The movie reminded me of coming of age in the 1970s. It seemed to me that all the characters were lonely and were bound together in Jack’s personality cult. I recognized Nina Hartley as Little Bill’s wife and would like to know her take on the movie since she started in the business about that time. I have to see more of PTA’s movies.
@@phillipdycaico5949 Nina is a smart cookie ... Her interviews are always pretty thoughtful and damned interesting. One of the best asses in porn during the 80's too.
I think my favourite scene was William H Macy's suicide. The tracking shot through the hallway when he goes to shoot them, the music escalating and then the smash cut to black is incredible. The 80s sure did start with a bang, but it was all downhill for them after that
I first saw Boogie NIghts in The Netherlands, at a theater where they would have an intermission in the middle of the film. That was the scene right before intermission. So I had several minutes to process what I had just watched.
The amount of absurdly complicated one shot scenes is insane, the opening of the movie is a crane tracking shot with complicated camera movements that then turns into a steadycam shot and another scene the camera follows a bunch of peoples individual conversations then goes into the water following someone then while still underwater the camera starts acting like like it's a handheld video camera moving back and forth between who's talking
my favourite part of the movie is the dark night of the soul section where dirk gets beat up, jack reaches a new low with the limo experiment and finally the donut shop massacre and how PTA intercuts these horrible events. I was just left speechless after this.
This film doesn't show a transition to "the Reagan 80's". Rather, it shows how leading a reckless and excessive lifestyle will eventually catch up to you. There's a price to pay for poor life decisions. Having fun with cocaine turns into a serious addiction which negatively impacts every aspect of a person's life. Having fun with sex leads to being unable to sustain a healthy romantic relationship, disease, unwanted pregnancy, jealousy, perversion ec...
1980 was a continuation of the 70's. Reagan wasn't in office until 1981. And the cultural 80's didn't start until 1983 at the earliest. Also, the reviewer in this video is too young to even remember the 70's or 80's so perhaps her grasp on those periods need to be taken with a grain of salt.
I remember seeing this in the theatre and thinking how brilliant it was. And yes, the tracking shot during the New Year’s Eve scene is great, but my favorite scene is the drug deal. I can never hear “Sister Christian” or “Jessie’s Girl” without thinking of that. Probably some of the best 10 minutes of film ever shot.
Same for me. Though I hate the whole "x brought me here" comments that fill every music thread, that Sister Christian is now completely associated in my head with that scene. I remember the first time I watched this movie and I literally was holding my breath from the tension.
One of my favorite films of all-time. "There Will Be Blood" is a better film IMHO but this one is much more fun to watch on multiple viewings. The "drug deal gone bad" scene has such incredible tension. "Don't F#$% with Chest and Brock."
One of my favorite movies ever. It flows so well from beginning to end. Like Goodfellas or Casino, if it's on I have to let it play. Everyone turned in great performances, and it's amazing that Burt Reynolds turned down the Jack Horner role so many times before finally giving in(or giving up) and playing one of his most memorable roles.
Love this film! While the characters weren't ultra deep, I still thought they were fun enough and played off each other well enough to keep the movie engaging. I enjoy all of PTA's films but I think his best is The Master. I feel that's when he truly came into his own (Aside from Punch Drunk Love) It just had so much power and craft behind it. The scene where Freddie is confessing his inner demons to The Master is one of the best scenes in cinema to me. There Will Be Blood is great as well but it felt like he was still kind of feeling out the waters and paying homage to Kubrick. Great Review as always :)
Great review but I disagree, I think he was genius in leaving the viewer with a empty shallow feeling, in the end we take on the emotions of the main characters. Great directors make you feel the characters in the end. I actually went to the college referenced in the limo scene Northridge, and I came across many of the these kind of porn stars. Yes they are very 1 dimensional easily used and abused and are looking for FAMILY because many come from broken homes. These are real people he grew up around not fiction like there will be blood. So many great actors were shallow in this movie not because they are bad actors because they were dumbing down for the realities of the roles. I still think this is his masterpiece like Goodfellas made you feel Henry Hills life Boogie Nights made you feel the shallow lives of these people. Can you do a review of Y tu Mama Tambien and Amores Perros and Once Upon Times in America
It's definitely the definition of a bittersweet ending, you know there's a lot of problems that haven't really been figured out but it's not totally hopeless
Really great review. I don't fully agree with everything, but I respect her insight and does make me look at certain things differently. Thanks for that! I could talk to this girl for hours.
yesterday I started watching the video, and Ir couldn't finnish it because I had to watch the movie. I saw it, and I loved it, and i'm finnishing to watch your video right now. I agree with everything you said!!!
