The Magnolia Files

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 5:12 pm

pinback wrote:Let's talk some Magnolia up in this.

Fine. Fine, goddammit.

"Through recent discussions on this BBS, with you in e-mail and real life, recent events taking place within my life and lots of retrospection and reflection regarding the film, I retract my earlier statement that Magnolia was a bit shit."

(However, it is infinitely stronger on a thread-by-thread, scene-by-scene basis than as one three-hour chunk of cinema. The first hour is still much too slow and the geezer's bedridden speech still needs to be deleted.)

don't make me say anymore or I will CUT YOU

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 5:19 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: (However, it is infinitely stronger on a thread-by-thread, scene-by-scene basis than as one three-hour chunk of cinema. The first hour is still much too slow and the geezer's bedridden speech still needs to be deleted.)

All this proves is that a man can gain in wisdom, without particularly gaining in taste.

I don't see how the last hour can have such an earthshattering emotional effect without the first two building it up. And it is a very deliberate, very orchestrated buildup, even in a literal sense. The music itself tells the story, and not just the Mann songs. The score is nothing without the film, and the film is nothing without the score. Pay attention to this on your second viewing. Again, never have so many facets of filmmaking come together so perfectly for so LONG (3:08).

After my third viewing, I vowed to not watch it again for a long time, lest it somehow become too "played", like a song you love, but hear one too many times, and it's been a couple months already, but still I get chills just thinking about it.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 6:00 pm

pinback wrote:All this proves is that a man can gain in wisdom, without particularly gaining in taste.

This is the shit I have to deal with on a daily basis. The jibes. The poorly-veiled insults. The personal attacks. The outrageous accusations.

Enjoy it now, because I will swear to you this: there will come a time when this never happens again. There will be a day, soon, where you rue these summer afternoons spent pulping my person and my persona into a thin paste of unesteem. Oh, how you will rue. You will awaken and rue. You will take your morning shower and rue. You will eat breakfast ruefully.

You subscribe to a particular worldview which states that everyone who doesn't subscribe to your worldview is wrong.

And for that, I pity you, Pinback. I pity you with the last chunks of heart-like substance that tha-thumps away in my empty chest.

Anyway, 'Freddy vs Jason' is playing across the street. See y'all in a bit. If the Dream Warriors for this one are particular vicious, get Zack Parsons to take my place.

Toodles!

Steer Queer · Post by **Steer Queer** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 6:56 pm

pinback wrote:Fuck the beef, goddammit.

I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your mailing list.

Steer Queer!

Violet · Post by **Violet** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:57 pm

I still want to know who killed the guy in the closet.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:06 pm

The Worm, baby.

The Worm.

Violet · Post by **Violet** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:11 pm

What worm?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:16 pm

The "Worm". The little black kid's father.

Violet · Post by **Violet** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:20 am

You've obviously watched that movie way too many times, but thank you for clearing that up for me.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 11:09 am

Three times is way too many? ("Hell yes." - K. Smith)

1. The kid raps about the Worm to Officer Jim after Jim finds the dead guy.

2. The police interview Marcy extensibly about the Worm ("is this the Worm? Is your husband the Worm? Is this the Worm?" etc.)

3. The Worm is seen jaywalking by Officer Jim. He then takes off, gets followed by Officer Jim, and eventually takes a few shots at him.

4. The Worm then shows up one more time, at the place where the black kid is staying, watching What Do Kids Know, and takes thsiout, so it is by far the least fleshed-out of the stories. If I were to try to fill in the missing pieces, I might say that it goes like this:

If you noticed, the black kid is the one who finds Officer Jim's gun. Then, after the Worm picks the kid up, the next time we see the kid is when he finds Julianne Moore all screwed up. But he's alone then. So let's pretend that the Worm took the kid, tried to kidnap/do something else unpleasant with him, and the kid, using Jimmy's gun, foils his evil scheme.

I dunno, though.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 11:16 am

Well now, here you go:

http://www.ptanderson.com/featurefilms/ ... s/worm.htm

Violet · Post by **Violet** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 4:13 pm

Well that clears up a whole lot. I'm not sure if the scene should have been in the movie or not. It makes sense what happened. I just don't think it matters, sadly. I guess I just don't like loose ends. That site answered all my questions about the movie. At least that's something.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 7:05 pm

I am definitely glad that the scene was NOT in the movie. What we DIDN'T need during the "rain" was that kid freaking out and yelling "WTF!?!? WTF DADDY!?!?!?"

I know the movie is not particularly famous for its subtlety, but keeping the Lamplighter scene out at least leaves the movie open to SOME interpretation.

I'd much rather a film show you what it's about than tell you, and the Lamplighter scene is just there to tell you.

Once again, PTA? You are the fucking man, d()()D.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:53 pm

Oh yeah, by the way?

Longest thread ever.

C'mon, folks! Let's talk MAGNOLIA!!!!

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:02 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Parts of Magnolia are better than some parts of Signs. I feel this gives me the moral high ground over Ben because he could not say the same for these two

The scene where Mel Gibson runs around the house attempting to use profanity is better than the "green room" scene in Magnolia.

Then again, I'm a sucker for adults being taught to use profanity by their kids.

