Shownotes
Join us as we dive into the unforgettable world of Magnolia! We’re exploring its web of intertwined stories, digging into themes of family, love, and redemption. We’ll break down the film’s emotional depth, powerful performances, and how it examines flawed fatherhood and life’s unexpected twists. So, grab some popcorn and tune in for a fun, thoughtful celebration of Magnolia—packed with insights, laughs, and a deep appreciation for what makes this cinematic masterpiece timeless.
Chapters:
- 04:20 - Discussion of Magnolia and Live Event Announcement
- 48:33 - Final Thoughts and Vault Decision: Save or PURGE!
- 01:09:44 - Wrap Up
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Transcripts
But let's get down to brass tacks.
Speaker A:Let's get right down to it, boys.
Speaker A:Let's get right down to it.
Speaker A:Men are shit.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Men are shit.
Speaker A:Well, isn't that what they say?
Speaker A:Isn't that what?
Speaker A:Because we do bad things, don't we?
Speaker A:We do horrible, heinous, heinous, terrible things.
Speaker A:Things that no woman would ever do.
Speaker A:Women, they don't lie.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Women don't cheat.
Speaker A:Women don't manipulate us.
Speaker A:But you see what I'm getting at?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:You see what I'm getting at?
Speaker A:You see what society does for little boys?
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:Welcome to Back to the Frame Rate, part of the Weston Media Podcast Network.
Speaker D:In this cinematic crusade, we journey through films on VOD and streaming platforms, deciding their fate, salvation in our vault of legends, or eternal banishment to the flames of the coming asteroid apocalypse.
Speaker D:You can find all episodes of our show on Apple Podcast, Spotify or your favorite podcast app, or find us on social media at Back to the Frame Rate.
Speaker D:I'm Nathan Shore, and accompanying me are the extraordinary movie mavens, Brianna Budworth and Sam Cole.
Speaker B:Hello, hello, hello.
Speaker D:Welcome back.
Speaker D:How's everybody doing tonight?
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker E:Incredible.
Speaker D:This middle of December.
Speaker D: Hey, it is our final show of: Speaker D:I say we go out with a bang.
Speaker D: re wrapping up this year with: Speaker D:Sam, this was a movie that you strongly wanted to bring to this retrospective series.
Speaker D:Why?
Speaker E:I am a fan of this film.
Speaker E:Huge fan of this film.
Speaker E:I think P.T.
Speaker E:anderson is a great director, and I think this movie is a magnum opus epic about parents and their children and their relationships.
Speaker E:And I.
Speaker E:It's.
Speaker E:I will end by saying that I chose that.
Speaker E:The energy of this movie is unbelievable.
Speaker E:The different tones it has, the different pitches.
Speaker E: e theater when it came out in: Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:And with that, I'm off.
Speaker E:See you guys later.
Speaker D:See you next year, Sam.
Speaker E:See you next year.
Speaker D:All right, well, I can't wait to talk about this.
Speaker D:But in order for us to talk about this, we are going to enter the fall shelter, where we will discuss and render our cinematic verdict for the sake of humanity.
Speaker D:So let's get settled in comfortable and pass judgment on this film.
Speaker F:In the dying embers of human existence, as the asteroid, a behemoth the size of Texas, hurdles relentlessly toward Earth, the world braces for an apocalyptic end.
Speaker F:Deep beneath the bunker, a refuge plunges into the bowels of the earth.
Speaker F:Here the chosen gather, their purpose clear to preserve the very soul of our civilization.
Speaker F:The 35 and 70 millimeter prints that encapsulate the magic, the emotion, and the dreams of generations past.
Speaker F:These masterpieces, each frame a testament to the human spirit, are carefully cataloged and cradled in the castle cavernous confines of the bunker.
Speaker F:Perhaps there was room for more, for friends and family yearning for salvation.
Speaker F:But sacrifices must be made.
Speaker F:The movie nerds stand united, the keepers of a flame, promising a future where the art of storytelling endures, transcending the boundaries of time and space.
Speaker F:God help us all.
Speaker D:All right, are you guys pumped?
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker D:All right, so here we are.
Speaker D:We're gonna begin our discussion with Magnolia.
Speaker D:Want to mention just a couple things before we get into all that.
Speaker D:We are less than a month away from our 100th episode spectacular, which is going to be on January 10th at the Western art and Innovation Center Today.
Speaker D:We're recording this on the 16th.
Speaker D:So, my God, what is that, like three weeks away?
Speaker D:I don't know, but it's coming fast and furious.
Speaker D:So what I just want to mention to our listeners, if you go to our social media channels, you can find links to where you can RSVP for the event.
Speaker D:It is not a big venue.
Speaker D:It can only hold about 49 people, minus us, the host, and some technical crew that work in there.
Speaker D:So space is limited.
Speaker B:So, you know, it's gonna be so fun.
Speaker B:Come watch Galaxy Quest with us.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Watching Galaxy Quest, where we are.
Speaker D:We're gonna watch the movie and we're gonna talk about it, but definitely it's all about the audience there who is can participate in the show, because we're gonna be recording the show there live, and you're gonna be part of our 100th episode.
Speaker D:So this is very big.
Speaker D:And we're gonna have some prizes.
Speaker D:We're gonna have a raffle.
Speaker D:We haven't officially said this yet, but I.
Speaker D:I'm kind of putting it out there because we're putting on the podcast right now that somebody can win a prize where they can become a guest on our show and then pick a movie that we will review and they can be part of that episode.
Speaker D:So I think that's really exciting to.
Speaker D:To have a lot of other fun surprises as well.
Speaker D:Dan Martin is a comedian that's going to be a guest as well and one other surprise guest, which should be pretty cool.
Speaker D:So come on down to the live event on.
Speaker B:Come on down to the live events.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:And those links for are in the show.
Speaker D:Notes as well.
Speaker E:One thing too.
Speaker E:It's really simple.
Speaker E: If you come, you know your: Speaker E:And you're going to experience amazing things and your life's going to get amazing.
Speaker E:And if you don't come, actually, your credit score will automatically go down.
Speaker E:So really, that's true.
Speaker E:In your best interest to join us at this incredible event.
Speaker B:For all I know, that's the plot of the sequel to Gremlins 2.
Speaker E:Gremlins 2 has no sequel yet, alas.
Speaker E:You'd make a cartoon.
Speaker E:A cartoon show or something.
Speaker E:But.
Speaker D:And it is a free event.
Speaker D:It is a free event.
Speaker D:So if you're local to New England, the Massachusetts, Rhode island area, it's a great way of spending your Friday night.
Speaker D:Okay, just wanted to plug in our.
Speaker D:Our PSA for that.
Speaker D:But let's talk about Magnolia.
Speaker B:The fastest three hour movie ever.
Speaker D:That's one way of putting it.
Speaker D:So I have a plot synopsis here.
Speaker D:On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots.
Speaker D:But one story.
Speaker G:There is the story of a boy genius.
Speaker B:Willa Catherine Thomas Kidd, Jean Baptisteful Clan Moliere.
