Boogie Nights: Classic or Dud

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

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

Heather Graham is some kind of genius.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Julianne Moore gave better performances before Nights imo

You didn't even mention Safe!

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.

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

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?”

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.

and the last scene of course.

thanks for the link

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

that oral history was a delight.

thanks for posting

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/

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

you answered your own question

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

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

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

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

lol I thought you were joking!

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

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.

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.

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

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

I hope God forgives Mark Wahlberg for saying that he hopes God forgives him for “Boogie Nights.”

— Glenn Kenny (@Glenn__Kenny) October 24, 2017

The devil has all the best poons iirc

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?!!??

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

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)

yea goodfellas is also hilarious

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...)

that's gonna be a long list

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

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.

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

(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.

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

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.

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)

Oh I love it I just never buy it

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

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

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

no way you could pick me up

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