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Can somebody please explain what exactly was happening in Magnolia - film on BBC2 tonight?
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:lol: Just thinking that!
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some things just happen.
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sometimes people need a little help. And sometimes people need to be frogiven. One of the finst films ever made and definitely one of the best Hollywood films ever made at least, this is pretty much as close to perfction as I've ever seen a film be. For me personally, it wasa life changing movie that in ways, almost answered the meang of life for me. Beautffully constructed, finely acted and emtoionally and intellectually challening to the highest possible level, this is truly an amazing film, if you missed it 2night, get the dvd, can often be pciked upc heaply on the classifieds... :) So yeah, guess you can say I liked it, though I didn't watch it 2night, seen it so many times recently, so 2night saw far from heaven, a very good film also with Moore :)
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and what he said ...
its an absolutely sublime film.
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I enjoyed it but still didn't quite understand it :rolleyes:
Will prolly get the DVD as it was the first time I'd seen it tonight.
Hopefully after a couple more viewings things will fall into place :)
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Yup I enjoyed it alot aswell (was the first time I'd seen it). It did confuse me a bit so I will get it on DVD to clarify what was going on. Mainly I thought the film was saying that in life some things just happen for a reason and you don't know why they happen but in the end you've got to accept them and move on (might be wrong though :D )
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But did you get all of these references??
http://www.ptanderson.com/featurefilms/magnolia/secrets.htm
Anyone thinking of getting the movie should get the R1 version. Although the special features are identical, the packaging of the R1 is far superior.
:dork:
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The R2 is an EIV release - so the R1 packaging being superior is hardly a surprise. In this case though the packaging is vastly superior.
Personally I found this movie to be a waste of 3 hours of life and one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I know from previous comments on here that I am far from alone.
It's everyone to their own though isn't it. If you do get the R2 copy (£7.99 from splash)- make sure you get the 2 disc set for the extras and often no more expensive than the 1 disc)
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Rented this a while ago - watched it on the Sat PM then watched it again Sun AM - totally fantastic piece of work.
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Originally posted by SheepDip
Personally I found this movie to be a waste of 3 hours of life and one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I know from previous comments on here that I am far from alone.
You are not alone.
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Originally posted by jonathan.e
You are not alone.
Now there's 3 of us here.
I can't understand PTA, Punch Drunk Love was crap as well - yet Boogie Nights is one of my fav films :confused:
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Originally posted by Yonathan Gal
sometimes people need a little help. And sometimes people need to be frogiven.
Intentional or the most apt freudian slip ever?
Originally posted by Bolch
I can't understand PTA, Punch Drunk Love was crap as well - yet Boogie Nights is one of my fav films :confused:
Don’t forget the dullfest that is Hard Eight.
I quite like Boogie Nights too - the exception that proves the rule :lol:
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Magnolia - Too Long!
I was really disappointed by the film - I was expecting a lot and in the end it was only the end which I remember.
Overrated.
:oh-hum:
Watch "Playing By Heart" instead..
:clap:
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Well I was completley confused, the film burnt up at the cinema when it started raining frogs:rolleyes:
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Originally posted by Yonathan Gal
sometimes people need a little help. And sometimes people need to be frogiven.
I would like to think that this was deliberate but I assume its merely a matter of coincidental mistyping on your part.
Though personally I think they rather over did the frogiving in the film:clap:
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These strange things happen all the time
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no, it was on purpose, me crakcing a corny joke : hehehe... Thought it was quite funny myself! lol
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i wasnt confused by this film, but i agree it was a waste of 3 hours.
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I found it great the first time, pretty good the second time, dull, manipulative and pretentious the third.
Boogie Nights, however, just keeps on giving!
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Short Cuts was 3 hours and that was worth sitting through ... magnolia was a director on an ego trip for 3 hours ... oh ok 1 hour of it was quite good but I had to sit between 30 mins of the most mundane and cliché ridden cinema to get to each watchable snippet ... life defining was it? ... well it sure made me :nuts:
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Went to see this at the flicks. Thought it was a waste of three hours of my time!!!!
I've had it on DVD for over a year now. My better half said she liked it so I thought i'd give it another go. Needless to say i've not got around to watching it yet. :nuts:
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without a doubt one of the best American films of the last 10 years; thought-provoking, poignant and beautifully filmed, up there with American Beauty imo. P.T. Anderson is arguably one of the best of his generation and proved with Magnolia that he wasn't afraid to take a gamble with regards to running times and subject matter. Suffice to say if Attack of the Cones, Spiderman, Blade 2 and the like are in your top ten from recent years you could well have problems with Magnolia.
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Originally posted by brunny78
up there with American Beauty imo.
