let's talk about magnolia

[bmac]

i really can see how someone could dislike this movie. how someone could say it's full of itself and contrived. but every single time i watch this it never fails to pull me into its world, and almost immediately. i'd go so far as to say i love it actually.

and maybe the story is contrived. the fact that all these people just happen to be "connected". i personally think the connections are rather unimportant to the story. just an easy way of telling several real, and in my opinion powerful stories at the same time.

the only big problem i have with it is tom cruise's character. i don't feel his character was developed well enough (beyond his misogynistic persona) to set up the scene where he finally sees his father. all we really got was a few film important details from a random interview.

anyway, post and stuff

[caribou]

best penultimate scene in any movie ever. scared the shit out of me the first time i watched it

[jim]

I was underwhelmed. Thought it was a very mediocre movie with some great acting. The whole thing is like an excuse to just have a series of semi-connected scenes with the sole intention of having the actors chew as much scenery as they could.

[raheem]

I really liked this movie the first time I saw it but when I tried to watch it on tv a few weeks ago it felt really tedious and I had to turn it off, I'm not sure if the commercials were throwing off the flow or what but it didn't feel the same(it wasn't edited), I should give it another proper watch sometime soon

[kuumuus]

before anyone tries to dismiss this as a robert altman ripoff, it's better than short cuts and nashville. that said, it's not one of my favorites and i think it's way overrated among film nerds. after seeing it twice the last couple years i have no desire to see it again. it's just too long and melodramatic. i would have a hard time sitting through it again. the only characters i really liked were mackey and jimmy gator. the rest either got on my nerves or were too pathetic to care about. and i hate hate hate julianne moore.

[brentholomew]

love the melodrama

dislike the length

pretty good though, but i wouldn't say it is PTA's best

[bmac]

it may be melodramatic by i think it's the type of melodrama that's completely believable for the most part.

and for the record i like boogie nights and possibly even there will be blood better than this.

[billi vanilli]

yeah it's easily in my top 10 films of all time, probably top 5. the soundtrack and score, cinematography, mythology, editing, performances, etc. all come together so well that i never really notice how long it is, even though that's most people's biggest complaint. it's like... there's a lot of story to tell. if you cut 45 minutes or an hour out of it, it would've been awful. i mean my GOD the introduction is the most grabbing thing ever put to film.

i repped it REALLY HARD to one of my friends for literally like two years and she finally saw it and hated it. the only character she liked in it was PSH. she couldn't stand tom cruise especially (not because she was offended by his character, but because she thought he did a terrible job in the film, something i couldn't disagree with her more on), but she hated all of them. and this is a very smart girl who has wonderful artistic sensibilities... she's majoring in acting up at NYU

i can understand why it's not for some people, though. it is very "melodramatic" i guess, although i'd rather just say that it's a film about serious issues that takes itself seriously. all of the characters are extremely well-developed, with the minor exceptions of jimmy gator's wife and julianne moore's character.

john c reilly, bill macy, tom cruise, melora walters, and philip baker hall, and THAT KID all turn in phenomenal performances. this is one movie i can talk about for hours. one time i watched it 3 times in the span of a week and a half

and as far as PTA goes... (i have yet to see sydney/hard eight)
magnolia
twbb
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pdl
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boogie nights

[billi vanilli]

man i'm gonna get some flak from people who hate this movie for that post

[anthony]

personally, i was so engrossed in the film i didn't even notice the runtime being excessive. loved it.

[Milhouse Van Houten]

probably my favorite PTA.

[America: Fuck Yea!]

I will easily say that it is the worst "respected" film of the 1990s. Complete garbage. I want the time I spent from watching this film three times back.

Tom Cruise's performance was about the only thing even mentionable. I actually liked the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes, but the middle eight and half hours is unbearable. And I can sit through Bertolucci's "1900".

[nathaniel]

i dont really want to watch it again, but i own it and saw it twice in theatres

it used to be in my top 10 (3rd favorite of all time, if i remember correctly), but i think these days i take rewatchability more into account

[Milhouse Van Houten]

fact: i asked for this movie for christmas like three years ago, my grandma bought me steel magnolias instead.

needless to say, i returned it.

