Let's review the Reviewers

[masterofsparks]

"Ironically, Anderson enjoys unearned good will among today’s film nerds. Since the silly Boogie Nights sentimentalized the porn industry with a fake rubber penis, Anderson has been the small white hope for Gen-Xers wishing there was a Griffith, Stroheim, Ford, Wyler, Vidor or Stevens among them. It reveals the naive cynicism that infects today’s movie geeks."

White may be loony, but I agree with him here. I never understood why people are so crazy about PT Anderson. Granted, I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, and I kinda doubt I will. Anderson's already burned me three times - I don't think I'll give him a fourth chance.

[Omar]

"Ironically, Anderson enjoys unearned good will among today’s film nerds. Since the silly Boogie Nights sentimentalized the porn industry with a fake rubber penis, Anderson has been the small white hope for Gen-Xers wishing there was a Griffith, Stroheim, Ford, Wyler, Vidor or Stevens among them. It reveals the naive cynicism that infects today’s movie geeks."

White may be loony, but I agree with him here. I never understood why people are so crazy about PT Anderson. Granted, I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, and I kinda doubt I will. Anderson's already burned me three times - I don't think I'll give him a fourth chance.

I was on the PTA train even before that silly ode to prosthetics!  After renting Hard Eight (or, if you prefer, Sydney) in 1997, I frantically called all of my fellow Gen-X film geeks and informed them that we had finally found our Jean Pierre-Melville!

[masterofsparks]

Yeah, Hard Eight is one movie of his that I've seen that doesn't totally blow. 1 for 4 is decent. Gen-X Leo McCarey?

[Beth]

I love his movies. I haven't seen a bad one yet.

[dave from knoxville]

I love his movies. I haven't seen a bad one yet.

I got your back on this, Beth. I think he's 4 for 4, and I have seen Magnolia 5 times. Never gets old to me.

[Forrest]

First, I'm with Beth and DFK on this. I will gladly pick nits over most films, but most problems I have with this guy's stuff stem form the fact that I didn't write it myself. Even Punch-Drunk Love, his supposed minor work, was compelling enough for me to go to the cineplex three times. And There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece, which will soon be common knowledge (my apologies, DFK, I know Knoxville is a metropolis in its own right.) That's my piece on PTA.

Now, my favorite poorly-written review. This gem is copied and pasted from IMDB, and is clearly written by the most parent's-basement-ridden, soaking-in-his-own-filth art school hack douchebag of all time.

Oh, and for the record, I think The Deer Hunter sucks, save for the Russian Roullette scene.



58 out of 78 people found the following comment useful :-
The BEST Vietnam movie!!!, 3 February 2003
Author: Blacky1389


I notice some people are calling this a bad, or boring, or flawed film. I think the reason behind it is because today we have audiences used to watching MTV. And because of that, they like their movies to feel like it was made by a music video director. Most people don't understand films which spend time to build up characters and rather show you the little details of their lives before they throw you into a battle. The Deer Hunter is great because unlike most war films, it builds up the characters. It makes us understand their daily life. And who they are. So when we see them die and suffer - WE UNDERSTAND THE TRAGEDY! you don't get that with films like PLATOON which throw us into the war without any kind of personal history of these people. This film is great because it has the guts to take nearly 40 minutes to get to the war. Most people don't have the paitence. Thats because most people are used to drive-thrus and music videos and American Idol. They want everything fast. They don't have time to sit and learn and study. They simply want to get to the "exciting parts." The problem is that once you do this, you can't take the subject serious. It then becomes a joke. It then becomes an action film devoid of feeling. The Deer Hunter is a masterpiece because it never holds back.

I give this film a 10 out of 10. I wish I could give it an 11. They simply don't make films like this anymore. I wish Cimino returns to his roots and makes another Deer Hunter.

[masterofsparks]

To be fair, I thought Boogie Nights started out really well. The first hour or so was a five-star movie. However, it all fell apart right around the time of the donut-shop slaughter. It seemed (to me) like he'd dropped all of the pieces he was juggling and struggled unsuccessfully to piece his movie back together at the end.
Magnolia, on the other hand, is one of the few movie where I can recall leaving the theater physically angry, like I wanted to break something. I haven't seen it since (and I don't plan on watching it again), but just recalling the scenes I still remember are making me mad as I type. Ugh.

[Sarah]

Magnolia, on the other hand, is one of the few movie where I can recall leaving the theater physically angry, like I wanted to break something. I haven't seen it since (and I don't plan on watching it again), but just recalling the scenes I still remember are making me mad as I type. Ugh.

That's how The Deer Hunter made me feel.  Also, The Singing Nun (my mother still reminisces about the time she had to walk home from the movies with furious, spluttering eight-year-old).

[buffcoat]

Is he talking about Andy Griffith?  Because I agree he's one of our best.

[Martin]

Armond White sure is a nutcase - often readable and insightful, but just as often frustratingly contrarian - many of his unconventional conclusions range from clever to downright bizarre. He would be a better provocateur if he didn't try so hard. On the other hand, he more or less turned Slate's annual roundtable film discussion into a carwash two years ago, and it is now defunct. That's always something.

[dvdv]

I never understood why people are so crazy about PT Anderson. Granted, I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, and I kinda doubt I will. Anderson's already burned me three times - I don't think I'll give him a fourth chance.

I loved There Will Be Blood as much as I hated Magnolia and Punchdrunk Love (which is to say alot).  Definitely give it a shot. 

[Omar]

Armond White sure is a nutcase - often readable and insightful, but just as often frustratingly contrarian - many of his unconventional conclusions range from clever to downright bizarre. He would be a better provocateur if he didn't try so hard. On the other hand, he more or less turned Slate's annual roundtable film discussion into a carwash two years ago, and it is now defunct. That's always something.

The roundtable rages on. 

My ranking of PTA films, which range from very good to masterwork-ish:

1. Punch-Drunk Love
2. Magnolia
3. Hard Eight
4. Boogie Nights (though it contains some awesome stuff)

[Martin]

Wait, WHUUT? I thought they closed down after last year's "everybody agrees!" yawn fest. Oh well.

And I'm completely on the PTA band wagon. Been since day one. I can't wait to see TWBB.

[Denim Gremlin]

I saw There Will Be Blood last night. It's unbelievably good.

The final scene is one of the most intense things I've seen at the movies in a while. everything people have been saying is true, Daniel Day Lewis has out done himself yet again, the score is incredible, and PFT's cameo is just as out of focus as he described

It's also got some of my new favorite lines from a movie.

[Chris L]

Colin just beat me to the punch. There Will Be Blood is pretty amazing, although I wouldn't call it a masterpiece (I'm the guy who thinks I'm Not There got closer to that mark than any other 2007 film).  There's so much to chew on though.  DDL is simply overwhelming (again); the score, with its isolated bits of Penderecki and Arvo Part, is indeed fantastic; Paul Dano is uniquely great and creepy and might end up being as hard to cast as someone like Brad Dourif.  Where I thought PTA's reach may have occasionally exceeded his grasp were the religious hypocrisy themes and the juxtaposition of these two sexless male charlatans.  In the end, Daniel is so vile it's hard to even empathize with his disgust over the banality of the church.  This is complex stuff though, and I may feel differently after a second viewing.  

The biggest point of contention is surely the ending: the last 25 minutes are such a jarring shift that at first they may seem like a disaster, yet the ending may actually be one of PTA's most successful pastiches yet, as everything in the final scene is like an explosion of uncanny Kubrickian comic loathing, from the setting to DDL's last line to the final music swell.   In fact, as a misantrhopic epic I'd say this film is on pretty equal footing with Barry Lyndon.