There Will Be Blood
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
Fantastic movie. I'm not sure if it deserves to be spoken about in the same breadth as "Citizen Kane" but sheeyit, it was good enough to make me forgive PT Anderson for making "Magnolia." Forget Javier Bardiem...it's all about Daniel Day Lewis for psychopath of the year.
Comments
but about 10 reviews i read all say the movie lacks as a story and that Daniel Day Lewis is better than the movie itself
care to comment?
i am very much looking forward to seeing it regardless
I didn't feel like the film lacked a story at all - parts of it are definitely allegorical, especially the ending, but this wasn't like "I'm Not There" or some shit. That said, the main reason you go see this is for DDL, no question. He's incredible in it.
BTW: I'm surprised you read any negative reviews of this: TWBB scored a 93 on Metacritic. That's higher than any film from 2007 save for Ratatouille. Higher even than "No Country For Old Men."
I will see this.
Are you sure you weren't reading reviews of Gangs of New York by mistake?
paul dano - the kid from girl next door/sopranos/little miss sunshine - holds his own too. which is saying a lot taking DDL's techniques into account. much respect.
from wiki: "Halfway into the 60-day shoot, Anderson replaced the actor playing Eli Sunday. It has been suggested that Day-Lewis' intensity and habit of staying in character on and off the set intimidated the actor and he was replaced by Paul Dano.[7] Both Anderson and Day-Lewis deny this and the director has stated that the original actor was not strong enough."
Dano was very, very good as well and his dynamic (his character's I mean), going up against Plainview is one of the best parts of the filim...and in many ways, is absolutely central to its meanings. I couldn't believe this was the same guy from "Little Miss Sunshine."
While this looks like a return to the "big" filmmaking of his earlier films, I'm hoping it'll still have more of a personal vision than Magnolia, for instance (which felt to me like a perfect example of a film inspired by a lifetime of watching films rather than a film inspired by a lifetime of living).
p.s. I know Radiohead fans have been flipping out about Johnny Greenwood (is that right?) soundtrack. I'm curious how non-fans feel about the music -- does it fit the movie? Although I like Radiohead okay, to me Radiohead + Upton Sinclair does not feel like a perfect fit, so I'm hoping the soundtrack stakes out its own territory and doesn't sound like his work with Radiohead.
I didn't have a problem with the score but it can be jarring. Reminded me a lot of '70s monster or sci-fi flicks...I kept expecting a giant ant to start climbing the oil derrick or a UFO to come crashing into the field.
I haven't seen the film, however, I've heard the soundtrack recently and I liked it. Its kind of interesting to hear the difference between the Bodysong soundtrack he did to this, but I suppose that goes with the difference in content. I liked the Bodysong soundtrack a lot.
PT was at as screening of Punch-Drunk Love back when I saw it in Berkeley, years ago...dude had been spending much of the movie across the street at the bar, so he rolled into the Q&A just a lil' lit. It was pretty fun.
The music is extremely fitting to the film. You wouldn't think it was from the Radiohead guy at all.
I'm keeping my marbles on NCFOM being a better film than TWBB.
The music is appropriately big, but not intrusive IMO.
The kid who played the son was good too.
And Dano sure can screeeeech.
Maybe so but many of Scorsese's films have lacked for story and been more about the characters and the technique of filmmaking and he's made several classic films as a result.
SPOILERISH....
I think what reviewers are really saying is that there's no resolution to the conflict. This can leave you feeling empty at the end but that's precisely the intent of the story. To show that chasing money and power can ultimately leave you alone and hollow.
It's all relative - Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes rely on practically the same subjective methods of tabulation. I think it's safe to say that, when averaging both scores together, you come out with a film that over 90% of critics thinks is kick ass.
Personally, I'd recommend that people should see BOTH films. They actually have a quite a bit in common, not the least of which is a very bleak view on modernity.
For my money There Will Be Blood is the better film.
This is what I don't get... the story couldn't be more resolved. I mean, the message is clear as Frickin' day: BLUNT CAPITALISM VS. FALSE FAITH = CAPITALISM WINNING WITH A HAMMER STROKE TO THE HEAD. No pun intended, but that shit was heavy-handed though I think it intends to be.
I really think people should see both films, period. 2007 has its low points but in the last few weeks, there's been a lot of very compelling films dropping in (that plus talking chipmunks!).
My feel is that people who like either film will really enjoy the other.
I'm still sad that AVP-R is considered so bad it's not even good.
A question for those that saw the movie: was Eli's twin brother, Paul, really his twin? Or was "Paul" Eli's conniving alter ego - the part of his personality that realized he needed Plainview's $ to fund the church? It seems like the latter (nobody at the Sunday dinner table ever mentions "Paul" except Eli after Eli blames him for selling out the family & beats down dad). But then most reviews I read after seeing the movie just say they're twins.
Mao,
I asked the same question of my friends and they all said, "yes, there was a Paul." I thought that shit was very confusing but then again, either way, it kind of works: if Eli has some split personality syndrome, that's interesting and if there are these twins, that's interesting too.
How was the Guggenheim gig, btw?
It seems like the way Plainview baits Eli at the end - saying Paul was the chosen one, not Eli - is even harsher if Paul is Eli's "other personality" - the unsaved one Eli's tried (unsuccessfully, he admits) to suppress. And that seems to be what Plainview is going for at that point before he goes bowling for domes.
The gig was pretty damn cool. Great space, obviously. Lotsa positive feedback. Always nice to hear "Pelon" at the Guggenheim.
Paul C lives! Paul C lives!
this is one of the unresolved "ambiguities" of the film that was clearly intentional on PTA's part, by casting the same actor to play both "twins." either way though - whether twins or alternate egos - it gets across the same point.
"bowling for domes" -
as far as the soundtrack, a lot of my friends are dousing it with wild praises, but i have a suspicion thats just cuz it is so different and unexpected. i'd like to see it again, in part just to get a better grasp on the score.
"I'm your brother, I'm your br...***THUD...THAWCK!***"
the only thing i would have changed was casting paul dano as both Sunday brothers.
i realize the original actor was given his walking papers because he couldnt keep his weight up in front of the camera, but casting paul dano just confused me.
and magnolia is in my top 5 movies ever, so i disagree.
I thought Dano did alright though he wasn't very convincing as a preacher...but maybe that was part of the point.
As for "Magnolia" - it was like a really self-indulgent, inferior flip on "Short Cuts" and can't hold a candle to "Nashville." I mean, I know PT and Altman were buddies and I appreciate any filmmaker who wants to make films in the same tradition (see Sayles) but "Magnolia" pushed it way too far. All said though, I celebrate the rest of Anderson's catalog, including "Hard Eight".