[America: Fuck Yea!]

That's a shame. Steel Magnolias is an infinitely better film.

[Ignignot]

This movie is very well acted but I couldn't bring myself to care.

[Nerd Groupie]

love the melodrama

dislike the length

pretty good though, but i wouldn't say it is PTA's best

That.

I also really love Jessie from Boogie Nights (I forgot the actress' name. I know I know it, just blanking). She is absolutely adorable. Her and John C Reilly's awkwardness makes for one of the cutest and sweetest things ever.

Craig talked this movie up quite a bit before I finally saw it. I have an odd obsession with Boogie Nights, so I figured why not. I was pleasantly surprised. Plus now every time I hear that Aimee Mann song, I picture them all singing and I like that.

[nathaniel]

melora walters, yeah shes good

the trailer for magnolia is better than most movies

[brentholomew]

i never really notice how long it is, even though that's most people's biggest complaint. it's like... there's a lot of story to tell. if you cut 45 minutes or an hour out of it, it would've been awful. i mean my GOD the introduction is the most grabbing thing ever put to film.









i agree that the introduction is ace, however it definitely could have used an edit job. story could have been told in 2 hours and 30 mins easily

[fritz]

was for a while my favorite movie, still love it. i actually don't find it hard to sit through multiple times... i've actually probably watched like a dozen times or so. still, it has some flaws, but it's probably due to the multiple viewings. i mean, the first time i saw it, the whole tom cruise seminar was awesome and enthralling, now it seems drawn-out and overdone. although i'm pretty sure the movie's supposed to be overdone. it's about a half dozen people who are at the height of a breakdown, and it's not real (obv), but instead really fucking melodramatic and over the top. i think it's effective

and the end was indeed awesome, as is aimee mann

also i've never met another person who's liked this movie apart from my teacher

[Clark Westfall]

My teacher really liked this film as well, I remember him talking to us about the frog scene, and trying to get everyone to understand just exactly what he meant by "It starts raining frogs".

[bmac]

i don't mind rewatching it either. maybe not all the time, but once a year or something. the length doesn't really bother me at all, even if it could have easily been cut down some.

and i think there are times when life is melodramatic. it is not always an automatic negative when displayed on film.

[conor.]

I've seen it three times, and although it is still a very good film I like it a little less each time I see it. As others said I think some time could be chopped. Far from PTA's best but still a damn good film. I'd agree and say it's overrated too, but I feel that PTA is overrated in general by many.

[billi vanilli]

i really disagree. if he won academy awards for all of his movies and was constantly fawned over by the general public, i'd see where you are coming from, but the fact is that 90% or more of people don't know who he is.

[kuumuus]

and i think there are times when life is melodramatic. it is not always an automatic negative when displayed on film.
true, but i feel it's a negative in magnolia where it's so pervasive and overdone. i understand what pta was going for but after a while it loses its effect and makes the film seem tedious.

[conor.]

i really disagree. if he won academy awards for all of his movies and was constantly fawned over by the general public, i'd see where you are coming from, but the fact is that 90% or more of people don't know who he is.

He's overrated by a lot of film followers who know who he is. Saying he is the greatest director ever etc... I like the man and enjoy his films, but I just don't agree that he is "the greatest" as I've heard many people refer to him as. Maybe I've just conversing with some of the wrong film circles.

[Reservoir Dog]

The length of the movie has never really bothered me. Ive seen it about 3-5 times since I bought it last year and its still as good (well maybe not as good, but close) as the first time I saw it. And I think the length of the movie isnt just about PTA jacking off, but about lending some time to these extremely well developed and interesting characters that you can tell PTA thought about a lot before even writing the script. The thing is, the movie kind of glances over these characters history and they still kind of remain enigmatic. So the film really could have been longer if he wanted to flesh out these characters and make us know half as much about them as he did.

Like the movie, there is a lot more to the characters that isnt seen.

