Magnolia
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Movie Reviews of Magnolia
Movie Review: A film with huge scope in theme and performances
Summary: 5 Stars
It took me a while to decide if I liked this film or not. I put it in the player late one night after a long and stressful day, thinking I'd watch only a little before going to bed. At first it seemed like some overly ambitious young LA piece of work. I think the scary-hilarious performance of Tom Cruise as the male dominating sex guru really grabbed me. Cruise was almost too good at the role...makes you wonder....But it was certainly an attention grabber.
Then I was hooked and stuck it out for the whole, long duration. The only times my attention waned were during the scenes with the dying man, Jason Robard and his over-the-top drugged out wife, Julianne Moore. The problem with this twosome was that we were never shown anything positive about them to make us care. Robards was practically gone and displayed nothing deeper than cranky crustiness and Moore was so overly dramatic that I doubted the truth of her statment that she had really learned to love her husband. The fact that she left him, in his final hours to the care of the paid nurse while she chose to drug herself away showed the vacuity of her character. I did like her explosion in the drug store but it was, again, way too much. She could have accomplished the same shock with fewer exclamatory f-words. She played the range of hysteria-to-blankness grandly but those extremes are ultimately boring.
If you can stick through the early parts of the film that bring you to the brink of despair as you witness the depths of the pain of these characters, you will be rewarded by the depths of simple goodness and warmth of some of them. That role is carried mostly by John C. Reilly as the good cop. At first he's portrayed somewhat simplistically, kneeling by the bedside to pray. Yet he's the one who makes a strong and simple stand for goodness and love that gives the film its redemptive quality. The relatonship between Reilly and Melora Walter, who is Wonderful! as the emotionally fragile drug addict are the center point of the film. For my money, Reilly, Walter and the alway-affecting William H. Macy are the true stars of the film.
Yes, Hoffman has a depth that is rare in film actors and he is very affecting here. I only quibble that so much of his technique seemed to involve standing mute with his mouth open. I really didn't get the incredible anguish that his character, the nurse, experienced here. He is obviously an experienced hospice worker who has witnessed many deaths; we were not shown anything to justify his special feelings about this man. That's a quibble, though, and the fact that he went to such lengths to contact Robards' son is one of the moral strong points that makes this film more than a horror show.
Henry Gibson gives a brilliant bit as a cynical character Macy meets in a bar. His callousness is a perfect foil to Macy who is trying, in his terribly messy way, to open his heart and declare his love (here for the bartender). Gibson puts him down at every attempt and seems to win until Macy finally rises to the challenge. It's a terrific scene...one that I think acting students might use in class assignments for years to come.
This is a film that attempts grand themes...Biblical in scope. And it pulls it off wonderfully. Personally I missed the allusion to the falling frogs and it lost me while I watched the movie; I can only appreciate it now, intellectually. I loved the suggestion of another reviewer---that huge hail stones in July in California would have been surprising enough while still keeping the credibility of the story. Deus ex machina, indeed!
I can see why there are so many negative reviews. The film isn't for everyone. Maybe it's a question of one's ability to relate to the pain of others. At any rate, the acting is uniformly first rate. I rarely watch a film more than once. But this is one that I think I will see again.
Movie Review: So moving & powerful it brought me to tears, but it's not for everyone.
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, the myriad positive and well-thought out reviews for this film are dead on. However, so are the negative reviews, in their own way.
It's simple, really. There are a few different catagories of film. For example, a film such as, say, 'STAR WARS', or 'E.T.', maybe, is almost universally lauded as an enjoyable, if somewhat unchallenging, film to watch. Then, you have films like 'MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO' or 'MEMENTO', films that march to a beat all their own and demand that the audience pay close attention. This is the category that 'MAGNOLIA' falls under. This is not a fun romp to injest on a random Tuesday evening. This film demands your attention from the first moment, and doesn't let go until after the end of the haunting closing title song by the amazing Aimee Mann. The flow and ebb of this film is akin to a heartbeat, with natural pauses, natural progressions, natural rhythms. The story and plot have been regurgitated ad nauseum, so no need to do a book report on it here. However, the plot is so interwoven into the actions and choices of the characters in this film that it's almost secondary. As you go through this day-in-the-life of all characters involved, and start to see how they are all connected, each revelation heart-breakingly and expertly built upon the next, untill, by the end of the film, we're left with the 2 new lovers, closing on the hope that they will not only overcome the heartache and betrayal of their earlier lives, but maybe avoid those self-same mistakes in their future.
