Paul Thomas Anderson

Hard Eight is a good place to start, Reilly at the very beginning of his career. The film technique develops from there, cinematography, story structure, dialog, etc.

i didn't find the chapel scene sad at all but i did find that is about when i started to feel bad for eli though.

  On 4/10/2012 at 6:37 PM, The Overlook said:

No, I'm genuinely curious. Did anybody else find the chapel scene even remotely...sad? I thought it was meant to be LOLorific and that was very much my read of it anyhow.

it's hilarious. when he shakes himself off like a dog is just lol. great scene.

who else is looking forward to this?

  On 4/10/2012 at 8:09 PM, zaphod said:

  On 4/10/2012 at 6:37 PM, The Overlook said:

No, I'm genuinely curious. Did anybody else find the chapel scene even remotely...sad? I thought it was meant to be LOLorific and that was very much my read of it anyhow.

 

it's hilarious. when he shakes himself off like a dog is just lol. great scene.

 

who else is looking forward to this?

It's definitely hilarious and definitely meant to be hilarious, but the last "abandoned my boy" is also pretty fucking sad. DDL's ability to chew scenery, draw lols, and communicate some serious fucking sociopathy and serious fucking despair, all at once, is magnificent.

I lol'd hardest at "I'm your brother... from another mother," but everyone else in the theater seemed to think the movie was some somber meditation, and I had to restrain myself through the rest.

Looking forward to the Master.

Still need to see Boogie Nights. Hatred of Wahlberg is major impediment.

well said baph

im one of the few who is not overly impressed with boogie nights. yes it is a good movie but id rather watch punch drunk love or twbb any day.

I didn't find the scene funny either. Just how I feel about most religious fervor: absurd, melodramatic and manipulative.

'The Master' will hopefully be the film that shows P T Anderson to be a true master of film. I already think he is. Some of you I know do not feel the same way, a lot of us do. We shall see.

I agree about the Kubrick sentiments. I would like to see what went into the making of 'The Master' after it is released. I am sure he is a stickler for details, perhaps not as much as Kubrick but that would be maddening to try and be as thorough as Stanley was.

The greats all have their own processes.

I want to see a documentary about Tarkovsky!

if you didn't laugh at all during that scene i think you're completely misreading it. his character can be manipulative and funny at the same time. that balance of tone is what makes the performance and the movie so good. if anything in the movie doesn't work it's the last couple scenes in daniel's home before eli returns. with his son. those are clearly meant to be sad and don't work very well because of it.

I thought the final scenes were sad, but sad in the way that interacting with my girlfriend's sociopathic grandmother was sad. Like when my gf brought her flowers and in response she threatened to kill us and then smeared shit on the walls and had to be taken to the hospital but she somehow broke the EMT's arm and was banned from the hospital even though she was 97 and dying.

I guess the thing is TWBB doesn't seem to go over the top at the end, for me. This should probably be cause for concern.

I might have laughed but it was due to Eli being a ridiculous charlatan, not because of Plainview's inert comedic side.

  On 4/10/2012 at 9:08 PM, baph said:

I thought the final scenes were sad, but sad in the way that interacting with my girlfriend's sociopathic grandmother was sad. Like when my gf brought her flowers and in response she threatened to kill us and then smeared shit on the walls and had to be taken to the hospital but she somehow broke the EMT's arm and was banned from the hospital even though she was 97 and dying.

 

I guess the thing is TWBB doesn't seem to go over the top at the end, for me. This should probably be cause for concern.

Holy smeared shit batman!

i loved the incredibly dark comedic slant to TWBB...both two incredibly abusive and isolated sociopaths trying to jockey for control and worship from the people below them.

  On 4/10/2012 at 9:02 PM, zaphod said:

if you didn't laugh at all during that scene i think you're completely misreading it. his character can be manipulative and funny at the same time. that balance of tone is what makes the performance and the movie so good. if anything in the movie doesn't work it's the last couple scenes in daniel's home before eli returns. with his son. those are clearly meant to be sad and don't work very well because of it.

i found that bastard in a basket scene very sad.

All of his films are very powerful, I love them all. Haven't seen Hard Eight but I intend to. Really looking forward to The Master, mostly because it has Laura Dern and Amy Adams. Also mostly because of Hoffman, also because it's PT.

I agree with awkward

After watching TWBB, I found my self more comfortable with my own misanthropy. I mean, it worked out for him, more or less. Aside from that business with his fake brother, and his deaf son. Whatever.

I now only eat steak the way Daniel Plainview eats steak.

  On 4/10/2012 at 10:30 PM, thanks robert moses said:

 

I now only eat steak the way Daniel Plainview eats steak.

This way also works:

Magnolia was the first one of his that I saw. Blew my mind. One of the most emotional films ever, and it's not crying emotional, more like cosmic emotional. The music adds to that very much. I notice similar scores can be heard in Speed Racer and I Am Love [John Adams]. Just that constant pulse that keeps you engaged with the story.

Punch Drunk Love is my favorite.

There Will Be Blood gets better every year.

I should see magnolia

there will be blood was amazing, definitely my favorite. i don't understand why people compare it to no country for old men, is it just because they were up against each other for best picture? they're not really similar films at all.

i saw hard eight recently and it was really fun, doesn't leave the same lasting impression as his later films but it's still very good.

Same awards year, but they also filmed at the same time, in the same town.

No Country had to miss a day of shooting because the oil explosion from TWBB created dark clouds that ruined their shots.

  On 4/10/2012 at 9:00 PM, Atop said:

 

I want to see a documentary about Tarkovsky!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095967/

It came with my blu-ray edition of The Sacrifice

  On 4/11/2012 at 1:53 AM, Boxus said:

there will be blood was amazing, definitely my favorite. i don't understand why people compare it to no country for old men, is it just because they were up against each other for best picture? they're not really similar films at all.

I actually think they have some similarities. They've got a similar tone and very similar directing (lots of long, still shots). They've both got a hot, desert atmosphere. They also both have a very nihilistic and emotionally hard aesthetic, and the characters in both are greedy and almost emotionless.

what? what the hell are you talking about?

TWBB was nihilistic?

  On 4/11/2012 at 2:27 AM, goffer said:

  On 4/10/2012 at 9:00 PM, Atop said:

I want to see a documentary about Tarkovsky!

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095967/

 

It came with my blu-ray edition of The Sacrifice

Thanks, I will find it right now!

  On 4/11/2012 at 1:28 AM, jules said:

I should see magnolia

you should definitely see Magnolia

  On 4/11/2012 at 5:26 AM, verticalhold said:

  On 4/11/2012 at 1:28 AM, jules said:

I should see magnolia

you should definitely see Magnolia

Yes, yes you should see Magnolia.