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[NightOfJoy]

Did you know PT Anderson screened Network for cast & crew before shooting began on Magnolia, and stated "this is what we are trying to do."

 

I never saw Magnolia. Did the finished product end up on-target?

[uncool2pillow]

Did you know PT Anderson screened Network for cast & crew before shooting began on Magnolia, and stated "this is what we are trying to do."

Can anyone explain the frogs in Magnolia? A plague from God? The apocalypse? To me it was a cheap, artsy way to end this movie of sometimes interesting, but disparate stories. The ending made me hate that movie!

[Sir Stewart]

I never saw Magnolia.

 

Then don't read the post above this one.

[yermom]

 

A fascinating documentary about a very bizarre and self-important American sub-culture. Billy Mitchell may be one of the world's biggest jerks of little consequence.

That's a good one.

 

Finally watched today...

It was awesome. Boobs! Good gawd, the boobs!

[Calexico]

I love Colm Meaney.

 

 

Kay Curley: It's a terrible shock...

Dessie Curley: What is?

Kay Curley: Being married for 25 years, and finding out your husband's a prick.

[Sir Stewart]

Kay Curley: It's a terrible shock...

Dessie Curley: What is?

Kay Curley: Being married for 25 years, and finding out your husband's a prick.

That line actually threw me - Kay really didn't like Dessie, ah?

[the carlos]

Did you know PT Anderson screened Network for cast & crew before shooting began on Magnolia, and stated "this is what we are trying to do."

I did!

 

Can anyone explain the frogs in Magnolia? A plague from God? The apocalypse? To me it was a cheap, artsy way to end this movie of sometimes interesting, but disparate stories. The ending made me hate that movie!

cheap? uggh. I'm glad you didn't like it.

[GtrPlyr]

That's a good one.

 

Finally watched today...

It was awesome. Boobs! Good gawd, the boobs!

That's probably the Best Russ Meyer's film I've seen. Great B&W cinematography, and yeah, those boobs that defy categorization

[yermom]

I loved it. Recommend me my next Russ Meyer, pleassse?

[Lynch]

 

A fascinating documentary about a very bizarre and self-important American sub-culture. Billy Mitchell may be one of the world's biggest jerks of little consequence.

I actually stumbled onto this story by Googling my name one day (Steve Wiebe), and I realized I had the same name as the World Record holder in Donkey Kong.

We then watched the movie and loved it. Very entertaining.

[GtrPlyr]

I loved it. Recommend me my next Russ Meyer, pleassse?

You started off with my favorite, but there's a few other Meyer films that are worth checking out when you need some campy fun:

 

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (would make an interesting double bill with the equally campy "Valley of the Dolls")

Motor Psycho

Lorna

Mudhoney

 

On a side note, John Waters called Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ''the best movie ever made.''

[yermom]

I was checking out Motor Psycho and Mudhoney earlier so I think I'll go with one of those. Thanks!

Faster Pussycat really does have it all...the striking b&w cinematography, humor, sexy business, violence, groovy music, a happy ending...and on and on.

[the carlos]

Son of Sam and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was totally my kind of film.

[yermom]

Caught it on Showtime tonight. Fascinating, but mostly it just bummed me out.

[Good Old Neon]

Can anyone explain the frogs in Magnolia? A plague from God? The apocalypse? To me it was a cheap, artsy way to end this movie of sometimes interesting, but disparate stories. The ending made me hate that movie!

 

Magnolia is one of my favorites - perhaps this will help clear it up - from Wikipedia:

 

At the end of the movie, a rare but precedented event occurs: frogs rain from the sky. While the plague of frogs is unexpected, there have been real-life reports of frogs being sucked into waterspouts and raining to the ground miles inland.[2]

 

The movie has an underlying theme of unexplained events, taken from the 1920s and 1930s works of American intellectual Charles Fort. Fortean author Loren Coleman has written a chapter about this motion picture, entitled "The Teleporting Animals and Magnolia," in one of his recent books.[3] The film has many hidden Fortean themes. The fall of frogs is merely one of them. One of Charles Fort's books is visible on the table in the library and there is an end credit thanking Charles Fort.[4]

 

Another explanation could be the scene in which a boy named Dixon tells Jim that "when the sunshine don't work, the good Lord bring the rain in." A Bible verse frequently referenced and alluded to in the film, Exodus 8:2 (NIV), states that "If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs" (In Exodus, the frogs are described as simply crawling out of the "waters of Egypt"). Many of the film's other strange occurrences, such as quotes that seem odd or out of place, can be similarly explained (see the link to Cigarettes and Red Vines' Magnolia page below for more information).