Speaker G:And the game show host and Jimmy.
Speaker D:Gator live from Burbank, California.
Speaker C:First question for 25.
Speaker C:This French playwright and actor joined the.
Speaker D:Vajar troupe of actors.
Speaker G:And the exact.
Speaker C:I'm Chris Kid Donnie Smith.
Speaker D:I used to be smart.
Speaker C:Now I'm just stupid.
Speaker G:There is the story of the dying man.
Speaker D:I'm Earl Partridge.
Speaker D:I have a son.
Speaker E:You know you do?
Speaker C:Find him.
Speaker A:I'm Frank TJ Mackey.
Speaker G:His lost son.
Speaker A:What did he say?
Speaker A:Because I am not going to take care of him.
Speaker A:What does he want?
Speaker G:And the dying man's wife?
Speaker F:I'm Linda Partridge.
Speaker D:I took care of him through this.
Speaker D:Alan.
Speaker B:What now then?
Speaker D:Me and him.
Speaker E:Do you understand?
Speaker D:There's no one else.
Speaker D:No one else.
Speaker G:The caretaker.
Speaker E:I'm Phil Parma.
Speaker B:See, this is the scene of the.
Speaker E:Movie where you helped me out.
Speaker G:And there is the story of a mother.
Speaker B:I'm Rose Gaider.
Speaker D:You come home soon after the show.
Speaker B:I love you.
Speaker D:Love you too.
Speaker G:And the daughter?
Speaker D:I'm Claudia Wilson Gator.
Speaker D:Now that I've met you, would you.
Speaker B:Object to never seeing me again?
Speaker G:And the police officer in law?
Speaker D:I'm Officer Jim Curring.
Speaker E:My life is very stressful and I'd.
Speaker D:Hope to have a relationship that is very calm and undemanding and loving.
Speaker E:So if you are this person, please leave me a message at box number eight two.
Speaker G:And this will all make sense in the end.
Speaker D:I have to say I was watching this this week and I often take at least four pages of notes for every film that we watch.
Speaker D:Magnolia is a three hour, eight minute movie.
Speaker D:And I realized after I watched it, I took about a page age and a half because, you know, this movie's so riveting.
Speaker D:But I also had a hard time taking notes in this because it's not a traditional movie.
Speaker D:This kind of style movie with intersecting plot lines.
Speaker D:It's not a plot heavy movie.
Speaker D:It is so much about theme and character that I found that like I didn't know really how to make notes, take notes on this movie.
Speaker D:This will be interesting conversation because we can't go plot by plot in this.
Speaker D:And it's a three hour, eight minute movie.
Speaker D:If we did that, we'd be here for four hours, I'm thinking.
Speaker D:So I think we just kind of see where our conversation takes us.
Speaker E:I think the thing about it do that like that I love.
Speaker E:And I'm sure I'm going to botch this quote.
Speaker E:Either I read this or I saw like a video interview of it.
Speaker E:I can't quite remember, but it was PT Anderson talking about his motivation behind the movie.
Speaker E:And I don't know the details, but I think he was having some difficulty in his family life or his father was sick or something like that.
Speaker E:And there's literally a quote where he says, you whenever you think of an epic film, the genre is usually war or romance or action.
Speaker E:And he said, I wanted to make an epic like family drama with intersecting characters.
Speaker E:And so he's taken these almost like sitcom style plots, not really of like, you know, estranged son reuniting with dad and all this stuff, but it is given this epic gusto directorial treatment that ratchets up the tension.
Speaker E:It's about.
Speaker E:The movie is literally about like thematically everything and it's huge and it's an opus.
Speaker E:So I just thought it was fascinating.
Speaker E:That was partly his motivation because when you think about it, there's a lot of scenes that are very close on characters in this movie.
Speaker E:Like, you know, in the show or in the booth or there's periods where it's a good part of everyone's day and then there's periods where and now the darkness comes.
Speaker E:It's like an opus.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's almost allegorical.
Speaker B:It's like you said, there's like this Hand of God.
Speaker B:That's like everyone's having a good moment or everyone's having the simultaneous kind of mania.
Speaker D:Everything's a shared experience.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Where they are in their life.
Speaker B:It's incredible.
Speaker B:I love how every character is.
Speaker B:You're introduced to them and they seem like they're gonna be kind of a one dimensional character.
Speaker B:I think Tom Cruise is the epitome of this.
Speaker E:Right.
Speaker B:And every single character has a tragic backstory or a tragic motivation.
Speaker B:I mean it's really.
Speaker B:Everybody just wants love and to be loved in this movie.
Speaker B:I have so much love and I don't know where to put it.
Speaker B:For me, the whole movie you already.
Speaker D:Jumped to the thesis.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I just wanna mention, you know, right in the very beginning, I think we weren't going to go through all the plot points of this.
Speaker D:But the prologue of this I think is important.
Speaker D:That sets the stage of the theme in this.
Speaker D:And it's interesting that this movie has a prologue.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:It does set the stage.
Speaker D:Life is unpredictable, I think is what saying it's life is driven by a mix of these chances, series of coincidences and often fate.
Speaker D:And one of the stories that shown to us is about a scuba diver who was found dead on the top of this tree line.
Speaker D:You know, as a sequence that feels almost too strange to be true but is presented as fact.
Speaker D:I think it underscores the message that the universe works in mysterious, inexplicable ways.
Speaker D:And the sequence is necessary because as if, you know, as an audience, if we can't swallow the extraordinary as something possible, then what happens towards the end of this film is going to leave you really scratching your head.
Speaker D:So I think it's brilliant stroke that it starts with this.
Speaker D:These stories in the beginning showing setting the stage that anything can happen in life.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The prologue does a few things and it lets you know that like there's always this element of like connection that the people in the stories don't see.
Speaker B:You know, everything's connected to each other.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:I also just love how unbelievably dramatic and riveting that this movie can present.
Speaker E:Like relatively mundane moments in our lives or in the characters lives even.
Speaker E:You know, just like when he's driving down the street as a police officer, he's like, you know, I do my best and I'm just trying to do this like he's just having a private moment.
Speaker E:But it's presented in this like every character.
Speaker E:It's almost.
Speaker E:I just love how this movie makes everything so dramatic things in real life, it puts it on the epic scale in terms of like some of the way the scenes of this film are directed, the way you would direct like, you know, some like, you know.
Speaker E:Exactly.
Speaker E:Yeah, that's what I love about it.
Speaker E:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker D:Let me run down a little bit of the casting here for a moment because.
Speaker D:Right, get that out of the way here we have Tom Cruise as Frank T.J.
Speaker D:mackey, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Phil Parma or Phil Farm.
Speaker D:I think it's Phil Parma is what.
Speaker B:It'S Parma, but it sounds just like pharma.
Speaker D:Philip Baker hall as Jimmy Gator.
Speaker D:William H.
Speaker D:Macy as Quiz Kid Donnie Smith Julian Moore as Linda Partridge John C.
