Paul Robinson is the worlds foremost authority on everything from programming loop best practices to obscure b movies. Bravo!

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I should mention that we saw, after concluding Boogie Nights, a movie from 2001 called "The Shaft." It is basically about a killer elevator, and it was one hour and forty-nine minutes long. The Shaft should have been 83 minutes. It felt like four hours and twenty-two minutes. By comparison, Boogie Nights was two hours and thirty-five minutes, and felt like two hours.

What surprised me was that movie was finished Before 9/11 and yet they pretty much got what the reaction from the government would be right; if you watch the reactions from the President on down, and you see how basically the reaction was (1) to cover up things so the public wouldn't know what was going on, and (2) to overreact in the wrong ways.

And it's basically the same way the Bush Jr. Administration has acted from 9/11 through Katrina and the debacle in New Orleans.

pinback wrote:In conclusion, you should see this movie because

Rollergirl has amazing tits!

I will say that I am now done getting all up in the face of people who don't like PTA movies like I do. Hey, you like whatever you like, that's fine. I like these movies a lot, but I can see that it's not everyone's thing.

So, I now pronounce the "Pinback Berates Everyone Into Watching And Liking PTA Movies" era of Jolt Country OVER.

I will be closing several other Jolt Country Eras over the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

Now it's time to SELL JONSEY ON HARD EIGHT!

Here is all I'll say:

1. C'mon, it's just barely over an hour and a half.

2. C'mon, you're SO CLOSE to having seen all PTA movies. Why stop now?

3. C'mon.

Also, in terms of my enjoyment factor, I'd go as follows for now:

1. Boogie Nights
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Punch-Drunk Love
4. Magnolia

PLEASE DON'T HIT ME

The one thing I did not care for in Boogie Nights, and possibly the only thing I did not care for upon retrospect, was the 70s wanking. Two scenes do come to mind.

The first is when we get to see Dirk's room before he is Dirk. I was like, "he's not seriously going to pan the camera three hundred and... ah... yes, yes he is."

And then the extended tour through Dirk's house once he hade made a lot of money. I despise that shit. It's especially irksome because the movie is over two hours in length. And I say that as someone who is one mouse costume away from having created a Chuck E. Cheese in his home.

This is why Punch-Drunk is generally either people's favorite PTA movie or their least favorite. It is the one that doesn't follow the themes of the others, which you've elucidated marvelously for us here.

We watched it over the course of two days. A movie really, really needs to have a good reason to be longer than 90 minutes, as far as I am concerned, and it's nothing against Boogie Nights - hundreds of movies can't justify their extreme length.

I should mention that we saw, after concluding Boogie Nights, a movie from 2001 called "The Shaft." It is basically about a killer elevator, and it was one hour and forty-nine minutes long. The Shaft should have been 83 minutes. It felt like four hours and twenty-two minutes. By comparison, Boogie Nights was two hours and thirty-five minutes, and felt like two hours.

I guess that is a long-winded way of saying that Boogie Nights was not a slog (not by any means) but there's only so much you can do to make your movie fly by. You are probably thinking to yourself, "What an asshole. There's nothing anyone can do about the length of movies, and if you really have a problem with that then movies aren't for you."

But I am only, now and for the next few paragraphs, highlighting the negatives. I enjoyed the movie! It's a perfectly fine movie, very entertaining. I shall comment on some things that I think could be improved.

- There were a few characters that could have been cut. I like movies with William Macy and Don Cheadle in them, but they didn't exactly have a lot to do. Though I did read later that after William Macy blows his head off (spoiler) it sort of signifies things going bad for the characters.

- The doughnut scene was amazing, especially in context. I totally thought he was going to get beat up because of his inter-racial baby, and the director changed things around on me. So that was GOOD. But was there really enough money in a doughnut store safe to make the difference when it came to opening his store?

- I think my main GRIPE with PTA's films is that he will take large amounts of time to depict characters getting their comeuppance from their horrible, horrible actions and decisions, which just brings forth from me a desire to yell at the screen. "You are a cokehead! Yes, you are not going to get custody of your kid!" "You see nothing but the worst in people! Yes, you will be a miserable old oil man!" "You cheated on your husband! Yes, you should be ashamed of yourself when he's on his death bed!"

And this seems to be a theme in his films, and it's beyond me. I don't even think he's moralizing, which a lesser filmmaker would do.

But there are plenty of self-contained little storyettes that work amazingly well in it. "The drug deal scene" at the end was great. PSH breaking down into the "I'm a fucking idiot" bit was powerful. This has to be the best work Burt Reynolds has ever done. And so forth. Oh, and the donut scene was totally kick-ass. Scenes like that make the movie impossible to dislike. If you are scanning this text to see me say, in no uncertain terms, that I enjoyed it, here we go: I enjoyed it. But the depictions of the results of a set of horrible decisions made by people up on the screen is something that PTA isn't going to stop doing, and that stops me from fully enjoying his movies with the same passion that you do.

How's that coming along, then?

In honor of this thread, Boogie Nights is AT OUR HOUSE! I'ma watch it this weekend.

By the way, in honor of this thread, I watched Boogie Nights again this weekend, and I must say that I completely agree with everything I said.

(Except the tracking shot which ends in the swimming pool actually doesn't start in the house, it starts out by the pool and then spins around all over the place, spanning four or five different scenes.)

pinback wrote:There is no movie from the 70's of the same name.

There is a phonorecord* of the same name, not a movie.

"Boogie Nights, for all...
Got to keep on dancing
Keep on Dancing..."

*Federal law defines a sound recording which is "fixed in a tangible medium" as a "phonorecord," which would include records, tapes, player piano rolls and MP3 files.

Paul Robinson - paul@paul-robinson.us - My Blog

ICJ has been sold on Boogie Nights!

Thread over!

Yeah, I am going to watch it this weekend if Dayna has already seen it, and just move it up in Netflix so we can watch it together if she hasn't.

I can't tell. Did I sell ICJ on Boogie Nights?

That's EXACTLY what people say about the bugs that keep coming out of the walls in my closet and playing jazz music on tiny little pianos.



THE
BUT I SEEN EM
AARDVARK

There is no movie from the 70's of the same name.

Is this a remake of the movie from the seventies with the same name?



THE
HEAD SCRATCH
AARDVARK

Hey! I already WROTE a review of this movie in the "PTA Weekend" thread which should have already convinced you, you jew!

My Goddamn Self wrote: Boogie Nights: I saw this movie when it first came out on videotape, and when I still thought that Paul Thomas Anderson was the porn actor "Paul Thomas" trying to branch out into legitimate cinema, and had this reaction: "This is a fucking amazing movie." I've seen it now four or five times, and every time, I have the same reaction. I know Magnolia is 3+ hours and I say it just flies by, but this one's over 2.5 hours, and it WARPS by. There is not a moment in this movie that isn't crackling with energy, and it's an energy so well harnessed that you just have to shake your head in wonderment and say "holy shit". The role all of the main characters should be most fondly remembered for -- Burt Reynolds, Heather Graham, Marky Mark, Nina Hartley... And I will tell you this -- the "long way down" scene at Rahad Jackson's place, with the dude setting off firecrackers in the background, is one of the singularly most tension-filled, brilliantly conceived scenes in movie history. Like you'll always remember where you were when you first heard the Jaws theme, you'll always remember Night Ranger singin' "You're motorin'..." ****1/2