Boogie Nights: Classic or Dud

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Just watched this again on IFC for the first time in years. I couldn't find any thread specifically dedicated to it, and just realized this flick is almost 10 years old now, so here we are.

Gotta say, I still love it. That botched heist scene with "Sister Christian" and the firecrackers!

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 07:23 (seventeen years ago) link

I just read Ron Jeremy's biography. I didn't realize he was an advisor on the film (as well as 9 1/2 weeks).

― stevienixed, Thursday, 22 March 2007 07:53 (seventeen years ago) link

not to mention Hunt for Red October (it's a little known fact that he's an expert on Soviet naval tactics!)

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 08:01 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean, he knows a thing or two about rushin' torpedoes

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 08:01 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm not religious but i'm guessing some sort of deity was offended by that pun

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Dear me.

I've actually only seen it all the way through the one time (with a couple of ILX folks at that) back on first release in 1997, but I liked it -- since then I see rather more clearly how indebted Anderson was to Scorcese but even so, good stuff, though maybe it's the individual moments that hold up better than the whole film. Also, the soundtrack's great.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Classic, definitely. I finally picked up the (now cheap!) deluxe DVD version, but I've yet to really dig into it. Still my favorite PTA film, and probably in my Top 20 of all time. So many great performances throughout this - Macy's depressed resignation, Cheadle's heartbreak, Hoffman's creepy-yet-somehow-sweet crush.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:56 (seventeen years ago) link

It's superb. I, too, have only seen it once, but that apocalyptic street/restaurant scene with the tolling bell will remain with me for a while.

― unfished business, Thursday, 22 March 2007 14:59 (seventeen years ago) link

That's my least favorite part of the film, actually.

― Hurting 2, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link

Cheadle's heartbreak

rushes off to IMDB to check the cast. I didn't realize he was in that film. I am not a big fan of Anderson to put it mildly, but this is definitely one of my favourite films of the 90s. As Ned said, the soundtrack is great.

― nathalie, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:17 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm a little afraid to see it again! because I really loved it at the time, especially the performances (it just occurred to me that John C Reilly basically just reprised his role in Talladega Nights, ha). ...but in the intervening years i thought both Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love were straight garbage.

― gff, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link

rushes off to IMDB to check the cast. I didn't realize he was in that film.

But he's porn star/stereo salesman extraordinaire Buck Swope!

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Quite surprised by how much I loved this movie, one that's well worth repeat viewing.

I particularly like the part where the two of them are trying to convince the studio guy to give them his recording, but they don't have money - they'll give him the money once they make millions off the sales of the music.

But almost all of it is brilliant especially, as latebloomer said, the botched heist scene with firecrackers and Sister Christian music.

― Ste, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:22 (seventeen years ago) link

It's a mess, but it's a really great mess (opening shot is just fantastic and the Alfred Molina sequence is just incredible.) I might like Hard Eight a little better actually.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah and that bell tolling scene is pretty memorable in a black way.

― Ste, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link

My favorite bit of trivia from this movie:

The song "The Touch" sung by Mark Wahlberg's character when he tries to become a singing star was originally created for the 1986 Transformers movie. It was performed by Stan Bush. When Transformers: The Movie was released on DVD there is even mention of this in an interview with the film's composer; where he states he was very surprised that it was used in another movie. He even called Stan Bush to let him know about it.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Haha ohmigod.

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:25 (seventeen years ago) link

wtf xpost

It totally overwhelmed me the first time I saw it, I had no idea what to make of it. The ending slayed me. I've seen it a few times since then and it's come to be among my favorites. Probably top 20.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Transformers IS at the heart of everything. Now let's see the song used in the new movie.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

I would like to see the prosthetic cock in the Transformers movie.

― n/a, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:39 (seventeen years ago) link

pretentious about porn + Scorsese style + Altman cast + heavyhanded use of banal pop = "classic"

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Boogie Nights is a good film but the UK DVD transfer of it is horrendous, or at leats the one I have is. It's pan&scan, and in the opening scene when the camera focuses on the night club's sign, the fucking TITLE OF THE FILM, all you can see is OGIE NIG. It'd be funny if it wasn't such butchery.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Don't, don't, don't. You two are trying to call out Grady Beetlejuice with those statements...

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I've always been confused about how we're supposed to respond to Reynold's dithering about porn-as-art. It's obvious his stuff is shit, but is the audience supposed to laugh at him? The way Anderson frames him – he almost emits a while aureole – is beyond irony.

