I did enjoy "There Will Be Blood," PT Anderson's latest flick. It's a great American Epic, which might mean REALLY BORING, but isn't. It's about the Oil Racket, and the God Racket and the Oil & God Racket and it taps into America's love affair with it's own bootstrap myths. I loved the score by Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead, (what an unlikely choice), and well, the score serves as an off-kilter but satisfying sonic counterpoint. Daniel Day Lewis is phenomenal, playing the ultimate misanthrope, and if you think about it, that is our heritage and promise, hatred for the earth, for god, for humanity and self too. It's the hatred that unites us and gives us power as a country.
But you know, it's no "Boogie Nights," that great family values extravaganza, also known as the great Dirk Diggler saga, in my book (if I had one), one of the great movies of the last century (it was made in 1997). Somehow the porn business becomes a microcosm of America, and the story has all the quirks and foibles and detours that could come only as a result of using the real-life Johnny Holmes story as a touchstone, which helps drive the plot off a cliff. It's one of those flicks I can see over and over and still get more out of it. Plus the music perfectly captures a time and place. Who knew Marky Mark and Burt Reynolds could act? Of course the schlong at the end was about as real (and scary) and as important and ridiculous as Spielberg's rubber shark, but yes, I guess we really needed to see it. Didn't we?FILM TRIVIA: This is funny, according to IMDB: "After seeing a rough cut of the film, Burt Reynolds regretted making it and fired his agent for recommending the role to him. Reynolds ended up winning a Golden Globe and being nominated for an Academy Award for his performance." Probably Reynolds best role, best performance since "Deliverance" and Reynolds fires his agent. Beautiful. I mean there's "Smokey and the Bandit," 1, 2, 3 and 4...the Reyonlds legend forges on!
