Boogie Nights
Heard a lot of good about Boogie Nights, but I was underwhelmed. Not only does it feel dated, but it feels more like a 40 year old movie, rather than a nearly 30 year old movie. Can definitely see Paul Thomas Anderson working some things out, and perhaps trying to emulate Tarantino a bit too much here. I really enjoyed Burt Reynolds in this, though, and it was really cool to see a young Don Cheadle, John C Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman and William H Macy have some fun with their parts.
-Z
In an attempt to get more familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson’s work, Z & I started here, and I can’t say I get the hype for this movie. Many of the side characters are interesting and very well-acted, but I wasn’t really drawn in to Mark Wahlberg’s character’s story, which made this pretty difficult to get through. There is a lot of strange editing and scenes that feel very disjointed - I’m sure this is intentional in some way, but it made the movie feel a little cheap and very dated. I was waiting for some moment where the plot would click into place for me, but that just never came. I’m definitely interested in watching more of his work though, and maybe I’ll appreciate this more once I do.
-E