[BeyondBeyond]

I can sit through Bertolucci's "1900".

Hehe, I still surprise some of my friends sending them that "porn" Niro-Depardieu scene (which in the context of the film feels absolutely natural).

As for Magnolia, it's all style and absolutely no substance.

[Eddie]

as i've said over and over again, magnolia is my all-time favorite film.

i place a lot of value on this movie because when i first saw it i was probably 19, and it was when i first started to get into good films (i was literally going down the original nhc top 50 movies list and renting them at blockbuster). i had never seen anything remotely like it before, and it really blew me away because of that. it was also my first real experience with a movie that just STAYED with me for weeks and weeks on end and i couldn't stop thinking about it. my memory of seeing it for the first time is very strong, and i even remember what shelf at found it on at blockbuster.

it's also one single movie that easily describes my overall taste better than any other movie. so if someone's asking me about my favorite movies, i can just say "magnolia is my all-time fave" and that sort of gives you an idea of what my tastes are.

i watched it again a few months ago, and while i no longer have the same rich, visceral emotional experience with it (simply because i've seen it four or five times now, and i know what's going to happen scene after scene), i do always find new things to think about. the last time i saw it i really started to notice how it almost flows like a visual poem or something: the prevalence of music in so many scenes, the aimee mann sing-along, the monologues and montages, the off-kilter-yet-completely-convincing-dialogue (rewatch the first date scene between jim and claudia and really think about what their saying, and it does feel very unusual yet entirely real), the long, crazy shots, the weather title cards, the close-up on that painting in claudia's apartment, and oh yeah, those fucking frogs.

one thing i would change, though: jimmy gator's suicide attempt. seems a little too convenient that a loaded gun would just be sitting in a drawer right there in his kitchen. in fact, i'm guessing the main reason a lot of people don't like this movie is because it makes them say "oh, come onnnn..." too much.

i think pta is such a remarkable filmmaker because he challenges himself in ways other director's don't. even if you think he can't grasp as far as he's trying to reach, so what? clearly everyone working any of his movies is extremely talented and they're attempting to make great art. at least he's forcing himself to do hard, hard work. boogie nights was an extremely ambitious movie and he followed it up--almost immediately, mind you--with an even more ambitious movie.


the only big problem i have with it is tom cruise's character. i don't feel his character was developed well enough (beyond his misogynistic persona) to set up the scene where he finally sees his father. all we really got was a few film important details from a random interview.
but what else do we need to know? i see what you're saying, but i think it works the way it is, in which it leaves it up to the audiences' imagination as to how fucked up his family history is. or--and this is probably more likely--pta felt tom cruise's amazing performance said a lot more than any new scenes he could have written would have. i agree 100% with everything else you said, though.

The whole thing is like an excuse to just have a series of semi-connected scenes with the sole intention of having the actors chew as much scenery as they could.
they're not chewing scenery if their characters are responding the way a real person would under the same circumstances.

and i hate hate hate julianne moore.
the actress or her character?

i can understand why it's not for some people, though. it is very "melodramatic" i guess, although i'd rather just say that it's a film about serious issues that takes itself seriously. all of the characters are extremely well-developed, with the minor exceptions of jimmy gator's wife and julianne moore's character.
agreed. but i don't know if jimmy gator's wife really needed to be more developed, her part in the story was minimal, but the trailers lead you to believe otherwise. i can't really suggest what else they could have done with julianne moore's part...

I will easily say that it is the worst "respected" film of the 1990s. Complete garbage. I want the time I spent from watching this film three times back.
you've made this exact same post at least 100 times on this board over the years, and yet you never elaborate much on it. i'd love to know exactly why you don't like it, but i'm pretty sure you don't even know why. you probably barely even remember the movie to begin with and might even like it if you watched it again.

although i'm pretty sure the movie's supposed to be overdone. it's about a half dozen people who are at the height of a breakdown, and it's not real (obv), but instead really fucking melodramatic and over the top. i think it's effective
yes, i completely agree. when you step back, and just sort of think about the plot movements of the film, it does seem a little absurd, and actually, i think that applies to a lot of amazing films. when you're watching them though, you just get so absorbed in them that you buy it until the end.

story could have been told in 2 hours and 30 mins easily
how so? i'm thinking through the whole movie right now and i can't really think of any major scenes or arcs that could have been cut (other than jimmy gator's suicide attempt). maybe some scenes could have gone quicker?

