Rating: 
Summary: Truly memorable
Review: This review is dedicated to all those people who've given this film just the solitary one star (presumably begrudgingly at that), with their whining and moaning about its confusing plotlines and the fact that it's 'too long' (!) Well, America is reputed to be the land of short attention spans...Us five-starries love it! I'm bemused by the fact that people who dislike this film had to wait 3 hours and fifteen minutes to find that out :-)
Rating: 
Summary: What is is With Paul Thomas Anderson and Terrible Films?
Review: Be wary of the praise this film receives. Are people so sick of contrived Hollywood films that they will praise anything that out of the ordinary? This film is out of the ordinary for sure, but it is DRAMA for the sake of DRAMA with NO SUBSTANCE to this film. Take AWAY the PLOT from REQUIEM for a DREAM and make the characters even far more from HELL and you've got Magnolia. The beautiful music, directing, and cinematography do not make up for the lack of ANYTHING WORTHWHILE gained from this film. Anyone that can identify, even remotely with these characters or gain anything out of this overly dramatic 'collage' would probably annoy me as much as this movie. I wanted so much to like this film because of the quality directing, but was led by its FLASHY DRAMA into totally EMPTY STORY. You would have to hallucinate meaning into this movie. I didn't like Hard Eight or any of Paul Thomas Anderson's films very much--with all of the star power and otherwise good directing, why does Paul Thomas Anderson make such terrible movies?
Rating: 
Summary: The past comes back to haunt everyone one day
Review: The film's epigraph--"You may think you're through with the past, but the past ain't through with you"--lets you know everyone in the film will be dealing with all their ghosts, skeletons, and inner demons, and it all happens on one cataclysmic day in southern California. In a large ensemble cast in a multi-layered, multi-plotted story very remniscent to the works of director Robert Altman and P.T. Anderson's own previous work, the message is best summated by the introductory film Anderson uses to begin the story. Before the characters of Magnolia come into play, he begins with another complex, convoluted mini-film, which sets up the premise of all of us being connected and no man being an island unto himself. Anderson tells us it is not mere coincidence, chance, karma, speculation, whatever. It is a real connection which exists between all of us, and how one thing happening to one person will affect and effect a mysterious chain of events and people. Like the petals of the magnolia flower, we dive into the film and begin to unfold the mysteries of how the very different characters of a bumbling but good-willed cop, a volatile drug addict, an ailing game show host, a washed up former child genius, a pressured quiz show champ, a motivational speaker with much to hide, a determined home healthcare nurse, an incoherent dying man, a nervousy trophy wife, and a downpour of apocalyptic rain of frogs are all connected in the span of 24 hours. Aimee Mann, best remembered as the lead singer of 1980s pop group 'Til Tuesday, provides several original songs as well as covers others for the film; she is the voice which haunts the viewer continually during this three hour epic. Her Oscar nominated song, "Save Me", says it all in the title. These people need saving--from themselves, from each other, and most certainly, from the past wrongs they've committed against each other. The Past is a very strong "character" in this film, and is everpresent in the present day these people are trying to get through. This film will leave you exhausted and emotionally drained, yet it would be fair to say that may have been Anderson's goal. If we are forced to come to realize how what we do can continue to affect others we know and others we don't, maybe we'd all be much more careful in how we live. As far as the length of the film, there is no way it could have been any shorter. A film of this complexity demands your time and undivided attention. Disconnect the phone and don't answer the door. Magnolia is worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: garbage.
Review: this movie was garbage. it was boring, too long, unintelligent, pretentious, and had lots and lots of needless swearing and tantrums. there was no subtlety, no real depth or intelligence to this film, and best of all there was a cast sing-along. the plot - what plot? oh yes it was a film about coincidence and redemption that takes place all in one day in the san fernando valley. uh huh. overall, it was a miserable moviegoing experience, which means it should find wide appeal with wannabes, film critics, sensitive people, whacked-out film students, psuedo-intellectuals, emotionally unstable people, and holdovers from last decade's coffeehouse scene. in which case, enjoy, you have found your pied piping prophet
Rating:
Summary: the most beautifully brilliant movie I have ever seen
Review: Magnolia is a wonderfully crafted and executed account of 9 people whose stories and troubles are all strangely connected with eachother's. Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride of love, hate, regret, and anger. Featuring brilliant Oscar-worthy performances from the entire cast (especially Tom Cruise, Melora Walters, John C. Reilly, and Phillip Seymour Hoffan) and crew (especially P. T. Anderson), this is probably the most underated movie of all time. Deeply moving, and highly entertaining, this film is nothing short of genius. If you love movies with excellent ensemble casts, magnificant writing and directing, an incredible ammount of emotion, and don't mind sitting for 3 hours, this picture will blow you away.