Anyway, it's a film that doesn't stand up to repeated viewings. The phony situations (William H. Macy and his wife) seemed phonier, and you notice that Mark Wahblerg isn't playing a character so much as big-dicked sensitivity.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link

*while =white

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:46 (seventeen years ago) link

totally classic. though one of the best parts of the movie is a deleted scene, of the three cokeheads doing the coke, going out and getting more, doing it, talking a lot... shot from underneath the table. long scene, but brilliant in its 'through the glass' indictment of the characters. and other ways.

― the table is the table, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:27 (seventeen years ago) link

a really fun movie, and PTA's only really watchable one, with a lot of great acting.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link

though one of the best parts of the movie is a deleted scene

i like the deleted scene that he uses "Tusk" behind. It's a worth-owning DVD, I think, but I agree with a lot of bad stuff people are saying here, too. I'd call is a shameless Scorsese rip if Anderson didn't seem to have a little shame about it. On the commentary he says things like, "That's a really Scorsese shot right there." DUDE, THE WHOLE THING IS A REALLY SCORSESE SHOT. WHAT PART DID YOU THINK OF YOURSELF?

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Hard Eight still his best, in no small part because Philip Baker Hall will star in the Wallace Stevens biopic I've imagined.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:35 (seventeen years ago) link

"PTA's only really watchable one"

Did you really not like Hard Eight, Shakey?

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link

(and altho I do like it a lot Morbius' formula-reading of the film is totally OTM)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I hated Hard Eight. I have a hard time with films where I can't really empathize with any of the characters in any way.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Really? Wow. I think I empathized with every character in that movie (except maybe Samuel L Jackson.)

― Alex in SF, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Really? Gwyneth Paltrow and John C. Reilly have never been so affecting. What about the tension between Hall's studied cool and Sam Jackson's thuggery?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Two words: Roller Girl. Or is that one hyphenated word?

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:41 (seventeen years ago) link

God, I forgot about Roller Girl...her character hasn't worn particularly well either.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Gwyneth Paltrow?

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:44 (seventeen years ago) link

She's in Hard Eight.

― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:45 (seventeen years ago) link

its been a long time since I've seen Hard 8 (10 years?). Had no idea it was called "Sydney" originally...?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link

also I hate Gwyneth Paltrow in general.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link

her character hasn't worn particularly well either.

Please elaborate?

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:48 (seventeen years ago) link

She wasn't given anything to do except skate! I can see Heather Graham petitioning P.T. Anderson and him saying, "No, sorry, don't have anything...well, wait. Wanna play `Roller Girl'?" She projects nothing, she ain't sexy – it's a cute, throwaway character.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I assume he means the crap bits about her dropping out of high school, and that whole "dark side of the business" thing that PTA somehow magically both over- and underplays.

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I have discovered people will assume Wrong Things about you if you tell a person this is your favorite movie during introductory small talk.

― Abbott, Thursday, 22 March 2007 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link

like that you haven't seen Raging Bull?

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Or maybe that you saw Raging Bull and thought it was a steaming load in comparison?

― Deric W. Haircare, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Roller girl "she ain't sexy" = no.

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:35 (seventeen years ago) link

admit it, abbott, you can't get enough of the porn

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I admit it, but by that logic, Fashionistas or something should be my favorite movie.

― Abbott, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Roller girl "she ain't sexy" = no.

Spencer Chow on Thursday, March 22, 2007 2:35 PM (5 minutes ago)

yeah seriously!

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Blame my faggotty instincts then. Or dislike of bony, red knees.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:43 (seventeen years ago) link

hahaha the knees aren't where my eyes are focusin' broseph

― latebloomer, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:44 (seventeen years ago) link

I have discovered people will assume Wrong Things about you if you tell a person this is your favorite movie during introductory small talk

i was gonna say, what, it's not like you said an actual porn movie was your favorite, but then i imagined you saying that, and making the situation even more awesome

― gff, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Boogie Nights was good, but its no The Devil in Miss Jones!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 19:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Genital Hospital

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:05 (seventeen years ago) link

yes we have all seen a porno

― gff, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I have never actually seen one of those old pornos, especially not the ones with spoofy names. I may have seen Deepthroat once, sneaking around through somone's parents' stuff. Anyway that's not how I roll, all 70's style.

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:14 (seventeen years ago) link

porn WAS pretty weird back when it had mainstream/arthouse aspirations. and was only available in movie theaters.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:16 (seventeen years ago) link

One time my sister came over to my house to watch Orgazmo, which I hadn't seen in a couple of years. I said, "Oh good, it's already in the VCR," so I pressed play. It was way grainier and fuzzier than I remembered, "Wow, looks like they tried to give it that '70s porn vibe and everything." And then the words came up on the screen: BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR...wrong tape.

