project86

So, I was checking a customer out today at blockbuster, and she brought up this movie. She asked me if it was any good, so I said "I personally loved it, but anyone expecting a popcorn flick is going to be way disappointed. If you appreciate good acting you'll like it", she responds "Yeah, he's a damn good actor, I loved him in Road House."

Zen Peckinpah

Gotta love that scene where Daniel Day-Lewis rips a dude's throat out by the river!

cinemaman

I guess I am in the minority (as usual) in that I hated this movie. This was a 2 1/2 character driven movie without a driven character! no villian. no hero. no action. no drama. no suspense. no humor. no plot. after 2.5 hours of hearing Day-Lewis mumble and grumble, I still had no insight into his character. The preacher was a caricature. And the ending was a combination of the three stooges and a splatter film.

I like thoughtful and challenging films, so this isn't just coming from someone who like to check their brains at the door when he sees films. I have citizen kane, 7th seal, and La Strada in my DVD collection. But I found this a borefest without merit.

FinkPish

You didn't feel Plainview was a driven character? You didn't have any insight into his character after all that? If that is true, you seem to have missed something rather massive.

PopcornTreeCt

Capitalism was the hero. Religion was the villain.

See how it relates to foreign policy.

Dr Mabuse

makes you want to laugh and vomit at the same time...

RockStrongo

I disagree slightly (maybe its perception).

"Capitalism was a villain. Religion was a villain. In the end, Capitalism wins"

naitram

I just watched this and I agree with the previous post - there is no hero. In order to have a hero you must have some redemption, of which there is none of in the film.

Actually there is one scene of redemption:


Either way I thought there were some great scenes and definitely some study material, but overall it has problems that come from a deliberate stylistic choice and just wouldn't necessarily be my choices. The music was used as a unifying technique, and some of it was brilliant, but some of it was over the top and I think it really played a part in never letting me forget I was watching a movie. I felt as a viewer I was always kept at a distance, and both the cinematography and music played a part in that, but ultimately this was just a series of many vignettes that are held together through an endless chain of conflicts without resolution.

Dripping with tension - yes. An enjoyable experience for the film viewer - not especially. I don't mind the fractured-script style that seems to be so in vogue now, but the lack of true resolution or redemption isn't something I enjoy visiting often. Granted there's more of it than in NCFOM, and I could also see the parallels to Citizen Kane someone else mentioned in here, but overall I'd give it a "B".

And the Blu-ray disc looks very nice, BTW.

lawyer goodwill

Just watched the movie, and I enjoyed it. I certainly was hooked throughout, but this is the kind of film I have little to no desire to revisit. (Most of PTA's movies are like that for me).

In regards to the music, I loved it - it just didn't seem to fit the context of the film. It's a situation where I would love to own the soundtrack to listen to on the road, but it kept me at a distance like naitram said, and it often reminded me I was watching a movie. Neat music, but not a good fit for me.

chris_sc77

Tanantino reviews There will BE Blood:


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http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/08/27/...will-be-blood/

AnonomusBob15

he calls him Longview. Haha

Deaddan26

It's on right now on cable.

PopcornTreeCt

I enjoyed that video quite a bit. Didn't realize QT and PTA were best buds. It's interesting he said that TWBB motivated him to do better with Inglourious Basterds. Because I felt like IB was his most mature work and I thought it was quite a change of pace and him "upping his game" so to speak. The same way I felt about PTA when watching TWBB.

As for There Will Be Blood, I caught it on HBO and couldn't stop watching it. I believe it still holds up and I think it will for years to come. It is such a great movie.

TimeandTide

Finally got around to watching it (had been on my DVR for two months) and LOVED it. As a single father of a young boy, a couple of the scenes with Plainview and his son moved me almost to tears. And while I didn't care for the sometimes-disjointed narrative, I absolutely loved the performances (Lewis OWNED that role) and cinematography. Can't believe I didn't catch this during its theatrical run.

TheDude

TWBB is a masterpiece, but one that is tough to watch. Daniel Plainview (DD Lewis) is one of the most evil characters to ever grace the silver screen. He is purely reprehensible & opportunistic. The one time you saw a sliver of humanity in the character was when he "adopted" H.W. as his actual son (after the baby's real father died); and, even when he was using his "son" to further his career as an oil man, you could tell he actually cared for him - even after he became deaf after the accident.

The scene that really appalled me

To me, this rejection of the son was even tougher to watch than what he did at the very end with the bowling pin.. .

Why So Blu?

Was prepping to watch some Licorice Pizza with this. Still a masterpiece all of these years later. It was fun reading some of posts from some members back when this first came out in theaters.

OldBoy

I gotta see this again, but haven’t been in mood for serious movies, but only saw once and made such indelible impression.
Really no comparison to LP. LP was light and fluffy compared to TWBB.

dex14

Yea... this may not be my favorite of his work, but I think it is very clearly his most masterful and best film.

rocket1312

Seeing that this thread has 600+ posts and Licorice Pizza only has like 12 makes me really, really sad.

Throwing Copper

Just realized Radiohead did the score for this. I think I will pass on watching it for a 6th time knowing that.

Coral

It's Jonny Greenwood - a member of Radiohead.
He also scored PTA's The Master, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza. He also scored two other films this year - Spencer and The Power of the Dog.

JeffTheAlpaca

I have not seen Licorice Pizza but no way it is half as good as There Will Be Blood which was a masterpiece.

rocket1312

Yeah, not my point.

slop101

I was able to see TwbB in the theaters because I was younger and didn't have to worry about covid.
Now, even if there wasn't covid, I have an infant child that takes up way too much time to be able to go to a movie.

Coral

It's a different time now. Not as many are going to the theatres now, so not many here have seen it yet.
I also think people were more interested in seeing awards films back then, and now it's just not as big a deal. Plus I have to believe there are just less people posting overall nowadays.