 

There are various references to Exodus 8:2, like when the humidity is recorded to be 82 percent. At the very beginning, the man being hanged bears a sign reading "82". The plane that kills Darion has "82" painted on the side, and at the poker table, the man asks for a two and gets an 8. In the "Jumping scene" of Sydney Barringer, to the left of Sydney along the roof border, "82" appears to be spelled out in some type of wire formation on the wall, his parents were arguing in room #682, and the forensics meeting is at 8:20. The phone number for "Seduce and Destroy" has 82 in it. At the beginning scene of What Do Kids Know, a fan is seen carrying a sign reading "Exodus 8:2" before an usher (Anderson in a cameo performance) removes the sign; one of the most concrete references towards that verse in the Bible. During the rain of frogs, a sign reading "Exodus 8:2" can be seen on the side of the street. Also, Jim's voice mailbox says that his automated answering machine number is "82." Anderson did not originally include these allusions in his screenplay; after Henry Gibson brought the passage to his attention, he worked it into the script.[5]

 

Other repeated references to animal rain in the story include at least four different characters in different scenes using the clich

[Sir Stewart]

I watched the last episode of The Sopranos last night (again) and while it isn't the greatest episode ever, that last scene remains the most entertaining five minutes of television I've ever seen. Also - missed this the first time around: AJ pretty much is pushed into the porn business by his parents.

[PopTodd]

The Drew Carey Show (in reruns)

[jff]

 

My take...the dad is a lying creep. And would it have been so difficult to let the kid name what are supposedly her paintings? I'm pretty sure a four year old isn't going to name a painting "Ode to Pollock" or "Asian Sun".

[EL the Famous]

You started off with my favorite, but there's a few other Meyer films that are worth checking out when you need some campy fun:

 

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (would make an interesting double bill with the equally campy "Valley of the Dolls")

Motor Psycho

Lorna

Mudhoney

 

On a side note, John Waters called Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ''the best movie ever made.''

 

i wholeheartedly agree w/ both GtrPlyr and john waters. BTVOTD really is fantastic as well...I watched a CARRIE NATIONS megamix on youtube the other day. mudhoney is fucking crazy, but that's what make it so good.

[uncool2pillow]

Magnolia is one of my favorites - perhaps this will help clear it up - from Wikipedia:

 

At the end of the movie, a rare but precedented event occurs: frogs rain from the sky. While the plague of frogs is unexpected, there have been real-life reports of frogs being sucked into waterspouts and raining to the ground miles inland.[2]

 

The movie has an underlying theme of unexplained events, taken from the 1920s and 1930s works of American intellectual Charles Fort. Fortean author Loren Coleman has written a chapter about this motion picture, entitled "The Teleporting Animals and Magnolia," in one of his recent books.[3] The film has many hidden Fortean themes. The fall of frogs is merely one of them. One of Charles Fort's books is visible on the table in the library and there is an end credit thanking Charles Fort.[4]

 

Another explanation could be the scene in which a boy named Dixon tells Jim that "when the sunshine don't work, the good Lord bring the rain in." A Bible verse frequently referenced and alluded to in the film, Exodus 8:2 (NIV), states that "If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs" (In Exodus, the frogs are described as simply crawling out of the "waters of Egypt"). Many of the film's other strange occurrences, such as quotes that seem odd or out of place, can be similarly explained (see the link to Cigarettes and Red Vines' Magnolia page below for more information).

 

There are various references to Exodus 8:2, like when the humidity is recorded to be 82 percent. At the very beginning, the man being hanged bears a sign reading "82". The plane that kills Darion has "82" painted on the side, and at the poker table, the man asks for a two and gets an 8. In the "Jumping scene" of Sydney Barringer, to the left of Sydney along the roof border, "82" appears to be spelled out in some type of wire formation on the wall, his parents were arguing in room #682, and the forensics meeting is at 8:20. The phone number for "Seduce and Destroy" has 82 in it. At the beginning scene of What Do Kids Know, a fan is seen carrying a sign reading "Exodus 8:2" before an usher (Anderson in a cameo performance) removes the sign; one of the most concrete references towards that verse in the Bible. During the rain of frogs, a sign reading "Exodus 8:2" can be seen on the side of the street. Also, Jim's voice mailbox says that his automated answering machine number is "82." Anderson did not originally include these allusions in his screenplay; after Henry Gibson brought the passage to his attention, he worked it into the script.[5]

 

Other repeated references to animal rain in the story include at least four different characters in different scenes using the clich

[GtrPlyr]

On a bit of a Hal Hartley kick lately. I recently watched Simple Men and The Unbelievable Truth, and now I'm onto this one:

 

 

I watched a CARRIE NATIONS megamix on youtube the other day.

Cool! I'll have to look for that .

[PopTodd]

On a bit of a Hal Hartley kick lately. I recently watched Simple Men and The Unbelievable Truth, and now I'm onto this one:

 

 

 

Cool! I'll have to look for that .

 

 

Martin Donovan is The Man.

[Analogman]

Heat

 

Starring Bud Court and Tone-Loc

[Mrs. Peel]

 

I love this movie. So sue me.

[Oil Can Boyd]

I watched the last episode of The Sopranos last night (again) and while it isn't the greatest episode ever, that last scene remains the most entertaining five minutes of television I've ever seen. Also - missed this the first time around: AJ pretty much is pushed into the porn business by his parents.

That's funny - I watched it last night.