"Get out of my house!" - Jodie Foster
"Mom, say fuck." - Jodie Foster's kid
"FUCK!!"
"Mom... 'get the fuck out of my house'"
"Get the ..FUCK out of my house!"

- Panic Room

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Aug 18, 2003 11:36 pm

Now you're just ignoring this thread out of spite, because it's MINE, and it's about MAGNOLIA, and it's the longest thread in the history of this Safeway "Safeway-brand" Bulletin "Board" System.

Well, it ain't going to work. Bump Chudder has nothing on me when it comes to this thread, which I consider "my baby".

NOT WITHOUT MY BABY.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 8:08 am

What the fuck are you babbling about, idiot?

Jethro Q. Walrustitty · Tue Aug 19, 2003 9:48 am

Jonsey: I'd be curious on your take on Freddy vs Jason.

Hopefully it won't take as long as your review of LoEG, which I expect to see on the USA Network playing at 11pm before you finally post a review, somewhere, anywhere.

Panic Room sucked vast quantities of ass, too. Well, not unwatchable, but definitely a BAD MOVIE. Can't believe that someone shot the president in order to impress that chick.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Aug 19, 2003 10:21 am

Jethro Q. Walrustitty wrote:Jonsey: I'd be curious on your take on Freddy vs Jason.

Gonna see it Thursday. With Fodge. AND WITH ABOUT THIRTY BEERS LOL.

Hopefully it won't take as long as your review of LoEG, which I expect to see on the USA Network playing at 11pm before you finally post a review, somewhere, anywhere.

... Again, your shocking, untrue accusations wound me. I thought I wrote about the League of Extraordinary Chuds like in five different places. Mother fuck! Fine. I need to get some content to Mike Sousa (who I have been too embarassed to e-mail back because I am so far behind what I need to send to him) then I will go control-c, control-v the endless amount of pain I gave to LoEC and put it on the main JC page. Happy? You best be.

Panic Room sucked vast quantities of ass, too. Well, not unwatchable, but definitely a BAD MOVIE. Can't believe that someone shot the president in order to impress that chick.

Before I gave HBO the boot like I did your mother last night, Panic Room was one of the movies they were playing constantly. Here are my two takes on it:

1) Forest Whitaker (sp? The Internet is too slow at work presently for me to bother checking how to spell his name) improves any movie he is in. If I ever get married and the best man compiles a video of my life I hope he does quick cuts to Mr Whitaker for no explained reason, other than this one.

2) OK, confession time. The first time I saw Panic Room, I caught it while they were in the actual Panic Room. I eventually saw the entire thing from start to finish, but the first time I saw it, it was during the scene where those two dumbfucks were trying to sledgehammer their way in from below. When they cut to Jodie and her kid I HONESTLY thought that her kid was a boy. You wouldn't come to this conclusion if you saw it from the start, because she looks more like a girl there, but it freaked me the fuck out when, at the end of the movie, it became more obvious what her gender was again.

If you, Jeff, saw the "A Guy Thing" thread, then you will note that I oftentimes take "lessons" from movies, and the content of the film itself is only really tangential to what I take away from it. As someone who has made obvious his love of chicks with short hair, what the fuck does it say about me where I can essentially confuse a "style" that I go for when it can make a girl look completely like... not a girl? Believe me, when I ran the gauntlet of thoughts that went like this:

"Hey, that's not a boy / That's a girl / I didn't know because she had short hair and looked androgynous / Hey I like short hair / Hey I like short hair ON GIRLS / Hey do you? Really? Hey how sure are you? / Hay guys what's going on in this mental breakdown?"

... I was in a "Panic Room" of my very own.

3) OK, I had one more bit: "Panic Room" would have been one of the best text adventures ever, if it was a text game and not a movie. Someone else said this on Usenet, I think, but I agree with it completely.

Edited: because my grammar and ability to form sentences were straight out of some Fark comments when I first wrote this

Jethro Q. Walrustitty · Wed Aug 20, 2003 10:56 am

I have seen a one-liner here and there about your thoughts on LoEG, but never a cohesive bit of prose that ties everything together.
Come, come, elucidate your thoughts.

The kid was pretty freaky in that movie. Let's hope that she grows up ugly. You don't want a really hot chick to start out looking like a boy. But, you can never tell.
Example: Alyssa Milano. I never thought she was cute when she was on "Who's the Boss." Granted, she was a bit young, but old enough to have an idea if she'll be hot on her 17th birthday, if you know what I'm saying. (18th, for those in less progressive states than New York.) But by the time she did "Embrace of the Vampire"? Yowzers. Absolutely incredibly hot.

OK, that wasn't really a good example, as she never really looked like a boy. OK, how about this - the scene in the first Charlie's Angels movie, where the three chicks are dressed up as dudes. Your mind just starts tying itself into a knot. Are they hot? Sure, they're hot chicks normally. But they've got a fake moustache? Well, yeah, but they still have "hot-chick" underneath. But they're dressed like men! ARGHgrgrgrgrggksjgklgshfjg does not compute does not compute

Angrogeny is not really a good thing IMHO.

Panic Room might make a good text adventure just because it's an interesting premise. However, it was very poorly exploited.