Rating: 
Summary: Ohhhh. These Strange Things Happen All The Time.
Review: Everything in this movie is great, from the dialogue to the awesome soundtrack. The characters in Magnolia are so well written it's like taking a peek into a family's home. The actors really know what they're doing. Jeremy Blackman (Stanley Spector) was my favorite and the rest of the cast were simply terrific. I loved this movie because of the irony and symbolism mostly.I say watch this film for yourself and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Rating:
Summary: greatest film this year
Review: I might have written about this film earlier but I can't remember. So this film is the greatest film this year. The actors each and everyone are incredibly great. (Tom Cruise at his best) I wasn't bored for one minute, so anybody saying this film''s boring, well... I don't want to write it down. The directing is again great. Everythings came out from a new geniuos mind Paul T. Anderson, who will be a legend latter. This film took my breath away from the begining and I still can't breath!
Rating: 
Summary: For those dissatisfied with mainstream filmaking.
Review: After a sprawling opus like "Boogie Nights" one might have though PT Anderson wouldn't immediately set out to top himself. That is not the case with "Magnolia" as Anderson has created a longer, more daring, more complicated, and more cohesive film that rather than sprawling several decades spans just a single day. "Magnolia" is certainly a film that challenges much of the formulaic tendencies of Hollywood, and for that alone is commendable. It is also mostly brilliant. However, I think Anderson's reach sometimes escapes his grasp. At the very least he had created a film great enough for us to endessly debate its merits as art and entertainment. "Magnolia" is the story of about more than ten prominent characters in a single day in the Valley. The three hours of the film are basically an exercise in cross-cutting as the stories gradually begin to interweave into a (mostly) cohesive whole. One has to be paying careful attention for about the first hour or becomming lost in the complexity is quite a realistic option. Overall the ensemble cast reads like a who's who of actors and they all deliver. Special mentions to Julianne Moore and Tom Cruise for particularly outstanding work. On top of the intrguing storyline is Anderson's immense skill as a director. His ability to dazzle us visually while advancing the narrative is quite a feat. I was most impressed by how well he is able to shift from moments frequent of comic bliss to the more intense and grating dramatic sequences. Much of this success was due to his varied and adventerous camerawork. Anderson is a good starting point for gaining of appreciating the director's art, mainly because his style is so extroverted. It is also quite dense. In spite of the three hour running length, he's scrambling to cram themes and recurrent images into every scene. I don't feel "Magnolia" is the utter masterpiece that some are already making it out to be. I was however, compelled enough to watch it three times when it was running in the theaters and have already pre-ordered the DVD which has many promising extras as part of the New-Line Platinum series (see the "Boogie Nights" DVD). Ultimately, "Magnolia" is a film that should appeal to anyone who hopes to be dazzled by the power of cinema. Its also an important look at the tendencies of the newest generation of American film-makers. PT Anderson already provided us with an impressive corpus of work and hopefully many more of his films will grace screens around the world.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-Blowing Film At Its Best
Review: I'm not going to summarize the film. I'm not going to whine about how the end just didn't tie it all in together. I'm not going to complain about the MTV-esque version of "Wise Up" in the middle of the film. I'm going to say that every one of these things made me the movie more amazing for me. I went to go see this on a date. There was my first mistake. All through the movie I was either smiling hopefully, holding back tears, or staring stonefaced at something that hit me in the core. Afterwards, I couldn't manage to talk, make jokes, comment on the cinematography... The whole movie just bunched together at the end, and hit me like an atomic thrust to the heart, made me think about myself and others in a whole new light. It was enlightening and depressing all at the same time, and I'd see it a hundred more times if I had the money to buy that many tickets. I recommend this movie to anyone preoccupied with living, breathing, "sucking the marrow out of life." Although the film concentrates on the lonely, destitute, confused people, it really hits the ones that take love and affection for granted. It really touches those of us who never thought that all we have can be taken away at any second.... With the line of a song, the drop of a frog from the sky...
Rating:
Summary: How beautiful and great a film can be....
Review: I am still amazed. It's more than one month I saw this film and I am still thinking of it. Part of its lyrical context, part of its splendid cast, part of its splendid screenplay... I wish i could give it 10 stars... It's what a call a true movie. People feel, wish , talk... The most eatiful talk is when Julianne Morre is at the chermistry and say some trues about the death... Some trues to never be forgotten...
Rating:
Summary: ANDERSONLICIOUS!
Review: Hey all. Never before has a flower smelled so sweet. Magnolia is Magnolificent! And that's due in no small part to writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. When will people start to recognize that few can put onto celluloid the human drama that PTA spells out for us in such lush tones? And PTA is deft with his ability to use humor that imbues the most pathetic life with the honesty and catharsis it needs to carry on. Also, are there any performers who have the synergy that those in PTA's films do? If you watch Magnolia for no other reason, watch Tom Cruise swagger around in a role you'll be hard pressed to forget. The rest of the cast is incredible too, it's just that Cruise is the presence that adds fuel to this movie's fire. So, if you want honesty, rent Magnolia. If not, then rent Deuce Bigalow.
