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| lshap |
 Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:27 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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jeremy wrote: I'm sure Lorne's not wasted doing what he's doing otherwise he'd be doing something else...like writing.
Which I think is my way of saying 'word'.
Thanks, mate.
I think Billy will be a little more forgiving of my opinion of There Will Be Blood which, once again, echoes his own.
There Will Be Blood: A Two-Hour Sermon at the Church Of Latter Day-Lewis
The film opens with a great premise. It's the butt end of the 19th century and you're in oil country, Texas, as a single, desperate prospector digs for his fortune. Don't know much about him, but the guy's driven by a mania to succeed. And he does succeed. Still don't have a feel for the guy but, no worries, there's plenty of time and the guy's charismatic as hell. There's one explosive scene, and now here's another, now there he is adopting that orphaned baby as his own. Like I said, great premise, now let's watch and see what happens.
Unfortunately, nothing much happens. As the cliche goes: the whole is less than the sum of its explosive parts. There Will Be Blood turns out to be a two-hour trailer of charismatic bits by Daniel Day-Lewis in an escalating series of acting contortions. Like the good audience member that I am, I waited for my story about the early oil men, or maybe early 20th century capitalism, or Texas, or a father and son story. Hell, any story would do. But the final credits started rolling and nothing had taken root.
So maybe my expectations were too high. Director/screenwriter P.T. Anderson is after all the man who whipped together the brilliant Boogie Nights in 1997. Even his subsequent attempts, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love, were glorious juggling acts that kept as many balls in the air as they dropped.
But with There Will Be Blood, P.T. Anderson doesn't even make the attempt. He points the camera at his gifted lead actor and gawks, ceding the film to the brute force of of Day-Lewis' presence combined with a powerful Kubrick-esque score. It's not enough. Daniel Day-Lewis is a pretty good choice to build a film around, I grant you, but how about a subplot or two, or maybe develop some supporting characters, or at least explore that historical era with greater depth? Sadly, the film gives us none of these things and, like an untapped oil field, I walked away wondering at how much was left undiscovered under the surface. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:38 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| That's more like it, Lorne. Annoyingly, Day-Lewis's showoffy acting is being rewarded with awards and he is now the front-runner for the Oscar. This is ridiculous. His performance is loud, monotonous, and lacking in nuance. It's bad acting at its most charismatic, probably the worst presumptive nominee since Brad Pitt's similarly actorish performance in 12 Monkeys. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:00 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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I'm off to see TWBB today in Santa Fe. I see that it's loooooong.
I would have preferred seeing SAVAGES w/ PSH and L. Linney but it's only playing in Albuquerque which is a longer drive.
Seeing TWBB feels more like an obligation that anything else. The coming attractions did nothing for me. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:09 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Lorne and Billy,
Your posts re: There Will Be Blood shocked me. After only viewing trailers, I thought, what is this movie about, save an over the top performance by Daniel Day Lewis but what else is new. I thought Anderson must be holding back on a very intriguing story. Or that this film must be pretty awful save an over the top performance by Daniel Day Lewis.
I haven't even seen the movie and I see my suspicions may have been right, after all. Of course this won't keep me from seeing it ... someday. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:10 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Sorry, Mo. Missed your post which said it all. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:30 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Marj, Mo,
There Will Be Blood is stylish, intense, and it has a strong, spooky score reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut. In other words, the icing on the cake is tasty enough to make the cake digest well. But the cake itself is an undercooked mess. I wasn't bored, Day-Lewis is an enjoyable scenery chewer, so I wouldn't say it's not worth seeing. It just works as an audition reel more than a film. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 12:52 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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lshap wrote: Marj, Mo,
There Will Be Blood is stylish, intense, and it has a strong, spooky score reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut. In other words, the icing on the cake is tasty enough to make the cake digest well. But the cake itself is an undercooked mess. I wasn't bored, Day-Lewis is an enjoyable scenery chewer, so I wouldn't say it's not worth seeing. It just works as an audition reel more than a film.
Thanks, Lorne. You've sold me. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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There Will Be Blood is a brilliant character study of one oilman and the depths to which he sinks (ha) to reach his goals and also a precis for one short chapter in humankind’s existence and our possible future.
