Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, but flawed
Review: This movie had the potential to be great. However, it had three major flaws working against it.The first, the most obvious, was the length. Now, 3 hours 15 mins isn't necessarily long if it doesn't have to be (look at Peter Jackson's the LOTR trilogy). However, like _Boogie Nights_, there are scenes in this movie that went on too long, and could have been edited to tighten the pacing. The second was the sloppiness in the editing. In paring the film down to 3 hours, one of the storylines were lost... the whole thing about the "prophet" Dixon. I mean, how *did* the body get in the closet, and how did the gun happen to get back to the cop? That's just poor storytelling. The third was the soundtrack. The soundtrack overwhelmed the action at the most annoying times, playing over the dialog such that we actually had to turn on the subtitles (which my husband hates in English-speaking movies) to figure out what was going on! There was soundtrack going on even behind the background music in certain scenes! I kinda liked the scene where all the characters sing along with the background song (my husband hated it). OTOH, the acting was excellent, and the story, showing how an ensemble of characters each deal with the secrets of their past, their loneliness, and the things they truly want, is compelling. My husband thought the thing with the frogs was a little too much "deus ex machina", but I understand why it was there. This film would have earned a couple more stars with some serious editing... if only P.T. Anderson would realize that a director's Vision must not overwhelm the good of the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Religious and deeply moving
Review: I liked Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" when I saw it a few years ago, so I gave "Magnolia" a shot after stumbling over it at the video store. The promise of a three plus hour runtime did not put me off in any significant way: I often enjoy reading very long books or watching lengthy films because I always figure that more time equals more character development and better background. I even violated one of my usual rules--reading a few reviews about a film or book before diving in--and watched "Magnolia" with precious little information about the plot. Even after learning that Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore starred in this film, two actors I usually despise, I STILL decided to give this one a chance. What really suckered me in was the roughly ten minute opening sequence, one of the most original and intriguing opening sequences I have ever seen in a movie, about a murder filled with amazing coincidences hinting at inescapable fate. I logically assumed from this information that "Magnolia" would take as a central theme the power of coincidence and human fate. Well, I wasn't far off because these two ideas inform a significant part of the movie. But there is something else going on here that transcends these ideas and moves Anderson's picture into the realm of the religious. "Magnolia" concerns a day in the life of a host of characters both big and small in modern day Los Angeles. Hollywood bigwig Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) lays dying of cancer in the living room of his house, attended only by a caring male nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and his confused and drug addicted wife (Julianne Moore). Partridge's estranged son, a seedy infomercial misogynist named Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), knows nothing about his father's impending death and probably wouldn't care much if he did. His concern at the present is a taped interview he agreed to do with a nosy reporter, an interview that ominously threatens to lift the carefully crafted veil of secrecy Mackey placed around his personal life and childhood. Having his dirty laundry aired publicly inspires Frank to look deep into his soul and make a painful decision about whether he should reconcile with his past or not. Meanwhile, a show Partridge once produced, called "What Do Kids Know," is airing in another part of town. The long time host of the show, Jimmy Gator, discovers he has an incurable illness. The show must go on, though, so Jimmy walks out on stage to fire questions at the current wunderkind, Stanley Berry. Stanley suffers privately from the attentions of his overbearing father, a guy who pushes his son to succeed on the show at any cost. Related to the television show are Jimmy's wife Rose (Melinda Dillon), his drug addicted daughter Claudia, and former child star Donnie Smith. Smith once appeared on some of Partridge's shows but has since fallen on hard times. His job at an appliance/electronics store has just dropped out from under him and he can't seem to line up a date with the bartender at his favorite pub. Jimmy's daughter Claudia, who hates her father for initially unspecified behavior, meets up with a clumsy yet macho
cop named Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) and begins to tentatively connect with him. I know you can get this cast information from nearly anywhere. I just wanted to see if I could untangle the byzantine structure of this film in the space of two short paragraphs. There are many more characters parading through the scenes of "Magnolia," and Anderson carefully ties them all together without ever bogging down. Obviously, the cast list isn't nearly as important as what these characters do and how the actors portray their deeds. All of the performances in this film are excellent. Tom Cruise steps out on a limb here as the insensate Mackey, a guy who tries to deal with his emotional baggage by dumping on women in his "Seduce and Destroy" infomercials. As good a job as Cruise does here, John C. Reilly steals the show in the role of police officer Jim Kurring. His manic behavior, his eternal patience (see the amusing scene with the lady in the apartment), and his rigid opinions about right and wrong are often hilarious and deeply sad at the same time. Everyone here should pat themselves on the back for a job well done. The first part of the movie defines the various characters and explains their situations. Then comes the emotional roller coaster ride as nearly every person in the movie suffers a humiliating set back of some type. Mackey's lies about his past become known in deeply embarrassing ways. Officer Kurring loses his firearm; a huge humiliation for a cop. Jimmy Gator and Stanley Berry both undergo enormously awkward situations during the filming of the television show (in front of a live audience, no less). Physical and emotional pain comes spilling out from nearly every character about midway through the movie. Then something remarkable happens: the healing begins. The characters "sin" and then atone for their behavior in various ways. I saw someone refer to this movie as a Christian picture, and I think that claim is true to some extent. A frog fall that would make Charles Fort proud might make some viewers doubt the veracity of this claim, but even this odd event towards the end of the film has a scriptural basis. Can Hollywood make a Christian film in these modern times? Apparently. Match the religious themes with a great soundtrack, the performances, and the somber feel of the film and you have the makings for a marvelous three-hour experience. Give "Magnolia" a glance soon.