Speaker D:Reilly as Jim Curring Jason Robards as Earl Partridge Mora Walters as Claudia Wilson Gator.
Speaker D:Jeremy Blackman as Stanley Spector.
Speaker D:That's just like the main cast.
Speaker D:Everyone else, I mean it is still a lister after a lister going down the line here in future stars as well.
Speaker D:You got Alfred Merlina in this.
Speaker D:You got Henry Gibson who we will probably eventually get to the.
Speaker D:Oh my God, I'm blanking now.
Speaker B:Altman.
Speaker D:Robert Altman.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:And.
Speaker D:But you can't ignore that Henry Gibson is cast in this.
Speaker D:Who was in Nashville, who was in the Long Goodbye.
Speaker D:Strong connections to Robert Altman.
Speaker D:Patton Oswalt in this.
Speaker D:Michael Murphy, another big Robert Altman, part of his troop as well as Linda's attorney Ricky J.
Speaker D:There's so much in here.
Speaker D:Felicity Huffman became a big name for a while.
Speaker D:Clark Gregg, everyone knows from the Marvel universe he's the game show for director.
Speaker D:And anyone catch Robert Downey senior as the game show director whose son was in Shortcuts just, you know, a few years before this.
Speaker D:Thomas Jane is young Jimmy Gator.
Speaker D:Louis Guzman is playing himself, I guess in this, which I love, I love.
Speaker E:I love Louis Guzman in this.
Speaker E:Just how piss off he gets at those kids is so funny.
Speaker B:My only casting complaint in this movie is that you put my man Alfred Molina in a three hour movie and you give him five seconds of screen time.
Speaker D:His scene is so wonderful.
Speaker D:He's.
Speaker D:He's great.
Speaker D:So anyways, I just wanted to get some of the casting out of the way.
Speaker D:This is Paul Thomas Anderson's third feature after Hard 8 Boogie Nights.
Speaker D:Then this movie came out, which is third one and cinematographer was Robert Ellswit who went on to win an Academy Award for There Will Be Blood.
Speaker B:Huge movie.
Speaker D:Last thing I want to mention is the composers.
Speaker D:John Brian.
Speaker D:Brian, who also worked a lot with Paul Thomas Anderson, who I, I think is doing extraordinary work in this.
Speaker B:The score and the Soundtrack in this movie is like transcendental.
Speaker B:I love it and I love how it plays with that sort of diegetic.
Speaker B:Like sometimes, you know, we have that famous sing along scene.
Speaker B:Sometimes the characters are listening to Amy man, sometimes we're getting a score.
Speaker B:It's just really like this movie's so hard to talk about.
Speaker B:I think in part because it's so immersive that.
Speaker E:Exactly that 1,000%.
Speaker E:It's such an experience that you don't know what type of conversations to have about the film unless you're talking to someone who has had the experience of watching the movie.
Speaker E:Because it's just one of those films.
Speaker E:I mean, when you just mentioned the Amy man song, I think it's somewhere near the halfway point or maybe like beginning of the third act.
Speaker E:But they all sing.
Speaker E:It's like them all in their private moments.
Speaker E:And I actually really like the song too.
Speaker E:I love that scene.
Speaker E:I remember when the film came out, there was a review and I hadn't seen the film yet.
Speaker E:And I read the review and it talked about how all the characters stop what they're doing and they sing the song.
Speaker E:And I remember having a visceral reaction like, that sounds terrible.
Speaker E:What the hell is that going to be like?
Speaker E:I'm really worried about this.
Speaker E:Then I saw the film and it was incredible.
Speaker B:Yeah, it really works.
Speaker B:And it has no reason to work, but it really works.
Speaker E:All of Magnolia works so ridiculously well.
Speaker E:I have trouble just.
Speaker E:It's like.
Speaker E:I just like slow clap, drop a microphone and it's like Magnolia.
Speaker B:I think one of.
Speaker B:There's just.
Speaker B:This movie is filled with so much heartbreak in so many different ways and so much grief.
Speaker B:And, you know, I think about.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Yeah, I love the.
Speaker B:The former Quiz Kid, the yes guy.
Speaker B:He's just doing.
Speaker B:William H.
Speaker B:Macy is just.
Speaker B:I mean, he's doing like incredible work in this, but I think he's so on his sleeve about everything.
Speaker B:He's really.
Speaker B:I don't know, he's amazing.
Speaker E:I love so much on a comedic note, when in the very beginning of the movie when he keeps listening to the song like dreams in his car and he crashes right into the store window.
Speaker E:I love.
Speaker E:I've always, every time I've seen this film, I laugh so hard with Guy recognizes him immediately and it's like, hey, it's Quiz Kid Donnie Smith.
Speaker E:Just the way that scene is just.
Speaker E:I find it hysterical.
Speaker E:Perfect timing.
Speaker D:Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker D:So we mentioned all these actors and there's a lot of interconnected storylines here.
Speaker D:I think there's five of them.
Speaker D:Basic main story lines here.
Speaker D:There's the story of the dying father, which is Earl Partridge.
Speaker D:And where we.
Speaker D:So we have Linda Partridge in that Phil Parma part of that.
Speaker D:We have the motivational speaker, which is Frank Mackey, the Tom Cruise character.
Speaker D:We have this game show storyline as well, with Jimmy Gator, with the kid Stanley Spector and I guess, you know, and his dad as well, and Rose Gator as well.
Speaker D:We have the cop story, which is with Jim Curring and Claudia Wilson Gator.
Speaker D:And then there's the former famous whiz kid, Donnie Smith, which seems to kind of be off on an island as well.
Speaker D:But it's tied in as later on in this movie.
Speaker D:So there's five main story lines in this, which is such.
Speaker D:What, a juggling act for this?
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they come together and go apart and come together.
Speaker B:I almost think that set pieces are an easier way to navigate the film.
Speaker B:Like, you talked about the game show.
Speaker B:And there's a few different relationships going on there that I think are parallel.
Speaker B:So we have the modern boy genius, the Quiz Kid there who's doing an incredible job for his age and his relationship with his dad, which becomes apparent as the movie unfolds and how he feels about the whole thing.
Speaker B:And also the game show host.
Speaker B:And sort of at the same time, these two characters start, for totally different reasons, unrelated to each other having a bad time.
Speaker B:They start really not enjoying the show.
Speaker B:And this is just, like, a small window into how the whole movie.
Speaker B:Movie is.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker E:I b.
Speaker E:By the way you talk about, like, music and different set pieces, I love it.
Speaker E:I think it's towards the middle of the film where things are not going well at the game show.
Speaker E:And there's that tension.
Speaker E:Like, it's like there's a ticking clock and.
Speaker E:And it gets so tense.
Speaker E:And it's like around the time when Philip Baker hall is, like, obviously not doing well.
Speaker E:And I think he's, like, told someone backstage his condition.
Speaker E:And, like, I just.
Speaker E:That point in the film, all the tension is so ratcheted up it comes.
Speaker E:Everything goes in waves in this movie.
Speaker E:It's, like, heightened.
