The only person who could turn Adam Sandler's shtick into one of the best films of the year! "Punch Drunk Love" is probably my favorite romantic movie for it's style and sheer quirkiness. Adam Sandler is actually good, which is an accomplishment all of itself. "Magnolia", again, is a virtuoso accomplishment. To make a three hour+ film combining the lives of ten, or so, characters and make the viewer care about each one. That's directing! I know Altman directs ensembles, but, honestly his newer stuff ("The Company" etc.) doesnt touch what was done in "Magnolia". As for "Boogie Nights", Im avoiding it, not because I dont think its going to be good or that the porn industry is uninteresting. Im just not for the 13 inch penis.

Anyways-----Does anyone hear adore this guy like me? As anyone seen "Hard Eight" is---I hesitate to say this---first (?) film? Or do some of you loathe him for being overly ambitious and, simply, pretentious?

E, "Boogie Nights" is my favorite Anderson film. Hey, if you're really afraid of that completely fake thing, just fast-forward it at the end when Wahlberg is standing in front of the mirror. Otherwise, it seemed the most entertaining of all his films, and Burt Reynolds is low-key perfect.

In "Magnolia", the character I liked the most was the cop played by John C. Reilly. But then again, I tend to like Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman in everything.


I'll admit that Anderson is probably a love-him-or-hate-him kinda director. I tend to love him but do occasionally get put off by some of his quirks, but at least that makes him interesting and unpredictable. My wife didn't like "Boogie Nights" and hated "Punch Drunk Love."

"Hard Eight" is probably Anderson's "straightest" film, which means it's his least interesting, I guess. I did see it before I saw the others, so maybe I need to re-watch it to see if I'd get more, now that I know more about the director's style and outlook. I will say that Philip Baker Hall is good, but I've liked him since he played the drunk,paranoid Nixon in Altman's "Secret Honor."

Magnolia is on of the best films of the last decade and also one of my favourite films of the past 5 years.

P T Anderson does a terrific job and so does all the cast, especially Tom Cruise.

Punch Drunk Love was one of my favourite films of 2003. The film is both weird and sweet and Sandler is surprisingly good in it!

As my blood boils reading some of these posts, I have to say that when I first saw "Boogie Nights", I thought it was magnificent, and we had a new "great" director on our hands. When I saw "Magnolia", I applauded the daring and ambitiousness of this movie, but in the end, I thought it was simply above average. However, he got one of the best performances out of Tom Cruise that I've ever seen.

Now onto "Punch Drunk Love"...absolutely horrible! And believe me, I WANTED to like it! All the critics went crazy for it. But it was a ridiculous movie. Sure...I could see Emily Watson having a strong romantic attraction to Adam Sandler...sure, that was believable! Best part of the movie: Phillip Seymour Hoffman continually dropping the f-bomb on the phone with Adam Sandler.

Where's Anderson's next movie? I'm sure he's no longer got the leeway after "Magnolia" and "Punch Drunk Love."

I'm starting to think that him and Tarantino had one great movie in them at a young age (in Tarantino's case, "Pulp Fiction"), and that was it. It was all just a fluke.

I love P.T. Anderson. I've liked every single one of his films. I happened to see them in order as they came out and when Hard Eight came out I was working for a newspaper and got to interview PT Anderson, John C Reilly, Philip Baker Hall and Gwyneth Paltrow. I thought PT Anderson was very nice, very unassuming and a little bit overwhelmed by all the attention as Boogie Nights was already being very very hyped and it hadn't even come out yet. So he was basically having all of these people fawn over him and this little indie film only because of anticipation for Boogie Nights.

I can see though why it would be hard to like some of his films and be fans of others. They are very different from each other, although they have connections. I lived in the San Fernando Valley for two years (two years too many) and maybe the sense of place that I have connects me more to all of the films than someone who doesn't have the whole context that actually living there gives you.

I can definitely understand why people wouldn't like "Magnolia" or "Punch Drunk Love" ... Magnolia was a little bit dense and ponderous, and maybe overly reaching for connecions and a sense of mysticism. But there was so much to enjoy in it that I was able to forgive the more pretentious aspects of it. And Punch Drunk Love was almost torturous to watch, but I don't mind a little bit of masochism for a movie if I can get a little bit of hope with it too. And there was something in the characters that I really connected with.

