MAGNOLIA
It's kind of strange how
things work. How everything comes together. You may say that it's just
a coincidence, but Magnolia tries to prove that it's more than just
that.
From a very interesting and entertaining opening scene the film
gets your attention and tries it's best to keep it through a variety of
different stories that somehow all come together. Despite it's many
plot holes and gaps it keeps our interest in all of the characters. The
film's biggest flaw is that it is over 3 hours long, it feels more like
4. The action and direction is top notch with some very interesting
technical achievements, the foul language and memorable scenes are the
highlights. Excellent performances by an ensemble cast that include a
Julianne Moore, a very entertaining Tom Cruise, William H. Macy and
John C. Reilly as the leads. The story would be hard for most people to
comprehend, mainly because there are many different stories going on at
once. One follows a past boy genius and his lack of self esteem,
another follows a new boy genius who's father is forcing him to go on
show and get ridiculed by the public. A dying man whose last wish is to
meet his abandoned sex fiend son, while the dying man's young wife
wants the son out of the way so she can collect the inheritance. A game
show hosts life of adultery turned bad on him with his battle with
cancer, whose only reassurance is his reattachment with his drug
abusing daughter. A good natured police officer who sees the good
things in everything ends up having his own problems. I left out what
happens to everyone, and a few other surprises, I don't want to go into
detail too much about the story line, I don't want to give anything
away. As much as I liked this film, it left me with many phrases to say
over again and again, I would not enjoy sitting through it again, it
was a painful experience but at times very entertaining. It seems that
some of the newer films are all following the same sort of form now.
Like American Beauty and Being John Malkovich, Magnolia takes the same
kind of dark humor and problems and makes them humorous with a serious
overtone to them. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, I enjoy it
very much, but it seems that being different was what everyone needed,
now it seems that everyone is being different. This film is very
excellent, it has some excellent scenes as well as some dull ones, I
leave you with one thing to remember, respect the cock!
From a very interesting and entertaining opening scene the film
gets your attention and tries it's best to keep it through a variety of
different stories that somehow all come together. Despite it's many
plot holes and gaps it keeps our interest in all of the characters. The
film's biggest flaw is that it is over 3 hours long, it feels more like
4. The action and direction is top notch with some very interesting
technical achievements, the foul language and memorable scenes are the
highlights. Excellent performances by an ensemble cast that include a
Julianne Moore, a very entertaining Tom Cruise, William H. Macy and
John C. Reilly as the leads. The story would be hard for most people to
comprehend, mainly because there are many different stories going on at
once. One follows a past boy genius and his lack of self esteem,
another follows a new boy genius who's father is forcing him to go on
show and get ridiculed by the public. A dying man whose last wish is to
meet his abandoned sex fiend son, while the dying man's young wife
wants the son out of the way so she can collect the inheritance. A game
show hosts life of adultery turned bad on him with his battle with
cancer, whose only reassurance is his reattachment with his drug
abusing daughter. A good natured police officer who sees the good
things in everything ends up having his own problems. I left out what
happens to everyone, and a few other surprises, I don't want to go into
detail too much about the story line, I don't want to give anything
away. As much as I liked this film, it left me with many phrases to say
over again and again, I would not enjoy sitting through it again, it
was a painful experience but at times very entertaining. It seems that
some of the newer films are all following the same sort of form now.
Like American Beauty and Being John Malkovich, Magnolia takes the same
kind of dark humor and problems and makes them humorous with a serious
overtone to them. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, I enjoy it
very much, but it seems that being different was what everyone needed,
now it seems that everyone is being different. This film is very
excellent, it has some excellent scenes as well as some dull ones, I
leave you with one thing to remember, respect the cock!