Speaker E:And, you know, we're gonna calm down, we're gonna have a couple jokes, then we're gonna go back to drama.
Speaker E:Like, it's so well constructed.
Speaker D:The editing is immaculate in this.
Speaker D:And that whole game show.
Speaker D:I mean, it's surrounded in that game show.
Speaker D:But there's so much other things that are going on at that time.
Speaker D:I think during that.
Speaker D:And that's When Stanley is decided, he can't decide whether he's going to go up and do that, like one on one thing.
Speaker D:But he also, you know, he had accident and he pissed his pants because he didn't let him use the bathroom.
Speaker D:But which makes it so powerful because everyone is in this emotional paralysis at this time in all the storylines.
Speaker D:Jim at that moment loses his gun.
Speaker D:I remember.
Speaker E:Yes.
Speaker D:Which is this.
Speaker D:Which is nuts.
Speaker D:Linda Partridges is on the verge of suicide in her car, right.
Speaker D:Drowning in guilt and regret at that time.
Speaker D:And Frank Mackey is in the middle of that.
Speaker D:Is.
Speaker D:Is on the phone with Phil and he's torn between whether he is going to confront going to see his father or not.
Speaker D:So all these things, everyone is like in this moment of limbo.
Speaker D:Like then there's that.
Speaker D:Exactly.
Speaker D:And then there's that music that is almost like that is crescent at this moment.
Speaker D:And it's like the tension and it seems like this.
Speaker D:The stakes don't even seem like.
Speaker D:I mean the stakes are pretty high for some of these characters, but it's like you're on the edge of your seat for all these stories at the same time.
Speaker D:It is.
Speaker D:It's hard to really.
Speaker B:And everyone in this movie is giving the performance of their fucking lives.
Speaker B:But at this point, you've seen Julianne Moore just.
Speaker B:She's incredible in the lawyer's office.
Speaker B:Just her breakdown is insane.
Speaker B:Paul.
Speaker B:Philip Seymour Hoffman is just a nice guy trying to do the right thing.
Speaker B:Stuck on the phone.
Speaker B:The dogs are getting high.
Speaker B:Now they're taking the pills.
Speaker B:Like it's.
Speaker D:This is filmmaking at its most dynamic.
Speaker D:Transforming these deeply personal struggles into something like just epic and inevitable and just human.
Speaker B:It's so relatable.
Speaker B:I think we all, all have been parts of every one of these characters and had these moments.
Speaker B:Like these choices are real choices.
Speaker B:They feel high stakes because they were to us.
Speaker E:That's what I love about it.
Speaker E:It's grounded situations with real people, but told in the most dynamic, dramatic, operatic way ever.
Speaker E:So it like heightens everything.
Speaker E:I mean, you know.
Speaker E:And by the way, Nathan, we were saying when Jim loses his gun in the rain.
Speaker E:I love that scene because you can tell that they literally like ran outside with a camera into the rain and are just like handheld going around in the bushes.
Speaker E:Like, it's so visceral.
Speaker E:I love that.
Speaker D:Sam, you mentioned something in the very beginning when you talked about why you like this movie.
Speaker D:And it was about fathers.
Speaker D:And I think this is something we should talk about.
Speaker D:I think sins of the father are major.
Speaker D:Theme of this, and I think we should talk about that for a moment is Magnolia critique of flawed fatherhood.
Speaker E:I think it definitely is.
Speaker E:And I think that's why I hesitate to go into detail because I honestly actually really don't know.
Speaker E:I just.
Speaker E:Exactly what he said.
Speaker E:But PT Anderson did mention that it was drama in his own family.
Speaker E:So maybe it's father related or something.
Speaker E:Family related.
Speaker E:But in terms of the movie itself, yeah, I think it's making a commentary on that.
Speaker E:And it's the, you know, sins of the father and the father seeking redemption and the son, like, kind of paying the price.
Speaker E:But I also think it's also family.
Speaker E:Broken families together trying to heal.
Speaker E:I don't think it's just fathers and sons.
Speaker E:I think that's one element of it.
Speaker E:I think it's really about family and, like, broken family and the importance of family and trying to come back together.
Speaker E:As cheesy as that sounds.
Speaker E:But it has that at kind of a core level.
Speaker E:And then piles on all the excellent story elements and dramatics, if that makes sense.
Speaker D:I feel like a lot of the.
Speaker D:I'm sorry, B.
Speaker D:Go ahead.
Speaker B:No, no, go ahead.
Speaker D:I.
Speaker D:I think you're right on both counts, Sam.
Speaker D:But I feel like the whole father element of this is really in our face.
Speaker D:I mean, we've got so many terrible dads in this.
Speaker D:I mean, Claudia's father, Jimmy Gator, is a central figure in her trauma.
Speaker D:She believes he molested her.
Speaker D:I'm not too sure exactly when that's.
Speaker D:That was supposed to happen.
Speaker D:When she was young girl, I'm.
Speaker D:I'm guessing, but that, you know, she's.
Speaker D:You know, it's that wound she's numbing through drug addiction.
Speaker D:Frank Mackie's estrangement from his father, Earl Partridge, you know, stems from abandonment.
Speaker D:Earl, you know, so Earl left Frank.
Speaker D:And his mother, I think, is what happened when Frank was young.
Speaker D:So this is shaping his defensiveness.
Speaker D:Manipulative Persona.
Speaker D:And so Frank now is.
Speaker D:So let me think about.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:So, meanwhile, so Stanley Spector's trouble dynamic with his father is unfolding in real time.
Speaker D:You know, his father embodies that toxic stage.
Speaker D:Dad exploiting Stanley's success to compensate for his own insecurities and personal failures.
Speaker D:So this film is just all over the place.
Speaker D:Exploring this general harm that can ripple through, you know, lives.
Speaker D:Leaving these.
Speaker D:All these emotional scars.
Speaker D:I mean, I think father.
Speaker D:These terrible dads are.
Speaker D:Are leaving a lasting imprint on every character here.
Speaker B:And I think a lot of behavior in general in this movie is shitty.
Speaker B:I think a Lot of.
Speaker B:He puts a pretty clear spotlight on what we now talk about as toxic masculinity all through the movie.
Speaker B:Starting off with Tom Cruise character, and it just kind of keeps going.
Speaker B:I don't think you can ignore, you know, P.T.
Speaker B:anderson.
Speaker B:There's different accounts on how intentional this was, which is to say, I don't think it was super intentional.
Speaker B:But there is a lot of religious allegory in the film.
Speaker B:And, you know, we talk when we're talking about famous broken families and fathers and sons and the original sin and, you know, I think that's part of it, I think, but I think it's not just.
Speaker B:Not just families coming together, because families don't just come back together.
Speaker B:It's the act of working through and forgiving and letting go to find closeness again.
Speaker B:I think that is the exercise that all these characters have to go through.
Speaker E:Right, Exactly.
Speaker E:And that's why it's like.
Speaker E:It's perfectly like that continues throughout the whole film.
Speaker E:I totally.
Speaker E:Brief non sequitur, random fact.