And I think the length of the movie isnt just about PTA jacking off, but about lending some time to these extremely well developed and interesting characters that you can tell PTA thought about a lot before even writing the script. The thing is, the movie kind of glances over these characters history and they still kind of remain enigmatic. So the film really could have been longer if he wanted to flesh out these characters and make us know half as much about them as he did.
wow, i never thought it'd say this but i really, really agree with your opinion here.

[billi vanilli]

eddie dropping the pta knowledge as usual :bang:

[Uncle Jesse]

This movie is very well overacted.

[billi vanilli]

how, exactly?

[Snack Related Mishap]

Yeah, Magnolia's great. Definately one of my favorites. At the same time though, I completely understand where people are coming from when they say they didn't like it.

Also, I've never rewatched the movie. Based on what others have said, maybe this is a good idea.

[lolpenis_taco]

top 5 movie for me

yeah it's easily in my top 10 films of all time, probably top 5. the soundtrack and score, cinematography, mythology, editing, performances, etc. all come together so well that i never really notice how long it is, even though that's most people's biggest complaint. it's like... there's a lot of story to tell. if you cut 45 minutes or an hour out of it, it would've been awful. i mean my GOD the introduction is the most grabbing thing ever put to film.

i repped it REALLY HARD to one of my friends for literally like two years and she finally saw it and hated it. the only character she liked in it was PSH. she couldn't stand tom cruise especially (not because she was offended by his character, but because she thought he did a terrible job in the film, something i couldn't disagree with her more on), but she hated all of them. and this is a very smart girl who has wonderful artistic sensibilities... she's majoring in acting up at NYU

i can understand why it's not for some people, though. it is very "melodramatic" i guess, although i'd rather just say that it's a film about serious issues that takes itself seriously. all of the characters are extremely well-developed, with the minor exceptions of jimmy gator's wife and julianne moore's character.

john c reilly, bill macy, tom cruise, melora walters, and philip baker hall, and THAT KID all turn in phenomenal performances. this is one movie i can talk about for hours. one time i watched it 3 times in the span of a week and a half

and as far as PTA goes... (i have yet to see sydney/hard eight)
magnolia
twbb
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pdl
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boogie nights

you forgot PATTON OSWALT

[billi vanilli]

oh yeah. and paul f. tompkins too

[lolpenis_taco]

what where

[billi vanilli]

he's the dude that PSH talks to on the phone when he's trying to track down frank mackey. you never see him but he's on the other end of the phone. check it out, mang

he had a really funny bit about being in it and twbb on youtube but it was taken down :(

[lolpenis_taco]

http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=24954&dateline=1211045554

[billi vanilli]

http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=8410&dateline=1211697299http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=24954&dateline=1211045554http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=8410&dateline=1211697299
http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=24954&dateline=1211045554http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=8410&dateline=1211697299http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=24954&dateline=1211045554
http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=8410&dateline=1211697299http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=24954&dateline=1211045554http://nohomers.net/image.php?u=8410&dateline=1211697299

[Eddie]

god that rack is tremendous

[Uncle Jesse]

how, exactly?

Julianne Moore

[lolpenis_taco]

god

[My Little Needle]

pretty much my favorite movie. eddie's post ftw

[BeyondBeyond]

Overwritten screenplay, underdeveloped characters, lack of dramatic subtlety, forced symbolism, some other smartass words.

With its dramatic score, generally great acting and camera work, this film works hard to emotionally connect viewers to itself and judging by the generally positive response to it, I guess it succeds. In my case though, I couldn't get over all those mannerisms and was emotionally pretty much untouched.
Since Magnolia offers one big nothing on intellectual level, I was disappointed (twice).

