The Plot: A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
The Pros: There is almost nothing about this film that isn't purely stunning. The cinematography is flawlessly angular and haunting, Johnny Greenwood's soundtrack is avant-garde and beautifully contrasts the images onscreen, and the screenplay builds with steady graduation. Most impressive is the sheer power of Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. Here we see a piece of character work that genuinely seems as though it was summoned from some supernatural force. It is truly one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.
The Cons: The fact that it can't go on forever. Truly. The flaws are so few and far between that they become almost impossible to identify.
The Bottom Line: There Will Be Blood is a true American masterpiece in every sense of the word. It's one of the best films I've ever seen, and I feel confident in saying that Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the world's finest working directors today. He melds his beautiful writing into a visual and auditory thunderstorm, giving the audience so much to chew on that the film takes at least two viewings to truly appreciate.
The Score: 10 / 10
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johnny greenwood of radiohead? i had no idea he was doing soundtracks now. i should keep up.
ReplyDeleteanyway, i can't wait until this comes out on dvd. i (unfortunately) missed it when it was in the theaters.
Yeah, the soundtrack is pretty groundbreaking, especially considering the genre that it was written for.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you still check this blog out! I just saw Shutter, but I'm having a really hard time putting into words how terrible it is.
of course i still read it.
ReplyDeleteit's a well-written, extremely focused blog and therefore too unique to pass up.
give "shutter" a review. i just got done watching the original "funny games" and am cringing at the possibility of seeing its remake.
Yeah, I just don't see the point in Haneke directly remaking a film that HE HIMSELF made! It seems like a gross waste of time.
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