Has Magnolia worn on anyone else?
Jan 14, 2018 13:57:31 GMT
sublime92, petrolino, and 2 more like this
Post by jonesjxd on Jan 14, 2018 13:57:31 GMT
For many late Gen-Xers/early Millennials, Magnolia may have been one of the early, formative "important" movies in our journey to becoming movie buffs. Other movies I would put in this category would be Boogie Nights, Fight Club, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Trainspotting, etc. Early movies of the great filmmakers of todays era. For me, many of these movies have worn over time, maybe because I've seen them too many times, maybe because they just aren't as sophisticated as the filmmakers later work. None have worn on me more than Magnolia.
Yesterday, I re-watched The Master, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love, as I go through his filmography once again in anticipation for Phantom Thread. I think The Master is a true masterpiece, I think it's my favorite thing he's done. Its one of the most brilliant showcases of writing, acting, and cinematography I've ever seen. Punch Drunk Love, I may like even more now than when I saw it in 2002, for a less than ninety minute movie, it has so much to unpack. Magnolia on the other hand, just meh. I still like it for its ambition, and I love hammy movies, and this one truly has the volume set to 10 the entire time, then cranks it up to 11, then 12 in the finale. It just doesn't seem to have anything to say other than what it blatantly tells us over and over again. It's a showcase of emotional performances that really say very little. I think back to the ridiculous blocks of melodramatic, on the nose dialogue I was writing in screenplays when I was 19, and feel it was really only one brush up away from being the caliber of dialogue in this movie. Essentially just characters reiterating what they just said, only a little louder and more hysterical. Now, the performances are amazing, but they feel like acting exercises. Many of the characters seem to do and say things for no real reason at all. I have nothing bad to say about the musical segment or frog finale, because honestly I love when movies go big and bravura. It's just that to my matured tastes, those two segments seem more nuanced and plausible than the relationships in the movie, it seems more likely frogs would fall from the sky, than grown adults behaving like this. Because honestly, they're all behaving like angsty teenagers.
Yesterday, I re-watched The Master, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love, as I go through his filmography once again in anticipation for Phantom Thread. I think The Master is a true masterpiece, I think it's my favorite thing he's done. Its one of the most brilliant showcases of writing, acting, and cinematography I've ever seen. Punch Drunk Love, I may like even more now than when I saw it in 2002, for a less than ninety minute movie, it has so much to unpack. Magnolia on the other hand, just meh. I still like it for its ambition, and I love hammy movies, and this one truly has the volume set to 10 the entire time, then cranks it up to 11, then 12 in the finale. It just doesn't seem to have anything to say other than what it blatantly tells us over and over again. It's a showcase of emotional performances that really say very little. I think back to the ridiculous blocks of melodramatic, on the nose dialogue I was writing in screenplays when I was 19, and feel it was really only one brush up away from being the caliber of dialogue in this movie. Essentially just characters reiterating what they just said, only a little louder and more hysterical. Now, the performances are amazing, but they feel like acting exercises. Many of the characters seem to do and say things for no real reason at all. I have nothing bad to say about the musical segment or frog finale, because honestly I love when movies go big and bravura. It's just that to my matured tastes, those two segments seem more nuanced and plausible than the relationships in the movie, it seems more likely frogs would fall from the sky, than grown adults behaving like this. Because honestly, they're all behaving like angsty teenagers.