I think I understand that when someone finds the strong emotional connection to the film, it's quite easy to overlook/forgive it its flaws and for such viewer these aren't important at all, and that's ok.

PTA is an ambitious filmmaker and that I like, but as I see it, in the case of this film, he simply tried too hard and missed.
For me, Magnolia was an interesting failure.

If you want to see a film which lefts me emotionally exhausted, watch Grave Of The Fireflies, if you haven't already: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/
I think that some of you Magnolia lovers might really like it.

"People always need to make the best decision, and sometimes they just need a little help doing that." Yeah, let's get biblical then:oldman:.

[Milhouse Van Houten]

underdeveloped characters
of all of your criticisms, i have to disagree with this one the most. the point of the film is to examine characters at the peek of their trauma and the inevitable break downs that are to follow. to get all the back story and progression required for a stock character development would have totally killed it.

[bmac]

but what else do we need to know? i see what you're saying, but i think it works the way it is, in which it leaves it up to the audiences' imagination as to how fucked up his family history is. or--and this is probably more likely--pta felt tom cruise's amazing performance said a lot more than any new scenes he could have written would have. i agree 100% with everything else you said, though.

i think the problem is we were literally dropped into most of these characters lives during some of their most tumultuous moments and i think mackey is really the only character where this isn't the case. we learn that he's pretty much a douchebag and then are supposed to accept that he's a douchebag based on some interview factoids and later actually feel bad for him or emotionally connected to the character in some way. just seems too convenient and easy. i'm emotionally invested in the other characters because we actually get to see their lives and witness them fall apart.

granted, for an actor i don't like very much i think cruise did a great job, i just need a little more than a good crying performance to actually feel for a character. mackey is the most uninteresting and useless character in the film to me.

[Reservoir Dog]

I really dont understand the hate for Tom Cruise as an actor. He is talented and gives everything hes got into every role. And he picks great movies and interesting characters. People are just too invested in his personal life which (and I'm no expert so I may be wrong) he never asked us to care about. He likes Scientology and marrying famous people. It doesnt make him any less of an actor.

[kuumuus]

i feel the exact same way about mel gibson.

[jim]

Cruise can be good in the right role (Collateral, The Last Samurai). I dont have a problem with him as an actor. Looking forward to Valkyrie.

[bmac]

i just don't like many of the movies he has starred in and i think he has an annoying on screen personality at least half of the time. maybe it's just the roles he chooses though.

[billi vanilli]

damn, reservoir dog has been spot-on with every post in this thread. props

[BeyondBeyond]

of all of your criticisms, i have to disagree with this one the most. the point of the film is to examine characters at the peek of their trauma and the inevitable break downs that are to follow. to get all the back story and progression required for a stock character development would have totally killed it.

Fair enough, I guess:).

My problem in this regard is, that rather than real people, most of the characters feel much more like chess figures or better, puppets, which is one of the reasons I don't care about them.
There's no in depth exploration of those characters, probably because there's too much of them, thus to me the film comes out as ultimatively shallow, although the style and plot logistics are persistently trying to convince viewers it's otherwise.
Characters are stale for almost the whole run, often display meaningless emotions, trauma or not, while Anderson is searching for the point. Oh, and don't get me even started on the point :o|.

So, I guess we can agree that Magnolia has underdeveloped characters which is in your opinion a good thing, in my opinion a bad thing :D.

And yeah, Tom Cruise is talented:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UFBZ_uAbxS0&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UFBZ_uAbxS0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Familiar?

