THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007)

[CheezeFlixz]

I almost put it in the BAD MOVIE thread, because while it was a entertaining moving at times, it drug more than it ran. Now keep in mind it won 2 OSCARS and was up for I think 5 others ... IMHO I'm not sure it was that good.

Here's the story, Danial Plainview a poor silver miner how turns into a ruthless oilman in the early 1900's. He buys up land, makes promises, breaks them and is cruel to nearly everyone. It follows his life from his start to his rise, his dealing with a young bipolar preacher, his son that isn't his, a brother out of nowhere and a whole host of other characters, nearly all of which are just unlikable. That's really about it and it took 154 minute to tell that story. To say the move was slow is a understatement. Now there are underlaying stories of Danial fight various inner demons that he fights mostly with alcohol and everyone else. The greater story is about a lonely highly driven man that will let nothing and no one stand in his path to success and he'll make any sacrifice and sacrifice anybody to achieve he goals.
Overall it was a enjoyable movie, but it's not as great as some have made it out to be. I don't see myself watching it again anytime soon, it just lacks that rewatchability quality. As I've said some scenes were just to long and some parts of the story were not needed. I don't mind a long film if all the scenes are a part of the over all story arc which in my opinion some of the scenes and characters where just not that important to the story. It not boring if you pay attention to it, I've seen a lot of "it's boring" comments on other boards, but I don't agree with those, slow ... yes. Boring ... no. It's worth watching if you are in the mood for this kind of film, slow, dramatic, long and I'm not sure why it got a R rating, I do not recall much if any cuss words, not graphic violence (at least on screen) really it should have been a PG-13 of which I've seen worse with that rating ... kids would leave this movie is a skinny minute, it's not everyones cup of oil.

I'm giving it 3 out of 5 and I'm being kind with that.
The disc I rented had no extras, but with a movie this long there was no room for extras.

The TRAILER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2Ae2SIXac
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[peter johnson]

Funnily enough, neither my wife nor I thought much of this either.  I say "funnily enough" because we both think Day-Lewis is the best actor in cinema today.  We even have a hand-written letter from him framed above my Robochic poster --

Essentially, he is giving the same performance here that he gave in "Gangs of New York", for which he and Scorscese were practically ignored.  I think this is an example of retro-Oscar, that you see all the time in Hollywood, wherein he was really being rewarded for prior overlooked performances.

Now, to length:  Neither Dixie nor I were put off by the film's length, and both of us in fact feel that it should be longer/that there should be a Director's Cut of it somewhere.  I thought it should have been at least 180min or longer, as the edits and jump-cuts are so annoying here.  We both felt that huge amounts of connecting storyline had been left out or dropped & we wanted loose ends tied up.  Badly.  Maybe it would have been a better film at 4 hours, cut into 2 completely different films & released at later dates.  This has worked before.

The scene where they're attacking the flaming oil derrick with their home-made explosive armored carts is as exciting as anything put on an film ever.  It reminded us very much of the Babylon castle sequence in "Intolerance".

Yes, a mixed bag all around --

Peter Johnson/Denny Epic Epic Movie . . .

[Mofo Rising]

I actually really enjoyed this one, although I found it an extremely uncomfortable movie to watch. Mostly due to the ever present threat of violence. The ominous film score helped to aid that as well.

What I do admire about the film is the lengths it went to truly demolish Day-Lewis' character. At the beginning he seems a rough but admirable kind of guy. Hard-working, intelligent, looks after his business and his son. By the end of the movie we see what a misanthropic and repulsive human being he actually is. (And I like misanthropes.)

So I really enjoyed it.

[CheezeFlixz]

Now, to length:  Neither Dixie nor I were put off by the film's length, and both of us in fact feel that it should be longer/that there should be a Director's Cut of it somewhere.  I thought it should have been at least 180min or longer, as the edits and jump-cuts are so annoying here.  We both felt that huge amounts of connecting storyline had been left out or dropped & we wanted loose ends tied up.  Badly.  Maybe it would have been a better film at 4 hours, cut into 2 completely different films & released at later dates.  This has worked before.

With all the character in the film it could have been longer to wrap things up, I found the ending a tad annoying as I know the final two words could take on a number of meanings. (those that saw it know the words, no need to spoil here) OTHERWISE they could have cut the length and cut a few characters OR spent more time on Danial's character. I think they tried to have to many key characters that were never fully developed. Was Eli/Paul two people or one? If he was one, which I think he was that was never clear. It just drug in parts, and parts of the story seemed to be missing. I really don't think it was a Oscar worthy film. I enjoyed it ... but it just didn't set my world on fire.

[Scott]

This film is high on my list of films to view. THERE WILL BE BLOOD might be similiar in pace and such as GANGS OF NEW YORK which also starred Daniel Day-Lewis who was good in that film also. Neat little fact though about oil. Oil was first drilled in Northwestern Pennsylvania not far from where I once lived.

Oil Drilling History: http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/history/pennsylvania/pennsylvania.html

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dln5DWh1VLY
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