Paul Thomas Anderson

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Morbii
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#51 Post by Morbii » Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:38 am

Bought the CD too...

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GaryC
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#52 Post by GaryC » Tue Sep 26, 2017 4:58 am

Este, not Esme. :)

The Prince Charles (London) is showing a 35mm print of Valentine from time to time - most recently last Saturday, in support of Boogie Nights.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#53 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:32 am

Sent my brother the link to Valentine and 14 minutes and change later, he responded with a screenshot of his order of the double LP from Amazon...

I still think Fiona Apple's "Hot Knife" is Anderson's finest musical moment - if you haven't seen this video, I would highly recommend you take a moment away from drooling over Haim to give it a look - it is somehow the most literal visual interpretation of the song and the most mind-meltingly difficult one to pull off well at the same time. And the metronome at the beginning is Anderson's lovely little touch, it isn't on the track itself

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D50
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#54 Post by D50 » Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:26 am

GaryC wrote:Este, not Esme. :)
And her Mick Fleetwood drum face.

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swo17
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#55 Post by swo17 » Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:29 am

Esme is a better name though

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ianthemovie
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#56 Post by ianthemovie » Wed Sep 27, 2017 12:38 am

I kept watching the video for "Right Now" over and over again when it first came out (back in the spring?). It's a great song, but as a devoted PTA fan I was absolutely mesmerized by the camerawork. I think I was holding my breath during that first shot as it went on for a minute, two minutes, three minutes, thinking, "when is he going to cut!?" and then letting out a sigh when he finally cut (at exactly the right moment, of course). The whole thing (four shots, four minutes) is a perfect example in miniature of how totally in command Anderson is of how to move the camera and when to cut.

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D50
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#57 Post by D50 » Wed Sep 27, 2017 9:43 am

What gets me after watching Right Now maybe a dozen times, is the transition from the two girls beating away on percussion, and the cut to the lead and she's cool as a cucumber.

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ianthemovie
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#58 Post by ianthemovie » Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:54 am

Yes, exactly. That cut lands like a sock to the gut.

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D50
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#59 Post by D50 » Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:59 am

It's easy to forget that her song is a conversation, starting off so normal and civil you can hear the heart beats, and which degenerates of course because she's rejecting him, and he's not happy to the point leading to the crescendo (drums reflecting his reaction).

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D50
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#60 Post by D50 » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:20 pm

Just listened to Right Now from the CD and it's horrible. There's this electronic voice thing going on that's not on the yt video, and during the bassist's chorus - right now right now - there's a man singing along with her and his voice is electronically modified. Horrible. I want my money back. This is going back - I'm getting my money back.

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swo17
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#61 Post by swo17 » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:24 pm


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D50
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#62 Post by D50 » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:44 pm

swo17 wrote:Hahaha, everyone hates it
If I had heard that it would've been easy. I wonder how I can make an mp3 from PTA's version.

Werewolf by Night

Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#63 Post by Werewolf by Night » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:58 pm

There are several online conversion sites, just Google “youtube to mp3”


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colinr0380
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#65 Post by colinr0380 » Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:30 pm

pzadvance wrote:
matrixschmatrix wrote:Huh, I'd never heard Haim before, and now I've bought their record, so it accomplished that goal. That second song is really phenomenal- I particularly enjoyed Esme Haim's very silly guitar (well, bass, but same idea) faces.
ditto to literally all of this
Gosh, Haim are great and I'd also highly recommend their 2012 album Days Are Gone. That's the one with Don't Save Me on it, which I think was the most well known song, or at least the one that got a lot of radio play at the time, but the whole album is great. I find the whole run on the second half of the album particularly enjoyable (the kind of thing that listening to one song leads to listening straight through to all the rest): the title track itself, My Song 5, Go Slow, Let Me Go and Running If You Call My Name.

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ianthemovie
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#66 Post by ianthemovie » Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:49 pm

The new video is fun! Feels like a throwback to the dance scenes in Boogie Nights.