Love this movie. However I think it could have been about 20 min shorter and been a much tighter film. The length of the movie matters because it promised so much more. Still I think this is the best PTA film to date.
I love PTA's films, always so entertaining and intense. Although, I have to admit that I feel that same emptiness you were talking about at the end of almost all of his movies (except for TWBB). It's kind of a mix of "please I want more of this gourgeous piece of art" with "c'mon, is that it? did I miss something?". Tell me, did you have this same impression after Magnolia or The Master?
I felt a similar emptiness with Magnolia as well, though for me the themes in that one are more complex, despite similar flaws. I have certain issues with The Master as well (but I really need to see it again to be sure), but I think it is far greater than Magnolia and Boogie Nights without question.
It's a surrogate family story for all who feel lost and unworthy. To me. It is not There Will Be Blood, but it has so much heart in a realm where you don't see much.
when he goes to jack in the end ,think goodfellas when henry goes to see pauly ,,,,,, the last scene of bn is a remake scene from last scene in Raging Bull ,,, then thiers the long shots ,the camera flashes, the music it was basically a scorsesse movie
In a way I think it targeted a love in the 70s style. You could love the 60s style, but in both cases, you need to get to a payphone. He was 'discovered'. No, but it is interesting how his vision was like a restaurant was it?
I watch from time to time because I completely enjoyed the natural and bravado performance of Burt Reynolds. I also loved Julianne Moore and William H Macy. I am sentimental over the films of Philip Seymour Hoffman. But Burt Reynolds took the cake. He did not take his Oscar nomination seriously. But I did. Love Burt in this movie.
I agree. Alongside Reynolds, Moore, Hoffman et. al, the rest of the cast is one of the strong points of Boogie Nights in how great every performance is large and small. One of my favourite films as well!
About There Will Be Blood, I don't know if it is just Daniel Day-Lewis or what but I just didn't like it that much. I also didn't care for Gangs of New York, so maybe it does have something to do with DDL. Hard Eight and Boogie Nights are really the only 2 PTA films that I care for much.
I love this movie. It's an epic in that it covers so much time and does (IMO) effectively. I lived thru the 70's and I gotta say that sympathetic or not I remember many folks I met along the way that reminded me of various of the characters in this movie. I agree that Walhbergs character is particularly likeable but so what? Not everyone we meet is likeable or admirable. And at least there are other more sympathetic characters in the story - Julianne Moore, PSH, and William Macy's characters all come to mind. P.S. And I just gotta say that the scene with Walhberg and Moore in Dirk's first movie, and the bad acting by great actors is amazing.
I had goosebumps the entire time in the theater. Best time ever in a theater (Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas before that) But haven't had that experience since Boogie Nights. There Will be blood is my favorite movie to break down shot for shot. An absolute masterpiece. But Boogie Nights is my favorite film of all time. You just let it wash over you. Experience it in the moment type film. I am a sucker for films that celebrate themselves as a visual medium and visceral experience.
I like the way it captures the kitschness, sealed hedonistic yet corrosive world. Such a film is very high risk as overplay it and it becomes a parody. The film avoids this brilliantly. I think it is close to a masterpiece.
I was thinking what if a story like this took place in the era of internet porn, definitely different to the era of porno cinemas and the business model being different.
I agree with you. I think of BOOGIE NIGHTS as a great collection of scenes, performances, camerawork, and set pieces, but what it lacks is an overall strong structure. Many of the scenes just sort of flow into one another, with much of the third act just being "And then that happened to so-and-so, while this happened to so-and-so." The final ten minutes or so, in which almost all the characters reconcile and get their happy endings, feels like several quick resolutions for the sake of having resolutions.