Oh yeah, Hard Eight I think is good, if definitely a "beginner" film. It's definitely more of a conventional storyline and a bit sentimental too, but Philip Baker Hall and John C Reilly are amazing in it, and Gwyneth Paltrow passable if a little unbelievable as the character she plays. I think it's worth it just for those two main performances though.

Let's put it this way, of the current crop of directors working in the vineyard, PT is the most formally inventive, with ambition that is large. Wes Anderson is decidedly quirky, Edward Burns is sorta one-note, and Todd Solondz has staked out the ground to the right of John Waters.

I liked all three of PT's films I've seen. Punk Drunk I've avoided because of my antipathy to Sandler.

Boogie Night is often seen as a biting satire on the porn industry, and mainstream Hollywood took PT to its hipocritical heart because of that piety. But I think it is really a softhearted valentine to the times (the 70s and 80s) and place (the San Fernando Valley) that catapulted Southern California into the fervid fever-dream imagination of America. You're in Montana and this is Hollywood Babylon. Really, it's the whore with the heart of gold.

Magnolia is ambitious both in the formal methods of Altman and the LA Apocralyptic sensibility of Nathanael West and Bruce Wagner, a sorta latter-day Day of the Locust (raining frogs, men cults, and ultimate redemption thru love or sin). Doesn't entirely cohere, but what ambition.

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Originally posted by wong828:

I liked all three of PT's films I've seen. Punk Drunk I've avoided because of my antipathy to Sandler.

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Understandable, but see it anyway. It's an amazing movie.

I'll put it in my netflix cue at 18.

KT,

Two years too many? That’s harsh.

My bitch is not being able to find good Chinese or Italian food. And it will never be my hometown. But to be an "ex-pat" in the mutant mix of LA is wonderful. I would enjoy living in San Fran more, and feel more at home in Chicago, but there's nothing better to bang your head against than LA.

I sorta have a ken to living on the coast like Morrow Bay or Big Bear, but I would become a vegetable.

This is totally off-topic and probably blasphemous to a Sandler fan (such as one of my nephews), but wong, did you see "The Wedding Singer"? That's a movie even my mother-in-law would enjoy (I think...)

Sandler's character in "Punch Drunk" completely reminds me of one of my best friends, who at this exact point, hates my guts. The problem is that he really has unfinished business with his dead parents and his four live sisters, but his uncle and I get the full brunt of everything, even though all we do is try to be on his side. Maybe this will make the film sound worse...or better. Shut up, mark.

There are actors who set my teeth on edge:

Robin Williams
Jim Carey
Alan Alda
David Jessen

and Adam Sandler

They strike me as way needy, and the three comedian type in this mix, they work so hard to be funny I just wanna dunk their head under water for maybe a count of at least a thousand. I mean, just for the relief.

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Two years too many? That’s harsh.

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Yeah, well, me and the valley had a bad break up. Living there drove me out of southern California altogether. I didn't mean that for all of L.A., just the valley. I can't stand the heat and the scenery there. A good portion of my growing dislike probably had to do with the company I was keeping as well. When all your friends are strippers and drug dealers/actors/directors you know it's time to reevaluate your life.

One of my favorite parts of Punch Drunk Love is this part where Adam Sandler is running through the hallways trying to get to Emily Watson's apartment but he is lost because all the hallways look alike with these doors at the end of them ... that's how every apartment building in the Valley is ... I was dying with laughter and cringing inside at the same time.

Hahaha, KT,

"When all your friends are strippers and drug dealers/actors/directors you know it's time to reevaluate your life."

I think there are some here, and elsewhere, who would've felt they died and went to heaven to have been in your shoes. You make it sound like a regular Gomorrah with strip malls and palms and the occassional marine layer.

Every once in a while I see film crews using some neighbor's house for a shoot or other. I'm sure some of them may have been porn. And of course there are the attractive people gracing the endless outdoor cafes and coffee bars up and down Ventura Blvd. I can see where this can lead to an existential moment or two (2).

You're not like Saint Paul, are you, the guy who lived a life of sin and abandon, but after his horse tripped on the way to Damascus, he found Jesus and went straight?

PT puts the human condition up on screen at least as well as anyone else, and for my money there isn't anyone past or present who combines cinema and life as fluidly as he does. His movies are so well made that I find myself finding new reasons to enjoy them with each viewing, which is always the staple of good filmmaking.

