#3

// June 6th, 2009 // 100 movies

Magnolia

mag

Last years rank: 3

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This is probably the most heart wrenching movie I have ever seen. From start to finish this movie is nothing but pure emotion. It’s quite difficult to explain the premise of this movie so we will just say that it’s about the intertwining of about ten people’s lives. Like I have previously stated, think ‘Crash,’ but better and without the racism. Crash took the formula straight from ‘Magnolia,’ but I guess you could say that ‘Magnolia’ took the formula from an early nineties film called ‘Short Cuts.’ The difference being that both Crash and Magnolia are five times the film Short Cuts could ever hope to be. Anyway, back on topic, this movie is nearly three hours in length but is one of the quickest paced films I have ever seen. It barely feels like an hour and a half because of all the stories and all of the emotion that you will invest into each and every character.

I saw this film for the first time back in 2001 at Stacey’s house. I was sitting in her Moses chair and she was sitting on her bed. When the movie ended I said of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance, “If this guy gets a leading role, I guarantee that he will win best actor in the next five years.” Five years later he did exactly that. I am awesome. This movie contains amazing performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Baker Hall, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and the best performance Tom Cruise has ever delivered. Tom Cruise actually plays a character in this movie instead of just being Tom Cruise. Most people really like this movie until the ending. That seems to be where people start to have a problem, and mainlyl because they don’t understand it. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense on the surface, but if you look a little deeper, it’s there and it’s amazing. This clip is amazing, but I think it is more amazing in context. In context this is one of the most powerful scenes you are ever likely to see. I promise you that. This is toward the end of the film when every single character has absolutely reached their breaking point. The events that are happening in these people’s lives that have lead them here are absolutely insane. Crash even directly borrowed this musical montage method. Oh well. I love both movies. #3. Enjoy.

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