Even as a teenager I liked this movie, and I find a lot of dramas to be boring. The porn world is full of so many headcases and Boogie Nights does a good job of portraying these people and the world they inhabit. Ultimately I think it's realistic to have a somewhat messy and chaotic flow to the movie, especially given the dysfunctional nature of the characters.
This got me into his films a bit, still to find where I can watch TWBB, but have watched Magnolia and The Master so far. This one is probably my favourite PTA film at the moment (again, I need to see all of his others).
Actually Hard 8, his 1st was an Interesting movie, not amazing but if you're into PTA then it gives good insight into the beginnings of his style and it has a real feeling of leaving the camera rolling, trying to catch something! Doesn't always work but it is entertaining
Bit of a harsh take on the film's emotional core, for me. Jack Horner's organisation, in a weird way, acts as a familial haven for people who are a little bit lost like Eddie, Amber, Roller girl, Buck, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, and the others who are looking for direction in life.
great review and certainly chimed with my feelings on it. it gets held up as an masterpiece but to me it leaves me feeling cold. there is so much bleakness and negative outcomes for all the characters. the characters are also largely unlikable which is a problem when really trying to connect with the film. PTA is a phenomenal director and only improved with experience.
Thank you so much! :) Don't worry. People like that are just insecure and lonely so they project their hatred onto others to build their ego. It doesn't upset me so much as it annoys me. But as a woman, you must learn to build a thick skin. We hear things like this all the time, unfortunately.
I've never been crazy about this movie. Its show-off style did not distract me from the cast of numskulls. Movies about smart people are so much more interesting. Like you, I'm a big fan of TWBB and like it much more than this one. I also really like Hard Eight...much like Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, it's a lot more modest than his later work but very satisfying.
Yes, I agree with the emptiness sentiment. It's difficult to pin down exactly why though. It's definitely a movie that keeps one's interest throughout and yet it lacks something. I think you may have hit upon it with your idea of seeing the movie through a different characters eyes. It would probably have been more satisfying if told through Burt Reynolds character. Then again, all of the characters are essentially horrible people, or at the least, narcissistic in the extreme. That feeling of emptiness might just be related to the fact that none of these people are worth the effort of rooting for. Therefore their downfall doesn't seem particularly disappointing. In fact, in some ways one wants them to all fail miserably. It's unusual in that way. Of course, that may be the intent all along and that emptiness one feels about the movie is precisely what the director was aiming for. Then again, maybe not -- HA!
Fun fact: When Burt Reynolds first saw the picture, he was so upset by it, calling it the "most reprehensible shit" he's ever seen, that he fired his agent as a result. Sure enough, a few months later he would receive his only ever Oscar nomination. This is the same Burt Reynolds who co-starred in "Striptease", btw.
I actually find that a bit sad he didn’t like it, he is incredible in it! Julianne Moore is also great as Amber, and the rest of the cast (including the young Mark Wahlberg in a role originally earmarked for Leo) is really solid, possibly the most well-cast ensemble film I’ve seen.
I'd have to respectfully disagree on Walberg's character. He's not deep, but his story is utterly realistic and common, and hence worthy of pity. You have an insecure child, in this case from an emotionally abusive family, suddenly thrust into the limelight. The results of that sort of situation are so common in the music world that it's a cliche. Throw in the fact that it happened at a point where cocaine was everywhere in those circles. And the fact that so many people have as a goal to un-ground you, to separate you from the folks who willing to tell you the truth, and to encourage you to live in excess because it's 'glamorous' and good press. And of course happy to indulge your addictions because it gives them leverage over you. I'm shocked the toll isn't a lot higher than it is. And I dread to think what I would have become under similar circumstances. But I agree that Amber and Roller Girl are the truly pity-worthy characters. The scene between them in the bedroom is just so powerful. BTW, if you really wanted to do an unusual take on the story, how about from Hoffman's character's point of view? And I would have to ask, isn't the flashy style of the movie appropriate for the content?