― Abbott, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link

I admit that a lot of my fondness for Boogie Nights is related to an enduring fascination with the 70s porn industry and films in particular. but maybe that's another thread...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 20:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Tomorrow night in El Paso they're showing Deep Throat at the drive-in! I guess it was released in El Paso first, 30 years ago.

― Abbott, Thursday, 22 March 2007 21:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Magnolia >>> Boogie Nights (both are amazing, though)

― Tape Store, Thursday, 22 March 2007 21:35 (seventeen years ago) link

deep throat at the drive in? Like, can't you see that from the highway?

― kenan, Thursday, 22 March 2007 21:37 (seventeen years ago) link

i was just having a conversation last night about how great the comedy is in this movie.

i say classic.

― s1ocki, Thursday, 22 March 2007 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah if there's one thing this movie has that its Scorsese sources don't, its a lot of good jokes.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 22:58 (seventeen years ago) link

feel, feel, feel...feel the heat.

― Granny Dainger, Thursday, 22 March 2007 22:58 (seventeen years ago) link

"so do you work out?"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 22:58 (seventeen years ago) link

"Hey, are those lizard?"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 23:03 (seventeen years ago) link

"No, they're Italian."

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 23:03 (seventeen years ago) link

scorsese has jokes but not as comedic as they are here. really funny improv stuff.

― s1ocki, Thursday, 22 March 2007 23:11 (seventeen years ago) link

the departed was the funniest fucking movie of last year.

― max, Thursday, 22 March 2007 23:15 (seventeen years ago) link

uh please note I didn't say that Scorsese can't be funny. He has lots of teh funnies depending on what film your watching. But the Scorsese films that PTA copped from for Boogie Nights (primarily Raging Bull and Goodfellas) are not broadly comic in the way Boogie Nights is.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 22 March 2007 23:17 (seventeen years ago) link

When I first saw Boogie Nights I didn't enjoy it much because I felt that the turn toward darkness was way too extreme. I felt like it took too negative a view of the porn world. I prefer the happy-go-lucky porn fantasy. However, the movie has grown on me over the years. John C. Reilly's performance is pure comic gold.

Magnolia starts out with lots of promise, but goes way too far over to the darkside. I can't really handle the 30 minute long deathbed speech. Once the characters start lipsyncing to Aimee Mann, I have to turn it off. But again, I love John C. Reilly as the rappin' cop.

― Moodles, Friday, 23 March 2007 03:55 (seventeen years ago) link

― nathalie, Friday, 23 March 2007 08:39 (seventeen years ago) link

deep throat at the drive in? Like, can't you see that from the highway?

kenan on Thursday, 22 March 2007 21:37 (Yesterday)

HAHAHA, I first read this post without seeing the one it was responding to, and I was like "Uh, I guess if you're really well endowed, and she's bobbing her head A LOT"

― Hurting 2, Friday, 23 March 2007 15:19 (seventeen years ago) link

On the train last week there was a crude, homemade sticker with a picture of John C. Reilly, and it just said, "Support John C. Reilly." And I thought, right on.

― kenan, Friday, 23 March 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I felt like it took too negative a view of the porn world.

Is such a thing possible? Some nasty shit has gone on there...

I don't remember which of BN's laughs were intentional, amid all the pomposity. While I found Molina's perf excellent, I didn't find his scene fall-on-the-floor particularly funny, cuz I don't find yapping coke freaks hilarious.

Also, to find John C. Reilly a plausible porn star, he'd need a big bad mustache.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 March 2007 18:58 (seventeen years ago) link

I think I am going to buy this at lunch at the local $10 DVD sale

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Nath, we quit watching...BTGD is pretty crap tho. Marilyn Chambers gets kidnapped and then put in a hypnotic trance or something. She goes out onto a stage in front of an audience of assorted weirdos all glammed out. A black guy comes out w/tribal makeup/necklaces and big white pants w/a hole cut out for his dong, they're playing all this wacky drum music, it's totally offensive & not sexy. Then she blows a guy while giving two others handjobs; the guys aresuspended in head-level swings. The only good thing abt it is the money shot, they play some scary-ass synth drone like a more malignant Tangerine Dream, and it does that '70s video effect of black silhoutte/solid color background, transposed over one another and in super slow motion. -fin-

― Abbott, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Sorry to derail. I love Boogie Nights and I do think it's fucking hilarious. It felt a little too long tho.

