I think the fact that it is an old and tired theme and something that every person in the film pretty much dealt with cuts to the heart of what the film is about, and the reason for the frogs.

Daaaaaaamn Baumer, you know I think you're awesome but you've got some seriously bipolar opinions on movies. 0 out of 10? It's not even an interesting mess, it's got NOTHING redeeming? I've only seen maybe half a dozen movies in my entire life that I'd give a 0 to. Even 2s are amateurish and laughably bad, but a 0 is just like outrageously, shockingly bad on every level imaginable with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and you honestly think Magnolia didn't? C'mon man, you can get mad from a movie and still be sensible with your review, I was with The Passion. :wink:

Any movie that showed frogs raining in my hometown (Yeah, I live in the vicinity where they shot the movie) gets a good grade in my book.

Youc can't fathom how much I hated this film moviedude. I hated, hated, hated it.

Wow they make movies in LA?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!

HAHA Surprising! And I thought they only did porn in the San Fernando Valley....

Wow I cant believe all the criticism the film gets! I thought it was a master piece. Paul Thomas Anderson's movie deals alot with the relationship around families. He has shown it well enough in Boogie Nights when Dirk Diggler found more comradeship with the people he worked with than with his disfunctional family. In Magnolia, he shows the multiple views from the perspective of a few individuals from all walks of life. They all share the underlying theme of anger, loniness, and sometimes regret as illustrated by the opening theme song "One is the loniest number". Ill probably write a longer review later on since Im at work now but I think almost anyone can relate in one way to some of the characters in the movie

A/A+

My opinions on what makes it a great movie aside, and baumer's critisism aside, the fact that the film is still pretty vital now and can elicit strong emotions says more about its strengths than anything.

Wow. I was extremely impressed with Magnolia. Talk about a nearly flawless and utterly moving experience. Everything works in Magnolia- the story, the cast, and especially the music. I think that the most successful movies are about life and how we as people live it. Magnolia exploited life perfectly. It offered us a story of blooming love and change in life. And it showed us some of the very real problems that plague families across the world - drug addictions, adultery, abuse, and worse. On so many levels this film manages to work by telling an amazing, yet so human and simple, story. The direction is perfect for the film, and P. T. Anderson put out his best script yet. I especially liked the frogs, and, of course, the use of an amazing soundtrack that made this film, in my opinion, damn close to perfect. Very rarely can music and film be combined to give the right mood or feel to a picture. In this case, the mood was right. Everything was. Bravo, to the cast, crew, and creators of Magnolia.

A, one of my top 20 films[/b]

B+

Magnolia is a great movie, though not flawless. First of all, I thought the strongest parts of the film were the people and characters, just the family issues and sorts that they dealt with, the emotions of lonliness and anger that they all felt. As an ensemble piece about a bunch of fucked up people, it worked. However, there are problems in the film. First of all, I know about the exodus thing, but the frogs still seemed dumb to me. I guess I can buy into the theme and belief of something like that line, and I can believe in that line being applyed to the world today with all these characters, but I can't buy into frogs actually falling from the sky. It just seemed out of place and yes dumb, it gave the entire movie a sense of ridiculousness and a sense of being unrealistic. Also, while the opening scenes themselves were executed very well, and while at the time as a stand alone intro it seemed a very entertaining way to kick off the movie, by the end it felt unneeded because really the themes presented there didn't apply much to the rest of the movie at all, from what I saw. True the characters were kind of connected by coincidence, but then again not really, they just all lived in the same world.

Big positives in the movie were the directing, screenplay, and acting, it really was a well made film. PT Anderson proves he is one of the best directors to look out for nowadays, and as for the acting Tom Cruise is the standout with his best performance ever, his character is vicious and sharp, there is no hint of Tom or an actor underneath the monster of Frank McKay. John C. Reilly, PSH, William H. Macy, all are on the ball as always, the entire cast(dunno their names) with one exception are uniformly in their element as well. The one exception is of course Jullianne Moore, who is bloody awful in the part, giving the most overacted performance I've ever seen, it was truly painful to watch this pathetic attempt at acting.

Finally saw it. I was really hoping I'd love the film, and for awhile there, I really thought I might. But ultimately, I think it was less then the sum of it's parts. The ensemble in the film is fantastic, honestly one of the best I've ever seen. Say what you will about P.T. Anderson, but if there's any one thing he's better at then shooting a film confidently, it's his amazing ability to wrangle together these amazing groups of actors and getting each one to shine. However, I was let down by the ending. I'm all about leaving things up for interpretation, but the ending to me was just frustrating. The film didn't have to explain things any more then it did, but if it was going to be that ambiguous it shouldn't have made it seem like it was about to go ahead and show us it's hand. Not to mention after I had spent three hours with this group of characters, the lack of closure with some characters felt borderline sloppy. All said, the film was THIS close to being a masterpiece, but I feel it just came up short. B+

You guys are all on crack.

Magnolia is an extremely well-made movie. The acting is phenomenal, especially Cruise and Moore. Cruise should have won the Oscar for this. It was just a flawless performance from start to finish. Moore was amazing as well and deserved at least a nomination, but she did receive a nomination for another film, so I'll let it slide. The movie was way too long, but it didn't necessarily feel like it was as long as it was (If that makes any sense). The raining frogs was a big WTF moment for me when I saw it, but after reading the basis behind it, it makes sense.

A-

A beautiful journey thru damaged souls and the soundtrack is probably one of my all time favourites. Only Lewis's completely OTT breakdown and the sections where I can't understand a single word Jason Robards is saying stop me from giving an A (Yes I know he's sick but if it actively hurts my ears listening to it so its a minus point)

B+

I just saw it and I must say, this movie is excellent.

A

This is better than TWBB. A

This was one of the first films that I watched where I noticed "great filmmaking." It was the first time I ever noticed really long camera shots, the point of mixing multiple stories together, and the ability to create related but separate stories that are all interesting in different ways. Throw in a damn great cast and the ability to keep you completely entertained without any "action" for three hours, and you've got a masterpiece. I think "There Will Be Blood" is Anderon's best work, but that doesn't take away anything from this.

A

Another over-rated mess from Anderson - - saw it opening night and hated it.

1 out of 5.



(He's still only made one half decent movie - - PDL - -but the guy's got some skills, so maybe one day he'll make a great movie...)

PTA has made a great movie. In fact, he's made three of them. This is one of those three.

As with PTA's There Will Be Blood, I can appreciate the ambition of the film, but ultimately its ambition almost seems to cut the film short for me truly loving it. I guess this means I need to get around to Boggie Nights and Punch-Drunk Love to see if this is just a recurring theme with PTA.

***.5

Boogie Nights IMO is on an entirely different plateau than this and PDL, which are good movies mind you, I just don't love them. There Will Be Blood has really grown in my mind the last week, I think I'd place that as his 2nd best actually. But BN is a beast.

I find it about on par with Boogie Nights, but TWBB blows them both out of the water.