MAGNOLIA R
Starring Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Philip Seymore Hoffman, Philip Michael Baker, and William H. Macy
Eric says ******** 1/2 (8 1/2)
Paul Thomas Anderson has brought back many familiar faces from Boogie Nights, his last movie. This time, though, I was actually entertained.
In a wonderful opening sequence set to a fitting tune, we see a handful of lonely, desperate souls searching for completeness in many different ways. There is an energy in this that remains as an undercurrent throughout Magnolia, even through its longer moments. We meet a dying t.v. show producer (Robards), his unstable wife (Moore), his at-home nurse (Hoffman), a salesman of misogyny (Cruise), a game show host (Baker), a child prodigy on said show, a former child prodigy (Macy), a sub-par simple cop, and a strung-out young woman. The next three hours proceeds to show us
David says ********** (3)
Wierd.
Really, wierd.
Tom Cruise does an excellent job. Ladies beware - guys are like this inside. The nice guys are like this deep down with niceties floating on the surface, the rest are like this period. "Respect the Cock!". Furthermore, Cruises character is the only one that goes anywhere. Don't get me wrong - I doubt he'll relinquish his views, stop being an ass, etc; rather, he is the only one who will face up to his past.
That is what this movie is about (maybe) - how we allow ourselves to be captured and controled by our pasts, which is done at great length, long length, extreme length, drawn out length, oh drat I've burned out that little light bulb on my watch length, uf daa.