Speaker E:But P.T.
Speaker E:anderson, Burt Reynolds did not get along with P.T.
Speaker E:anderson.
Speaker E:And the filming of Boogie Nights, which came right before this.
Speaker E:Lots of stories, yada yada.
Speaker E:PT Anderson actually asked Burt Reynolds to play a role in this film Magnolia, and he turned it down.
Speaker E:And I have no idea what it.
Speaker E:Which role it is.
Speaker E:I could guess, but I just thought that would have been interesting.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:We talked a moment about Tom Cruise.
Speaker D:I think we.
Speaker D:If we're gonna talk about any character in here in a little bit of detail, I think we need to talk about Tom Cruise's character of.
Speaker D:Of the pickup artist.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Because first of all, his introduction, it's a masterstroke in.
Speaker D:In cinematic irony.
Speaker D:He is framed.
Speaker D:First of all, I, I b.
Speaker D:I know you're not the biggest fan of Stanley Kubrick.
Speaker D: n't know what your take is on: Speaker D:That music.
Speaker E:Oh, the music.
Speaker D:Yeah, I wrote it down here somewhere.
Speaker D:Also Sprouts Whatever, which is basically the Monolith theme song.
Speaker D:And this choice isn't just for dramatic flair.
Speaker D:It's a clever, it's funny version that reflects Frank's delusional self images.
Speaker B:His ego.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Oh, funny, like.
Speaker D:And the Monolith symbolizes evolution and higher intelligence and cosmic power and a trigger for humanity's leap forward.
Speaker D:So it's just so hysterical that he's using this to introduce himself and how he sees himself as this godlike figure.
Speaker B:It opens and you're really just watching him and you think this is like Steve Jobs introducing the ipod.
Speaker B:And then it turns around and there's like three people in the audience.
Speaker B:And you're like, okay, I don't know.
Speaker D:How many people do you think are there?
Speaker B:It's a small crowd.
Speaker B:I mean, it's, there's butts in the seats, but it didn't feel like an amphitheater.
Speaker B:You know, it was just, you know, a conference room at a hotel.
Speaker D:Do you think there's an irony in that Tom Cruise is portraying this character as.
Speaker D:Because there is.
Speaker D:There, there is some.
Speaker D:There's layered.
Speaker D:So there's some irony layered in this because with his association with Scientology, Frank is this self styled guru selling dominance and control through Seduce and Destroy seminars.
Speaker D:A character who thrives through manipulation and charisma.
Speaker D:And there's so many parallels with Cruz's real life rules.
Speaker D:That feels like as a spokesperson for Scientology and these people from Scientology.
Speaker D:We're not putting it down if you're listening.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:We're just talking about it.
Speaker D:Don't come after us.
Speaker B:Let's have a talk.
Speaker D:It might be, but the casting of Tom Cruise is.
Speaker D:Pth.
Speaker D:Challenging Cruise because this seems like, why would he take this roll on?
Speaker B:I mean, all the talks that Tom Cruise is given, I don't even know if Tom Cruise would associate those qualities with his association with Scientology.
Speaker B:So I don't know if that's just like what we put on him in.
Speaker E:The role or I, I think he was aware of that.
Speaker E:But I think ultimately like PT Anderson probably thought Tom Cruise could do an amazing job and in the role and was like thrilled to have like such a huge A list star.
Speaker E:Like, I think it was all like script positive.
Speaker D:Yeah, well, yeah, but I'm just thinking in Tom Cruise's position, like, it's, it's.
Speaker D:I'm just surprised that he took the role.
Speaker D:I'm glad.
Speaker B:It's kind of how I feel about Elizabeth Moss in the Handmaid's Tale, you know?
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker E:What does she do in the hands of.
Speaker E:I'm not familiar with it.
Speaker E:Sorry, apologies.
Speaker B:She's the main character, so I don't like no spoilers, but she's sort of.
Speaker B:You see her experiencing everything under the fascist regime and then.
Speaker B:Or the authoritarian regime and then the impending revolution.
Speaker D:Well, I wish Tom Cruise would do more of these types of actuals because if he did this, you know, the guy can act when he's given.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:You know, I think this movie is.
Speaker B:A good time to remember that Tom Cruise is 5 4.
Speaker B:I think we should just leave it.
Speaker E:By the way, the Random.
Speaker E:You talked about the, you know, the religious elements and like all throughout the Movie, the number 82 is everywhere.
Speaker E:Like everywhere.
Speaker E:Then it's like exodus, you know, frogs.
Speaker E:And so it's just.
Speaker E:I think that's like an underlying device that just like ties.
Speaker E:It puts the movie together on like a web, you know.
Speaker B:I think Paul Thomas Anderson has the God's eye in this movie.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:Using that hand.
Speaker B:But I do think it's.
Speaker B:This movie succeeds because the performances are so incredible.
Speaker B:I do think Cruz's performance is impeccable in this movie.
Speaker B:I love the interview scene.
Speaker B:What am I doing?
Speaker B:I'm silently judging you.
Speaker E:That was brutal.
Speaker D:Actress that plays opposite him.
Speaker D:I have never seen her in anything else.
Speaker D:April Grace plays Gunovier, I think is her name, who interviews him.
Speaker D:She is fantastic in this.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker D:How does she not get more work out of this?
Speaker B:Incredible.
Speaker B:That whole scene is like just, you know, talk about edge of your seat because you start to see the cracks in how we're introduced to these characters.
Speaker B:You start to see this other dimension come through.
Speaker B:Oh, there's more to these people that I have to learn about.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think it's a smart stroke of casting whoever did the casting for this that it's not all a listers.
Speaker B:There's a lot of character actors in here.
Speaker B:There's a lot of people who, you know, who often fill in the background.
Speaker D:And because those cracks are revealed.
Speaker D:I love it when after Mackie goes back on stage, he is like, he's back there but he's not where the level of energy he was in the beginning and.
Speaker D:But I like that it's not like overdone where he's like completely falling apart on stage a little bit.
Speaker D:But he's like 86% of where he was before.
Speaker D:And in the top of the show I had a little clip from that he mispronounces like heinous and he corrects himself.
Speaker D:These little moments where like, oh, it's the blue book, not the white book.
Speaker D:And you see how he gets frustrated with himself.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:It's a.
Speaker D:It's a wonderful moment showing that he is slowly his mind is elsewhere and he's not really the guy that you think he is, so.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, I'm just thinking about like how there's so many modern day parallels to the Tom Cruise character, but there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I just, I love this movie.
Speaker B:I think there's so much.
Speaker B:I want to come back to that William H.
Speaker B:Macy line.
Speaker B:Like, I just have so much love and I don't know where to put it because it comes after.
Speaker B:It comes towards the end.
Speaker B:I want to talk about the end specifically, but it comes after the date scene with Dixon and the young girl, Jimmy's daughter, where they're also trying to figure out how to love.
Speaker B:And, like, she knows she wants to love.
Speaker B:She knows she wants to be loved and to love someone else and is having a very hard time figuring out how that fits into her life.