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Bumstead
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Re: Paul Thomas Anderson

#67 Post by Bumstead » Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:35 pm

If PT Andersen is going to be his own DP moving forward, he better learn how to expose correctly. This music video has good lighting inside the studio (thanks to gaffer Mike Bauman), but there are issues with contrast ratio and maintaining clarity. Or may be I will eat my hat after seeing PHANTOM THREAD.

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ianthemovie
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#68 Post by ianthemovie » Tue Nov 21, 2017 12:18 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Inherent Vice was beholden to a storytelling structure that was not Anderson's - less of an ability to end on a huge note when you have to be very loyal to a novel that insists you end on a wistful one.
For sure, Inherent Vice has some astonishing moments, the one you cited being one of them. Personally I love the final scene between Bigfoot and Doc, which is as perfect an example as any of how PTA's films can snake themselves into the most emotionally complicated places. Watching that scene made me laugh, gave me the shivers (because of the undertone of menace from Bigfoot), and finally made me cry. It's almost as mind-bending as the "Slow Boat to China" scene in The Master, which makes me break out in a cold sweat every time I watch it. I also love the early sequence set to Can's propulsive, driving "Vitamin C."

In short my appreciation for Inherent Vice has grown leaps and bounds upon repeat viewings, and I agree seeing it projected (especially in 35mm) helped a lot, but it's still my fifth- or sixth-favorite of PTA's films.

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dda1996a
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#69 Post by dda1996a » Tue Nov 21, 2017 12:22 pm

Which says more to the quality of his output. Here is my estimated ranking of his:
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Boogie Nights
3. Punch-Drunk Love
4.. The Master
5. Magnolia
6. Inherent Vice
7. Junun
8. Hard Eight

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ianthemovie
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#70 Post by ianthemovie » Tue Nov 21, 2017 12:29 pm

I'd mostly agree with that ranking... though I love There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Boogie Nights so equally that it's hard to say how to order those!

The Somerville Theater here outside Boston screened a complete retrospective of his films a couple of summers ago, so I re-watched all of them in order. What an embarrassment of riches. At the risk of sounding like a fanboy (and maybe I am one), I'm so impressed with how, amidst so many American movies that are focus-group-approved and audience-tested to be idiot proof, his films have gotten away with being so uncompromising. In addition to having total command over the camera and being a first-rate actors' director, I really feel like he's an artist working directly from his gut in the best way. I really hope he never loses that.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#71 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 21, 2017 1:20 pm

I've always been an appreciative skeptic. I find all of his films admirable, but his earlier stuff all felt a bit too derivative for me. They all got by on sheer chutzpah, and while it's messy, Magnolia was really the only film prior to There Will Be Blood that felt satisfying to me thanks to its towering ambition.

For a short while, There Will Be Blood really made a believer out of me, and at the time, it felt like a distillation of his sensibilities. Clearly a Paul Thomas Anderson film, but the style was a lot leaner - more focused and without the excessive flourishes. More importantly, the influences on his work seemed less apparent than before - they were there, but they felt more organic, like they were fully internalized rather than aped or regurgitated. I felt the same about The Master even though it wasn't quite on par with There Will Be Blood - together, they may be my favorite works by him.

I still have mixed feelings about Inherent Vice - it's amusing to read Jim Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum's writings on marijuana and moviegoing, because going by their experiences, one wonders if Inherent Vice is simply meant to be the ultimate pot film.

So I may be a skeptic again, but I think he's the most interesting American filmmaker working right now, even if his films aren't always as satisfying or as consistent as those made by other filmmakers whom I like more.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#72 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Nov 21, 2017 1:51 pm

Ultimately, it seems like my Anderson enthusiasm stems from just being in the right age group. He was smack dab in the middle of his hiatus between Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood when I was graduating high school and revisiting his career to that point over and over, and by the time 2007 rolled around I was frothing at the mouth for that film.

And to my pleasant surprise, I can't think of another example of a filmmaker who has better handled their career after hitting that kind of peak, always choosing interesting projects and holding himself to a very high standard from both a personal and creative perspective. That bratty, possibly chemically enhanced wunderkind from the Magnolia making of doc seems to be all but gone and the warm guy who is doing Q&As after Demme retrospectives is a lovely person to have as your favorite living filmmaker.
dda1996a wrote:1. There Will Be Blood
2. Boogie Nights
3. Punch-Drunk Love
4.. The Master
5. Magnolia
6. Inherent Vice
7. Junun
8. Hard Eight
Oh no, are we doing this here?