PHS buying a sports car to win a man's love>>>>>>>>>>>>WHM buying braces to win a man's love

― Abbott, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link

The scene with "The Touch" is absolutely one of my favorite scenes of any movie, ever.

― nickalicious, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:17 (seventeen years ago) link

this movie's about as deep as 'pulp fiction' which isn't to say it's bad (it's extremely entertaining) but its overtures at depth are just window dressing. and the turn towards the darkside just feels mechanical and meaningless (because after all it's not really a downward slide for anyone, it's just one or two bad nights on the town).

― botero, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I agree, except I only found it fitfully entertaining.

Oh, and the only overt homosexuality (in this very pansexual demimonde) is from Phil S Hoffman's pathetic lackey fag? Depressing.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 23 March 2007 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Abbot OTM about Behind the Green Door! Pretty much sucks but the psychedelic ending sequence is a wonder to behold... there's far more interesting/stranger 70s porn fare out there (Sexworld! Cafe Flesh!)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 23 March 2007 20:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't remember which of BN's laughs were intentional, amid all the pomposity. While I found Molina's perf excellent, I didn't find his scene fall-on-the-floor particularly funny, cuz I don't find yapping coke freaks hilarious.

yeah but it's a yapping coke freak playing Night Ranger with a scrawny dude in the b.g. throwing FIRECRACKERS

― latebloomer, Saturday, 24 March 2007 00:12 (seventeen years ago) link

absolutely hewn-from-stone classic.

although this thread is making me think i should maybe never watch it again, just in case i change my mind.

sometimes i hate ILX.

"magnolia" is one of my favourite ... not just films ... creations, i guess ... in the whole world ever.

― grimly fiendish, Saturday, 24 March 2007 00:22 (seventeen years ago) link

t's just one or two bad nights on the town

Uh, I dunno about that... when yr givin weird guys handies for blow money, that means you're on a bad streak. Yknow?

I love the scene with Molina, especially when he's talking about making mix-tapes, and then the tape turns over in the stereo and its called "My Awesome Mix #4'. And Jesse's Girl!

― the table is the table, Saturday, 24 March 2007 01:01 (seventeen years ago) link

"magnolia" is one of my favourite ... not just films ... creations, i guess ... in the whole world ever.

oy veh.. thats some horrible shit.

― chaki, Saturday, 24 March 2007 01:15 (seventeen years ago) link

grimly, just so you know...

Magnolia is my fave film of all time.
I can see why a person might not like it.
But I am so glad that I'm not that person.

― peepee, Saturday, 24 March 2007 02:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm still not quite sure what i think of Magnolia.

― latebloomer, Saturday, 24 March 2007 02:57 (seventeen years ago) link

i think anderson may be a bit too protective of his characters. he always takes their side!

― ryan, Saturday, 24 March 2007 03:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Put me in the defending Magnolia camp. I mean, I watch it and can see all the faults that other people point out and it makes total sense as to why people would hate it, but I still fucking love it each and every time.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Saturday, 24 March 2007 04:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Magnolia has some fantastic acting. But I hate Aimee Mann. The frogs. Mostly everything else about it, actually. I have a hard time hating anything with Seymour Hoffman in it, though...

― the table is the table, Saturday, 24 March 2007 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

re: Magnolia

Jon Brion's score >>>>>>>>>> Aimee Mann's songs

(has this thread been hijacked?)

― peepee, Saturday, 24 March 2007 14:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Magnolia is underrated. Boogie Nights is overrated.

― Eric H., Saturday, 24 March 2007 15:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Punch Drunk Love was R-rated. (Or was it?)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Metacritic says aye. It was also one of the most irritating, artificial films I've ever seen.

― unfished business, Saturday, 24 March 2007 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Magnolia is underrated

Not by drinkers of the PT Kool-Aid.

― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 24 March 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

(postscript: Maybe I'll 'get' it if I see it again. I actually enjoyed it whilst it lasted, but it left the sourest of aftertastes. I felt duped, by the faux-eccentric touches (such as the capsizing lorry in the opening shot), which I felt had been used to spruce up a manipulative and wholly insightless 'fall guy gets the girl'-type love story whose characters I felt virtually no sympathy with.)

― unfished business, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Not by drinkers of the PT Kool-Aid.

Yeah, I was sort of exempting them.

― Eric H., Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:09 (seventeen years ago) link

I felt like it took too negative a view of the porn world.

Is such a thing possible? Some nasty shit has gone on there...

Maybe I should re-watch it, but I remember it as a slice of porn world. I didn't find any real message in the film. It was just a depiction of what it was like back then. I always like to think of the porn world as extremely hard, *unless* you can shrug off all the nasty bits (literally and figuratively speaking).

