Magnolia
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.74 You Save: $23.25 (86%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Magnolia
Movie Review: Utterly engrossing and wonderfully made
Summary: 5 Stars
The Bottom Line:
A great film that introduces and develops a half-dozen connected storylines in a thoroughly unique manner before introducing a plot element that has polarized viewers but completely fits in the context of the film, Magnolia is a modern masterpiece by PT Anderson which will stay with you long after much tamer and shorter (it is long, though very fast-moving) films are gone; don't be put off by the nay-sayers--see this stunning film.
4/4
Movie Review: Magnolia Should have won an Oscar like Crash...
Summary: 5 Stars
Magnolia Should have won an Oscar like Crash...Crash got it ...But the real great movie was Magnolia and timing is everything...Reverse the order and Magnolia gets it...Provocative Performances from everybody in it...Rent,Buy it ...Its all about Change, Redemtion and your own personel Recovery...and yes it is the movie's 10th Anniversary of making it.Movie Review: Magnolia
Summary: 5 Stars
It was a great copy of the movie and will always be a classic movie.Movie Review: An excellent and well managed ensemble film, very worth seeing, but I wish Anderson would have edited his material differently
Summary: 4 Stars
P.T. Anderson's 1999 film MAGNOLIA is one heck of an ensemble drama. Its main characters include a dying television executive (Jason Robards), his nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman), his wife (Julianne Moore), a LAPD police officer (John C. Reilly), a game show host (Philip Baker Hall), his coked-up daughter (Melora Walters), a sleazy "how to score with women" guru (Tom Cruise, in the best performance of his career), a child prodigy (Jeremy Blackman), and a former child prodigy (William H. Macy). Over the course of one day in San Fernando Valley the relationships between them are shown through a series of fateful encounters. The great theme of MAGNOLIA is the sins of the fathers visited upon their children. The film has a surprise ending, which works as a deus ex machina, not only resolving all the different plot strands in one instant, but also symbolizing God's intervening hand, freeing the younger characters so that they may live their own lives.
MAGNOLIA is a powerful film. As a young man I saw it many times in the theatre when it came out, and I continue to watch it on DVD often enough. There is a fine screenplay, often praiseworthy acting, impressive cinematography, and a great soundtrack by Aimee Mann. That said, after developing a better understanding of the world of film (I've become something of a 1960s auteur film snob), I am more critical of it. Unlike many who find fault with the film, I don't think that the film overstays its welcome at 3 hours. However, the opening, where Anderson presents three (pseudo-)historical tales of amazing coincidences, is entertaining enough, but it could have easily been cut without affecting the main of the film. What Anderson should not have cut, on the other hand, is the subplot involving Orlando Jones as an inner-city murderer, elements of which have been left in but which make little sense without the whole.
If you are a fan of the film, the two-disc edition is well worth getting. The extra Frank "T.J." Mackey material is hilarious, and the making-of documentary, far from being promotional fluff like all too many, is relevatory about Anderson's film-making process.
Movie Review: Very well-made, but it's no "There Will be Blood"
Summary: 4 Stars
PTA's camera work and editing are very distinctive--he does this Scorsesian thing where, when he cuts to a new character or scene the camera rushes to get there, much like he did in Boogie Nights. The pace in TWBB, to its credit, is more stately--the director's presence is less obvious. He also structures his films very well; this one moves between a dozen or so characters whose climaxes all come about the same time. There was too much melodrama in this movie for me, however. PTA kind of buys into this bogus pseudo-Freudian idea that we're all harboring our childhood demons and they can be exorcised with a teary, screaming confrontation with estranged relatives. Hokey. The character of Claudia is the worst. Is she based on Fiona Apple or something? She's too loud and crazy. The cop feels lucky to have her, but why? Her only redeeming quality, it would seem, is her looks. Tom Cruise is really great in this, but he's done this so many times: the sleek ultra-confident guy whose facade breaks down. The interrelated cast is similar to Boogie Nights except that Boogie Nights had a clear lead (Wahlberg) and the characters had a common backdrop (porn). Those are lacking here and I don't think it's to Magnolia's credit.
I don't know, the ballsier elements of this are difficult to judge, like having all the characters sing the Aimee Mann song (or whoever it was) and the raining frogs. On the one hand it's unmitigated pretension. On the other it shows confidence and a willingness to embarrass yourself for the sake of good art.
I guess I see it as a necessary step towards TWBB. Just part of PTA finding his own voice. But in no way his zenith. I'm really excited about his new Scientology movie. Wonder if Mr. Cruise might do a cameo.