Speaker B:It's the same thing for Dixon.
Speaker B:He says it outright.
Speaker B:He's like, I'm divorced.
Speaker B:I shouldn't have asked you this.
Speaker B:I came here as an officer of the law.
Speaker B:He's clearly terrible at his job, man.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just all these characters are stumbling over how to make room for love in their life and light in their life amidst the mania and the trauma and the darkness.
Speaker B:And I just.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I think it's so heartbreaking and beautiful.
Speaker B:And he just sums it up in one line.
Speaker D:I agree.
Speaker D:Because life is messy and painful and a lot of things in life will go unresolved as well.
Speaker D:And I think it.
Speaker D:This film is suggesting that, yeah, life is messy and nothing is guaranteed.
Speaker D:So I agree.
Speaker D:I love that date scene and how they.
Speaker D:They do kind of come together and they have that kiss, but immediately backs away, saying that, like, I'm not worth caring for and runs off.
Speaker D:And there's a.
Speaker D:And it's a really devastating moment.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Should we talk about frog apocalypse?
Speaker B:Because that's something that all I've wanted to talk about.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker B:Yeah, so go ahead.
Speaker E:I was really disturbed in that scene when all my friends fell out of the sky and hit a bunch of cars and it hurt.
Speaker E:And, you know, I was on board with the first two.
Speaker E:2 hours and 45 minutes.
Speaker E:And that scene started and I was like this.
Speaker E:And I left.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:This is one of the most extraordinary moments in movie history for me.
Speaker D:Honestly, my opinion, it comes at a time when every character.
Speaker D:Character is at a major crossroads.
Speaker D:In each case, it changes the trajectory of lives that we couldn't imagine.
Speaker D:You know, we have Jim, who is turning around to arrest Donnie, who has broken into a building.
Speaker D:And the frogs, when they rain down, they prevent it basic.
Speaker D:From happening.
Speaker D:He can't go to.
Speaker D:To stop him.
Speaker D:And also it affects Donnie because he falls as well, so he can't continue.
Speaker D:The biggest one where I think it affects is Jimmy Gator, who decides he's gonna shoot himself.
Speaker D:And a frog falls through the skylight and hits his arm and the bullet misses.
Speaker D:Also very.
Speaker E:When I had a question about that, because when he gets.
Speaker E:Isn't it implied, like, the bullet misses, but doesn't it set a spark on fire or something?
Speaker E:Like.
Speaker E:Or it was something.
Speaker E:Something's ambiguous where, like, his life may be spared, but he's about to die anyway.
Speaker E:That's what I got out of that moments.
Speaker D:I think he just.
Speaker D:Oh, I didn't catch that.
Speaker D:But he basically is going to live out the rest of his life in this limbo.
Speaker D:Having to live with this guilt or.
Speaker D:Yeah, you know, I didn't get that he was going to have some other weird fate.
Speaker E:No, I.
Speaker E:I have to watch that again because I.
Speaker E:I thought that, like, it.
Speaker E:Yes, it.
Speaker E:The bullet missed, but, like, it ignited the spark of something and you know, that he's like, you know, his house is going to burn down.
Speaker E:Like, it.
Speaker E:There's an ambiguousness.
Speaker E:But I.
Speaker E:I will have to watch that again because.
Speaker E:Yeah, okay.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:Also, very important.
Speaker D:Earl is.
Speaker D:And Mackie are together because Frank Mackey came to visit his dad and we didn't really talk about it, but he is basically telling, you know, telling his dad what a terrible dad you were.
Speaker D:I'm not going to forgive you and all that.
Speaker D:But they.
Speaker D:But Earl wakes up and has a moment of where he's lucid and they look at each other and I don't know if there is any kind of forgiveness there.
Speaker D:It doesn't really matter.
Speaker D:But they lock eyes for a moment just before he passes.
Speaker D:During this frog apocalypse, every character, they.
Speaker E:Connect, like, even though they don't speak, there's eye contact.
Speaker E:There's like.
Speaker E:There is some type of connection.
Speaker E:There's like.
Speaker E:And understand that is the conclusion to all the, like, suffering because it's like.
Speaker B:And the little boy, the boy genius.
Speaker D:That's my favorite because every character is affected in some way by this bizarre, seemingly random event.
Speaker D:But Stanley is sitting alone, what looks like.
Speaker D:Like in a.
Speaker D:Like a closed library.
Speaker D:But my favorite shot in this movie is one of them is when the frogs are falling.
Speaker D:See the shadow or the silhouette of the frogs falling on the walls behind them.
Speaker D:I actually got goosebumps during that because it's always.
Speaker D:And he says something.
Speaker D:He said it's just a simple, profound acknowledgment of the unexplainable where he says, like, this is something that happened.
Speaker B:Happens.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker E:And he was riveted.
Speaker E:Like, he was fat.
Speaker E:To me, him seeing the frogs was like an alleviation on his day because he got to witness something outside the pressure of his life.
Speaker E:And his, like, intelligent mind was like, wow, these Things happened.
Speaker E:I'm glad I'm watching this.
Speaker E:Like, that's what I got out of it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker B:I love the frog moment.
Speaker B:I know not everybody loves the frog moment.
Speaker B:I think it's spectacular.
Speaker B:And I think PT Anderson is at his best when he is leaning into moments of magical realism and even some absurdism.
Speaker B:Like he is here.
Speaker B:I think it's a great moment that sort of, like we talk about these internal moments that everybody has when we're at a major crossroads and then something so fucking crazy happens.
Speaker B:Like it rains frogs and it just knocks you out of that stasis.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Suddenly you're just, like, very aware of the outside world around you.
Speaker B:And the other things the frogs do is it doesn't just affect these people individually, it brings them together in different ways.
Speaker B:Like the ambulance that falls over Julianne Moore.
Speaker B:And we have Dixon and William H.
Speaker B:Macy meeting up because of the frogs.
Speaker B:Like, the.
Speaker B:There's this incredible, like I said, like, Hand of God that just comes down is like, nope, we're.
Speaker B:It's time.
Speaker B:It's time to move on.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker E:We're going forward here.
Speaker E:Exactly.
Speaker E:And it works on multiple levels because, like, thematically, what you were just talking about, that happens.
Speaker E:And then also in and of itself, it's a visually spectacular set piece.
Speaker B:I mean, it's incredible.
Speaker E:Remember seeing that in the theater, and I was like, I can't believe what I'm seeing right now.
Speaker E:I was in awe of that scene.
Speaker E:Oh, and really quick, I scrolled back on that scene in YouTube with the sound off, and I realized what it was.
Speaker E:I could be wrong, but when he tries to shoot himself and the bullet misses, it hits a plug socket in the wall.
Speaker E:And then after he falls on the ground, there's a close up on the plug sparking.
Speaker E:And I thought that implied, like, maybe it'll start a fire.
Speaker E:Like, it's like, maybe he's alive, maybe he isn't.
Speaker E:But I thought the point was that he's in, like, a bad place and the frogs, like, might just increase his, like, longevity and torment.