If there's a desire to discuss the fine points of his film's I'd be more than happy to, but this doesn't seem like the crowd. Regardless, Magnolia and Boogie Nights are two of the finest films ever made, and Hard Eight and Punch-Drunk Love are two personal, unique films that feel like family friends I'd refuse to celebrate Christmas without. The thing about PT is: he's not pretentious if you're there with him and understand his mark and aim. You then realize he's the opposite of pretentious, he's inviting.

OK...I'll be the jerk on this board and comment on Magnolia's incredible post.

I'm really at a loss for words, except to say that you REALLY think that "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" are among the BEST films EVER MADE?

Clearly you do, and nothing that I could possibly say here is going to change your views. But it just shows how incredibly limited your viewing of other films has been. Have you ever seen movies from guys like Hitchcock, or Kubrick, or Coppola? Ever see films in a language other than English?

How old are you? Conservatively, I'll say you're under 30, but probably much younger. What on earth are the other films on your list of all-time great films? Did "Titanic" make your list? How about "I Know What You Did Last Summer"?

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Originally posted by asc85:
How old are you? Conservatively, I'll say you're under 30, but probably much younger. What on earth are the other films on your list of all-time great films? Did "Titanic" make your list? How about "I Know What You Did Last Summer"?

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asc85, if you check the Alfred Hitchcock thread where Magnolia posted just before you did, you will have to readjust your age estimate. Opinions should be expressed, but maybe we can get a little bit more specific to the specific thread. For example, Magnolia or asc85, maybe one of you can mention a fine point that we can all discuss.

If no one else does, I'll mention that Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore are the surrogate parents to everyone on their movie sets (or they come across, for that matter.) Any fine points worth dicussing here?

Jesus, asc85 & mark f, this is like an invitation to bang heads…

Actually, I have no quarrel with the notion that PT limes the human condition as well as anybody, after all, most serious films (and serious art) do. I guess where I tend to agree with asc85 is that the claim made by Magnolia for PT is a bit of over-reach.

There is no argument that PT’s Magnolia is an ambitious film that exhibits a supple use of interconnecting stories to explore some serious themes with a terrific ensemble cast. The themes of sin and redemption, love and betrayal, hubris, human weakness and need, and simple fate itself are adroitly handled, but perhaps too neatly, making it a tad too schematic, with some decent into sentimentality. The connective tissue of synchronicity, the Aimee Mann single and the street that runs thru the San Fernando Valley is a clever conceit but a neat formal device nonetheless. Like all good melodrama, all the elements resolves, as they should, but again, perhaps too neatly, but without doubt, Magnolia puts PT in the big league. Obvious comparison is Altman’s Nashville in terms of its formal inventions and Renoir’s Rules of the Games in the way that it addresses the vicissitude of the human condition. Magnolia has a softer heart than both, and in spite of stories that are more harrowing and horrific, its grasps of human nature is less dark than Nashville and less knowing than Renoir. But I’ll give PT the cigar for ambition.

Boogie Night doesn’t really transcend its subject matter. Again, a terrific ensemble cast in what appears to be a satire of the porn industry, when it is more of a send-up. It makes fun of a habitué that is fairly easy to make fun of. It gives Hollywood what Hollywood wants to see of its black sheep, and explains how well received it was by the industry. And it also gave middle America what it wants to see of the porn business, confirming its fears AND smugness, concluding with a triple bill of violence that is as easy as it is improbable (These are white people in a white industry in the bedroom communities of the San Fernando Valley, even if the office addresses are North Hollywood. No cigar.

PT is a young director with a great sense of story and narrative drive, with some excellent films to his credit, perhaps one (1) great one. There may be more to come. I dunno that he’s a great visual stylist. Or that he can transcend his easy sentimentality to do something like Van Trier’s Breaking the Waves. Take a gander at something like Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’ Amores Perros. Without taking anything away from PT, there are others in the vineyard, here and elsewhere.

In the meanwhile, let’s exhibit a little restraint.

And Magnolia, what are those “fine points” that you would “be more than happy” to get into but “this doesn't seem like the crowd?”

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I'm really at a loss for words, except to say that you REALLY think that "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" are among the BEST films EVER MADE?

Clearly you do, and nothing that I could possibly say here is going to change your views. But it just shows how incredibly limited your viewing of other films has been. Have you ever seen movies from guys like Hitchcock, or Kubrick, or Coppola? Ever see films in a language other than English?

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Well, this isn't going to be about PT Anderson but I think this is a somewhat condescending attitude. People have different opinions about what is good in art, and also what is the BEST in art. Movies that are older or more widely renowned do not automatically have to be everyone's favorite movies.