Rating:
Summary: ". . . . . on the level and part on the square."
Review: Brilliant filmaking! While I hated "Boogie Nights" and practically slept through "Punch Drunk Love", "Magnolia" kept me rapt with attention. There is usually some aspect of every film that leaves me dissapointed (acting, directing, soundtrack, etc.), but "Magnolia" is flawless.
Look for the clues throughout to gain more insight into the occulted meanings ("...on the level and part on the square": see the ring on his finger as he pats him on the shoulder?). For those who know, this needs no further explanation. Fnord!
Rating:
Summary: Am I the only one???
Review: Seriously,this film's viewers are divided into two camps-the first camp finds the movie absolutely brilliant, and the second claims that its too confusing and drawn out. I disagree with both.First of all, this movie had a lot of potential to be brilliant and original, but there's a lot that stopped it, and we'll get to that. Secondly, I don't see what was so confusing or drawn out about the film.Sure the movie was long, but I found it surprisingly engrossing, and even easily entertaining.The movie didn't feel long. I thought everything about the movie worked.The script was fresh, and heartfelt, and really made you listen, and there were some pretty unique approaches to things.The problem with this film was the acting.Some of the performances were flat out incredible.Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reily stole the show completely with genuinely emotional and real yet understated performances.Their performances are truly what save this movie.If only every performance had been on this caliber, I would've given this film 5 stars off the bat. Unfortunately, that is not so.Particularly what ruins this film are two actors, who ironically are the ones getting praised.Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore.Tom starts out strong enough, but as the movie calls for him to be more dramatic, he goes into overwrought territory with very little depth but a whole lot of shaking and screaming that may pass of as genuine emotion for some movie-goers, but does not cut it for me.Another problem, is Julianna Moore. Now, I literally wanted to jump in during the film and smack her across the face.She was playing the young trophy wife of a sick man on his deathbed.She was popping pills, and was feeling a lot of regret for marrying this man at the time for his money.Why did I not feel any of that?All I felt was Julianne Moore, "THE ACTRESS" trying to show off how good she was, walking around screaming and throwing around the f-word more times than does happen on a Jerry Springer show.I'm sorry, but does she think that because she screams and uses dramatic physical gestures that that kind of stuff actually passess for emotion??Also, Melora Walters(as Claudia, a young woman addicted to cocaine), gave a patchy performance.While she was better than Moore, I also got a little annoyed with all her screaming.When will some of these actors learn that you can't just scream in a movie and expect emotion to transcend the screen.I'm sorry, but that kind of cheap approach does not pass as true feelin.The rest of the performances were solid enough, and would've been fine, if there hadn't been such downers from the aformentioned actors. I mean it just pained me to see some actors give heart and soul, whose performances had me admiring their craft every step of the way, while some actors had me wondering how the director stood there and allowed that kind of "acting" to be filmed. That is the main problem with the film.The second problem with the film is that there was too much screaming, too much excessive drama.Paul Thomas Anderson is immensely talented, but he needs to learn about subtlety, and that its not neccesary to have every single moment of the film be a dramatic revelation/realization/confrontation. All in all, I like watching this movie, but I find that it could've reached its potential had it not been so overwrought and overly dramatic, and imbalanced by devastatingly great performnaces, and cringe-worthy bad ones.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Movie... Marginal DVD
Review: You can look at the other 5 star reviews for how good the movie it self is...
