Lindsay Crouse’s flat acting (and a frankly baffling ending) aside, this is a pretty perfect movie. Mamet’s filmmaking confidence wasn’t quite where it be with something like Homicide, but his script is dynamite and his casting even better. I can’t imagine any actor delivering “out of your motherfucking mind” like Ricky Jay, hitting the “g” as hard as he can. A-
Way better than you remember. A really great twist on the Rocky formula, where the greatest moral victory comes proving yourself not to the world, but to yourself. The final fight is disappointingly shot, though. You’d think a Jiu-Jitsu fanatic like Mamet would shoot it wide, but he succumbed (succame?) to the same “close-ups and quick editing = more emotional” fallacy that most action directors these days do. B+
I always knew this was mostly style over substance, but I think this is the first time I realized just how little substance there is. The entire 70’s portion of the film feels like it’s killing time, with no real direction and no real arcs. PTA sets up each character dazzlingly in the opening tracking shot, but only continues to set them up, again and again, clearly favoring fabulously shot parties over actual incident.
The biggest problem is probably that it focuses on Dirk, a character who’s entire arc consists of buffoon to asshole to buffoon. PTA is clearly far more interested in the filmmaking aspect, so it’s unfortunate that Jack Horner isn’t the main character, even if some of the worst dialogue in the movie (which has more than a couple wince-inducing lines) goes to him. Once the 80’s happen (seriously, it takes over an hour for this 155 minute film to get to it’s second act) it starts to pick up, but the thin sketches that PTA calls character keep us from ever getting too invested. Is it dazzling to look at? Sure. Does it have a couple truly amazing scenes? Undoubtedly. But is that enough to overlook these gaping holes? I say no. B
A brilliant mix of police procedural, conspiracy thriller, and existential crisis. It’s ironic that this was filmed in Baltimore because “That’s what you get for giving a fuck when it wasn’t your turn to give a fuck” not only describes the themes of this film, but most of Mamet’s films. A
A con film walks a tricky balance of deceiving the audience while still giving them enough so the ending will be a satisfying surprise. This film errs on the side of over-sharing, and I spent most of the movie wondering why the protagonist was too dumb to keep up. C+
Probably not the most savage attack on Hollywood, but it’s up there. I have a soft spot for both movies about filmmaking and Mamet dialogue, so this was a real treat. B+
Way better than I originally gave it credit for. Like Inception, there’s a lot to chew but unlike Inception the storytelling flows very smoothly, even though it’s actually convoluted mix of different flashbacks and perspectives. My main gripe is that it’s way more enjoyable as a metaphor than as a straight-forward story. B+
Hopefully by the time we record the Paul Thomas Anderson episode of the podcast I will have all of my many conflicting thoughts on this movie in some kind of sensical order that results in one single opinion. The performances range from great (Cruise) to horrible (Moore, Walters), the storylines range from great (John C. Reilly) to horrible (anything to do with the Whiz Kids, especially the modern-day one), the little directorial flourishes range from great (Wise Up, amphibian rain) to horrible (the obnoxious “Well Now Then” title card that comes after the rain, the dazzling and yet totally pointless prologue), the thematic content ranges from great (anything spelled out in Robards and Reilly’s speeches) to horrible (what the fuck do any of these stories have to do with the concepts of fate vs. coincidence?).
I still really like it (as draining and tiring as it is) and I do think most of the bad choices at least have some good to them (Macy’s storyline has no point, but his performance is incredible) and are the result of trying too hard, instead of not trying hard enough, which I can appreciate. Taken together, this and Boogie Nights feel like a film-lover exorcising a lot of stylistic ticks he picked over decades of watching and loving movies, and if that’s what it takes to make There Will Be Blood, I’m all for it. B+
Martha Marcy Nash and Young 