I usually watch the Golden Globe Awards but Sunday Night I decided the sham press confernce would annoy me more than it would entertain me so I chose to go to a showing of There Will Be Blood at Cinema 21 in the Pearl District. For those not in Portland the Pearl District is kind of an upscale self-contained neighborhood with lots of shops and really good restaurants. Parking is often difficult. Cinema 21 is an artsy type theatre that was built three days after Columbus discovered America and still has the original sound system. The snacks are cheap, a large popcorn is only three bucks. A large diet drink is only $1.75.
The movie There Will Be Blood was sort of based on the Upton Sinclar novel, "Oil."
The movie is directed by P.T. Anderson and stars Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Dano and Dillon Freasier with cinematography by Robert Elswit.
The movie tells the story of a poor miner who discovers oil and becomes wealthy. Daniel Plainview is played by Daniel Day Lewis. Planview adopts a son as his own, H.W. played by Dillon Freasier. He also meets a nemsis in the form of a preacher, Paul Sunday, played by Dano.
I didn't react as emotionally as I thought I would to There Will Be Blood. The main emotion I experienced during this movie was anger at Plainview. There were three scenes in the movie where I really wanted to punch the guy out. Without ruining it for those that haven't seen the movie the three scenes involved a train, an explanation of a one character's background, and a bowling alley. No man can be that cruel.
Four Footballs for this movie.
One Football for Daniel Day Lewis, this is an amazing performance and if doesn't win the Oscar I'd be very surprised. Lewis is just an amazing talent.
One Football for Dano. It would be hard for any actor to be in any scene with Lewis but Dano does it so well that you wish the movie had involved more scenes with both of them in it.
One Football for Dillon Freasier. Great child actor. He was the surprise of the movie.
One Football for the Cinematography. Amazing.
One Football for the soundtrack. Very haunting.
Minus one football for not having a strong female character for Dano and Lewis to work off of. The movie was so loosely based on the novel, Oil, that they could have taken an additional leap and added a strong female character maybe played by a Meryl Streep or a Parker Posey.
A total of Four Footballs. Good movie but wait for wide distribution of it and go to a movie with a better sound system than Cinema 21.
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4 comments:
Good movie review, William. I don't know that that's a movie we'll go see, but you told me enough about it without giving the plot away. That's why I don't read most reviews. I'd like to get my own take on what I see first - then compare to someone else's. Your review, however, gave me things to watch for, not the story.
Great movie review - I am planning on going to see it this weekend and then I'll go see a light hearted romantic comedy to restore my faith in the value of movie escapism that I so dearly love! We should definitely meet for coffee once you get the transportation issue. I can so relate to you on so many levels. I too help take care of my mother although I do have it easier in that she is in an assisted living home and seems to enjoy it for the most part. I'm pretty new to the area (moved from Atlanta, GA) a couple of years ago. Just started a new job so I'm adjusting to working. And it is an adjustment for sure. I look forward to reading your entries as you look for ways to live not just exist. - Janet
Hi Mary Z
I don't read most reviews either for the same reason. Plus most of the critics in Portland get stuck in the all indie, all artsy movie all the time mold and they won't give a movie a good review if more than three people attend it.
The one critic that I like is a woman out of Los Angeles that gives mainstream movies as well as artsy/indie movies good reviews. And she will give artsy/indie movies as well as mainstream movies bad reviews.
I'm going to put in a link in my response to Janet to her review of There Will Be Blood. She does a little of what you say and does tell more of the plot than maybe she should but she doesn't ruin the movie.
Hi Janet
Check out this review of There Will Be Blood. It is done by a woman and although we agreed on several points she had a completely different emotional reaction than I did and it may be a gender difference issue. She is a pretty famous radio personality.
She goes into the plot more than I did but it is worth the read. After going to the link scroll down to the entry There Will Be Blood.
http://www.satellitesisters.com/blog/2008_01_06_archive.html
I tried to find a light hearted romantic comedy playing and there really arn't that many out there. I like escapism too. Maybe some new ones will come out tomorrow.
Sometimes I actually think it is more difficult to have an elderly parent in an assisted living center than having them at home because of the worry. How old is your mom?
One of my favorite clients was a scout for the Atlanta Falcons. He loved Arthur Blank and Atlanta both.
What kind of job? Were you out of the work force for a while? I hope everything goes well for you. I am trying to adjust to not working so well.
I'm slowly transitioning to living.
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