poll thomas anderson 2

It just occurred to me every one of his movies is about a scam or someone scamming another. I used to think his movies were about how he didn’t have a good relationship with his father but now I see it’s about scams.
Maybe phantom thread will be his last movie; it’s the one that seems most at peace with the scam.

Boogie nights then hard eight.

I didn't know The Phantom Thread was so well received here

And maybe he didn't care to, and he wasn't interested in the darker elements

I think that's it, and a major part of what makes Boogie Nights so great. Star 80, Hardcore, and other films had already gone that route--successfully and unsuccessfully--and at a certain point, that approach is just turgid. Boogie Nights completely turns all of that on its head. Other than the Colonel and Little Bill, no one is punished. I love that about the film; someone else might find it willfully naive and destructive, and that's valid.

Lil Bill's wife and her last dude sure get punished.

Right--and the people at the donut shop, and a few other peripheral characters. I was thinking more of the principals.

I’m not complaining exactly, Boogie Nights is the only structure and style Goodfellas rip-off that works on its own terms more or less.

Just watched Boogie Nights and I sure don’t know what to make of it but the ensemble is great.

Starting to suspect I will vote for The Master

also realized that all of his movies are 'epics' except Punch Drunk Love and Phantom Thread (and Hard Eight yea?)

Voting on the basis of replay value and sentimental feelings here.

Boogie nights has a stellar soundtrack N heather graham and Julianne Moore, two class actresses. Perfectly captures the drug use N dead end of the porn industry and there’s a reason it’s never been bettered today. It was otm

Hard eight is a minor classic and to me that’s better than epics any day - don’t imagine I’ll care to watch magnolia or there will be blood any time
Soon. Inherent vice was amazing but I would rather go back to a classic comfort movie like boogIe,

I’m no movIe critic, diss me as you feel

I don’t see boogie as an epic unless you think long movies are default epic.

it's def an epic, ensemble cast + decade long span + altman-esque mosaic. fwiw i think Nashville is an epic too, and imo Boogie Nights is more similar to Nashville than Goodfellas.

I've seen them all and vote Phantom Thread. maybe just recency bias tho, haven't rewatched any of the other ones in a long time.

boogie nights insistent use of "you got the touch" makes me wonder how high a paul thomas anderson directed Transformers movie would have rated.

https://media.giphy.com/media/fdo9pw26q2euQ/giphy.gif

i guess there's a megatron/starscream dynamic between philip seymour hoffman and joaquin phoenix

also realized that all of his movies are 'epics' except Punch Drunk Love and Phantom Thread (and Hard Eight yea?)

― flappy bird, Tuesday, June 12, 2018 9:46 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and inherent vice

which is what i ended up voting for

all eight of his movies except for half

eh i feel like inherent vice is still an epic despite the story taking place in a relatively short period of time/ sprawling & discursive & ensemble cast

that's how Transformers: The Movie is too.

sprawling & discursive

it's stoned

that exchange sounds like something I'd hear in a Parquet Courts song.

It reminds me of the discussion in the thread for a road movie poll about what constitutes a road mcvie (which I still insist could constitute a particularly epic afternoon stroll through one's neighborhood because it's all about the vibe maaaan).

THE road movie poll, I mean. I assume there was only the one.

Now that I think about it it's the Hoffman/Christopher Evan Welch scene that is most Megatron/Starscream-like.

His last two are his best, easily.

Everything before TWBB seems like bloated student films to me.

Now that I think about it it's the Hoffman/Christopher Evan Welch scene that is most Megatron/Starscream-like.

So Magnolia is one heck of a thing, huh

Gotta rewatch that one soon.

was my favorite movie of all time for a long time

albeit i was a teenager for most of those years

good mourning!

Ok I rewatched Inherent Vice last night for the first time since the theater and it was much more enjoyable when I wasn’t anticipating every next thing from my memory of the book. Noteworthy that even within the more kaleidoscopic plot PTA indulged his interest in doubling his protagonist (Doc doubled by Bigfoot, made explicit in the unison dialogue over the tray of weed at the end).

Some standout points here are Brolin with a mouthful of weed and Joanna Newsom as Sortilege as narrator.

Brolin was perfect in that role. Probably my favorite performance of his.

motto panukeiku!!!

the popsicle 😳

they're frozen bananas

Still...

Finally saw Phantom Thread. Wouldn’t change my vote for BN or TWWB (I can’t remember which I voted for), but very good and definitely in the top half of his filmography. Not much to add to what’s been written on it already, but I did wonder about the meaning behind Alma’s bizarre (and impractical!) method of pouring drinks beyond it being a quirk that Reynolds (apparently) finds charming at first and then later finds annoying (unless that’s all its meant to mean).

She’s idly amusing herself by pouring slowly from great heights. Reynolds finds it obnoxious because he is highly sensitive to sound (and everything else). I think that’s all.

I landed on The Master. Among the reasons: Joaquin Phoenix's face in contorted detail, the hours of word salad, the end, the beginning, the central relationship, the struggle and the fear, "Pig fuck!", Amy Adams.

so anyway thinking abt this I found it mysterious beautiful and hella raw. his other film have been super crafty and all v well laid out from a plot and character development pov. this one was willing to not be all constructed of perfectly interlocking pieces. it felt like a play how there were two miserable dudes yelling at each other and no resolution. also ACTING. I liked their relationship, just two guys who want to have adventures surrounded by a band of joyless pedants. Amy adams being all this is a thing you do for billions of years was such a hilariously wrong reading of psh's seat of the pants bullshiting. it looked amazing I thought, all this clear light. also the spacious 50s vibes when there werent as many people around, America was a small town.

not sure if it was really as good as boogie nights or there will be blood but it was def more mature and operating on a deeper level. and I loved joaquin phoenix riding off on the motorcycle and not coming back

― lag∞n, Monday, October 1, 2012 6:23 AM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hard eight is underrated

that lagoon post is so righteously good

Have long wondered (probably because I saw the films around the same time) if the motorcycle scene in The Master was a homage to Hughes tooling around on one at the beginning of Melvin & Howard?

awesome lagoon post except can someone tell me what he's trying to say about Amy Adams?

yeah I didn't get that either

Think he’s meaning the characters there not trying to say anything about the actors

IV my fave movie of the decade, so that

same, Inherent Vice my just be my favorite film this decade. glad (and unsurprised) it has a following in ILX. most people around me dislike it.