I’m not nearly as high on “There will be blood” as you are. I think Boogie Nights was a much better movie frankly. I felt TWBB was very one dimensional... The music, the camera work, the insane cast of Boogie Nights all added up to movie magic. TWBB was really just one actor, not that he isn’t great, but it’s hard to have a one man band. and the story wasn’t very dynamic. Not to mention depressing as all hell. I didn’t care much for it. I could watch BN a thousand times.
![fellow fellow - Proud [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9uZF7BlUQPE/mqdefault.jpg)
This movie is so fun and endlessly rewatchable.
I agree!! It’s my favourite from ‘97, my year of birth!
The movie reminded me of coming of age in the 1970s. It seemed to me that all the characters were lonely and were bound together in Jack’s personality cult. I recognized Nina Hartley as Little Bill’s wife and would like to know her take on the movie since she started in the business about that time. I have to see more of PTA’s movies.
@@phillipdycaico5949 Nina is a smart cookie ... Her interviews are always pretty thoughtful and damned interesting. One of the best asses in porn during the 80's too.
@@Fiveash-Art Thanks, I have to watch those interviews with Nina.
I just watched this for the first time last week and now it's one of my all time favorite movies! Loved it!
I think my favourite scene was William H Macy's suicide. The tracking shot through the hallway when he goes to shoot them, the music escalating and then the smash cut to black is incredible. The 80s sure did start with a bang, but it was all downhill for them after that
I first saw Boogie NIghts in The Netherlands, at a theater where they would have an intermission in the middle of the film. That was the scene right before intermission. So I had several minutes to process what I had just watched.
The amount of absurdly complicated one shot scenes is insane, the opening of the movie is a crane tracking shot with complicated camera movements that then turns into a steadycam shot and another scene the camera follows a bunch of peoples individual conversations then goes into the water following someone then while still underwater the camera starts acting like like it's a handheld video camera moving back and forth between who's talking
my favourite part of the movie is the dark night of the soul section where dirk gets beat up, jack reaches a new low with the limo experiment and finally the donut shop massacre and how PTA intercuts these horrible events. I was just left speechless after this.
Your dress reminds me of a Tool album
It's an Alex Grey peice, the artist did the albulm covers and show sets for Tool.
she's from illuminati, dress confirms it
This film doesn't show a transition to "the Reagan 80's". Rather, it shows how leading a reckless and excessive lifestyle will eventually catch up to you. There's a price to pay for poor life decisions. Having fun with cocaine turns into a serious addiction which negatively impacts every aspect of a person's life. Having fun with sex leads to being unable to sustain a healthy romantic relationship, disease, unwanted pregnancy, jealousy, perversion ec...
1980 was a continuation of the 70's. Reagan wasn't in office until 1981. And the cultural 80's didn't start until 1983 at the earliest. Also, the reviewer in this video is too young to even remember the 70's or 80's so perhaps her grasp on those periods need to be taken with a grain of salt.
"Hard Eight/"Sydney" is focused around one protagonist.
From someone who came of age in the late 70s early 80s, Its the closest thing to time travel i'll ever experience.
I remember seeing this in the theatre and thinking how brilliant it was. And yes, the tracking shot during the New Year’s Eve scene is great, but my favorite scene is the drug deal. I can never hear “Sister Christian” or “Jessie’s Girl” without thinking of that. Probably some of the best 10 minutes of film ever shot.
Same for me. Though I hate the whole "x brought me here" comments that fill every music thread, that Sister Christian is now completely associated in my head with that scene. I remember the first time I watched this movie and I literally was holding my breath from the tension.
One of my favorite films of all-time. "There Will Be Blood" is a better film IMHO but this one is much more fun to watch on multiple viewings. The "drug deal gone bad" scene has such incredible tension. "Don't F#$% with Chest and Brock."
Dont make me chase you Raphael! the best line ever 😝
Back then I thought that firecracker dude in the back was the most hilarious thing ever lol, and looking back on it I don't know why hahah
One of my favorite movies ever. It flows so well from beginning to end. Like Goodfellas or Casino, if it's on I have to let it play.
Everyone turned in great performances, and it's amazing that Burt Reynolds turned down the Jack Horner role so many times before finally giving in(or giving up) and playing one of his most memorable roles.