:lol: Don’t even get me started on that waste of celluloid.
Bit silly trying to categorize critics of Magnolia by painting them as multiplex morons. Some of my favourite movies are by Cocteau, Melville, Hawks, Franju. Doesn’t mean I can’t like Spiderman while hating Magnolia.
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I must admit 3 hours in one sitting is a bit draining. I had to watch it over two days but still enjoyed it a lot.
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Point taken. But i'd still argue that, though i've made a bit of a sweeping generalisation, it's a fairly accurate one. The main criticism levelled at Magnolia is against its running time, your average odean-going fans of crash-bang-whallop style cinema are going to have problems with a 3 hour picture. Much like they're going to have issues with subtitles and black-and-white.
Name check all the directors you want, and i don't doubt for a minute that there are many fans of high and low cinema alike (myself being one of them). But its a fact that, on the whole, studio's have problems making pictures of that length, and cinema chains have problems with screening them. Why? Because your average fan of Action-hero cinema isn't going to want to watch a 3-hr long film that deals with, among other things, cancer and incest.
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Originally posted by brunny78
... Suffice to say if Attack of the Cones, Spiderman, Blade 2 and the like are in your top ten from recent years you could well have problems with Magnolia.
Not so fast there Brunny! I liked those films but still was wowed by Magnolia.
It reminded me of Amores Perros, (almost an "Amores Hijos" if you will, taking the Spanish literally). Great films and great emotion.
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Glad to see there is a broader strain of opinion here than a lot of US sites, which worship this movie in an irrational way. I liked Boogie Nights and Hard Eight both, but absolutely loathe Magnolia. Manipulative, boring, pretentious and Tom Cruise: torture. Even Julianne Moore can't save it.
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Originally posted by Nelson Crowe
Tom Cruise: torture
As a self confessed non-fan of Magnolia I would only sit and watch it for 2 reasons. 1) the story at the beginning about the lad comitting suicide and 2) Tom Crusie's exceptional (IMO) performance.:notworthy
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saw it the first time on video when it first came out
"what a pile of cack I thought"
heard a guy at work raving about it since...
gave it a second chance last night...
conclusion - beautifully shot, gorgeous frog scene, not confused anymore just know for fact its a pile of cack!
sorry magnolia fans
paris texas now that makes sense
mojo
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The main criticism levelled at Magnolia is against its running time, your average odean-going fans of crash-bang-whallop style cinema are going to have problems with a 3 hour picture.
So if I don't like this picture it's because it is 3 hours long? So that would mean that I couldn't have liked a 3 hour long picture like.. say.. Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the rings??
But since I did like that picture - and even bought the extended edition..
And I liked "Playing by Heart" - which is hardly a crash-bang-whallop style picture..
Perhaps I just didn't like Magnolia because it isn't any good?
:rolleyes:
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You've lost me paul:
No, just because other people had problems with its length doesn't necessarily mean that's why you didn't like it - thats obvious though isn't it?
LOTR is a totally different type of film and has to be judged on its own merits. Obviously all films over a certain length aren't going to bomb. If that was the case they wouldn't be made, shown or financed as they wouldn't be commercially viable.
Of course I'm not arguing that all fans of big loud action films won't get Magnolia - i'd be a mug to. I freely admit to making a sweeping generalisation about your average block-buster fan, but I stand by it.
A Little Experiment:
Go to your local multiplex this coming saturday. Stand in the queue for the new jet li and dmx film. Ask any number of film-goers if they'd consider paying £5 to see a 3hr long film dealing with the human condition. Assure them that it was critically praised upon its release, that P.T. Anderson is seen by some as a bonafiable auteur, the new Robert Altman - see what response you get.
:oh-hum:
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I probably didn't explain my thoughts very well. I used to be intelligent.. before I got made redundant..
I was trying to make the point that I didn't think that it was the length which made people dislike the film.
If someone has already made the decision to see a film when they know how long it is going to be then they are not going to just decide that it was too long. Otherwise they would never have gone to it in the first place.
It must have been something else about the film which made the film seem poor - and then they would complain that it was a wasted 3 hours (because they didn't like it).
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so thats a whole 10 people out of god knows how many on this forum that loath the film.
i know im questioning my judgement :rolleyes:
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Well it's not a problem if some people dislike it and some people find it good, if we all liked the same stuff the world would be pretty boring.
I think Magnolia is fantastic, I really connect with the characters and what they are feeling and doing. That's why i like it so much, it's easy to relate to and its so well written and directed. (damn PTA for being so talented :oh-hum: )
Whether you think its crap or not you have to agree that the actors are superb in this film.
