over the last couple years, i've watched most of paul ws anderson's movies. i have generally enjoyed everything i've seen, even if some of them max out at "that was kinda fun" in a playful b-movie way. in the lost lands is the first time i've felt like one of his movies was actually as bad as the many detractors say.
this has the energy of an adaptation that simply didn't have the time/budget allowances to realize its source material…
this did not feel as airtight and controlled as parasite did, but i was very entertained nonetheless. for starters, pattinson is great, his voice is really funny. i was happy to see steven yeun show up and toni collette had me cracking up a lot of the time too. everything looks pretty good, this definitely scratched my itch for cool sci-fi designs.
i generally found the story to be engaging even if not all of it landed for me. the…
you could argue that most of the thematic depth of the substance is communicated just from learning about its premise, and you wouldn’t really be wrong. luckily, it never stalls out in the “yeah okay we get it by now” dead zone because, even at a pretty hefty runtime, it keeps consistently one-upping itself with squirm inducing moments and plenty of audacious gross out gags. margaret qualley and demi moore are excellent in their dual roles, demi especially, and the…
a messy, emotional film about how messy and emotional it is to be alive.
magnolia is arguably less focused than many of paul thomas anderson's other films, but that fits with the themes and emotions on display. loss, regret, and coincidence are explored very prominently as most of the huge ensemble of characters have their own stories that sometimes overlap with each other. i find the film is always engaging, even when a scene doesn't seem relevant to anyone else's…