[billi vanilli]

There's no in depth exploration of those characters, probably because there's too much of them, thus to me the film comes out as ultimatively shallow, although the style and plot logistics are persistently trying to convince viewers it's otherwise.
that doesn't make any sense. nothing about the plot is shallow. you've got a dirt-poor dude who's been shat upon his whole life who's gonna lose his job. that's a big deal. you've got a dying man who desperately wants to connect with his lost son before he croaks and, conversely, the son who has a very deep-seeded resentment towards him who's gotta come to terms with his resentment before he dies. that's a big deal. you've got a guy who just found out he's dying trying to reconnect with his daughter who's gone off the deep end. big deal. etc etc etc... every character reacts to extreme circumstances established at the start of the film.

the only character whose breakdown isn't directly triggered by an event in the plot is john c reilly's.
Characters are stale for almost the whole run, often display meaningless emotions, trauma or not, while Anderson is searching for the point.
what do you even mean by stale? and how are their emotions meaningless? if you were put in any of their situations, i imagine you would feel markedly similar emotions.
Oh, and don't get me even started on the point :o|.
go on

[BeyondBeyond]

go on

Well, just a little.

You've identified with the film, I have not, that's what really matters here.

To me, all those "big deals" you listed are just contrived devices to help Anderson get his point across, not lively beings. Besides, you could easily make a soap opera of those stories, so that really has no bearing on whether it's deep or shallow.
What's shallow about the characters is their portrayal. Despite great acting and convincing cinematography, there's no real insight coming hand in hand with it. Those characters are mostly one-note, thus stale.

As an example of what I mean by the "meaningless emotions" comment, watch Julianne Moore's pharmacy scene.

As for the point. Coincidence-fate angle never goes further beyond prologue and forgivness/letting go resolution is nothing particularly striking, especially because everything before it was merely an artificial construction.

That's how i feel about it.

You'll probably disagree with everything I've said here and you'll probably be right because Magnolia has given you much more than to me. No contradiction here because sometimes it's much more important what YOU see in art, rather than what's really there.

I respect Magnolia as an ambitious effort and by no means I hate it.
I think I understand why so many people have it in their top 10 list, in my case, it just didn't click.

I personally would give it 7/10 and that's most likely the penultimative sentence I've written in this interesting thread :).

Watch that Grave of the fucking Fireflies, dammit!

[Milhouse Van Houten]

My problem in this regard is, that rather than real people, most of the characters feel much more like chess figures or better, puppets, which is one of the reasons I don't care about them.
There's no in depth exploration of those characters, probably because there's too much of them, thus to me the film comes out as ultimatively shallow, although the style and plot logistics are persistently trying to convince viewers it's otherwise.
Characters are stale for almost the whole run, often display meaningless emotions, trauma or not, while Anderson is searching for the point. Oh, and don't get me even started on the point :o|.

So, I guess we can agree that Magnolia has underdeveloped characters which is in your opinion a good thing, in my opinion a bad thing :D.

now it my turn to say fair enough, haha.

[conor.]

I don't mind cruise either, I think there is much more hate for him due to his personal life than because of his career.

[bmac]

i mostly dislike cruise for the reasons i said but i don't what's so wrong about disliking the guy for his personal life. when you're an actor your life is not personal anyway.

if i worked with a scientologist or sex offender or some other weirdo but he did a good job at work i still wouldn't like him.

[Reservoir Dog]

Yeah I feel the same way. When I find out a Jew or a Muslim is working at the same place I am, I quit immediately

by the way, what on Earth do sex offenders and Scientologists have in common?

[bmac]

good one

edit: just because two things are in the same sentence doesn't mean they are being compared. but okay, maybe that was a terrible analogy that i don't actually entirely believe myself but i still stand by the first statement of not seeing what's wrong with disliking an actor because of his real life. if i dislike the person i'm more likely to dislike the actor. not really hard to comprehend. they are the same goddamn person after all.

[Kamerica]

i havent seen this movie recently enough to comment, but i will say that the opening sequence is one of the best

i watched it with a friend, expecting it to grab him in the same way...but he somehow already knew the story and guessed it before it happened.

[anthony]

so you guys hate beck too?

[fritz]

jerry macguire is reason enought to hte someeone

but who cares i love this movie and it's not like t c is the star. there are like 6 stars

[nathaniel]

Area Man Okay With Beck Being A Scientologist

[America: Fuck Yea!]

they are the same goddamn person after all.

do you know what acting means?

