A psychologically troubled novelty supplier is nudged towards a romance with an English woman, all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.
Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Stars:
Adam Sandler,
Emily Watson,
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
Directors:
Joel Coen,
Ethan Coen
Stars:
William H. Macy,
Frances McDormand,
Steve Buscemi
A man's coerced confession to an IRA bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.
Director:
Jim Sheridan
Stars:
Daniel Day-Lewis,
Pete Postlethwaite,
Alison Crosbie
Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.
Director:
Clint Eastwood
Stars:
Clint Eastwood,
Bee Vang,
Christopher Carley
The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California presents miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview, a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner/son (H.W.) is, in reality, an "acquired" child whose true biological single-parent father (working on one of Daniel's rigs) died in a workplace accident. Daniel is deeply protective of H.W. if only for what H.W. brings to the partnership. Eli Sunday is one in a pair of twins whose family farm Daniel purchases for the major oil deposit located on it. Eli, a local preacher and a self-proclaimed faith healer, wants the money from the sale of the property to finance his own church. The lives of the two competitive men often clash as Daniel pumps oil off the property and tries to acquire all the surrounding land at bargain prices to be able to build a pipeline to the ... Written by
Huggo / edited by statmanjeff
The instantly famous milkshake monologue Daniel has at the end of the movie comes straight from the congressional transcripts of the 1920s "Teapot Dome" scandal, in which New Mexico Republican Senator Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes for the oil-drilling rights to public lands in California and Wyoming from several oil-industry fat cats (including Edward Doheny). The scandal was Sinclair's inspiration for the novel, and Edward Doheny was Anderson's inspiration for Daniel Plainview. See more »
Goofs
A fireside scene reveals Plainview's boot to have a waffle sole. The waffle sole was not invented nor used until the early-mid-'70s. See more »
I'm going to argue against celebrating this movie.
It isn't because it is not effective. It is. It is extremely honed so that every horse is hitched to the same plow, so that power is achieved.
It isn't because we don't marvel at the actorly gymnastics of Day Lewis. Its because it doesn't matter. I will truly forget this film in the sense that none of it will change me, indirectly lead me somewhere or trick me into some discovery. In preparation for this, I saw "Siberiade," another oildrilling epic where kinship is central and the drive to the earth is a retreat.
(The "blood" in the title is associated with family, not weeping veins.)
Elements of that Soviet film will stick with me forever, though the film has less explosive emotion. (It does have a far more dramatic oilrig fire real instead of from ILM. And it has teasingly seductive songs, not the edgy, spineraising tension of here.)
The one element that should have grabbed me was undeveloped. Here is a man who we see is broken. There are no events to follow. He becomes a success and remains broken. The only story for us to seek is why. We know he had peculiar feelings for his sister and left home traumatically. That he prefers isolation of the most remote kind. That given any opening for bond, for blood: HW, the discovered brother, the child Mary, he will grab it with both hands and look for disappointment.
We know going in that the business of twins appeared only late, but it could have been central to this mystery of sucking and discarding both blood and oil. I really thought Anderson would exploit this ambiguity of identity. After all, he's made one and a half of the very best films which explores this. Films that are multilayered and reach out and penetrate instead of a barrelling locomotive.
So.
I would ask you to differentiate. First differentiate rubbernecking over a disaster from exploring and knowing a dangerous situation. Second, differentiate masterful storytelling from stories that have their own lives and catch fire in your heart.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
25 of 40 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
I'm going to argue against celebrating this movie.
It isn't because it is not effective. It is. It is extremely honed so that every horse is hitched to the same plow, so that power is achieved.
It isn't because we don't marvel at the actorly gymnastics of Day Lewis. Its because it doesn't matter. I will truly forget this film in the sense that none of it will change me, indirectly lead me somewhere or trick me into some discovery. In preparation for this, I saw "Siberiade," another oildrilling epic where kinship is central and the drive to the earth is a retreat.
(The "blood" in the title is associated with family, not weeping veins.)
Elements of that Soviet film will stick with me forever, though the film has less explosive emotion. (It does have a far more dramatic oilrig fire real instead of from ILM. And it has teasingly seductive songs, not the edgy, spineraising tension of here.)
The one element that should have grabbed me was undeveloped. Here is a man who we see is broken. There are no events to follow. He becomes a success and remains broken. The only story for us to seek is why. We know he had peculiar feelings for his sister and left home traumatically. That he prefers isolation of the most remote kind. That given any opening for bond, for blood: HW, the discovered brother, the child Mary, he will grab it with both hands and look for disappointment.
We know going in that the business of twins appeared only late, but it could have been central to this mystery of sucking and discarding both blood and oil. I really thought Anderson would exploit this ambiguity of identity. After all, he's made one and a half of the very best films which explores this. Films that are multilayered and reach out and penetrate instead of a barrelling locomotive.
So.
I would ask you to differentiate. First differentiate rubbernecking over a disaster from exploring and knowing a dangerous situation. Second, differentiate masterful storytelling from stories that have their own lives and catch fire in your heart.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.