response 42 of 229:

Jan 7 22:04 UTC 2000

I saw it at the Henry Ford Museum's new IMAX theater.  My favorite pieces
were 'Firebird' and 'Carnival of the Animals.'

response 44 of 229:

Jan 8 22:59 UTC 2000

Another inconsistency in "Man on the Moon":
 
* George Shapiro takes on Andy Kaufman as a client after seeing a show in
which Kaufman did an impression of "Jimmy Carter, President of the United
States". Shapiro proceeded to book Kaufman on the premiere episode of
"Saturday Night Live", which... anyone? Anyone? It happened one year, to the
month, before Carter was elected President.
 
Just saw "Magnolia" today. I'm sure I'll understand it more and pick up on
more cues if I go see it a second time, but given that, with trailers, we're
talking about 3 1/4 hours at the theater, it may be a little while before I
can devote the time. There's a "musical number" in the middle. At one point,
when all the characters are at or near their respective nadirs, an Aimee Mann
song starts playing on the soundtrack, and we are shown all the major
characters in the ensemble, each of them singing a half-verse or so of the
song. I don't know... I'm still not decided on how I feel about that.
 
On the one hand, if the film can be said to have any unifying themes, one of
them would certainly be the ways in which seemingly unrelated lives have
effects on each other, and the song does neatly encapsulate that. 
 
On the other, it's a definite break in the story-telling, and it draws
conspicuous attention to itself as a film, a fabrication. Artifice at 24
frames a second. (And I wish I had thought of that sentence for any of my film
classes.)
 
But still, I'd much rather have a director try to break conventions even if
they don't work, instead of aiming low and getting it square on.
 
I'm trying like anything to make this a non-spoiler: At several points during
the film, the number of a Bible verse is shown. If you know what that verse
said (which I didn't) you'll probably be able to predict another one of the
film's unifying moments, near the end. Without giving it away, that event is
probably the largest break the film takes from realism. It sort of seemed,
to me anyway, to have undermined the credibility of what had happened up to
that point. 

response 46 of 229:

Jan 9 03:14 UTC 2000

When I went there last week, I was struck by the abbreviations they had to
resort to for theaters which were showing more than one film.
 
"STUART BI MAN"

response 48 of 229:

Jan 9 03:17 UTC 2000

  #46 slipped in..    Yeah, we noticed and commented on the "STUART  BI MAN"
  theater..  We were slightly more puzzled by "JOHN   WORLD"

response 50 of 229:

Jan 9 04:31 UTC 2000

When I came out of the IMAX theater after seeing Fantasia/2000, I noticed a
plate that said 'ANIM8R' on  T-bird.

response 52 of 229:

Jan 9 06:10 UTC 2000

Oddly enough I saw Galaxy Quest tonight at the Quality 16 (or is it a
quality 16?) out jackson road, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

response 54 of 229:

Jan 9 19:46 UTC 2000

  Or, if you're not personally a Trek fan, on how much you hang out with
  people who are..

response 56 of 229:

Jan 10 04:18 UTC 2000

<timidly raises his hand>

response 58 of 229:

Jan 10 04:33 UTC 2000

(I still didn't like Galaxy Quest)

response 60 of 229:

Jan 10 05:35 UTC 2000

actually that quote was attributed to abbie hoffman, and when *he* turned 30,
he changed "over" to "under."

i saw magnolia this weekend as well, and i think it was the most unusual
cenimatic experience i have ever had.  i agree with erik about the song bit
in the middle.  i found that portion of the film really added nothing for me,
and in fact dragged a bit unnecessarily.  the climactic moments referred to
in the biblical reference struck me as exxagerated for dramatic effect, to
the point of hilarity, but plausible as one of many exxagerations in a story
which i referred to as "an anthology of everyday pain and suffering."

i thoroughly enjoyed the film, even though i would have enjoyed it more if
about 20 selected minutes were cut from it.

response 62 of 229:

Jan 10 07:35 UTC 2000

In nearly every review I've seen of "Magnolia", Tom Cruise's character is
referred to as "the Tony Robbins of the male sleazeball set", or something
to that effect. But he's hardly a Tony Robbins character. In fact, if I were
to compare him to a real-life person, it would be Ross "Speed Seduction"
Jeffries. With better fashion sense. I'd be surprised if Jeffries doesn't try
to grab some of the spotlight by threatening legalisms towards P. T. Anderson,
because Mackey has some lines that closely paraphrase Jeffries.

response 64 of 229:

Jan 10 21:06 UTC 2000

Last I heard, it's legally okay satirize public figures.  In any
case, I predict that Cruise will get an Academy Award nomination
for "Magnolia".

Regarding the singing bit -- the director, Paul Thomas Anderson,
also makes music videos. I must say that the film felt like a
music video in many ways. That's not intended as a negative 
comment. I liked the movie quite a bit, as I did Anderson's
other two films, "Hard Eight" and "Boogie Nights". (For someone
who was born in 1970, he gets remarkably good 70's period feel
in "Boogie Nights".)

I found a fan site for Anderson on the web:

        http://www.ptanderson.com

response 66 of 229:

Jan 11 14:04 UTC 2000

i probably will have to see it again to develop a fuller appreciation of the
value of the singing bit, but at 3 hour and 8 or so minutes running time, it
might have to wait a while.