We have a sinner here who wishes for salvation.
Daniel, are you a sinner?
Sunday, July 19, 2009
"Look up into the sky and say it."
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34 comments:
The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that this is THE (American) movie of the decade. Far from perfect, but it reaches so high for what it's going for that it managed to get well beyond the heights of other films. Can't wait to see your end of decade retrospective Nat. I can barely believe we're at the point where you can even do one.
-Val
I completely agree with LaSamuel. This is the defining American film of the decade.
I like this post as well because I think Paul Dano definitely gets lost in the incredibly large shadow cast by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. Both are AMAZING.
It is always a really good feeling to show a movie that you love to somebody else and have them love it -- I got the best reaction on this one. It absolutely blew my friend's mind, which was particularly gratifying because it is my favorite film.
The Best American Movie since The Godfather.
2007 may go down as the best year of the decade thanks to "There Will Be Blood" (and "Into The Wild", "No "Country For Old Men", "Ratatouille", "Zodiac" and "The Lives Of Others"). It's only real competition is 2005, based on "Brokeback Mountain", "Good Night And Good Luck" and a real personal favorite, "The Best Of Youth" (if you haven't seen that six hour Italian masterpiece, seek it out).
This so should have won best picture.
hepwa i'm all about 2001 but 2007 had some goodies yes.
SO GREAT.
P.T. Anderson has so much goodwill in my eyes that he could announce his next directing gig as Mamma Mia 2: The New Batch and I'd still be there on opening day.
mikadzuki LOL. He can direct a mean musical sequence (see Boogie Nights & Punch-Drunk Love) ... I bet he wouldn't make those old ladies run every time they decided to lipsynch.
DDL and Paul Dano were immense in that film.
This movie has a nice art direction and marvelous cinematography. But in it the whole, i didn't really liked it. I thad no sense for me and i thought it was too long to be that boring. Maybe i didnt get it because it was too north american for my taste.
2007 was a GREAT YEAR
It's a great movie, but I agrre with AMPAS: the best American movie of the decade is No Country For Old Men.
PTA is genius, but, you know, there are directors who can go even further. The Coens also made a very important movie that knows what art should say about today America (and the world), and they have the advantage of being much more precise when it comes to filmmaking. PTA just can't reach this level of perfection in screenplay, editing and directing. PTA is ambitious and epic, but doesn"t have the same cinematic control.
There Will Be Blood is one of my all-time favorite films.
Paul Dano and Tommy Lee Jones were both robbed of a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2007.
It's a great film, AND my only problem with it is that they made Paul Dano play both brothers in that film. Even if they were supposed to be twins, they didn't differentiate enough for my taste. I found it confusing and a poor choice for an otherwise perfect film.
I won't call anything the film of decade until the decade is finished.
The more times I see this film, the better it gets. It seems to burrow into my brain every time and stay there for a while. I'm now convinced the Academy made a big mistake by picking No Country For Old Men as Best Picture of that year. There Will Be Blood certainly ends on a more satisfying note than No Country For Old Men.
Of course No Country is not a satisfying movie. It ends with a rugged-face man telling us he sees no future, he has only dreams, and some of them are forgotten. It ends with the victory of chaos, personified by Anton Chigurh, a sign of the apocalypse the made the world becomes what we see in McCarthy's The Road. It's a brutal and pessimist ending to a dry and precise tale of violence. It's the best decision AMPAS took for BP since Unforgiven.
Every frame from that film is beautiful enough to be put up on display
As for the discussion of PTA's magnum opus being THE American film of the decade, I wholeheartedly agree.
But it's only the AMERICAN film of the decade. Y Tu Mama Tambien has been my favorite film of the decade.
I'll have to agree with the majority here. Best film of the decade and one of my favorites of all time. Paul Dano should have been nominated for this, he was incredible in this film.
This movie is awesome and DDL's performance is just out of this world.
I love the actors-with-cats theme on the blog now, Nat, and your kitty is adorable.
And how, again, did Paul Dano not get nominated in supporting actor for this? I still don't think I understand. Did that many voters just not get the film? Clearly, there was some funny business going on with the post-voting disqualification of the score to the film, so who knows why a film this close to perfection wound up being rewarded for one performance only.
Love it. I saw it three times in theaters, and I didn't even use my ever growing stack of free passes from the big-chains pretty consistently screwing with me.
alison thanks! my cat hates being held... notice how he's pushing away from me so the photoshoot was a quickie.
it's not just cats (though it might have been had i found enough photos) so it's actors with animals. I love that Channing Tatum is holding a cock. haha
and George Clooney's pig. Awwww. that was so sad when he died.
LOL. Yeah, I realized after I left the comment that it's different animals. At first glance I saw your cat and Brando's (another cutie).
I guess I'm in the minority here. The movie had great attributes (directing, acting, etc) and I could appreciate it, but best of the decade? Certainly not, in my opinion.I found it long and a bit boring at times.I also couldn't get on board with loving the score, which I know some people feel really strongly about (one way or the other)
"There Will Be Blood" was my favorite film of 2007. I wish it had won best picture over "No Country for Old Men." Hell, I would have even taken "Michael Clayton" over "No Country" there. But still, DDL gave a performance for the ages in that one. Poor Paul Dano tried his hardest to keep up, but what can you do really when you have that as an adversary? Great film.
NO COUNTRY is a great film too. It's comparing apples and oranges here. I actually prefer NO COUNTRY and I'm glad it won.
I actually felt more satisfied with NO COUNTRY, not to say that I didn't love BLOOD. But, again, i didn't like the casting of Dano as the twin brother with no differentiating qualities, and then that last scene in the bowling alley bugged me. It seems part of another picture, like a mobster flick. I much prefer the resolve in the NO COUNTRY ending to the weird ending of BLOOD.
Hello!
In The Montgomery Clift Blog I celebrated First Week Special Montgomery Clift
You're invited!!
well, i prefered the "resolution" to "blood" over the "resolution" to "no country for old men." no one is more right than the other on this. i just think that "there will be blood" was the superior film. going back and forth on it like a yo-yo won't change either group's view.
Nathaniel, it's interesting that you pick 2001. I've been going through my personal list of faves from that year and only see "In The Bedroom" and "Fellowship Of The Ring" as my standouts (though I really liked "Gosford Park" and "A.I."). Do you have a link to your picks of specific years? Keep smiling.
hepwa if you go to the awards index on the big site (just click on the "awards" button to your top left) you can scroll through awards and top tens from other years.
It's the best decision AMPAS took for BP since Unforgiven.
I do not deny that No Country For Old Men is a well-made film. The character of Anton Chigurh will go down as one of the most memorable villains in recent history. I just think that having seen both No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood the same number of times (three), There Will Be Blood worked better for my taste. The movie ends well, whereas No Country For Old Men's ending just sat there. Unresolved. I'm all for fidelity to the source material but that just didn't work for me (which doesn't bode well for The Road). I immediately attached an "overrated" label to No Country For Old Men after watching it initially. I stand by that opinion. I really think Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was a great choice by the AMPAS in 2004, even if it was a choice designed to honor the entire series.
Hedwig! How could I forget (considering I just showed it to my sister and her boyfriend a week ago). Certainly one of the best of 2001. "Wicked Little Town" brings me to tears.
Henry and others...
why quibble when two genuine greats are nominated and one wins? it's so rare. I'm just happy they chose one of them. who cares which. I prefer THERE WILL BE BLOOD but not by a lot and NO COUNTRY is one of the best choices they've made in many years.
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