― nathalie, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:17 (seventeen years ago) link

It's Punch Drunk Love's achievement of sorts to indulge the most irritating actors in contemporary cinema.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:17 (seventeen years ago) link

I really enjoyed PDL. Eh, that and Hard Eight. Sheesh, should I call myself an Anderson fan? Ek, no. Magnolia just spoiled it for me.

― nathalie, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:19 (seventeen years ago) link

i think anderson may be a bit too protective of his characters. he always takes their side!

ryan on Friday, March 23, 2007 11:05 PM (Yesterday)

You're kidding, right? PT Anderson isn't quite the sadist that, say, Lars von Trier is, but the guy punishes his characters to an uncalled-for degree. Actually I think Anderson is worse because he acts like he cares about them so much--like a wife beater. "No one could ever love you the way I do." Smack, smack, smack!

I'm going to assume you're being sarcastic because that's a crazy thing to say.

― lindseykai, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link

uh... i'm going to assume you're joking about comparing a director to a wife beater.

― kenan, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I wasn't speaking literally. I don't think Fiona Apple or Maya Rudolph would put up with such behavior.

― lindseykai, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:50 (seventeen years ago) link

possibly my favourite american film of the 90's. just fantastic.
where's the best, cheapest place to get the (still ludicrously unavailabele in the UK) Region 1 comic-book cover edition?

― pisces, Saturday, 24 March 2007 19:10 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish all of Magnolia was just like the first 5 minutes, with footage of bizarro anomalies. They could still cut in the bits of Tom Cruise's seminar, which was fucking hilarious. They could also include the scene of Wllm. H. Macy in the bar while "the Logical Song" plays. Those are the only parts of the movie I remember clearly...the rest just felt like PSH sitting and pouting at Julianne Moore.

― Abbott, Saturday, 24 March 2007 21:19 (seventeen years ago) link

RESPECT THE COCK

― latebloomer, Saturday, 24 March 2007 21:29 (seventeen years ago) link

i think some rapper sampled that and Cruise sued the pants off of 'em

― latebloomer, Saturday, 24 March 2007 21:44 (seventeen years ago) link

It's not even his movie!

I think he should incorporate taming the cunt into his scino screels.

― Abbott, Saturday, 24 March 2007 21:51 (seventeen years ago) link

― Eric H., Saturday, 24 March 2007 22:41 (seventeen years ago) link

where's the best, cheapest place to get the (still ludicrously unavailabele in the UK) Region 1 comic-book cover edition?

it was going for $10 in virgin in new york when i was there in january, and i really regret not picking it up when i was there thanks to this thread (i dithered, fatally). check amazon.co.uk's used sales, it should be pretty cheap there.

― stevie, Sunday, 25 March 2007 09:28 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

this movie's about as deep as 'pulp fiction' which isn't to say it's bad (it's extremely entertaining) but its overtures at depth are just window dressing.

I just watched this again and this is OTM - its a very empty movie. real heavy reliance on the soundtrack to carry a lot of the weight, lots of imitative gestures that are nicely done but don't add up to much. Is there a single line of dialogue in this movie that doesn't paint the speaker in unflattering light? PTA seems to really despise all the characters.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 9 April 2007 01:56 (seventeen years ago) link

seven months pass...

this film is golden.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link

I hope you're talking about There Will Be Blood.

― Eric H., Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:05 (sixteen years ago) link

giving it some ten-years-on love.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link

it is very good

― Just got offed, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:28 (sixteen years ago) link

i'm going to re-screen 'magnolia'.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:30 (sixteen years ago) link

not yet seen that one, may have a look to see if it's lying around

― Just got offed, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Heather Graham is some kind of genius.

― wanko ergo sum, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:40 (sixteen years ago) link

real heavy reliance on the soundtrack to carry a lot of the weight

i had this problem with 'singin in the rain'.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:50 (sixteen years ago) link

Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore have gone on to give better performances.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:55 (sixteen years ago) link

Julianne Moore gave better performances before Nights imo, her big scene in Short Cuts for one.

― Eric H., Wednesday, 5 December 2007 17:56 (sixteen years ago) link

i don't think either of those assertions change the fact that they're both rocking the shit in 'boogie nights'.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Indeed. Moore should've won every award in existence for that movie.

― Eric H., Wednesday, 5 December 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Julianne Moore gave better performances before Nights imo

You didn't even mention Safe!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 December 2007 18:05 (sixteen years ago) link

four years pass...

