Magnolia - 1999 Running Time: 188 minutes Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Stars: Tome Cruise, Philip Baker-Hall, Philip Seymour-Hoffman, William H, Macy, Julianne Moore and John C. Rilley
Trailer:
Review
A large ensemble cast, flawed and desperate characters, set in San Fernando Valley? Its probably a PT Anderson film
Magnolia features a large ensemble cast and many intertwining stories. The story can be split into two main parts: the story of Frank TJ Mackey a successful self help guru, his estranged father Earl who is dying of cancer, Earls second wife linda who is much younger then her husband and Phil Parma Earls nurse. the next story is of Stanley a young genius who is currently starring on the show "What Do Kids Know?" the host of the show Jimmy Gator who is also dying of cancer but wants to make things right between himself and his daughter before he dies. Claudia Jimmys daughter and drug addict, Jim Kurring falls in love with her when he is called to her house after neighbours hear a disturbance, and finally Donnie Smith the "Quiz kid" a child genius who stared on "What Do Kids Know?" as a child. the characters spend the film trying to discover happiness and forgiveness.
PT Anderson is know for his typical themes in his films, much like other directors his films try to tackle similar problems. Some of the main themes in Magnolia include dysfunctional families, fathers who fail their children, the search for redemption and faith. Characters like Jimmy Gator (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Earl (Jason Robards) both have disjointed relationships with their children in the film, There are six basic character types that represent the children of dysfunctional families. Both Jimmy Gator's daughter Claudia and Earls son Frank take on the roles of the "Lost Child" these relationship help propel the story line forward, by linking the smaller self contained stories into to larger story arcs. We also see characters of Jim Kurring, Donnie Smith, Phil Parma, Jimmy Gator, Earl and linda seeking redemption, all of these characters have done something wrong in their lives and have lost people because of this, all characters seek to fix these relationships which helps connect the characters emotionally indirectly as well as create a compelling story and helping create the coincidental ideals that link each character.
Magnolia has two officially released soundtracks, the Soundtrack which features Aimee Mann heavily, what is surprising is that for a relatively large soundtrack a lot of the songs are featured in the film with the cast even singing the song "Wise up". The soundtrack includes the song "Save me", for which Paul Thomas Anderson directed the video. The video features the characters of Magnolia with Aimee Mann singing in the background, the song was nominated for an Academy award but lost out to Phil Collins song "You'll be In My Heart" which was written for the Disney film Tarzan.
The film also has a Score which was composed by Jon Brion. The only song that features on both cds is the song "Magnolia" Jon Brion is a frequent contributer to Andersons films also working on Hard Eight and Boogie Nights and even having a cameo in Boogie Nights as a guitar player.
Magnolia haunts me, it is my all time favorite film. Its an experience, a learning curve and I doubt it could be any better if it was shorter in length, at 3 hours long Magnolia is an epic film, the editing and cinematography are flawless. Magnolia truly is a masterpiece.
Weekend Movie Marathon 5/23-5/25 I figured that since I been getting a lot of new movies lately that I would not do any special theme to my marathon this weekend. I figure this weekend I will watch a little of everything... some new stuff... some old stuff. So this weekend I watched...
Believe When you mess with the dead, be prepared to pay the consequences! Ben Stiles loves to scare people. But he's about to get the fright of his life when the mysterious wailing ghost of Wickwire House beckons Ben and his friend Katherine into the eerie world of the supernatural. As he puts his life--and his sanity--on the line to uncover the shocking truth behind the haunting, he finds himself in over his head!
A hair-raising thriller that will leave you breathless!
My Thoughts: This is a fun ghost story for the whole family. One that I never even heard of until a friend told me about it a few years ago... telling me how much she loves the movie. So I just had to add it to my collection. The story of 2 teens having to solve the mystery of a ghost that is going between their 2 homes. That is the main storyline... but I have to admit my favorite part of the movie has to be where the 2 teens takes care of the local bullies by turning an old abandoned house into a haunted house to try to scare them off. That was just plain fun to watch them set up and pull the prank. Katherine is played by a young Elisha Cuthbert (TV's 24, House of Wax)... so that was also pretty cool to see. The dvd itself is decent but nothing special. Has average Audio/video quality and only a few extras. But overall... this is a movie I enjoy very much and feel comfortable recommending it to anyone.... adults and kids alike.
If you are curios about this movie... you can check out the trailer at Video Detective HERE.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6 Older and Far Away When Dawn feels that nobody wants to spend time with her, she makes a wish in front of a Vengeance demon (posing as school counselor) that everyone would stay with her. During Buffy's birthday party, Dawn's penchant for shoplifting is discovered while the gang tries to figure out why nobody is able to leave the house.
My Thoughts: This is the last "Buffy's Birthday" episode of the series. And a very good one at that. I always enjoyed every minute of this episode the several times I have watched it. There is something that seems familiar about the woman that plays the Vengeance Demon... other then here on Buffy. I do know she was on Buffy several times.
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May 14, 2024, 11:45:45 AM