Love this film! While the characters weren't ultra deep, I still thought they were fun enough and played off each other well enough to keep the movie engaging. I enjoy all of PTA's films but I think his best is The Master. I feel that's when he truly came into his own (Aside from Punch Drunk Love) It just had so much power and craft behind it. The scene where Freddie is confessing his inner demons to The Master is one of the best scenes in cinema to me. There Will Be Blood is great as well but it felt like he was still kind of feeling out the waters and paying homage to Kubrick. Great Review as always :)
I didn't expect the happy ending.
Great review but I disagree, I think he was genius in leaving the viewer with a empty shallow feeling, in the end we take on the emotions of the main characters. Great directors make you feel the characters in the end. I actually went to the college referenced in the limo scene Northridge, and I came across many of the these kind of porn stars. Yes they are very 1 dimensional easily used and abused and are looking for FAMILY because many come from broken homes. These are real people he grew up around not fiction like there will be blood. So many great actors were shallow in this movie not because they are bad actors because they were dumbing down for the realities of the roles. I still think this is his masterpiece like Goodfellas made you feel Henry Hills life Boogie Nights made you feel the shallow lives of these people.
Can you do a review of Y tu Mama Tambien and Amores Perros and Once Upon Times in America
It's definitely the definition of a bittersweet ending, you know there's a lot of problems that haven't really been figured out but it's not totally hopeless
this is a pretty damned good review, in fact quite literate without being haute! but genuinely down to earth. thanks! arthur.
Boogie Nights is the best film ever yes I said ever for introducing characters and developing them especially through other characters dialogue
It's a very warm and sweet movie. You fall in love with the characters. And I always felt the touchstone was not Altman or Scorsese, it was Spielberg.
I believe this movie has one of the best cast of all time
Jonathan Doetry take your insecure insults somewhere else.
Is that an Alex Grey print dress? That is awesome!!
going back to other movie reviewers is very hard after listening to yours....I sooo would love to hear your insights about Antonioni films...
Really great review. I don't fully agree with everything, but I respect her insight and does make me look at certain things differently. Thanks for that!
I could talk to this girl for hours.
yesterday I started watching the video, and Ir couldn't finnish it because I had to watch the movie. I saw it, and I loved it, and i'm finnishing to watch your video right now. I agree with everything you said!!!
Thanks! :)
Love this movie. However I think it could have been about 20 min shorter and been a much tighter film. The length of the movie matters because it promised so much more. Still I think this is the best PTA film to date.
Definitely has an ‘I am Cuba’ vibe to it with the tracking shots too.
Also GoodFellas Copacabana vibe as well!!
I love PTA's films, always so entertaining and intense. Although, I have to admit that I feel that same emptiness you were talking about at the end of almost all of his movies (except for TWBB). It's kind of a mix of "please I want more of this gourgeous piece of art" with "c'mon, is that it? did I miss something?". Tell me, did you have this same impression after Magnolia or The Master?
I felt a similar emptiness with Magnolia as well, though for me the themes in that one are more complex, despite similar flaws. I have certain issues with The Master as well (but I really need to see it again to be sure), but I think it is far greater than Magnolia and Boogie Nights without question.
It's a surrogate family story for all who feel lost and unworthy. To me. It is not There Will Be Blood, but it has so much heart in a realm where you don't see much.
when he goes to jack in the end ,think goodfellas when henry goes to see pauly ,,,,,, the last scene of bn is a remake scene from last scene in Raging Bull ,,, then thiers the long shots ,the camera flashes, the music it was basically a scorsesse movie
In a way I think it targeted a love in the 70s style. You could love the 60s style, but in both cases, you need to get to a payphone. He was 'discovered'. No, but it is interesting how his vision was like a restaurant was it?
I watch from time to time because I completely enjoyed the natural and bravado performance of Burt Reynolds. I also loved Julianne Moore and William H Macy. I am sentimental over the films of Philip Seymour Hoffman. But Burt Reynolds took the cake. He did not take his Oscar nomination seriously. But I did. Love Burt in this movie.
I agree. Alongside Reynolds, Moore, Hoffman et. al, the rest of the cast is one of the strong points of Boogie Nights in how great every performance is large and small. One of my favourite films as well!
