Movies Licorice Pizza - Paul Thomas Anderson

[TheLeon]

“The latest from PTA” is probably all you need to know. 

 

In extremely limited release right now. 

[Bloodporne]

10 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

“The latest from PTA” is probably all you need to know. 

This is true. I've seen Inherent Vice like four times in the last couple years, really excited for this and somehow didn't know it existed actually. 

[Mercury33]

I enjoy PTA but I’ve seen a few trailers for this an ehh I don’t think it’s gonna be for me. 

[Greatoneshere]

It's PTA, definitely gonna be seeing this. Phantom Thread was a masterpiece and Inherent Vice is incredibly underrated.

[Zeluge]

Saw this a couple days after Thanksgiving. In a very interesting period of Anderson's career, that I feel like is intrinsically tied to him being a credited DP on his last two movies. Not that his prior stuff hasn't been emotionally affecting (There Will Be Blood is one of my all-timers and makes me cry every damn time; close to the same opinions on the rest), but there's a certain ineffable personal touch to this and Phantom Thread that I feel like is associated with him being involved in another primary aspect of the production, even outside of the personal backstories that inspired them.

 

It's his loosest film -- essentially a collection of vignettes and blind alleys with the same assortment of characters running through, with some guest spots here and there. The burgeoning relationship between Gary and Alana is the closest thing to a core, and it flits in and out of the spotlight until the end. It's like he took a pinch of the love story of Punch-Drunk Love and put it into the vibe and style of Inherent Vice, then cranked it to 11.

 

I dunno, this all feels very ramble-y, but I've found it's a hard one for me to lock onto in terms of discussion and concrete thought. As delightful as it is and enraptured as I was, it's difficult for me to really explain the why of it all. All it really comes down to is, I had a blast being in this world for a little over two hours, and maybe it's best to just ride the wave with this one. But I'm seeing it again today with a friend, so I'll see if it gets clearer for me.

 

Also, of the bevy of fantastic single-scene performances, Harriet Sansom Harris was the clear standout to me. A great scene that she catapults into the stratosphere with brilliant choices and unconventional shifts in the tempo of the dialogue.

[Bloodporne]

4 hours ago, Zeluge said:

It's his loosest film -- essentially a collection of vignettes and blind alleys with the same assortment of characters running through, with some guest spots here and there. The burgeoning relationship between Gary and Alana is the closest thing to a core, and it flits in and out of the spotlight until the end. It's like he took a pinch of the love story of Punch-Drunk Love and put it into the vibe and style of Inherent Vice, then cranked it to 11.

 

I dunno, this all feels very ramble-y, but I've found it's a hard one for me to lock onto in terms of discussion and concrete thought. As delightful as it is and enraptured as I was, it's difficult for me to really explain the why of it all. All it really comes down to is, I had a blast being in this world for a little over two hours, and maybe it's best to just ride the wave with this one. But I'm seeing it again today with a friend, so I'll see if it gets clearer for me.

This is pretty much how I felt about Inherent Vice the first time I saw it, I was trying to find the logic to why it affected me so much because it seemed so loose and incoherent at times. It still is that but there is a devastating emotional core and character study at the heart of it all and it truly does feel like spending time in his world, or more precisely in his head even, and I thought it was an achievement really. 

 

I'm actually really happy to hear that this one is of a similar ilk, your comments on it make me more excited to see it. As a side note, PTA also has an uncanny knack for bringing that era to life on screen without any cloying or hokey elements. Same with Boogie Nights, I really buy the era fully in his films.  

[Bloodporne]

9 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

It's PTA, definitely gonna be seeing this. Phantom Thread was a masterpiece and Inherent Vice is incredibly underrated.

I haven't seen Phantom Thread actually, I totally forgot he made that. I was gonna see it in the theater and...forgot? But yeah, I did watch Inherent Vice again just last month I think. How much he misses his lady kills me every time and the last scene is absolutely perfect. 

[Greatoneshere]

12 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I haven't seen Phantom Thread actually, I totally forgot he made that. I was gonna see it in the theater and...forgot? But yeah, I did watch Inherent Vice again just last month I think. How much he misses his lady kills me every time and the last scene is absolutely perfect. 

 

Phantom Thread is a masterpiece, and maybe PTA's best work (my personal favorite though is Magnolia). You must go see it, it is so deeply personal and touching.

[TheLeon]

Saw this two days ago, and I’m still riding that high. What a blast. Full of great little touches. It is kinda hard to talk about this movie in a cohesive way, because it’s so loosely structured. But it flows so well, everything just works. 
 

Love that he just went ahead and threw in the entire Haim family. 

[Kamusha]

I saw this a few days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. It's 100% my shit and maybe my favorite by PTA. It's a real hangout movie in the sense that nothing truly terrible happens. It always has a fun vibe, but never feels too light. It is obviously a nostalgic movie, but unlike something like Stranger Things it feels completely sincere and honest in what it's depicting. And there's some great, great needle drops in this one, and none are too obvious.

 

Something I also really enjoyed is how the actors all look and felt like real people. The two leads aren't conventionally attractive and that made it feel all the more real and refreshing.