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hearthesilence
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#73 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:02 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:And to my pleasant surprise, I can't think of another example of a filmmaker who has better handled their career after hitting that kind of peak, always choosing interesting projects and holding himself to a very high standard from both a personal and creative perspective. That bratty, possibly chemically enhanced wunderkind from the Magnolia making of doc seems to be all but gone and the warm guy who is doing Q&As after Demme retrospectives is a lovely person to have as your favorite living filmmaker.
Very true. I don't want to single out anyone who fell short, but he's on a very short list of filmmakers who turned their meteoric rise to fame into tremendously interesting careers with very admirable aims.

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dda1996a
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#74 Post by dda1996a » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:08 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Ultimately, it seems like my Anderson enthusiasm stems from just being in the right age group. He was smack dab in the middle of his hiatus between Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood when I was graduating high school and revisiting his career to that point over and over, and by the time 2007 rolled around I was frothing at the mouth for that film.

And to my pleasant surprise, I can't think of another example of a filmmaker who has better handled their career after hitting that kind of peak, always choosing interesting projects and holding himself to a very high standard from both a personal and creative perspective. That bratty, possibly chemically enhanced wunderkind from the Magnolia making of doc seems to be all but gone and the warm guy who is doing Q&As after Demme retrospectives is a lovely person to have as your favorite living filmmaker.
Is that on the Magnolia Blu?
I understand people' criticism of his earlier films as clearly showing their influences, but when a film like Boogie Nights is that magnetic I don't see the problem. It's no less different to me than how Tarantino is so clearly mimicking his favorites, except I feel Anderson actually tells personal stories rather than Tarantino pastiche.
Sure they indebted to Demme, Scorsese and Altman, but who cares? I like all four anyway.
I would say Punch-Drunk Love is perhaps the most Anderson film to me, as it has the least outer influences (as people can point out the Huston influences on TWBB)

John Shade
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Re: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)

#75 Post by John Shade » Tue Nov 21, 2017 3:12 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Ultimately, it seems like my Anderson enthusiasm stems from just being in the right age group. He was smack dab in the middle of his hiatus between Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood when I was graduating high school and revisiting his career to that point over and over, and by the time 2007 rolled around I was frothing at the mouth for that film.

And to my pleasant surprise, I can't think of another example of a filmmaker who has better handled their career after hitting that kind of peak, always choosing interesting projects and holding himself to a very high standard from both a personal and creative perspective. That bratty, possibly chemically enhanced wunderkind from the Magnolia making of doc seems to be all but gone and the warm guy who is doing Q&As after Demme retrospectives is a lovely person to have as your favorite living filmmaker.
Same situation here--really loved his late '90s films just as I was getting into film, then kind of took a break. Not going to rank his work, especially since I haven't rewatched some of it in quite some time. I still haven't seen There Will be Blood since it came out. Only saw The Master one time and all I remember is just leaving the theater with a vague, disturbed feeling. Do fans of that film revisit it frequently? Liked Inherent Vice and saw it twice during its run--but I mostly liked it for the mood and Phoenix's acting. A few months ago I revisited Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love, liking them somehow even more now, especially the latter, which comes off as a warmer, more humorous movie when you're a mellowed out older guy.

As for your second paragraph, I think Wes Anderson (I would have just said the other Anderson, but Armond White might jump in praising Resident Evil) has also handled the "peak" with "interesting projects" along with a fairly (seemingly) warm public persona.

I'm also curious as to who else hearthesilence means about careers keeping pace with meteoric rise; fodder for another thread perhaps.

edit: Sorry if this has been said, just wanted my post to stay somewhat on topic, but Anderson has said in an interview that he was thinking of Rebecca when making this one. Those words alone raise the anticipation of this one quite a bit for me. He went on to say..."A good dollop of suspense with a love story is a good combination"

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