OK, so I saw Boogie Nights last night after someone told me that it's better than There Will Be Blood.

Wowing at the choice of camera shots. What can I say, I love a long tracking shot, Scorcese-ripped or not.
Loved the disco dance sequence, like the whole world is dancing to Mark Wahlberg's tune.
Also loved MW's ever-changing accent. Actually, all the principles were great. Apart from Heather Graham who I feel was found out, although the scene with her in the car near the end making the cheap porn film was really well done in how emaciated and drug-addled she looked.
JM does a really good job of acting like she's on coke.

I need to watch this again, too much awesomeness to get in one viewing. I can see why people upthread said that it was shallow and doesn't bear repeat viewings, but I need to test this out for myself. It might actually be better than TTBB, tho I guess that's the canon view anyway, right?

― get ready for the banter (NotEnough), Wednesday, 29 February 2012 08:43 (twelve years ago) link

two years pass...

oral history
http://grantland.com/features/boogie-nights/

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 05:33 (nine years ago) link

William H. Macy
Little Bill
Paul and I were having lunch, shooting the breeze, this young girl who weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet sat beside us, and she was from the porn industry. And she says to Paul, “Can I ask you a professional question?” He says, sure. She says, “You’ve seen me in these scenes; you’ve seen what I can do. In your professional opinion, should I go legit or should I go anal?”

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 06:00 (nine years ago) link

i like this movie a lot but last time i watched it i kept wished it had just committed to being a comedy and cut out all of the 80s stuff besides singing the transformers song and the firecracker scene.

― slam dunk, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 06:25 (nine years ago) link

and the last scene of course.

― slam dunk, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 06:27 (nine years ago) link

thanks for the link

― Nhex, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 08:28 (nine years ago) link

I really love this movie but I once fell asleep while watching it and had some really fucked up nightmares about it

― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Wednesday, 10 December 2014 13:04 (nine years ago) link

that oral history was a delight.

thanks for posting

― gr8080, Thursday, 11 December 2014 15:37 (nine years ago) link

i read the oral history the other day, and then i stayed up into the wee hours of last night reading this annotated history of mike sager's rolling stone piece on the wonderland murders.

http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-the-porn-star-and-mike-sager/

― Bill Nighy the Science Gighy (get bent), Thursday, 11 December 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link

how could such a massively pretentious film "commit to being a comedy"?

― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 December 2014 21:36 (nine years ago) link

you answered your own question

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 December 2014 21:37 (nine years ago) link

Also: Sydney Pollack was PTA's first choice for Jack Horner. Warren Beatty too (he wanted to play Diggler though).

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 December 2014 21:44 (nine years ago) link

i can totally see pollack in it, not sure beatty, it'd prob change the character somewhat

― johnny crunch, Thursday, 11 December 2014 22:02 (nine years ago) link

lol @ the idea of leo and barrymore as diggler and rollergirl

― gr8080, Thursday, 11 December 2014 22:11 (nine years ago) link

Warren Beatty too (he wanted to play Diggler though).

lol I thought you were joking!

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 11 December 2014 22:13 (nine years ago) link

can see Pollack being good, but Reynolds is more genuinely porn-y

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 11 December 2014 22:14 (nine years ago) link

lol <3

Paul really wanted “Livin’ Thing” as the song at the end of the movie. He was really, really nervous to show the film to Jeff Lynne, but Jeff came down to a screening and Paul was just sort of watching the back of his head while he was watching the movie. Then the film ends and “Livin’ Thing” comes on and Paul just sees both Jeff Lynne’s arms shoot up triumphantly.

― sexxx attic (will), Sunday, 14 December 2014 21:12 (nine years ago) link

Luis Guzmán
Maurice TT Rodriguez
We went to the shoot in a production van. We got out and we walked into the house. They said, “Be very quiet,” and they sent us up to a balcony. “You can watch from here.” There’s a guy and he’s banging this chick. The next thing you know, the guy looks up at the balcony, and he points to me. He yells up, “Hey, I know you!” I go, “That’s fucked up.” Next thing you know, he goes limp.

― 龜, Saturday, 20 December 2014 15:14 (nine years ago) link

one month passes...

Watching for the first time now - what a JAM this movie is, so much more satisfying than "Magnolia"

― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 1 February 2015 17:02 (nine years ago) link

Yes--but I'm going to vote for John C. Reilly's Magnolia performance in a poll I put up earlier today. I think he's just great in that.

Okay, Now You’re Talkin’ Above My Head: the John C. Reilly Poll

― clemenza, Sunday, 1 February 2015 19:20 (nine years ago) link

two years pass...

