julianne Moore's breakdown at the pharmacy or Reilly admitting how much of a disappointment he is elevate Magnolia by themselves. It is an acting showcase for pretty much everyone in the film.
Also I’m not anti-messy movie. There’s good mess and bad mess and the narrative and characters of Magnolia are inherently messy and the feeling adds to the tone for me.
I remember Magnolia seemed to be everywhere when it came out. Those images of Cruise were on the news and commercials all the time even though I was too young to know or care about it.
Oh man, I loved Hard Eight. You all gotta watch it. The weather sucked this weekend so we took the kids to the movies twice, first to see the original Minions movie, then to see Migration. Man, the Minions are fucking funny. They need to stop adding stakes or plot to their stories and just let them Three Stooges their way through different scenarios. Give the Minions a 7 minute per episode TV series like Shaun The Sheep and I'd watch that shit over and over. Migrations was ... a movie that we saw. That's basically all I remember.
Just did a quick ranking, so it's not actually bottom 3 (haven't seen magnolia or hard eight in a long time) Punch Drunk Love There Will Be Blood The Master Inherent Vice Licorice Pizza Boogie Nights Magnolia Phantom Thread Hard Eight
Hundreds of Beavers - 9/10 The most Looney Toons-ass movie I've seen since Raising Arizona. Just absolutely stuffed with hilarious sight gags, stream of consciousness-style escalation, and incredible callbacks. This was the silliest movie and I love love loved it. the forth-wall breaking "For Sale" sign during the climactic chase knocked the wind out of me I laughed so hard.