Rating: 
Summary: LESS THAN ONE STAR, LESS THAN ZERO
Review: This film is a serious, serous mistake. So incompetent is it that it might, in fact, serve as the sublime model for how NOT to make a movie. I'm addled: does its rubbishy nature define the failure of film art in our time, or is it a benchmark of the triteness of our wider cultural and philosophical understanding? Sure, it is a movie full of ideas - all bad. It had everything: good actors in Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, money behind it, a credible distributor. And new ventures, new directors, new writers, need encouragement. But they also need vision. This movie seems to aspire to some Kafkaesque or Beckett-like evaluation of the human condition, and how we miss the bounty. It strives for innovation and irreverence. But in fact it is messy and irrelevant and boasts a pre-pubescent philosophy and performances that should have Cruise et al quequing for welfare. The central premise of the film is stolen from the Fortean Times, a conspiracy-freaked hyper-Enquirer oft reporting deluges of frogs. And such is the third act pay-off, metaphorical of life's ills: it rains frogs. Life is bizarre. I'm sorry: life is what? The avant-garde dallies equally with the daring and the dodgy. This one's the short straw. But Cruise does labor. Boy, does he work hard. The entire movie looks like hard work. But it's also hard to dig a hole which - if it's sited properly - at least has some value. But this isn't just about out-of-control actors. The movie is offensive as well as bad and resonates for all the wrong reasons - not the bad jokes or the witless lines - but for the portrayal of the indignity of death. I would hate anyone facing the dying of the light to encounter this dime-and-cent moralizing. As I left the movie theater I strained to recall what this mess reminded me of. Then I got it. It recalled El Cid, another self-imporant movie that remorselessly excreted the anthropological obvious on we poor paying public. What else to convey about this deadweight? It delivers the worst pop soundtrack ever written, badly and deafeningly mixed, and just plain anachronistic. As a lover of indie cinema I will not sleep tonight. If Anderson and Cruise have a conscience, they'll join me.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent movie
Review: Paul Thomas Anderson does it again. Magnolia is on par with his previous effort "Boogie Nights" another excellent film. I went into the movie theater thinking this movie was going to be okay, but man I was blown away. As you watch this movie it engulfs you in its intricate plot. I never knew what was going to happen next but I wanted to keep watching because the characters were so interesting, especially Tom Cruise's character T.J. Mackey who gives an astounding performance and should have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, not Michael Caine. I saw "Cider House Rules" and Caine was good but he wasn't as good as Cruise. This movie also has other great performances by Julliane Moore, Phillip Baker Hall and many others who were also in "Boogie Nights". This movie is very fast-paced and has a lot of characters. One of the stories revolves around a child genius, one around a dying game show host (the child is on the game show), one around a womanizing self help guru who's motto about women is "search and destroy", and who's father (veteran actor Jason Robards, who he hates) is dying. Another is around Robards' character's wife, Julliane Moore, who married him for money but after being with him for so long realizes that she actually does love him, and one is around a cop who falls for a cocaine addict during a routine disturbance call. I think I covered them all but I'm not sure. This movie is very interesting, but long, so people who don't like long movies might want to think twice before sitting down to watch it. There is also drug abuse, a lot of profanity, and some sexuality, so people easily offended might want to avoid this movie. But for people who liked "Boogie Nights" and who like fast-paced movies, this is for you. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will make you think.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest films in the decade
Review: This film is an absolute masterpiece. Every part of the film is outstanding. I will never understand the acadamy for not nominating this film in every category. It should have won the best directing for sure and the most disappointing thing is that Tom Cruise didn't get the oscar. Ok I'm not saying Michael Caine wasn't good, but there were several greater this year. There could have been 5 actors nominated from only just this film. So the acting was incredible. I can't say even one bad word about this film. The songs were great and in order all the time. The editor was great and the script was really well written. To be short I can say: GREAT, GENIUS, THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The longest three hours ever
Review: After a whizbang opening that really gets your hopes up, Magnolia rapidly becomes unwatchable. You, the viewer, get treated to a 10 minute version of "One is the Lonliest Number" (at earshattering volume), a seemingly endless parade of pathetic, one-dimensional losers who are impossible to care about, an actual music video (! ), two major characters dying of cancer, and finally an EVENT which is supposed to tie everything together in some sort of profound way (it doesn't.) PT Anderson seems like too nice a guy to tell his actors to tone things down. I can't remember the last time I saw so much hammy acting: everybody is crying and screaming and/or cursing all of the time. Anderson is great at moving the camera, and he has a good eye for lighting and composition. He would make a wonderful commercial director. And the special effects during the EVENT are a lot of fun to watch. After watching this film I really appreciated what Robert Altman accomplished with "Short Cuts".
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