BalekFekete
Shared on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 13:27I'm a movie fan. I have been for a looong time, and became even more of an afficitionado once my wife and I had our first child. You see, in order to make ends meet, I worked during the day and she worked at night. As such, I took the role of Mr. Mom those evenings, and once the little guy went to bed I needed something to entertain myself with (this is before the XBox console years...). So I took into building a home theater, and starting a DVD library. Over the past 13 years, I'm amassed some 500 or so DVDs. I only have one criteria when I go in to buy a DVD - will I watch it more than once? If the chances are good that I will, then it's worth buying. Since starting, I've rarely picked a true stinker.
I use the same thought process when I think about what movies to go to the theater to see. They need to meet a criteria this time - will the movie be substantially better on the big screen than on DVD (or would I be better off just waiting)? Normally that will be a sci-fi or action movie, something where the 1.21 jiggawats of sound and 3 stories of screen size makes a difference. However, there are days like yesterday where while there wasn't a major film of that sort I wanted to see, the wife and I still wanted to go see something.
So then I go to rottentomatoes.com. Not a whole lot solid, but wait...91% fresh for There Will Be Blood. And...well look at that, it's up for the Best Motion Picture award too. Sounds good enough for me.
My GOD was I mistaken.
I'll start positive first - the visuals, cinematography, settings, etc. was very good. Setting was accurate, and you did get the feeling like you were part of those exploring the west as part of Manifest Destiny back at the turn of the 20th century. Unfortunately, that's all that was good about the movie.
The plot, or lack thereof, was abysmal. It is a rare movie that I just can't follow, despite all attempts to do otherwise. There have been great movies that I knew after seeing it once I need to watch it again to get the most out of it (e.g. The Usual Suspects, Fight Club). However, this was not one of them. The story was completely and utterly disjointed, bouncing from one episode of this stupid 'oil man' existence to another without a lick of explanation of why you are on the journey with him. The development of the supporting cast was just as weak as the protagonist, and lent nothing of real value to the movie. When you started to get some sense of feeling for a character, the director ripped you away from that setting and thrust you into something completely different.
I have never walked out of a movie I have paid to see. However, yesterday I was close enough that if my wife even HINTED that we leave, I would have been out of the door before my popcorn bucket even hit the floor. As I was walking out, one elderly gentleman said to his companion "At least we didn't pay to see that". I'm ashamed to say I did.
AVOID There Will Be Blood LIKE THE PLAGUE.
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Comments
Submitted by Punisher138 on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 12:07
Submitted by dos on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 13:40