There's one other factor that goes into watching this film that, while not taking away from it, is absolutely essential in understanding and appreciating it, and that's a certain level of experience and understanding with the lonliness that the film exudes like sweat. Let's face it, and not to be too rude or cliche, but if a person to young to have experienced loss and betrayal, or a twenty or thirty-something person who married the first person they ever met and wrangles 3 or 4 kids while trying to keep a family together and listening to the local easy listening radio station in the mini-van with the soccer sticker on the side watches this film, there will be an immediate and visceral reaction of disdain for the film. The issues in this film hit home the most with people who've lived a life a little outside the norm. The issues in this film are not swept under the rug, they are right there in your face, laid bare and ugly, and for some people that's just too much for them to face if they've never taken the time to face those issues in their own lives.
I'm not saying the film can't be appreciated by people I've described above; I'm merely offering my input on why some people have such a strange hatred of the film. All in all, I find this film beautiful, heartbreakingly real, and true.
Movie Review: A Great Film About Faith
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a story of faith, and of the the value of empathy and good works. The divine intervention and "deus ex machina" at the end of the film may be controversial, but it makes the point brilliantly. It's no more bizarre than anything recounted in the Bible and is meant to remind one of the various extraordinary plagues visited upon Egypt.
But the faith that matters -- the faith that stories of divine miracles are meant to inspire in us all -- is that of the nurse and cop who have the gift of empathy and the ability to see and to bring out the best in people.
The seemingly disconnected stories come together in a brilliant and compelling way. They are connected, after all, by the traumas visited upon us in our youth and about how those traumas continue to play out for the rest of our lives. We all share in this experience to some extent, and it's what unites us all.
Tom Cruise is surprisingly good in his role as the huckster son. Julianne Moore proves why she is one of our finest actresses. And then you have wonderful actors like Jason Robards and William Macy in supporting roles.
A couple of things don't work. The title makes no sense to me -- how does "Magnolia" capture the film's message of faith and hope? And the opening sequence of bizarre coincidences does not work for me. It misses the point that there are strange coincidences. What -- does the Supreme Being have some macabre sense of humor? The ultimate mystery is whether there is some force higher than us and the meaning of life appears to be having faith in something greater than us. The sketches at the beginning of the film don't capture this. Finally, the infamous sing-a-long scene by leading characters near the end of the film has been deservedly lampooned by critics -- though it is silly to suggest, as did the contemporaneous review in the New York Times, that one bad scene ruins the whole movie.
An absolutely wonderful film. Like "The Shawshank Redemption" it was a bomb in the theaters but will be seen in future years as one of the great films of the decade.
Movie Review: Another special film from Paul Thomas Anderson
Summary: 5 Stars
Even braver and deeper emotionally than Paul Thomas Anderson's
wonderful 'Boogie Nights', and in some ways a more mature, if less
blazingly dynamic work. Full of amazing shots, amazing performances.
The epic, multi-layered film 'Short Cuts' wanted to be.
That said there are a few flaws. The biblical ending doesn't quite work
for me. I appreciate the ideas behind it, but it's an ending that's
less emotional than the film that proceeded it. And a few
moments of irony are forced. That was true in 'Boogie Nights' too, but
because that film had a lighter, more self-mocking touch, even the
heavy handed moments didn't stick out.
None-the-less, this is a must see film, overflowing with great
performances, unconventional storytelling, heartbreaking moments, and
an honest look at where we are and who we are as a society.
Movie Review: the darkside
Summary: 5 Stars
it is the bitter end of coffee - it is the twisted dark side of life - it is a masterpiece - I have watched it about a dozen times and everytime it brings home a new meaning. It is probably one of those rare movies where all the actors and actresses gave their life time best performance - specially Tom Cruise. It is about life - it is about our life - it is about my life - we build things and then they fall apart and we cry - we look for help and sometimes we get that help. If you ever have had a tough life then you will find a rare connection with a Hollywood movie and fall in love with it.
Strange things happen and they happen in our life and the movie depicts sometimes how all these can happen together - they may not be connected with a clear thread but there is an underlying sadness which ties them