There Will Be Blood 2008

Nod Bad

 3

Found it a little boring personally

By Dan

Evil is as evil does

 4

The key moments in the movie are all unassuming. For example, Plainview knows that he will have to confront a major character well before we see him act openly. We can see the undercurrent well before the fight but it is not until the end that we find out why. Likewise with his long lost brother. Everything turns on small, easily missed pivots.

That is the power of the intrusive and brutal soundtrack. It often seems to peak when not much is happening but that is because of what lies beneath the action or lack of it.

It's not really based on the book except as a milieu for a new version of Plainview to emerge.

By Mark

Lewis at his best.

 4

Once upon a time in the oil industry... it does not sound to good for a movie as politics does not go well with entertainment especially at the pump. But after all, the movie is pretty good, the picture is great, the solitude and dryness of the landscape add to the drama and the story is brilliantly delivered by the actors. Lewis acting is quite stunning in the lead role as a hard working achiever that the spectator probably respects at the start of the film and then little by little his character is consumed by greed and almost madness that makes him unpleasant but yet so familiar. It is hard to resist the temptation to draw a parallel between There Will be Blood and the power of the oil industry nowadays. As inhuman as the machine can be today, the movie reminds us how it all started in a very human sort of way. Whether it is inspired from a true story or not is unrelevant, between the war in Iraq and the price of petrol at your pump, it is not hard to be captivated by that movie.

By Bonux

Their will be done

 5

I felt like a learnt from this movie - about the passions, aesthetics and lives of turn of the century california, how oil was sought, found, and transported and how humans can be driven to self combust. Daniel Day Lewis is searing as is the film from beginning to end.
We had terrible front row seats and not many movies could carry the burden of discomfort for 238 minutes like this one could. A must-see for many reasons.

By keesh

Flicks gets it right again.

 4

the "Flicks" review below does a good job in covering the bases.
The more I think about this movie, the more it unleashes it's impact on me.

By Brian

money changes you

 5

Daniel Day Lewis turns nasty in this film. Starts off well and ends badly. This is what money can do do you. Self possessed and indulgent. No feeling for the world. A brilliant piece of cinema that is not really for the faint hearted. He well deserved the awards for his performance

By Ken Burns

stunning movie but that grating music drove me nuts

 4

I agree with the reviewers ....stunning with few flaws ...but my God the soundtrack (music)...has there ever been anything more grating and annoying...I can rationalize that the whining and discordant sounds reinforced the troubled angst of the characters and conflicting needs but it was so emotionally difficult to listen to that I considered leaving the theatre. The music competed for attention saying 'listen to me, aren't I clever and different'.

I noted that at the end of the viewing no one in the theater moved for about one minute...people were stunned... For me, it took a while to emotionally shake of the taint of being exposed to the lesser aspects of the human condition, the grasping, vain, self delusion and egocentricism..it is certainly a film that stays with you.

By Elizabeth

What the...?

 3

Yeah yeah beautifully shot, great acting, great sound track and for a long film, i was never bored but like many long movies it was like they suddenly decided, "sheesh we better wrap this baby up" and it ends!
I think the finale completely undoes the all the work the start and middle of the film set out to portray, relationships are hurridly (un)resolved, plot lines are quickly bundled up and thrown into the final scenes and i was left feeling unsatisfied is the best word to describe it.. It ruins what could have been a great film and turns it into something ordinary... a real shame.

By Jerry Lynch

Slippery Slope

 4

Like Antony Minghella, PT Anderson is continually going above and beyond with his preternatural technique as a filmmaker, crafting undeniable touchstones for high-quality modern cinema in the process. And like Antony Minghella, it invariably leaves me cold.

Obviously there's some remarkable thematic back-and-forth going on, and the film's technical flawlessness is justified by a script that bravely humanises bloated plutocrat and wide-eyed faith healer alike. A lesser author would deal in broad strokes of dastardly, crazed, scheming and devout: Anderson's film is at its best when allowing the back-and-forth of ambition and faith to blur each others' edges.

The film takes a turn around halfway through, though: what had been a slow-burning meditation on how the West was won and where it got us ignites into the director's usual sturm und drang w/r/t the trials of paternal angst. It's an easy sort of autopilot, guiding the proceedings to their conclusion; but by that time, the film seems to have forgotten somewhat what it's about.

Day-Lewis' closest performance to this was his swaggering villianny in Gangs of New York. Like this film, that one dealt with an uneasy adopted father-son relationship in the crucible of America, red in tooth and claw; but unlike this pic, Gangs was more on-target the more twisted and operatic it became.

By Tom

And Paul Thomas Anderson looked down from the heavens and said "there will be light", and Daniel Day Lewis wept. And then, There Was Blood!

 5

Okay, I agree, the metaphor is ridiculously over the top. But it is rare to see a film so uncompromising and focused.

Daniel Day Lewis gives his usual excellent, committed, performance (and then some) and the film matches him step by step. It evokes '70's Malick and Altman with its rich panoramas and honest, yet poetic, human interaction; but in a way all of its own.

The supporting cast is uniformly excellent with any notions of current modernism effectively disappearing into the period.

Johnny Greenwoods score is as interesting and unexpected as you would expect from someone behind the likes of "Kid A" and it adds depth to the already palpable tension.

If you have any interest in cinema, or if you are looking to an alternative to rote romantic comedies and worthy oscar-baiting event movies, then go and see it. Now! And don't drink my milkshake.

By Tim Carter

Beautiful. Strange.

 5

A massive film. Recommended for its bent story and direction, and the great performances from not only Day-Lewis byt Paul Dano and the little boy.

By tilly

 4

Seeing as it was based on a rather fat book i had imagined somenthing highly detailed and epic, with plots and subplots and sneaky twists and so on. I was not disappointed. Mr Day-Lewis shone as a highly driven and competitive 'oil man'.

'Twas very much a mans world back then so don't hope for any strong female charachters, however. Even so, that Mr day-lewis, portrays the phsycological downfall of a powerful man extrodinarily well.

By lily

Agree with Andrew.2

 5

I comepleteley agree with the Flicks review

It is truly a Brilliant and stirring film.

Wonderfully strange and filmic

An instant classic

A must for film lovers

By Shay