Let’s start with the Frank T J Mackey (Tom Cruise), a super aggressive man in his thirties who runs one of the several courses that are prevalent in the US which have enough and more suckers that pay money for them – I don’t say that, the movies say it. This one is for men who have been dumped by their past relationships and are desperately looking for getting back on track and more importantly desperately seeking confidence to get laid – sooner than later. Frank is the son of Media Magnate, Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) who deserted both son and mother, Lily when Lily was suffering from cancer and Frank had to take care of his mother. Earl is on his death bed thanks to Lung and Brain Cancer. Frank hates the thought of his father who is now married to a super eccentric Linda (Julianne Moore) and is being taken care of by a male nurse, Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Let us now move onto Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall) who has been hosting the oldest quiz show on television, What Kids Know for over 33 years now. The channel and show are owned by Partridge. On the show tonight is Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) a kid facing the highest possible pressure of knowing too much. So he is called a nerd by most of his friends. And his father, Rick (Michael Bowen) cannot take his step of the pedal coz he wants his kid to make as much money as possible – obviously because he doesn’t want to work after that. He desperately needs a class on good parenting. Watching them is Donnie Smith (William H Macy) who was the winner of the same programme a few years back and works for a store that is owned by Solomon Solomon (Alfred Molina). Add to all of these, 3 pivotal characters – Rose Gator (Melinda Dillon), Jimmy’s wife who is blissfully unaware of his promiscuous ways. Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Waters) – coke head, depressive, estranged daughter of Jimmy who doesn’t want to see his face ever. Officer Jim Kurring (John C Reilly) who bumps into Claudia on one of his usual rounds.
Having described the key characters in the movie, now I strongly suggest that you watch it because Magnolia my dear friends is the precursor to the likes of Crash and Babel. Multiple story lines that are inter linked to each other by some weird twist of fate or luck or whatever it is that one wants to call it. But it does make sense. With the exception of the severely over the top scene of raining frogs – yes frogs – at the end, it’s a great movie which is finely woven together with superbly haunting background music and a couple of songs, one of which got an Oscar nomination. I suspect it is the frog sequence and the fact that is 188 minutes long that deprived Magnolia of a nomination for best movie. Yes, Tom Cruise was good but that doesn’t qualify him to be a deserving Oscar nominee for Best Supporting actor – probably the jury was too stunned to find out that Cruise can actually act. Overall, the cast is fairly average. Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction is quite compact and although the movie is long, it moves quite quickly. Worth a dekko. Have some patience to see the movie through though. 7 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi894043161/
Let us now move onto Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall) who has been hosting the oldest quiz show on television, What Kids Know for over 33 years now. The channel and show are owned by Partridge. On the show tonight is Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) a kid facing the highest possible pressure of knowing too much. So he is called a nerd by most of his friends. And his father, Rick (Michael Bowen) cannot take his step of the pedal coz he wants his kid to make as much money as possible – obviously because he doesn’t want to work after that. He desperately needs a class on good parenting. Watching them is Donnie Smith (William H Macy) who was the winner of the same programme a few years back and works for a store that is owned by Solomon Solomon (Alfred Molina). Add to all of these, 3 pivotal characters – Rose Gator (Melinda Dillon), Jimmy’s wife who is blissfully unaware of his promiscuous ways. Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Waters) – coke head, depressive, estranged daughter of Jimmy who doesn’t want to see his face ever. Officer Jim Kurring (John C Reilly) who bumps into Claudia on one of his usual rounds.
Having described the key characters in the movie, now I strongly suggest that you watch it because Magnolia my dear friends is the precursor to the likes of Crash and Babel. Multiple story lines that are inter linked to each other by some weird twist of fate or luck or whatever it is that one wants to call it. But it does make sense. With the exception of the severely over the top scene of raining frogs – yes frogs – at the end, it’s a great movie which is finely woven together with superbly haunting background music and a couple of songs, one of which got an Oscar nomination. I suspect it is the frog sequence and the fact that is 188 minutes long that deprived Magnolia of a nomination for best movie. Yes, Tom Cruise was good but that doesn’t qualify him to be a deserving Oscar nominee for Best Supporting actor – probably the jury was too stunned to find out that Cruise can actually act. Overall, the cast is fairly average. Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction is quite compact and although the movie is long, it moves quite quickly. Worth a dekko. Have some patience to see the movie through though. 7 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi894043161/
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