MAGNOLIA - Review

Wow. So this is day 3 of reviews. It looks like it might be a daily thing, but nothing is set in stone.
Even better, yesterday I had 33 page views, which is better than 17 from day 1.
Small victories, am I right?
You should share this post so more people see it or something. Also, feel free to comment if you have any opinions of your own about the movie. And I do take recommendations on something you want me to review.
Because I'll do it.
Anyway, don't forget to go out and vote today, and I know that the media is shoving this whole voting thing down your throats, but I think it's important to our future, and everyone should have a stake in it. If you don't know who to vote for, then do some research and then go out and vote. I recommend going to this website and completing the quiz to see who your potential candidate is. It's pretty dense, but good.
I'm slowly making adjustments to the layout of the posts. I won't modify old posts, but hopefully the tweaks will work themselves out over the next week or so and I'll get a nice consistency going. I personally like the Memorable Quotes at the end. We'll see how the formatting pans out.
Did you ever wonder why the title, which is already bolded, italicized, and underlined, a different color from the rest of the text? Click on it and you'll be brought straight to an official trailer of the film. If you haven't seen the movie in question, I recommend checking it out.
Enjoy today's review of Magnolia!

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Magnolia

Drama, 1999

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring
Philip Seymour Hoffman
John C. Reilly
Philip Baker Hall
Tom Cruise
Julianne Moore
William H. Macy
Jason Robards
Melora Walters
Jeremy Blackman
Ricky Jay

When I first saw Magnolia back in January of 2010, I honestly didn't think much of it. I remember thinking that it was a pretty cool movie with some really interesting story elements and some great acting. And as time went on, I kept thinking about it. Maybe not right away but Magnolia never really left my head. It burrowed its way deep into my brain and never seemed to go away.
I didn't watch it again until a few months later, and I don't know what it was, but I was completely blown away the second time around. It's the one movie that I always come back to, time and time again. I don't think I've recommended a movie to more people than Magnolia.
The story revolves around a wide range of characters on an ordinary day, and everything is connected. Each character influences another character's story in some way or another. I'm just going to summarize the characters briefly:

• A honest, average joe cop just trying to get by day to day.
• A nurse just trying to help his dying patient connect with his long lost son. 
• A famous television game show host who learns he has only a couple of months to live.
• A misogynistic and very successful motivational speaker who helps men pick up women. 
• A young trophy wife who married a man for his money.
• A lonely former game show winner who had great childhood fame.
• A dying man who wants to connect with his son. 
• A lost and confused cocaine addict. 
• A child prodigy who dominates a game show revolving around intelligent children. 

Now I know that you can determine which stories connect with one another just based on these character descriptions. The special thing about Magnolia is that each of these stories is just as interesting as the next. There is never a dull moment. As the story skips around at an even pace from character to character, the 186 minute (3 hours, 8 minutes) runtime seems to go by much faster than it really does. The stories and characters converge in very unexpected ways, and the finale, although a bit strange and unusual, brings a sense of completion. The acting is simply superb all around, with particularly strong performances by John C. Reilly and Tom Cruise. 

The film boasts a great soundtrack, with some superb songs by Aimee Mann and a score by Jon Brion that really hits the mark. The film is beautifully shot by Robert Elswit, who has done work on the majority of Anderson's films.
Take it from Anderson himself, who once said "I really feel... that Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make."
Magnolia is without a doubt the most beautiful movie I have ever seen.
As I sit here writing this, I find it difficult to express my admiration for this film in words on a page. All I can really say is that you owe it to yourself to see this movie.

Memorable Quote -  Narrator: "There are stories of coincidence and chance, of intersections and strange things told, and which is which and who only knows? And we generally say, "Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn't believe it." Someone's so-and-so met someone else's so-and-so and so on. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that strange things happen all the time. And so it goes, and so it goes. And the book says, "We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.""

The Upside - Literally everything about this movie. Some of the best storytelling ever captured on film.

The Downside - Literally nothing.

Bottom Line - I've already said this a million times - watch this movie. I've watched over 700 movies in the past (almost) 3 years and it remains to date, the single best movie on that list.

Score - 10/10