I think it's perfectly legitimate to feel that these movies are the best movies even if you've seen and appreciated other, more "classic" films. I'd be very interested to read your analysis of why PT Anderson's movies fail to live up to the films of other directors. Much more so than I am in your opinions of how old the poster is, or how many movies he has seen.

I still haven't figured out how to copy other people's comments within my post, so I'll simply respond here.

1. I don't mind keeping the tone non-combative on these boards. Most are very civil, and on most of my other posts, I am as well, and with the exception of this thread, I won't be the first to jump in anymore like this.

2. Agree with wong's assessment...Magnolia's comments are a big overreach on PT Anderson. The guy has only made 4 films. I'll say that one of them (Boogie Nights) can be ARGUED that it is one of the top 10 films of the last 10 years. Magnolia is ambitious, but ultimately, not very good. Hard Eight is a fine little picture, but nothing special. Punch-Drunk Love is a quirky mess which I recognize some people like. To each his own.

3. KT comments that I had a "condescending attitude" in my last post. He's (I'm assuming he...if not, I apologize) absolutely right...Magnolia's original comments were ridiculous to make, IMHO. KT further goes on to say that everyone has different opinions, it's perfectly legitimate to feel certain movies are the best, etc. Of course, I understand all of these things, and I thought the purpose of this board was to express our opinions regarding what others may think from time to time. It's just film we're talking about here...not devil worship our pedophilia. People have told me here to lighten up, and I will on future topics, but I would suggest that those who told me to lighten up should do so as well.

I'm not sure when KT says "it's perfectly legitimate to feel that these movies are the best movies" he is referring to "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia", or any films someone thinks is the "best." If he thinks it's perfectly legitimate to say that "Magnolia" is one of the best films ever made, I profoundly disagree, and about 99.9% percent of filmgoers (serious or otherwise) would agree with me. If he thinks it's perfectly legitimate to say that ANY film can be talked about as a best film, then once again, I profoundly disagree. If you think that I have to respect someone's film opinion if that person thinks "Magnolia", "Titanic", or "Charlies Angels: Full Throttle" are great works of art, you're very much mistaken.

It is unusual for me to be a "moderator" here (usually I'm perceived as taking chomps of fast protein off unlikely places!), but rather than have everyone re-invent the wheel of rhetoric and discourse, I would simply offer the following:

Anyone can have an opinion. (A five year old can have an opinion, as can Bill O'Riley, as can our dunce of a president, and in American, we have a perfect right to have an opinion, good or bad, smart or stupid, and a perfect right to express it, in such a place as any soapbox or here, our beloved Metacritic.)

But not every opinion is an informed opinion. (Which is to suggest, kindly but unfortunately, that the world is not fair. Some opinion is better than others, some are smarter, nuanced, more clever, and so on [and I needn't go on.])

Some opinion may be more privileged. (Say, the spokesman of the Pentagon, but if you think there is vested interest involved, no one is obliged to believe it. We pay attention to sources we find credible, have trust in.)

Because we live in a "free" society, we give formal legal right and equality to everyone and his opinion, your boss and the dimwit down the hall can both think highly of George Bush and it counts for the same.)

In fact, common sense and logic dictate that not all opinions are equal. (If you have blackout spells, you would be a fool to consult a five (5) year old. Instead you consult a physician. You would not consult a loan shark on ways to save for a pension plan.

Having said all of the above, I think it is fair to ask for someone's credential to assess the "worth" of an opinion. Age and experience can be useful if not definitive factors. Just as a determination of someone's "taste". There is no point discussing Italian cooking with someone who can't stand tomato sauce.

When someone makes an exaggerated claim, as I think poor Magnolia did, experience has proven that in a friendly place like this, he or she can have some expectation of being clobbered.

KT’s job here is to defend the women and children (also, sometimes the legally incompetent) and to make sure the guys from the WWF don’t get all the playground equipment all bloody.

So, to make a long story short, if you go see Jonathan Demme’s Manchurian Candidate, you can have an opinion, but it wouldn’t be an informed one. To have that you would have to see John Frankenheimer’s too. Otherwise, asc85 will probably clobber you.

Come to think of it, so will I.

Disclaimer: Not Know-It-All, just Well-Read.

Why would the guys from the World Wildlife Federation bloody the playground equipment? That just makes no sense!