Speaker E:Like, it's like things.
Speaker E:It's.
Speaker E:Things are not going well for him, basically.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:In general.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:This is like a little.
Speaker B:This is a little cheesy.
Speaker B:But I did think for a lot of these characters, it's kind of a literal leap of faith too.
Speaker B:Into.
Speaker B:Into these new situations they have to go in.
Speaker B:Did you read the story about Philip Baker hall and frogs?
Speaker E:No, no, no.
Speaker B:Paul Thomas Anderson, I guess, was talking to him about the script, and I Might have the story not totally correct, so someone should check this.
Speaker B:But my understanding is that he was talking about the script and brought up the idea of the frog ending.
Speaker B:And Philip Baker hall said, oh, yeah, when I was in the Alps, it started raining frogs.
Speaker B:That's like.
Speaker B:That was something that happened to me once and I guess, you know, maybe sort of solidified him wanting to take the role or, you know, he was like, oh, yeah, that is something that happens.
Speaker E:That is so cool sometimes.
Speaker E:That's a great story.
Speaker E:For some reason, when you started that story, I thought it was going to be the opposite, where he liked the script but got to the frog part and was like, what is this?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, he was like, oh, yeah.
Speaker B:When it rains frogs, for sure.
Speaker E:That's awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah, it just.
Speaker B:You can tell the whole cast just gets it.
Speaker B:And I think this is clear in a lot of PTA films, he has a way of bringing a cast to, like.
Speaker B:You know, sometimes you watch movies and they're good movies, but everybody's in a different movie.
Speaker E:Right.
Speaker B:That doesn't happen with pta.
Speaker B:I really feel like he's such a.
Speaker B:He must be such a good.
Speaker B:Well, I know his reputation, but there's something about the way that him or the people he works with make film where everybody understands the assignment.
Speaker E:Exactly.
Speaker E:He must.
Speaker E:He's, like, good at communicating, I think, both directorially and, like, through his writing and also with this movie.
Speaker E:I like the fact that it's during his, like, ensemble films like Boogie Nights.
Speaker E:Big, large cast.
Speaker E:This big nard.
Speaker E:Large cast.
Speaker E:Boogie Nights and Magnolia are similar in.
Speaker E:They're close to each other and when they both came out.
Speaker E:And I love his big ensemble, like, epic films.
Speaker E:Like it.
Speaker E:It's like this is that phase that he's in.
Speaker E:And I feel like Magnolia is the absolute pinnacle of this part of his career.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I love this movie.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker D:Anything else we want to add or.
Speaker D:We.
Speaker D:We good?
Speaker D:I think, B, you summed up.
Speaker D:What I think is.
Speaker D:I agree, is the thesis of this and the point in this where Donnie Smith has that line.
Speaker D:I really do have love to give.
Speaker D:I just don't know where to put it.
Speaker D:When he says that, I actually kind of welled up during that because he delivers that with so much emotion.
Speaker D:And I think that statement applies to pretty much everybody in this movie.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's a great film.
Speaker B:Go watch Mangoing.
Speaker B:Go watch all PGA movies.
Speaker B:If you're listening to this, there's one you haven't seen yet.
Speaker B:It's probably good.
Speaker B:Go watch it also.
Speaker E:How about Mark Wahlberg and Jason Robard's role.
Speaker E:How about that?
Speaker E:To switch things up?
Speaker D:This would have been a good week for recasting.
Speaker D:Okay, shall we take a break and come back with our ratings, our final thoughts, and our vault decision?
Speaker D:Let's do that.
Speaker D:Let's take it.
Speaker D:All right, so thank you everyone for tuning into our podcast.
Speaker D:If you are enjoying the show, please be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss a new episode.
Speaker D:We drop fresh content every week since we don't have a budget for paid advertising.
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Speaker D:And if you're feeling extra generous, please leave us a five star review on Apple Podcast or Spotify that really helps us grow.
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Speaker C:Starting now, you're not to blink.
Speaker C:If you blink, we go back to the start.
Speaker C:Infringement.
Speaker C:We blinked.
Speaker C:Starting now, you are not to blink.
Speaker C:If you blink, we go back to the start.
Speaker C:Do you often think about how inconsequential you are?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Do you believe that God will save you from your own ridiculousness?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker C:Have you ever had intercourse with someone inside your family?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Have you ever had intercourse with someone inside your family?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Who?
Speaker C:My auntie.
Speaker C:Have you killed anyone?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Maybe?
Speaker C:Not me.
Speaker C:Have you killed.
Speaker C:Killed anyone?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:How many times did you have intercourse with your aunt?
Speaker C:Three times.
Speaker C:Where's your aunt now?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:Would you like to have intercourse with her again?
Speaker D:No.
Speaker C:Do you regret this?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Where's your mother?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:Infringement.
Speaker D:All right, let's get to the Master was good.
Speaker D:I love the Master, by the way.
Speaker E:We didn't.
Speaker E:We forgot to mention why the movie is called Magnolia.
Speaker E:Other than the fact that it's a street in the San Fernando Valley where it was shot, but the boulevard.
Speaker E:But.
Speaker E:I don't know.
Speaker E:But anyway, maybe it doesn't matter.
Speaker D:It's also a great Tom Petty song.
Speaker B:Is this about Magnolia Bark?
Speaker B:Is this.
Speaker E:I don't know.
Speaker E:Maybe.
Speaker D:I didn't do the research on it.
Speaker D:But it's a flower.
Speaker D:Of course.
Speaker D:And now you've taken all of our credibility away, Sam, because we didn't follow up on this.
Speaker B:I've read a Thing, but I don't know if it's a credible thing.
Speaker B:Did you read anything on it, Sam do.
Speaker D:You better have if you could bring it up.
Speaker D:You gotta, like, you know.
Speaker D:Yeah, follow up.
Speaker D:Come on.
Speaker E:Oh, I just assumed you guys would know it.
Speaker E:I just know that Magnolia is a boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker E:And I'm wondering if you named it.
Speaker E:I read it after the street.
Speaker E:And then he, like, looked up the flower and was like, this works.
Speaker B:No, I read something about the bark.
Speaker B:Maybe, like, people thought it was a cure for cancer at some point and he incorporated.
Speaker D:Thanks for giving me something.
Speaker D:You have to edit out, guys.
Speaker D:Looks like.
Speaker E:No, we don't have.
Speaker E:We're definitely not editing this out.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker E:Yeah, I actually did not know.
Speaker E:I was just curious.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:Let's get to our final thoughts.
Speaker D:Our rating and decision on whether Magnolia will be saved or purged into the fiery apocalypse.
Speaker E:Did we ever discuss why, what the movie was called?
Speaker E:Magnolia or Dispirit?
Speaker E:Now you have two things to add it.
Speaker E:So wait, so, yeah, if it was rage.
Speaker E:Let's go back.
Speaker E:If it's saved or purged.
Speaker E:How should we do this?
Speaker D:You just fucking with me now, Sam?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker E:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:Okay, Sam, do you want to go first?