About There Will Be Blood, I don't know if it is just Daniel Day-Lewis or what but I just didn't like it that much. I also didn't care for Gangs of New York, so maybe it does have something to do with DDL. Hard Eight and Boogie Nights are really the only 2 PTA films that I care for much.
I love this movie. It's an epic in that it covers so much time and does (IMO) effectively. I lived thru the 70's and I gotta say that sympathetic or not I remember many folks I met along the way that reminded me of various of the characters in this movie. I agree that Walhbergs character is particularly likeable but so what? Not everyone we meet is likeable or admirable. And at least there are other more sympathetic characters in the story - Julianne Moore, PSH, and William Macy's characters all come to mind.
P.S. And I just gotta say that the scene with Walhberg and Moore in Dirk's first movie, and the bad acting by great actors is amazing.
great review .. truly great .. keep going
I had goosebumps the entire time in the theater. Best time ever in a theater (Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas before that) But haven't had that experience since Boogie Nights.
There Will be blood is my favorite movie to break down shot for shot. An absolute masterpiece. But Boogie Nights is my favorite film of all time. You just let it wash over you. Experience it in the moment type film.
I am a sucker for films that celebrate themselves as a visual medium and visceral experience.
Ditto. One of the best movie theater experiences of my life. (And yeah, Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas before that were definitely others).
I still believe this is his best film
I like the way it captures the kitschness, sealed hedonistic yet corrosive world.
Such a film is very high risk as overplay it and it becomes a parody.
The film avoids this brilliantly. I think it is close to a masterpiece.
The part where the girl dives in the pool and the camera even follows her under and then the music goes all watery is pure genius.
Maggie, you left me sore. I did all kinds of sit-ups every time you said 'PTA'
You should do a sit up for every time I touch my hair and use my hands to describe something. You'll have rock hard abs in no time. ;)
deepfocuslens That would be non stop sit-ups. I'm not that committed, Mags.
i wonder what a sequel to that film would be like, set in 1997.
I was thinking what if a story like this took place in the era of internet porn, definitely different to the era of porno cinemas and the business model being different.
This film is easily his best work.He hasn't come close to this entertainment value since.
Ron Rockit While I love Boogie Nights, I have to disagree. There Will Be Blood is a distinctly superior film.
@@IvanLendl87 Stick to tennis! ;)
I love this mvoie and your review
I agree with you. I think of BOOGIE NIGHTS as a great collection of scenes, performances, camerawork, and set pieces, but what it lacks is an overall strong structure. Many of the scenes just sort of flow into one another, with much of the third act just being "And then that happened to so-and-so, while this happened to so-and-so." The final ten minutes or so, in which almost all the characters reconcile and get their happy endings, feels like several quick resolutions for the sake of having resolutions.
I'm not sure the Colonel got his happy ending.
Even as a teenager I liked this movie, and I find a lot of dramas to be boring. The porn world is full of so many headcases and Boogie Nights does a good job of portraying these people and the world they inhabit. Ultimately I think it's realistic to have a somewhat messy and chaotic flow to the movie, especially given the dysfunctional nature of the characters.
I still reckon Boogie Nights is PTA’s best film. Its so great.
This got me into his films a bit, still to find where I can watch TWBB, but have watched Magnolia and The Master so far.
This one is probably my favourite PTA film at the moment (again, I need to see all of his others).
TWBB is on Netflix.
@@elichaitman3294 Australia or US?
US
@@andrewburgemeister6684 buy it on physical media.
Actually Hard 8, his 1st was an
Interesting movie, not amazing but if you're into PTA then it gives good insight into the beginnings of his style and it has a real feeling of leaving the camera rolling, trying to catch something! Doesn't always work but it is entertaining
His 3rd was Magnolia in 1999. ‘Nights’ was his 2nd in 1997.
Dont know what was on my mind,
good catch!
Bit of a harsh take on the film's emotional core, for me. Jack Horner's organisation, in a weird way, acts as a familial haven for people who are a little bit lost like Eddie, Amber, Roller girl, Buck, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, and the others who are looking for direction in life.
great review and certainly chimed with my feelings on it. it gets held up as an masterpiece but to me it leaves me feeling cold. there is so much bleakness and negative outcomes for all the characters. the characters are also largely unlikable which is a problem when really trying to connect with the film. PTA is a phenomenal director and only improved with experience.