...But the dvd itself isn't that great. The New Line Platinum Series edition dvd of this movie offers 2 discs, one of course being the film with choices of 5.1 or 2.0 surround sound, and english subtitles. There are no commentaries from anyone and no foreign langauges.
The second dvd offers movie trailers and tv spots, a documentary on the making of the movie, a few deleted scenes, and the music video that aimee mann did for the movie directed by PTA. First off... the movie trailers and tv spots take up the bulk of the second dvd... Who watches this stuff? Who cares about the comercials that ran for the movie. Most of the ads included are very alike with subtle changes. The documentary on the movie is marginal. I expected interviews with all of the cast, not just Julianne Moore and a couple of others. The deleted scenes are worth seeing, but they feel imcomplete. Finally, the aimee mann video is just the video played on music networks on tv. So in conclusion, buy the movie, but don't expect too much from the extras.
Rating: 
Summary: When Hollywood makes a movie about ... NOTHING !
Review: When you see the casting, you just expect a great movie and I guess the acting is the only thing positive in it.When the movie starts in a really cool and interesting way and when you know that you have 3 hours movie to watch, you just think "What a great moment I am ready to enjoy". The problem is that everything is turning out and you finally get bored after half an hour.The story is about .... Love, Pride, Hope ... and it's completely flat, flat, flat ! It just happens nothing except a frog rain at the end that also means nothing ! It's for sure one of the most boring movies of my life. The one star rate is really for the actors only ! The rest is garbage !
Rating:
Summary: PTA's Best
Review: What a follow up to "Boogie Nights"! Amazing film making. PTA uses his signature stalker sequences, and beautiful crane shots in his third film, and his best, "Magnolia". It's great to see him maturing as a filmmaker, and to also see him still writing about life situations/plots. I love this film so much, and it's on my X-mas list for 2003.
It contains a "refugee" cast from "Boogie Nights". Macey, C. Reilly, Moore, Hoffman, Baker Hall, and Guzman. With a few new faces....Tom Cruise, and "Buck" from "Kill Bill", don't know his real name, just refer to him as "Buck".
This is the true definition of a five star film.
Rating:
Summary: Wise Up
Review: This is one of the greatest movies ever! Paul Thomas Anderson is a rare talent. His 3rd film was in my opinion his best so far. It's not surprising stars like Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore wouldn't hesitate to work in this movie. All of the characters were so well realized, that there wasn't a single storyline that left me bored. It's hard to describe Anderson's genius in words, but all it takes is one look at his work to see it. Look at this, Boogie Nights and Punch Drunk Love in particular for a unique movie making style. I wish he'd churn out movies more frequently; there was a 3 year gap between Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love. My 2 favorite performances were by Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore. They both should have won Oscars for their work. Melora Walters and John C. Reily also stood out greatly for me. The whole part leading up to the "frog scene" with all of the actors singing along to the similarly great and under rated talent, Aimee Mann, just had me mesmerized. "Wise Up"? Indeed I did after seeing this movie.
The DVD is really great too. There is a great movie making diary and some other wonderful features on the 2 disc set. I only wish PT Anderson had done a commentary track, so I could get inside of his head at least a little, and figure out how someone could write and make a movie of this caliber on only their 3rd outting. I guess the same could be said for Sophia Coppola.
Rating:
Summary: History can and will destroy
Review: Magnolia shows how surviving principles, driven by a weak balance of stakeholders and principals, drives people into trapped constructions of live mostly without finding the need or way for what really counts. It's an amazing film when the brain allows a moving step to the next faze of live to be better of as defined by Abraham Maslow 1908-1970 with his Maslow theory.
Rating:
Summary: Simply wonderful
Review: "Magnolia" is what Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" wanted to be. Where Altman's film was disjointed and distant, though, "Magnolia" is coherent and emotionally resonant throughout. I find myself thinking about the film often, and then thinking about it again, hunting for the soundtrack with the amazing Aimee Mann songs ("Save Me" and "Wise Up" are particularly good), and connecting elements of the film as I listen to the music, considering what it means to me, what it might mean to people I know. Watching the "Magnolia Diary" on the DVD reminded me of my own experience in directing and producing a drama in college, with all its humor and difficulty and chaos. To go from that chaos, though, and create such a powerful film from it... it's nothing short of incredible. Despite being more than 3 hours long, "Magnolia" is well worth seeing more than once.
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