Hard to say. When I think of Anderson I think Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. When pressed, I remember great parts of The Master and Punch Drunk Love. Despite a memorable Daniel Lewis performance, I thought There Will Be Blood was an overrated pile of dog s***. I'm saving Inherent Vice for a rainy day after I've read the novel again.
There Will Be Blood was indeed an overrated pile of dog s***. Worse, my kid had to watch it for his film class in the 9th grade as a home project...
Sorry to hear that! I would have provided an antidote by screening The Girl Can't Help It or Rio Bravo afterwards to remind them just how worthwhile and fun a good movie can actually be.
Actually, I let him watch the first 20 minutes and Cliff-noted the rest. I couldn't help it. He got an A anyway.. After that we watched Stagecoach (1939 version).
For me There Will Be Blood is the single greatest film ever made. From the performances to the visuals to the storyline there's just so much depth to everything. Yes Daniel Day Lewis is a tour de force in the film but there's so much more beyond his performance. The whole thing about oil men, crooked preachers, brother against brother and so forth is so rich and rewarding and simply stunning to watch I'm out of words to describe how phenomenal There Will Be Blood truly is. I'm flabbergasted that anyone could consider it overrated garbage, but to each their own. I just know for me personally it's a work of art that will never be bettered.
I agree his first three films are really special. Boogie Nights is mind-blowingly rich in characterization and tone.
I've seen most of PTA's films, but I've never watched any of them a second time. I'll make an exception for this one, it's really delightful.
I've not got a personal ax to grind about the petroleum industry, Christians, the nuclear family or the existence of actual 'alpha males'... so the 'depth of theme' here is just the usual "I hate daddy" Baby Boomer countercultural claptrap to me. Boring in 1968...boring now.
Give Boogie Nights another screening sometime. More nuance there than you remember...and some truly outstanding performances from the entire cast.
I think you're correct. In the scene at home where the younger brother is watching the Dodger game, Vin Scully mentions a Steve Garvey stat over the "regular season". I interpreted that to mean that the game was a post-season playoff game that would typically occur in a late Sept-Oct timeline.
I enjoyed this movie much more than I expected to. One of the best flicks I've seen in the last few years
Just got the Blu-ray of LP. Great job.. Saw my daughter in the outtakes several times. That made me happy. The guy who played B. Mitchell Reed was fantastic. Didn't catch that on my screener.. Loved the movie and I realize (from watching the test shots, outtakes) that Paul T. Anderson is totally in love with Alana... Also, many scenes in this movie were shot with dual film cameras, one a 35mm, the other a 16mm, both going at the same time. On the Blu-ray it can clearly be seen when he switches from one to the other. The grain pattern, etc. At any rate, I enjoyed the film seeing it again..
"There Will Be Boo Boos." The movie started out so well, so promising. But what happened? Why that sudden shark jumping? Still makes me mad.
Interesting take. I feel like PTS's films are either loved or hated, there is rarely a middle ground. Personally, I loved There Will Be Blood, and thought DD Lewis was incredible. I hated Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love, and was lukewarm on Boogie Nights. Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza were incredible, and highly rewatchable. I have yet to see The Master, but will one day.
I watched HBO's Deadwood shortly before I saw There Will Be Blood, so I couldn't help thinking that in a more realistic scenario they would have feeded him to the pigs early in the movie. The beginning with the mine shaft was great, but it was overblown and overacted from then on.