TWBB is meant to be taken as a metaphor for mankind’s love affair with and sudden disillusionment over oil -- snake oil, that is, soullessness masquerading as charisma. The hope oozing out of those desert townspeople's eyes as Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) regales them with fantasies of prosperity and water wells and wheat crops as far as the eye can see is heart-wrenching. Maybe it helps to have visited those areas in recent years and seen the ghost towns and realize these people were hard hit even before oilmen and the Great Depression swept the country. They had nowhere to go but down, Plainview coldly leading the charge. Substitute Bush for Plainview and the Iraqi people for naive and desperate westerners and the pattern of greed and deception becomes clear, all in the name of oil.
TWBB is separated into three time frames: 1902, 1911 and 1927. As the middle section begins with wooden oil derricks strewn across the desert, I couldn’t help thinking about Hubbert’s Peak Oil graph depicting the rapid rise and decline of the oil age. Here’s Hubbert’s bell curve as it relates to the history of humankind beginning with year zero (our modern calendar) and into a possible future:
The oil age is a mere blip in our history, yet it assumes such all-consuming importance because it’s all we know, ego-ridden and indeed shortsighted as we humans are. The genius of PTAnderson as writer/director (and Upton Sinclair, of course, whose book Oil! is the basis for TWBB) is to have one man, Daniel Plainview, embody the rise and fall of this extraordinarily short chapter of modern man. He’s tunnel-visioned, relentless, unforgiving and ultimately empty.
On a less philosophical but no-less-enthusiastic note, Daniel Day-Lewis deserves every acting award out there. Who else could have played this role? Who else could have been so forceful, yet so vulnerable to the wonderfully wimpy bipolar asshole played by Paul Dano? 24 hours later I still can’t shake either of their performances, nor the wonderful debut of Dillon Freasier.
Sure, it's slow in places, and the score was occasionally grating. (The only time I seem to notice any movie score is when it's annoying.) There is no faux-angst-ridden plotting machine or John Wayne Hellfighter driving this movie. TWBB lands squarely in Terrence Malick territory, at once beautiful, terrifying and thought-provoking.
Best Movie of the Year. 4 and 7/8 stars.
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| One of my favorite scores this year was for No Country For Old Men because generally there wasn't one. Sometimes it's more effective to just let the story tell itself. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Wow, Melody! When you come back.....you come back with a bang....or should I say gush-er.
It is on my to do list......but I chose The Diving Bell and the Butterfly when I was visiting movieland. Has anyone else seen it? I'll write more later.
But I want to let the Canadians (Gary and Lorne) know that they had a Canada Day at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Some consul in LA introduced the latest Denys Arcand film, Days of Darkness. What an intelligent film! What a sense of humor and the bigger picture and the ordinaryness of life you Canadians have!!
I saw 2 other Canadian films. One was so amusing in its dullness......that when it got kinky half the audience walked out.....and the theatre was only one fourth filled to begin with. It was called Continental, a Film Without Guns. I've never seen boring be so interesting. The story revolves around a motel clerk, an insurance agent, a housewife whose husband goes missing, and a man with dental issues. Eventually their lives intersect.
She's a Boy I Knew, the third Canadian film I saw bothered me......as in I still struggle to understand transgender people and I hated Transamerica and Normal and may never "get it". The writer/director was there for Q & A. He had been Stephen, married to a beautiful woman and now he is Gwen, partnered with a less than pretty lesbian. The film showed graphically his new female parts.......I guess to convince us that this is a viable change......and how he remains close to his family. But he still looks like a guy....a very slight, thin guy who dresses like a guy......He decided to keep his Adam's apple and his voice is still deep. I guess I'm prejudiced....I think if a guy wants to be a female he should look like Candy Darling.
I found out that the Canadian government supports the film industry. That's why they don't have the star system we have....they can't afford it.
Palm Springs does a really good job with its film fest. Temp was 70. It's easy to get around and there was a choice of 2 dozen films every day. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:30 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Syd wrote: One of my favorite scores this year was for No Country For Old Men because generally there wasn't one. Sometimes it's more effective to just let the story tell itself.
Agreed. Weird, isn't it? The thing I liked best about this film is the element Melody liked least.
