MovieChat Forums > Magnolia (2000) Discussion > Ugh worst movie EVER

Ugh worst movie EVER


So overrated. With the use of slow motion and pretensious dialouge.

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And why should the opinion of someone who can't spell pretentious mean anything to us?

It's impossible, but I will do it--The Walk.

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Everybody has opinions. I agree with the original poster. This film SUCKS

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Since you are necessarily implying that the opinions from those who know how to spell pretentious have meaning to you, then allow me to weigh in.

Magnolia is not the worst movie EVER, but it is still a very bad movie that is among the most pretentious and overrated.

The writing in "Magnolia" features banal, obvious, soap-opera style dialogue that produces over-the-top, two-dimensional characters -
(Magnolia: "Dad, you need to be nicer to me."; "I have so much love to give! I just don't know where to put it!"; "The g-damn regret! Oh, and I'll die. Now I'll die, and I'll tell you what... the biggest regret of my life... I let my love go. What did I do? I'm sixty-five years old. And I'm ashamed."; "I'm sick. I have sickness all around me and you f-ing ask me about my life? 'What's wrong?' Have you seen death in your bed? In your house? Where's your f-ing decency?"; "You listen to me now. You're a good person. You're a good and beautiful person and I won't let you walk out on me. And I won't let you say those things - those things about how stupid you are and this and that. I won't stand for that."; "Respect the c-ck! Tame the c-nt!"; "This isn't funny. This isn't cute. See the way we're looked at? Because I'm not a toy. I'm not a doll."...)

The ENTIRE film is written this way. What is quoted above is just a very small sample. And yet the fans of this film seem to actually EMBRACE and encourage this form of awfulness. They can read the above passages and not even chuckle at how bad it is. Their taste is so bad that they might even claim that it contains real emotional insights(!?!). That is just how big a joke the fans of this work are.

You are far better off with Altman's masterpieces, "Nashville" and "Short Cuts" which "Magnolia" ripped off its broad structure from, but whose narratives feature far more sophisticated and realistic dialogue that develops fully realized, nuanced characters that are shaped through their actions, choices and words. Whereas "Magnolia" only offers sophomoric platitudes and preening dialogue you get from a VCR-generation wannabe who can only make films that ape the genuine masters who came before him in a hollow, trite manner.



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Yup, everything you said and couldn't stand the camera work. Way too much zooming in. I use to enjoy this movie when I was younger, like a lot, but now it is just ehh.

#TeamZemo

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Dude I'm REALLY sorry that you're pissed off at Anderson because he's living his dreams and you're not. You really need to grow up and face the fact you're a failure on your own terms. The only people who are this obsessed with celebrities they hate are people that want to be them and can't or are too afraid to. So if you want to be a writer director so bad get over your fear of failure and try it. Otherwise get the chip off your shoulder and realize PT Anderson is living his life on his terms and you're wasting your life complaining about him on IMDB. Even if you think the man is the worst filmmaker on Earth there is no reason to bash him. It's a waste of energy and time to bash ANY filmmaker. There will always be films you don't like, and you just make yourself unhappy by focusing on them. It it isn't Anderson it'll be someone else. We get it you don't like him and you're on a quest to make other people "realize" he sucks. Here's the thing" THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD FILMMAKER. AGAIN: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD FILMMAKER/. There are no bad films, there are no good films, just ones you personally like or don't like. It's a waste of a life trying to convince others you're right about an opinion. I used to try to convince people my opinions were right when I was a teenager, but it's pointless.

It's also a sign of a personality disorder to constantly have to be right about an opinion and not see that others have valid points about there's. That's why I say you seriously need mental help. SEEK IT. I'm not saying this to insult you, I am HONESTLY legitimately concerned about your mental well being. I AM 100% serious

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

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Good analysis.

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Don't think you're better than the op because he/she misspelled a word. Not cool. I loved the film though

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C'mon...there are much worse movies but I agree that this may have been one of the most pretentious films ever.

The acting was good by most but the problem was that PTA (director) apparently just let them go on ad libbing or going too far without ever telling them to stop....AND IT ALL WENT IN THE MOVIE!! Either he was afraid to offend them by stopping them or cutting their stuff down or thought he was catching world class acting on film....there's a reason for editing Paul!!! (although PTA later said he would cut it down drastically & eliminate a story line or two....apparently he came to his senses too late (or was sampling some of the non-prop powder while making it)).

It seemed most of the time the actors were performing some long winded acting school thing and trying to impress everyone (and themselves) with their "range" and great talents, and/or outdo the other actors (which IMO can be an issue when you have so many name actors)....hell, for my money, the loud, angry black woman (w/John C Reilly in apt.) did the best acting job out of everyone in the movie because she seemed REAL and believable....everyone else was acting for acting's sake.

The overreaching also seems to have been a problem with the camera work and effects.....trying to be all artsy & daring but it just called attention to itself in a kind of "look how progressive and high brow we are" manner instead of contrived & overdone which is the way it turned out.

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Maybe it was the dialog, but in most of the scenes I could never get away from being very much aware that these were actors saying their lines.

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[deleted]

You will consider this to be an excellent film if you like drama. Sure, it's not going to appeal to everyone but it's a master class piece of film in regards to acting. It should be required viewing in every drama school.

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