[BeyondBeyond]

Aaron Funk aka Venetian Snares is one of my all time favourite artists and he's pretty well known for being quite an asshole in person. I couldn't care less about it because as a medium bringing my ears so much pleasure, he works wonders.

The reason why I've posted that funny Cruise video earlier, was that some mannerisms he displayed there quite strikingly resembled those displayed by his Magnolia character, at least in my eyes.

Not enjoying somone's art just because you don't enjoy (or what you percieve as) his personality is MIGHTY stupid.

Oh, and sorry for breaking my promise of not writing in this thread anymore:p.

[jim]

Not enjoying somone's art just because you don't enjoy (or what you percieve as) his personality is MIGHTY stupid.
In theory, yes. But if the tabloids are forcing someone in your face every five seconds, it makes it harder to seperate the person from the character they are playing. When I see a Tom Cruise movie, unfortunately I see Tom Cruise, not the character he's playing.

[billi vanilli]

one might argue that how much tabloid coverage he gets is not entirely his fault. i mean, celebrities are always complaining about the paparazzi.

anyway, let's not turn this into "let's talk about tom cruise"

[bmac]

do you know what acting means?

no

but i was wondering, do you like magnolia?


also let me reiterate that this

i just don't like many of the movies he has starred in and i think he has an annoying on screen personality at least half of the time. maybe it's just the roles he chooses though.

is my reasoning for somewhat disliking the guy. i could honestly not care less about his "personal" life. in fact i try to avoid that stuff like the plague. of course, cruise has gone on national television to proclaim his views and berate matt lauer. so it's kind of hard to avoid. i do think he gives off the douche chills, scientology stuff aside.

Not enjoying somone's art just because you don't enjoy (or what you percieve as) his personality is MIGHTY stupid.

it's easy to make a blanket statement like this, but WHY?

i don't feel i should appreciate michael vick as the great player he was because he was a stupid prick who murdered dogs. and to save everyone some typing, i'm not comparing dog fighting to scientology or some shit. that's just a very extreme example of the exact same thing. a guy with a shitty unlikable persona that did a great job at work. or is it not the same with art? or maybe vick committed a crime so it's not the same thing?

[America: Fuck Yea!]

no

but i was wondering, do you like magnolia?

No, I don't.

And, Michael Vick is one hell of an athlete. To form a better analogy, how do you feel about Marlon Brando?

[bmac]

he's a great actor, but i know very little about his personal life.

then again i don't typically take the stance i'm defending. mostly playing devil's advocate here. i don't particularly care or have an opinion about the personal lives of people i don't know. unless, y'know, you're doing something horrible like murdering dogs.

still, as long as someone is willing to accept that they might miss out on some stuff i don't see what makes it an overtly stupid stance. unless you consider that stupid in and of itself i guess.

[nathaniel]

The reason why I've posted that funny Cruise video earlier, was that some mannerisms he displayed there quite strikingly resembled those displayed by his Magnolia character, at least in my eyes.


well.. duh. isnt that what makes his performance so great? (and well casted)

[InactiveMember]

bumping because i read today that cruise's new film valkyrie is filming additional scenes currently...i remember seeing the trailer a while back and thinking the film looked interesting...sucks that its not coming out for a while..

[Snack Related Mishap]

great bump.

[kevin]

i like this movie and own it but i think i've mentioned before that i seem to like it less with each progressive viewing. not very rewatchable

[Slack Motherfucker]

boogie nights
there will be blood
magnolia
punch drunk love

those are my pta rankings. I feel like I should watch magnolia again but then again I could watch two movies I've never seen before in that time and I think I might rather do that.

[kevin]

pdl
boogie
twbb
sydney
magnolia

seriously. don't hate.

[Clark Westfall]

Bump.

I just watched this film for the first time and I really enjoyed it. It really does have this flow and rhythm to it that I loved. It's melodramatic and it can be over the top, but I really got into the film, so it didn't bother that much.

As for PTA, it goes:

Punch Drunk Love
Magnolia
There Will Be Blood
Boogie Nights

still haven't seen Sydney though.