I hope God forgives Mark Wahlberg for saying that he hopes God forgives him for “Boogie Nights.”
— Glenn Kenny (@Glenn__Kenny) October 24, 2017

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 21:01 (six years ago) link

The devil has all the best poons iirc

― Gary Synaesthesia (darraghmac), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 21:15 (six years ago) link

ha just watching this again. great movie and posters itt saying it is a comedy are otm, it is a hilarious movie

one thing that struck me this time around, i find it hard to believe dirk diggler doesn't do coke until 1980. three years in the biz w/ this crew before he does coke?!!??

― marcos, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:27 (six years ago) link

ha I'd never thought of that but now that you mention it that does seem... odd

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:29 (six years ago) link

also I was wrong here:

But the Scorsese films that PTA copped from for Boogie Nights (primarily Raging Bull and Goodfellas) are not broadly comic in the way Boogie Nights is.

cuz I laughed *a lot* when I recently got to see Goodfellas in a theatre. It's a different kind of funny tho, even if Scorsese and PTA both generally disdain the characters in their respective films (or at least see them as ridiculous)

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:34 (six years ago) link

yea goodfellas is also hilarious

― marcos, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:36 (six years ago) link

also is there an authoritative list somewhere of films that start in a happy and glamorous 1970s that descend into darkness and dread once 1980 hits? (or 60s into 70s...)

― marcos, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:38 (six years ago) link

that's gonna be a long list

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:42 (six years ago) link

feel like the 90s-00s transition would also easily fit that dramatic bill (Dubya and 9/11 were such a grim 1-2 punch) but I can't think of any films that have covered that era

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link

ha I'd never thought of that but now that you mention it that does seem... odd

They really play up his innocence, all things considered. He's just a larky kid from the valley up for a little fun. It's not until things start to go bad that things go off the rails, so to speak.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 19:44 (six years ago) link

Wahlberg has a few notable roles where he plays an innocent and it's always naaaah

― Gary Synaesthesia (darraghmac), Wednesday, 25 October 2017 20:10 (six years ago) link

(xpost) Not nearly as good, and it's a year out of sync, but Star 80 fits the '70s-'80s divide--brutally so. A lot of '60s-'70s examples, probably.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:34 (six years ago) link

I'm curious about that film but it seems like such a grim watch, I haven't been able to bring myself to rent it

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:37 (six years ago) link

Yeah, I can't in any conscience recommend it. I like it more than most people, if "like" is the right word--there's a great roller-disco scene to "Sing Sing Sing," and Hemingway and Roberts are good--but it's nauseating at times.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:45 (six years ago) link

Wahlberg has a few notable roles where he plays an innocent and it's always naaaah

he is fantastic in The Big Hit (and in this)

― shackling the masses with plastic-wrapped snack picks (sic), Thursday, 26 October 2017 03:46 (six years ago) link

Oh I love it I just never buy it

― Gary Synaesthesia (darraghmac), Thursday, 26 October 2017 06:03 (six years ago) link

ten months pass...

I wish the Grantland oral history had more about Moore and Graham, how they felt about making the movie, how they felt about its success. Moore being uncomfortable is alluded to a couple times, it sounds like Graham maybe enjoyed things a bit more, which makes sense.

This PTA interview with a young excited brilliant director with a mouth full of pizza is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jnnJQJF0Q

― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Saturday, 8 September 2018 20:10 (five years ago) link

two years pass...

Obviously he was primarily an important, fearless filmmaker but Robert Downey Sr.'s cameo in Boogie Nights is one of the best and most quotable parts of one of the best and most quotable movies ever made. https://t.co/F7Pepq6GLh
— Nathan Rabin (@nathanrabin) July 7, 2021

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 7 July 2021 20:18 (two years ago) link

When someone says that Boogie Nights is one of the best movies ever made, you look around for a dustbin to drop them in.

― it is to laugh, like so, ha! (Aimless), Wednesday, 7 July 2021 20:25 (two years ago) link

no way you could pick me up

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 7 July 2021 20:35 (two years ago) link

13 inches is alot to get into a dustbin...

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 7 July 2021 23:58 (two years ago) link

but so worth it

― it is to laugh, like so, ha! (Aimless), Thursday, 8 July 2021 00:54 (two years ago) link

Wait that was Robert Downey, Sr.?

― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 July 2021 03:22 (two years ago) link

As the studio owner? Yes!

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 8 July 2021 03:37 (two years ago) link

As many times as I've seen it, had no idea either.