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Originally posted by Ruskins
so thats a whole 10 people out of god knows how many on this forum that loath the film.
I contribute to similar sized forum based in North America, and there are maybe 4 or 5 of us who despise it and we're constantly pilloried. Discovering 9 like-minded individuals here makes me feel giddy w/ success.
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Originally posted by Ruskins
so thats a whole 10 people out of god knows how many on this forum that loath the film.
i know im questioning my judgement :rolleyes:
Good one. You’re assuming everyone who hasn’t posted/voted in this thread automatically likes it? You should work in politics :lol:
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Maybe a lot of people thought.....
"Oh, a Magnolia post. That film was pap, i've no interest in seeing what it's about" :nuts:
The length of the film just added to my dissapointment. Lots of films are cut to shreds to fit into the usual two hour window. After watching numerous directors cuts, I've noticed that sometimes this can be detrimental to the quality of the film etc.
In Magnolia's case, it just made the film even worse!!!
Three painful hours is the best way I can think of summarising it. :thumbs:
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Originally posted by pauls2
It must have been something else about the film which made the film seem poor - and then they would complain that it was a wasted 3 hours (because they didn't like it).
Although I enjoyed the first couple of hours or so, what I didn't care for in the end was the fact that none of the stories (with the possible exception of the Cruise-Robards plotline) seemed to go anywhere or say anything.
Nor did they seem to have much of anything to do with the set-up in the opening montage or, for the most part, much to do with each other except via some annoyingly contrived happenstances.
The worst offender, for me, was the incest sub-plot/ revelation which came from nowhere & seemed to be dumped in there merely for shock value
With Hard Eight & Boogie Nights also falling apart in the last third maybe PTA , although undoubtedly talented, just has a big problem with his endings - all foreplay & no jollies makes him a dull boy in the final analysis (IMHO).
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what was with the interminably long shot at the end with the coke addict girl?seemed like it went on for ever....
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The only good bit imho was the opening music by Aimee Mann on the credits.
The rest of it was like an episode of Casualty/Holby City with some clumsy Lynchian (did I just invent a word?) imagery chucked in to build the pretense of intelligence.
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Originally posted by Roy
The rest of it was like an episode of Casualty/Holby City with some clumsy Lynchian (did I just invent a word?) imagery chucked in to build the pretense of intelligence.
Maybe you just didnt get it!
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Load of pretentious boring Americans with interlinked lives providing very little entertainment..not a likeable character to be found in the movie. Good acting but I felt not an iota of sympathy, or any emotion really, for any of them.
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Originally posted by Bingo Bongo
Maybe you just didnt get it!
To be honest mate, I think i did get it completely, hence my indifferent response to it. :)
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Well, I can't claim to fully understand the film, I have my own interpretations of what I saw however - can't say I picked up on the biblical themes either, as suggested by a number of people. It was certainly intriguing and despite its long running time, only dragged at a couple of points. I thought all the performances were utterly compelling and certainly contributed to a number of powerfully moving scenes, or at least in my opinion. I'll certainly see this again and will probably pick it up on DVD seeing as its a cheapie these days.
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i love it, one of my fave films. i don't think it's hard to understand, maybe i'm just a genius :D
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Bloated indulgent meandering crap.
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Originally posted by mythuk
maybe i'm just a genius :D
I think it's more likely to be another explanation :oh-hum: :nuts:
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Originally posted by snow patrol
I think it's more likely to be another explanation :oh-hum: :nuts:
yeah, you're probably right :lol:
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Excellent. I sat there after literally the worst day I've ever had and it completely moved me. Made me happy. Tom Cruise is wicked in it and that line from Julianne Moore? "How dare you look at me like that. Shame on you". ******** myself.
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I just think it's good that a film like this, which divides opinions and challenges audiences, can exist in a commercial system. Anderson, whether you like him or not - and I can see the merit in both views - is an interestingly daring director and he could go on to be very important.
As for "Magnolia" itself, I'm in two minds about it. Some of it is sheer brilliance - the scenes with the great Philip Baker Hall, Jason Robards' lengthy monologue, the song sequence which you either love or hate - but some of it is just self-indulgent and the juvenalia of a young director without enough self-control - the William H.Macy sequence in a bar when the director just abandons his actor with an impossible scene, the entire last half hour apart from the final, beautiful shot which just about atones for what precedes it.
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I side firmly with those who love rate the film highly. For me, it's easily one of the best, most daring and unpredictable films to come out of Hollywood in donkeys. That said, I saw it with my brother, who completely loathes it, and thinks it one of the worst films he's ever seen!
Can't wait to see Punch Drunk Love, but it's not screening round here at the moment. :(