Melody - Serves you right for sitting too close to the screen. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 3:53 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Finally saw The Savages. Went with someone else driving, and a good thing, too: can't stop weeping, as I did through the sardonic cackles and sudden intakes of breath that it elicited during its running-time. Both stars atop their games and then some, La Linney especially incisive but Hillip Pheymour Soffman hardly chopped pedant. And, as the object of narrative dilemma, Mr. Bosco displays so much investment as to make one worry about his real-life mental status. Tamara Jenkins is no longer going places -- she's gotten there. It's a little film, but an insidious one, and Blanche nominations are blown to hell. May never regain my composure; the irises of my eyes look like Christmas trees from their contrast with the now-red whites. Quirky, spiky, resonant, often hilarious -- Brecht may also never recover -- and deeply affecting.
(insert damp Kleenex and amoeba emoticon here) |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:01 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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Melody wrote: There Will Be Blood is a brilliant character study of one oilman and the depths to which he sinks (ha) to reach his goals and also a precis for one short chapter in humankind’s existence and our possible future...
On a less philosophical but no-less-enthusiastic note, Daniel Day-Lewis deserves every acting award out there. Who else could have played this role? Who else could have been so forceful, yet so vulnerable to the wonderfully wimpy bipolar asshole played by Paul Dano? 24 hours later I still can’t shake either of their performances, nor the wonderful debut of Dillon Freasier.
Best Movie of the Year. 4 and 7/8 stars.
Very sharp and intersting comments. I agree with most everything you said, except I thought Dano's performance didn't work in places, chiefly his scenes where he has to play a convincing, charismatic preacher -. In muy opinion he didn't/doesn't have the voice for it - it seemed so ridiculous. I couldn't believe the adults in the congregation/town would buy what this kid was selling and I'm not saying that because I personally don't subscribe to such lunacy - I fully understand people being mesmerized by a person young or old that has a powerful voice and message (however true or false). I just didn't think Dano pulled that off - which made his scenes in the church, preaching very awkward and silly. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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inlareviewer wrote: Finally saw The Savages. Went with someone else driving, and a good thing, too: can't stop weeping, as I did through the sardonic cackles and sudden intakes of breath that it elicited during its running-time. Both stars atop their games and then some, La Linney especially incisive but Hillip Pheymour Soffman hardly chopped pedant. And, as the object of narrative dilemma, Mr. Bosco displays so much investment as to make one worry about his real-life mental status. Tamara Jenkins is no longer going places -- she's gotten there. It's a little film, but an insidious one, and Blanche nominations are blown to hell. May never regain my composure; the irises of my eyes look like Christmas trees from their contrast with the now-red whites. Quirky, spiky, resonant, often hilarious -- Brecht may also never recover -- and deeply affecting.
(insert damp Kleenex and amoeba emoticon here)
If any one deserves the actor of the year award it Hoffman for his three brilliant performances (over a couple months) - Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages, Charlie Wilsion's War - he beter get some damn oscar nom (or perhaps two!!) this Tuesday |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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inlareviewer wrote: Finally saw The Savages. Went with someone else driving, and a good thing, too: can't stop weeping, as I did through the sardonic cackles and sudden intakes of breath that it elicited during its running-time. Both stars atop their games and then some, La Linney especially incisive but Hillip Pheymour Soffman hardly chopped pedant. And, as the object of narrative dilemma, Mr. Bosco displays so much investment as to make one worry about his real-life mental status. Tamara Jenkins is no longer going places -- she's gotten there. It's a little film, but an insidious one, and Blanche nominations are blown to hell. May never regain my composure; the irises of my eyes look like Christmas trees from their contrast with the now-red whites. Quirky, spiky, resonant, often hilarious -- Brecht may also never recover -- and deeply affecting.
(insert damp Kleenex and amoeba emoticon here)
Agreed on every word, but I wasn't as weepy as I thought I'd be. The inevitable outcome scene notwithstanding. I was really blown away by the student's question in the classroom after PSH get's the call. "What's the difference between PLOT and NARRATIVE?" Plus, who doesn't like a film that starts out with 60-something ladies in sparkly-blue cheerleader suits appearing out of holes in a hedge? |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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