WHV Announcement: Boogie Nights and Magnolia (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

It took me two days to watch this film and by the end of it I still didn't have a clue what it was supposed to be about. All I remember is that all the characters in the film were nothing but waste of skin scumbags, who all should have been slaughtered in the most humourous ways possible. At least then I could have derived some pleasure from the hours of my life that I wasted watching this film. His other film, "There Will Be Blood" was better, but even there the characters are so repugnant that you cannot have sympathy or empathy for any of them. In PTA's movies, killing the characters is mercy killing because their lives are so devoid of redeeming qualities that their deaths seem like a relief and release from the most awful level of a living hell.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

In PTA's movies, killing the characters is mercy killing because their lives are so devoid of redeeming qualities that their deaths seem like a relief and release from the most awful level of a living hell.

I'm not sure if you're talking about Boogie Nights or Magnolia but I feel that most of the characters in Magnolia actually end up in a much better place than they started and the movie ends on a pretty optimistic note. No doubt that they (and the audience) go through an emotional hell but I think that, by the end, most of them are happy.

I don't see a particularly happy future for alot of the characters in Boogie Nights though.

 

[Edwin-S]

I was referring mainly to Magnolia. I haven't seen Boogie Nights. It is more than likely that I'm badly mis-remembering Magnolia and how it ends. I only saw it once and it took me two days to make my way through it. I only remember that the characters did not leave me with a favourable impression and that the movie, as a whole, did nothing but leave me with the feeling that I had undergone a negative experience. The only movie I have disliked more than Magnolia is Million Dollar Hotel starring Mel Gibson. At least I could finish watching Magnolia. I couldn't say the same for MDH which was bloody awful.

 

[compson]

FWIW (probably nothing), when I saw Magnolia the first time, I thought it was a masterpiece, and I still think that today. If memory serves, Douglas Pratt compared it to a symphony in which various independent pieces ultimately work together to create one work, and that's a good description. Philip Seymour Hoffman said his character was the part he's played that was closest to him in real life. As usual, he's terrific. (BTW, who is Kevin Smith to call out someone else on making a movie? His body of work doesn't inspire confidence in his ability to recognize a good one.) Rotten Tomatoes does reveal varied reactions from movie critics, but some of them are effusive with praise. See it and judge for yourself.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by compson

(BTW, who is Kevin Smith to call out someone else on making a movie? His body of work doesn't inspire confidence in his ability to recognize a good one.)

I'm willing to bet that Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael couldn't make a movie but that doesn't make their opinion on other movies any less valid.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by compson )

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

I haven't seen Boogie Nights.

I definitely recommend checking out Boogie Nights. PTA's movies are generally polarizing but that's the one movie of his that most people seem to like.