Magnolia [1999]

Magnolia, the 1999 drama written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson is a special kind of movie; it's fast, intricate, with many characters and storylines. It's complicated, but if you think about it, it's also fucking brilliant.

Apparently Anderson wrote the script in a 2 weeks vacation spent the William H.Macy's Vermont cabin, and was inspired by Aimee Mann's music. Described as an epic mosaic, the script unleashes a huge amount of consequences and interrelated storylines that I am not even going try to explain.

PTA said the idea developed from Claudia, one of my favorite characters from this movie; her and Jim's storyline was so good, sweet and romantic, but still real and sad. At the beginning you have the urge to characterize her simply as a drugged-out-of-her mind woman, but as time passes and she starts interacting with more people, people who you see in other situations in other parts of the movie, you understand her. Jim was a very good addition and I thought his naive behavior was endearing and surprisingly fitting with Claudia.

One of the film's main attributes are, of course, the characters. Claudia is just the starting point, but I was also impressed by Tom Cruise, who was surprisingly good as a superstar lecturer on how to conquer women- seeing him on that stage, shouting "Tame the cunt" reminded me so much of Eli Sunday, from There will be blood, maybe just because I saw the movie recently, but also because I could easily see the fanaticism, the craziness and devotion both offer to their jobs and beliefs- it was a full throttle performance. Mister Cruise was crazy good and that crying scene just proved me that he is indeed, a great actor, no matter his attitude, appearance or choice of roles. Other standouts include William H.Macy, as the former genius kid who won the TV contest, but now struggles with loneliness, and Jason Robards, as Earl Partridge.


I fell in love with Stanley and his genius storyline (the peeing scene was something else and Luis Guzman is always fun to watch), plus Phillip Seymour Hoffman's presence improved it in many ways, but I honestly didn't see any point on Julianne's character being there- it was pretty useless and the movie would still have been perfectly fine without her. [p.s. She looks so much like my sister, it creeps me out every time I see her on screen- my mind goes directly to R, my older sibling]

From a filmmaking point of view, it was interesting to watch: it had very fast, dynamic shots, and it did remind me of Boogie Nights in some aspects. The music score was very good and I liked the fact that it almost always gave me the impression something big was about to happen- it certainly maintained my attention throughout the movie. Considering Anderson's interest in Aimee Mann, of course the film featured a couple of her songs, one of which is sung by all the characters- something that I found to be particularly weird and a little out of place; what is this? an REM video?

Anyway, that wasn't the most shocking part of the movie; actually nothing was until that moment where [SPOILER ALERT] the frogs started pouring down from the sky- it was a WTF moment and I didn't understand it at the beginning- I honestly had to read IMDb trivia to get it. Apparently PTA was obsessed with a quote from the Bible, Exodus 8:2, which is heavily featured in the movie, in one way or another- it reads: "And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs."

If the first 2/3 of the movie involved a lot of action and intertwined situations, the last part was mostly based on speeches and tying up loose ends. I mostly liked the way PTA provided closure for the people, and the Frankie Mackie- Earl Partridge scene was particularly emotional.

"Magnolia" is not an easy movie to decipher or talk about- it has so many characters, storylines and themes, it touches upon subjects like regret, lost, loneliness, love- it tries too hard in so many directions, and as expected, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But in the end this film is special- I, personally, love movies that stand out, that surprise or shock me, and this succeeded in doing so.

"Magnolia" is a very interesting movie, different from your average drama, that you can't judge or give a final mark after the credits roll- you need to think about it, to process it. If you saw it, let me know what you think about it in the comments; if you didn't, what are you waiting for?

Mission: Impossible 4- Ghost Protocol[2011]

I went into this movie screening expecting a big, action-based movie with great scenes, guns, cars, and the infamous MI song; I wasn't dissapointed. It was a good movie, great for entertaining, lacking in other, more important aspects.

Plot-wise, nothing spectacular. Ethan Hunt must save the world, yet again. Tom Cruise is great in this part and has mastered the look, pose, stare, and manners of the super agent. Because Ethan Hunt is fantastic- never gets seriously injured, always lands on his feet, sexy in any situation, smarter than the 190 IQ guy and, oh, yeah, he can speak Russian.

The most appropriate scene to showcase mister secret agent in all his splendor is the sandstorm scene. Because, honestly, let's face it, NOTHING can stop Ethan Hunt, not even a fucking sandstorm.

The movie follows the classic action storyline: fast, eye-catching opening scene that triggers the biggest problem of the planet (you know, the usual: alien invasion, global distruction, mass massacre etc); for the next 1h and a half, the super guy tries to save it, going through at least 4 or 5 nail bitting sequences; classic example: Brandt(Jeremy Renner) holds THE suitcase out the window, while Hunt tries to convince him not to, whilst Benji (Simon Pegg) counts down the seconds to "death". Of course he didn't throw the suitcase, then the movie wouldn't have had the normal storyline and we can't have that, right?

All is well at the end, as expected, Hunt saves the world and you get your "all the heroes around one table, reflecting on how cool they are and what they will do next".

Character-wise, the shining star for me was Simon Pegg as the funny, quirky, computer-man Benji; in a world of cool stares and exploding machines, he lightened the mood and gave us a few laughs. I loved him! Paula Patton as Jane was nothing out of the ordinary- beautiful girl, did her job, said her lines, looked sexy and that is about it. Now, about Jeremy Renner- he is a little bit of an enigma for me: I can see the potential of a star, of a frontman, but I still don't have that immediate attraction to him- filling up the Jason Bourne part is going to be tough! You're probably expecting me to talk about the villain, but, as some already said, I didn't really consider him to be one- he was just a pawn in Ethan Hunt's plan to rescue everyone. Maybe he should have been portrayed more devilish, with more substance. The actor was fine, the part wasn't.

I have to mention the song, the MI song that kept popping up during the screening- I thought it was great and suitable for those scenes; usually you hear it during the crucial part of the movie, but this time, it was more frequent. The soundtrack was, also, very good!

As a wrap-up, I must say it is a rather good, entertaining movie, perfect for the holidays or going out with friends who you normally wouldn't bring to an indie, foreign or art-type movie. Everyone can enjoy this one!

p.s. I should warn some of you- I got a terrible headache afterwards- maybe it was the high volume in the cinema theatre, maybe it was too visual, but still, it can be tiring to the eyes. Don't sit too close to the screen (I didn't, and still...)!