Paul Thomas Anderson

So should I. I have a whole bunch of movies I need to watch actually, but it just takes too much time. Music is so much easier to get through.

Reading books is even more time consuming! Well worth it though....

  On 4/10/2012 at 7:48 PM, Rubin Farr said:

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.

Agree. Great fucking movie. hoffman and reilly both shined in that movie, also sam jackson in that movie is phenomenal.

  On 4/11/2012 at 5:29 AM, Atop said:

  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.

it's a great movie, and aimee mann can be infectious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNbTC6xLVg0

the love story between john c reilly and melora walters is a special one, to me.

  On 4/11/2012 at 5:44 AM, Atop said:

Reading books is even more time consuming! Well worth it though....

Yeah, but it's easier to do in multiple sittings, and in your spare time between things. If I'm gonna watch a movie it has to be completely dark and I can't have any distractions, and I like to do it in one sitting.

I do as well. Watching films in sections can take away from the flow of the film but sometimes it is necessary for epic films, hence when they used to have intermissions at theatres. The one I remember the most was during 'Gandhi'. I actually saw the whole thing in the theatre when I was young. Patience is a virtue. I am starting to lose my patience the older I get. Thank you internet, adverts, and high expectations for myself!

i don't get comparing Anderson to Kubrick, really. Anderson is much warmer.

  On 4/11/2012 at 9:05 AM, lumpenprol said:

i don't get comparing Anderson to Kubrick, really. Anderson is much warmer.

Obviously, it's pretty stupid to compare directors. But I can see similarities in how Anderson creates his more static shots to how Kubrick would. Anderson has more movement, but for me there's something in the mood.

Anderson seems to be a true student of cinema, so it's probably no coincidence when his scenes look similar to legendary directors.

It's a bit like Tarantino, I guess. He creates pastiche cinema which emulates what he likes best about each genre. It seems to me as though Anderson uses stylistic techniques in the same way, but not enough to make it a gimmick.

seems like each of his movies is an homage to a different director. boogie nights was scorsese, magnolia was altman, twbb is kubrick. but i'm drunk right now and probably full of shit.

If you're full of shit it's interesting shit. How about Punch Drunk Love?

Certainly Kubrick would never have made a film like Magnolia. It's almost offensively sappy.

Kubrick is all "look at the petty foibles of Man", while PTA is all "look at the petty foibles of my really endearing unique misfit characters." Most of Kubrick's characters are fairly flat stand-ins for the viewer, like Dave in 2001, or Joker in FMJ...although an interesting comparison could be made between Alex in A Clockwork Orange and Plainview in TWBB...but yet again, Alex is just sort of a foil to allow for Kubrick's/Burgess' social critique, whereas I don't think PTA has much of a social critique...he seems to think we're all pretty fucked up regardless of larger social forces...Which is probably why I enjoy PTA movies more, although I really love Kubrick's awesome filmmaking skill. Kubrick usually seems to be about Some Greater/Hidden Power That Controls Man (whether the govt., some secret society, a monolith, or a fucking hotel), which is all well and good but...

Plus PTA is much more of an ensemble-based director (except in TWBB). So yeah, I can see TWBB as his homage to Kubrick. And I guess Kubrick's most PTA-like movie would be...Barry Lyndon? It's his most ensemble-ish, and doesn't have as much of a Big Point...

Yeah I'm a bit drunk too atm...

Everything you just said, lump.

There are some pretty obvious visual and even structural homages to Kubrick in TWWB, especially 2001. I'd almost feel stupid pointing them out, because they're so obviously intentional.

I don't have anything against Anderson, though Boogie Nights is a bit shit too, but Magnolia is by far the worst film I've ever seen. Attack of the Clones has more merit. I'm always amazed by the love it gets. It's like if you raised some children and enrolled them in film studies 101, but never actually let them watch a film ever, this is the pile of shit they would turn out if they were then tasked with making something. Just awful.

pfff

LOL

'Punch Drunk Love' is an hommage to Mike Nichols.

  On 4/11/2012 at 7:20 PM, kakapo said:

I don't have anything against Anderson, though Boogie Nights is a bit shit too, but Magnolia is by far the worst film I've ever seen. Attack of the Clones has more merit. I'm always amazed by the love it gets. It's like if you raised some children and enrolled them in film studies 101, but never actually let them watch a film ever, this is the pile of shit they would turn out if they were then tasked with making something. Just awful.

and people think i'm negative

I always thought There Will Be Blood was more of an homage to Terrence Malick's films. But there's still a lot of Altman, and some Kubrick, in there too.

  On 4/11/2012 at 8:52 PM, takeshi said:

I always thought There Will Be Blood was more of an homage to Terrence Malick's films. But there's still a lot of Altman, and some Kubrick, in there too.

but there's an actual story to twbb

And Plainview's monologue about having a competition in him wasn't a 6 minute wistful voiceover ending in a question to god

Great thread. *fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

and there are no curtains blowing in a window

lol

Fuck you guys.

yeah and there aren't any women or sexuality oh wait-

  On 4/11/2012 at 9:00 PM, baph said:

And Plainview's monologue about having a competition in him wasn't a 6 minute wistful voiceover ending in a question to god

Mother......

I saw you.......

Your eyes............

You lied to me.......