Speaker D:Yeah, Sam wants to go first.
Speaker E:I'll go first.
Speaker E:Sure.
Speaker E:So this slow, unengaging, desperate film for attention from PT Nowhere Man.
Speaker E:1 1/2 stars.
Speaker E:Boring.
Speaker E:Not in the vault.
Speaker E:None of what I just said was true.
Speaker E:No.
Speaker E:I will end by saying, of course.
Speaker E:Brilliant PD Anderson, amazing director.
Speaker E:Five stars.
Speaker E:Put it in the vault.
Speaker E:Also, yay.
Speaker E:Hey, look, it's Quiz Kid Donnie Smith.
Speaker D:I'll.
Speaker D:I'll just.
Speaker D:I'll go next.
Speaker D:I'll just say this whole film has this restless energy that I think is unique.
Speaker D:It's almost like the film itself is searching for something, some kind of resolution or understanding.
Speaker D:And I think at its heart, Magnolia feels like a meditation.
Speaker D:Unforgiveness.
Speaker D:Acceptance of ourselves, of others, or of things that we can't control.
Speaker D:It's messy, it's emotional, and.
Speaker D:And it's unapologetically sincere.
Speaker D:It reminds us that even in life's strangest and most painful moments, there's a chance for something meaningful still to break through.
Speaker D:So it doesn't shy away from tough emotions.
Speaker D:It dives straight into the raw, messy parts of being human.
Speaker D:It's not easy.
Speaker D:Watch by any means.
Speaker D:And nobody comes out of this story unscathed.
Speaker D:So I'm giving this four out of four and a half out of five stars.
Speaker D:It could be tighter.
Speaker D:That's Also, yeah, ridiculous.
Speaker E:I loved the be.
Speaker E:Your eye roll just there was excellent.
Speaker B:Are you putting it in the vault?
Speaker D:Yes, it is definitely going the vaults.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Redemption.
Speaker B:See, for everyone.
Speaker B:Obviously it's a five star movie for me.
Speaker B:I'm a sucker for.
Speaker B:For just character driven movies over plot driven movies.
Speaker B:And the internal lives of these characters are so rich and well developed and really, you know, I've used heartbreaking a couple of times here, but it's so apt for this movie.
Speaker B:This movie just breaks your heart over and over and over again because these people are people we know.
Speaker B:They're people in our family.
Speaker B:These stories are the stories of everyone and these are the skeletons in closets that are so common in families that we know and have.
Speaker B:I think it's a really touching portrait of people who are on the brink and there's so much empathy, but it's not without it's honest and empathetic portrayal, which I think sometimes you get something more saccharine than that and you, Paul Thomas Anderson doesn't fall into that trap.
Speaker B:So, yeah, five stars for me.
Speaker B:Put it in the vault.
Speaker E:All right, y'all need a pilot.
Speaker D:Is it not like the worst movie tagline you've seen in years?
Speaker E:I love it.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker D:This January to the listeners.
Speaker D:I was at the theater and I saw.
Speaker D:I was at.
Speaker D:Yeah, I was at Gladiator 2 and I saw the poster for Flight Risk with Mark Wahlberg and I just saw the tagline like, you all need a pile.
Speaker D:It's like, really?
Speaker D:This is the best the marketing team could come up with as a tagline.
Speaker D:Seems.
Speaker E: n we just in the beginning of: Speaker E:Flight Risk.
Speaker E:Cough, cough, cough.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah.
Speaker D:I want to give a shout out to a friend of the show.
Speaker D:I was listening to Sam, you know, this guy, this movie saved my life.
Speaker D:John Trafton.
Speaker D:I was listening to his.
Speaker D: His latest episode on the: Speaker D: They did a: Speaker E:Oh, nice.
Speaker D:Awesome.
Speaker D:And I want to get right back to them.
Speaker D:So thank you, John, for the shout out.
Speaker B:Great podcast.
Speaker D:It is.
Speaker D:And I really enjoyed your movie draft.
Speaker D:I listened to this morning and the shout out.
Speaker D:So we're giving it right back to you.
Speaker D:Anyone else wanting to add another movie podcast to their daily commute, go check out this movie.
Speaker D:Saved my life.
Speaker D:They put out a good show and good people over there.
Speaker E:So yeah, they put out a Great show.
Speaker E:And they did a really cool Alien episode lately.
Speaker E:Good friend of John's and he's a big fan of Alien and as am I.
Speaker D:We both.
Speaker D:And you've been a guest, Sam as well.
Speaker E:Speed.
Speaker E:Speed.
Speaker B:Good movie.
Speaker E:Good movie.
Speaker E:Good times.
Speaker E:Good drug.
Speaker E:Just kidding.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D: So, guys, this is it for: Speaker D:When we come back.
Speaker D: It's going to be: Speaker D:If my math holds up.
Speaker D:Anything else you want to.
Speaker D:Anything I want to mention before we.
Speaker D:We break it up tonight about this.
Speaker B:This year, there's so much.
Speaker B:There's so much that's still coming out that probably won't come out for the next month or so for us.
Speaker B:And I just, I can't wait to get it all before award season hits.
Speaker E:2024.
Speaker E:You did your thing.
Speaker E:We acknowledge your presence.
Speaker E:2024.
Speaker B:I'm really glad it's over.
Speaker B:Adios.
Speaker D:I'm ready for.
Speaker D:I'm ready for next year.
Speaker D:I am.
Speaker D:Totally.
Speaker D:All right, so we're gonna be back and we're taking the rest of the year off and we'll be back.
Speaker D:I think the 13th is our.
Speaker D:The next episode is going to drop and it's going to be.
Speaker D: our end, if it's gonna be our: Speaker D:We'll talk off.
Speaker D:Off after we wrap this up.
Speaker B:Keep you on your toes.
Speaker D:Yeah, keep it on your toes.
Speaker D:But yeah.
Speaker D:So stay tuned for that and please come to our live show on January 10th.
Speaker D:There will be links in the show notes for that and keep your.
Speaker D:And yeah, and you can RSVP for that as well.
Speaker D:We hope to see some friends and fans there.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:All right.
Speaker D:Well, that is our show for this week.
Speaker D:Back to the frame rate as part of the Weston Media Podcast Network.
Speaker D:Special thanks to Brian Ellsworth for our show opening.
Speaker D:On behalf of all of us, we bid you farewell from the fallout shelter.
Speaker D:If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe, leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker D:Find more episodes of Back to the frame rate at.
Speaker D:Find more episodes@backtotheframerate.com you know, after two years, I.
Speaker D:I think I would get better at this and follow us on social media with our handle.
Speaker D:Back to the frame rate.
Speaker D:Your support brightens our bunker.
Speaker D:Until next time, stay with us, keep hope alive and share our show with your friends.
Speaker D:This is the end of our transmission.
Speaker D:Back to the frame rate.
Speaker D:Signing off.
Speaker B:Woo.
Speaker E:Cool.
Speaker C:Want you to know it's over.
Speaker C:Well, bye.
