Magnolia and Boogie Nights also coming to Blu-ray before end of '09

[Reel]

damn, thats a nice double feature! I see what you're saying about Magnolia, a lot of the mystery is gone from it simply because we've pretty much figured it out and seen a lot of other cool stuff since then. I kind of watch it and think that none of the stories feel very original or exciting on their own, but put them all together and you got one hell of a movie!

[Pubrick]

the frogs is still one of the most amazing things pta has done.

"but it did happen" is basically him slicing his wrists right there on the screen.

don't think he'll ever be as angsty or purely 100% psychotic as in that movie. for that alone it remains a masterpiece in my eyes.

[polkablues]

That's exactly it. Magnolia is one of the biggest examples of an artist putting himself completely onto the screen. Warts and all, that movie is him.

[Robyn]

"but it did happen" is basically him slicing his wrists right there on the screen.

Could you please explain to a dumb fuck like myself why it is so?

[ono]

The Wise Up scene in particular is pretty bad. Watching it, I was reminded of all the things I loved and would think about for so long. The opening is so great. I watched the trailer a few times too. Still my favorite trailer of all time.

Boogie Nights is still flawless. I want to find that part in the commentary where they talk about the time Burt Reynolds punched PTA in the face and broke his glasses. I remember PTA trying to change the subject when that was brought up. Am I imagining things?

I can't wait for PDL to come out on blu-ray. I'm surprised it hasn't yet.

I still don't see any "flaws" in Wise Up.  PTA took something that seemed cheesy on paper and made it transcendental, primarily because of the blank looks on everyone's faces as they sing.  The opening is a movie in itself, one of the best shorts ever.  And yeah, the trailer for Magnolia -- or CMBB -- is probably the most perfect example of a trailer.  Can't decide which.

As for the Burt Reynolds story, having listened to those commentaries probably close to 100 times, I'm fairly certain the story you're referring to isn't in there.

[Gold Trumpet]

The Wise Up scene is bad. It's both unbelievable and dumb. The only rationale to think it's good is if you subjectively find it moving. However, to think all those people would come together at the same time to listen to an obscure song by an obscure artist makes no sense. It isn't like Aimee Mann is written into the story as a connection between characters. If she was, it wouldn't be out of the question they may think of her song at a moment during the tumultuous day, but they do anyways. And since you have a storyline between a nurse and a dying man who seem to have no cultural connection or shared experience, it makes even less sense for both of them to be humming the words to the song as well.

It's also bad because it just puts a lid on the various experiences by the different characters. Up until that scene, only coincidences and moments of fate really connect all the stories. Each story has its own tangible drama, but when they all start singing a story which means to identify their plight, it just marginalizes the drama of their suffering. For some stories, I wondered why they would be singing that song over others which probably would make more sense, but I felt like I now had to have different assumptions about what they were feeling. When you have so many stories, it's not good to have an across the board emotional comment on every character in such an easy way. But the film wears a lot of its emotions and aesthetics on its sleeve. For me, a lot of it is underdeveloped and immature, but if you have zeal, that is what matters for some.

Or the song could have been on the radio and they were all just listening and then, who gives a shit? You only show that connection scene between all characters if you think it will forward the story in significant way. I disagree.

[Ghostboy]

I don't think it's meant to be taken literally, GT. I'm not saying the scene truly works, but if it DOES work (and god knows it worked for me when I was 19) it's because it takes a momentary leave of reality (a reality that includes but isn't limited to extreme cases of coincidence) and goes for figurative meaning. We love certain songs because they are able to sum up our feelings in an incredibly emotive, expressive way, and I think PTA was just taking a big meta-jump and relying on that propensity to soothe a.) the characters and b.) the audience.

[Gold Trumpet]

Understood. It worked for me too when I was 20, but I've rewatched the movie in the last few years and it was tough to watch parts of it. I can understand intentions and disagree with result.

[Jeremy Blackman]

It's just another fantastic surreal scene in a movie full of surreal scenes. If you start picking at scenes in Magnolia that seem "unbelievable," you're not going to have much left.

And what's wrong with surrealism, anyway?

[Gold Trumpet]

So everything is equal and fine in surrealism? Besides, I wasn't just talking about believability.

[Stefen]

lol. What did I start? Oh well. It's been awhile since we had a good PTA debate on this board. I think it would be interesting if we all revisited his films and see how they affect us now as opposed to the way they did when we were younger and saw them. I thought Magnolia was the greatest movie I had ever seen. Everything about it was just the greatest thing ever to me. Like I said, I can now see its faults and there are some, but that's okay. I think I may appreciate it now more than I did before because I can see it for what it is. It's pretentious, self-indulgent, too long and silly, but those are kind of the things that make it so great. As P said, it's PTA slitting his wrists on the screen. It's him saying, 'fuck you, this is MY movie.' He even says in the diary after he screens it and he's outside shooting the shit, 'final cut. bad idea to give final cut to a guy like me.' and it's true.

Anyways, I had so much fun watching these the other night I went out and bought CMBB on blu-ray. I had some giftcards and figured why not. Hated paying full price, but it was worth it. Can't wait to watch it tonight.

Going through his filmography, I'm falling in love with his films all over again, but for different reasons than before. It's a lot of fun.  

[Jeremy Blackman]

So everything is equal and fine in surrealism? Besides, I wasn't just talking about believability.

Okay. "Dumb" is subjective (unless you have something more specific to say), so I'll move on from that...

You implied that it was "unbelievable" because it was surreal. Do you prefer believable surrealism?

Also... I disagree with your analysis of the sequence on a basic level. The lyrics that each character sings do not neatly sum up their specific states or experiences. Some fit nicely, some fit vaguely, some don't exactly fit. That's too literal an interpretation.

[modage]

I still can't believe GT thought that scene should be taken literally!  Of course it's unbelievable!  Do you know what else is unbelievable?  Any musical, ever. That doesn't make them dumb.

[john]

Sports and milk.

[Gold Trumpet]

So everything is equal and fine in surrealism? Besides, I wasn't just talking about believability.

Okay. "Dumb" is subjective (unless you have something more specific to say), so I'll move on from that...

You implied that it was "unbelievable" because it was surreal. Do you prefer believable surrealism?

Also... I disagree with your analysis of the sequence on a basic level. The lyrics that each character sings do not neatly sum up their specific states or experiences. Some fit nicely, some fit vaguely, some don't exactly fit. That's too literal an interpretation.

Yes, but the sequence does ask you to inject the meaning of the song into each story and find some relevance in it. The sequence is a defining moment for some emotional clarity in what's happening but for the stories where the song doesn't have much meaning or connection, it isn't like they are given other chances for emblems (in this manner) of distinction to their stories so the film does set it up where you lend more meaning to the lyrics in the song. I think it's a false dramatic move and undermines the potential of each story. I say that because I didn't think some of the stories, subsequently, did not do much afterward that was surprising or challenging to their general outcome assumptions.

It isn't about believability or literalism, it's about a rational call to what would help push the story to be more interesting. I first interpreted the story on a believability basis because because at its core, the scene wasn't rational on many parts, so for me that made the scene very weak. It's easy to throw an unbelievable figment of reality into a film this and have it make only some sense. The challenge is to make it sense on more levels but continue cloud your best assumptions of what will happen later. This song made everything too explainable and easy.