Rating:
Summary: Excessively bold film devices detract from experience
Review: It should be admired for being so ambitious so I hate having to constantly be a devil's advocate to the lavish praise being heaped onto the film. Magnolia is what I like to call a conceptual masterpiece, but it is far from being a masterpiece in the narrative sense. I highly admired the film but felt that the stories in the film were there only to serve THE POINT. And the basic structure is too familiar to the one seen in Altman's 'Short Cuts'. P.T. Anderson's use of the musical soundtrack and the way he frames also reminded me alot of Scorsese's work. I like the scene in which all the characters took turns singing the same song. It's a bold scene but it's also very familiar in our media culture that has been saturated with all sorts of post-modernistic tricks. Such cinematic non sequiturs deliberately call attention to themselves that they take away from the visceral power of the film. Sometimes these tricks work, such as in the the final scenes to Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' and Hal Ashby's 'Being There' but it didn't work for me here. And the examination of coincidence vs. divine intervention has been examined previously as well, most notably in Kieslowski's films, and in particular, 'Red'. And the BIG scene at the end is just a more jaw-dropping and head-shaking version of the ones seen in Lars von Trier's 'Breaking the Waves' and Neil Jordan's 'The End of the Affair'. Don't get me wrong because I don't mean to diss P.T. Anderson. I think he will be a great director. I think he has a masterpiece in him. But right now, I think he has yet to find his own vision and compensates for this by borrowing from the masters. Even his first feature, 'Hard Eight' was familiar in a Tarantino sort of way, although it's still my favourite P.T. Anderson film. And I also think he needs to show more restraint. His tendency to try to 'wow' his audience gets him in trouble because it tends to do a disservice to the plot. I admired 'Magnolia's climactic scene but I also felt it was too gimmicky. It reminded me of the firecracker/'Sister Christian' scene in 'Boogie Nights', which was an unbearably tense scene but it called so much attention to itself that it became a distraction.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Film For The Present and The Future
Review: Magnolia which was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a landmark in film. At just over three hours long, this film never tends to get boring or uninteresting. I've heard a lot of people just trash this movie. I also heard that these people have absolutely no idea what the movie is about. It's more than just a movie. It's a concept and it's a way of thinking. I don't think any movie has ever made me think as much as I did abot this one. Full on symbolism, repeating themes, great character developement and wonderful direction, this film is a pure pleasure to watch. The cast is simply incredible. Hoffman, Macy, Moore, Cruise, Reiley all shine, just to name a few. Aimee Mann also puts together one of the best soundtracks for any film to date. If you saw this movie and got nothing out of it, watch it again. And if you haven't seen it yet, don't hesitate. Paul Thomas Anderson is a director with nothing but a bright future ahead of him. 5.1 outta 5. It's that good.
Rating:
Summary: Too Long
Review: I loved P.T, Anderson's other movies, Hard Eight and Boogie Nights, but this movie was just too long, he tried to tell too many stories in one movie, instead of focusing on one or two main characters. Each story does tie in during the course of the movie, but not physically in a scene. So the movie did not flow well, and I found it really dragged on in parts If you liked Anderson's other movie don't assume you will like this one, rent it first and decide for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Good stuff, but it takes too long.
Review: Anderson takes a stab at critics who say this film is too long in this DVD edition. But, really, Paul, they've got a point. Now, I don't want to detract from this film's good points. There are many. The opening sequence is fantastic. It does what opening sequences should - get your complete attention. Tom Cruise, I hate to say, is terrific. So is the rest of the cast, particularly Jason Robards and Phil Hoffman. Speaking of which, Jason Robards' monolgoue near the end of this film is an actor's dream. It's a remarkable piece of writing. However, there comes a point in this film where you start to feel your chair. And that's when you realize : "This is taking too long." This film could have been trimmed by twenty minutes pretty easily, and it would've been just as strong, if not more so. As for the DVD, there's some good extras in here worth enjoying. This is not a bad addition to any film library, and will probably be used to teach film students their craft someday. Worth buying...
Rating:
Summary: This is What American Beauty Tried to Be...
Review: ...but failed...The film succeeds brilliantly...clever, complex, and compelling...something to think about for days after....
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