― clemenza, Thursday, 8 July 2021 03:38 (two years ago) link

You may own the tapes, I’ll grant you that…

― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 July 2021 03:45 (two years ago) link

Didn’t remember the music being “Compared to What” either.

― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 July 2021 03:47 (two years ago) link

Nerd that he is, in the end credits PTA gave Downey the "(a prince)" title Downey gave himself in Putney Swipe.

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 8 July 2021 04:03 (two years ago) link

I love this movie, need to watch it again. It has so many good little bits. His most fun movie? (I still haven't watched Inherent Vice, I need to, so I don't know if it's more fun.)

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 8 July 2021 04:09 (two years ago) link

A former manager of mine quoted the MP/YP line to death when telling someone in our group not to work hard on the problems of others so it lost a little luster. Still great in the movie!

― mh, Thursday, 8 July 2021 04:31 (two years ago) link

Inherent Vice is more abstract imo and not as directly fun. Boogie Nights hints at having madcap moments, with the actors playing it straight but the music/direction letting you know it’s goofy

― mh, Thursday, 8 July 2021 04:33 (two years ago) link

Inherent Vice was frustrating because it didn't quite capture the book but was also as close as would be possible to capturing the book

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 8 July 2021 04:50 (two years ago) link

Positive I was watching a TV show the past year where someone used the MP/YP construction, and--in view of whatever show it was--it seemed like a clear reference. (Unless that saying pre-dates Boogie Nights; I'd never heard it.)

― clemenza, Thursday, 8 July 2021 14:27 (two years ago) link

last time I saw this movie it gave me really weird nightmares and I don't know why

― frogbs, Thursday, 8 July 2021 14:35 (two years ago) link

Both BN and IV are pretty cartoony, but imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny, while Boogie Nights tries much, much too hard, but has funny moments, even if it’s too glib about its characters’ suffering, in that very 1990s post-Tarantino way

― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:09 (two years ago) link

otm. yeah when i rewatched BN a few years ago and it felt a lot more broad and sitcom-y than i remembered, constantly telling you that its characters are idiots in a specific way that feels very of its time now. still funny imo.

i completely forgot that the mp/yp construction was in Boogie Nights. ive definitely heard it at various times over the years since and never clocked it as a BN reference. mindblowing if thats actually the coinage.

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:23 (two years ago) link

Boogie Nights has so many characters that are poorly hiding their personal issues and pain, with most of the tragedies played off as comedic as to not turn it into a different movie

That’s probably the through-line in a lot of PTA’s work, whether he’s cloaking tragedy with comedy or presenting genuinely harrowing things punctuated with a series of punchlines

― mh, Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:39 (two years ago) link

I suppose that glibness about tragedy is also just a sign of a filmmaker in their 20s

― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 8 July 2021 15:58 (two years ago) link

It does allow some moments of real pain, particularly for Julianne Moore's character. But some things, like William H. Macy's character, are definitely played more kind of as pathetic punchlines.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:01 (two years ago) link

imo Inherent Vice tries too hard and isn’t very funny

sigh

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:14 (two years ago) link

pretty much all of his films are very funny though

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:16 (two years ago) link

I think PTA absolutely views most of his own films as comedies

― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Thursday, 8 July 2021 16:23 (two years ago) link

The final line of There Will Be Blood makes me crack up every time

― mh, Thursday, 8 July 2021 17:54 (two years ago) link

I can't remember it, but my brain wants to say it's "nobody's perfect!"

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 July 2021 17:56 (two years ago) link

I could’ve sworn it was “ain’t I stinker?”

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 8 July 2021 18:25 (two years ago) link

I thought it was Slim Pickens saying “Yahooo!”
#OneThread

― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 July 2021 18:27 (two years ago) link

“I’M FINISHED!”

― mh, Thursday, 8 July 2021 18:30 (two years ago) link

two years pass...

Our 70mm run of Paul Thomas Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS must end Thursday! Below are 📸 of the actual print you will see!

Don't miss the party of the summer. 🎟️: https://t.co/oXN2lvB3jY pic.twitter.com/xs6VIJ7fUj
— Film at Lincoln Center (@FilmLinc) August 22, 2023

might hit this up, hardly remember the movie

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 18:44 (eight months ago) link

saw it for the first time last year... it absolutely ruled as a big screen experience.

― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 19:36 (eight months ago) link

His name is...Carne Asada.

His partner's name is...Doctor Casino.

Those are great names!

― clemenza, Tuesday, 22 August 2023 19:37 (eight months ago) link

"You know my reputation. 70 millimeters of tough load..."

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 22 August 2023 23:00 (eight months ago) link

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