Easily his best film imo, although literally all his films are masterpieces
Felt like a Tarantino movie
totally agree with u !! all of pt's work is worth studying and learning from.well reviewed btw!!!
And ignore the douchebags if u know what I mean
Thank you so much! :) Don't worry. People like that are just insecure and lonely so they project their hatred onto others to build their ego. It doesn't upset me so much as it annoys me. But as a woman, you must learn to build a thick skin. We hear things like this all the time, unfortunately.
I've never been crazy about this movie. Its show-off style did not distract me from the cast of numskulls. Movies about smart people are so much more interesting. Like you, I'm a big fan of TWBB and like it much more than this one. I also really like Hard Eight...much like Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, it's a lot more modest than his later work but very satisfying.
Magnolia is PTA's finest moment.
I like Rollergirl and the last scene!
Yes, I agree with the emptiness sentiment. It's difficult to pin down exactly why though. It's definitely a movie that keeps one's interest throughout and yet it lacks something.
I think you may have hit upon it with your idea of seeing the movie through a different characters eyes. It would probably have been more satisfying if told through Burt Reynolds character. Then again, all of the characters are essentially horrible people, or at the least, narcissistic in the extreme. That feeling of emptiness might just be related to the fact that none of these people are worth the effort of rooting for. Therefore their downfall doesn't seem particularly disappointing. In fact, in some ways one wants them to all fail miserably. It's unusual in that way. Of course, that may be the intent all along and that emptiness one feels about the movie is precisely what the director was aiming for. Then again, maybe not -- HA!
Fun fact: When Burt Reynolds first saw the picture, he was so upset by it, calling it the "most reprehensible shit" he's ever seen, that he fired his agent as a result. Sure enough, a few months later he would receive his only ever Oscar nomination. This is the same Burt Reynolds who co-starred in "Striptease", btw.
I actually find that a bit sad he didn’t like it, he is incredible in it! Julianne Moore is also great as Amber, and the rest of the cast (including the young Mark Wahlberg in a role originally earmarked for Leo) is really solid, possibly the most well-cast ensemble film I’ve seen.
To be fair Burt really did not get along with the director.
Still think Hard Eight is his best film.
I'd have to respectfully disagree on Walberg's character. He's not deep, but his story is utterly realistic and common, and hence worthy of pity. You have an insecure child, in this case from an emotionally abusive family, suddenly thrust into the limelight. The results of that sort of situation are so common in the music world that it's a cliche. Throw in the fact that it happened at a point where cocaine was everywhere in those circles. And the fact that so many people have as a goal to un-ground you, to separate you from the folks who willing to tell you the truth, and to encourage you to live in excess because it's 'glamorous' and good press. And of course happy to indulge your addictions because it gives them leverage over you.
I'm shocked the toll isn't a lot higher than it is. And I dread to think what I would have become under similar circumstances. But I agree that Amber and Roller Girl are the truly pity-worthy characters. The scene between them in the bedroom is just so powerful.
BTW, if you really wanted to do an unusual take on the story, how about from Hoffman's character's point of view? And I would have to ask, isn't the flashy style of the movie appropriate for the content?
It was an amazing movie
wow...your top put me into a trance!
eyes are bad. dont..
Interesting film but the last forty minutes isn't worth watching
Paul Thomas Anderson's best movie he directed was probably 'Magnolia', (review that movie) 'Boogie Nights' was okay, not a bad movie.
Love her hair... how she style it....
Get letterboxd
Ewww did you just use Yiddish
I’m not nearly as high on “There will be blood” as you are. I think Boogie Nights was a much better movie frankly. I felt TWBB was very one dimensional... The music, the camera work, the insane cast of Boogie Nights all added up to movie magic. TWBB was really just one actor, not that he isn’t great, but it’s hard to have a one man band. and the story wasn’t very dynamic. Not to mention depressing as all hell. I didn’t care much for it. I could watch BN a thousand times.
You are beautiful. Seriously. Wow.