Comments on: There Will Be Overthinking It

By: What We Talk About When We Talk About Overthinking It (Rambo Week Postscript) | Overthinking It

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:00:19 +0000

[...] elements out of their work. Oh, yes, sometimes you get a highbrow triumph of genius, like There Will Be Blood. But a lot of the time, you get a lifeless piece of trash that thinks that all it needs to be [...]

By: Sheely

Sheely — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:13:56 +0000

I think Paul Thomas Anderson movies in general make pretty bad date movies. I remember I rented Boogie Nights with my 10th grade girlfriend. NOT A GOOD IDEA.

By: stokes

stokes — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:20:07 +0000

Well, I agree that There Will Be Blood is more challenging. Certainly I’d rather read the (inevitable) film studies papers about There Will Be Blood than one about The Departed. But I don’t think that makes it a better film – just more interesting to pick apart.

Anyway, I’m glad you found it so compelling. You really ought to see No Country for Old Men. Bring the girl! She’s already seen one inappropriate date movie with you, you might as well make a tradition out of it.

By: fenzel

fenzel — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:55:48 +0000

I dunno – I haven’t seen No Country For Old Men, but I put There Will Be Blood head and shoulders above The Departed. The Departed is a really tight genre film that hits almost all its notes and has a really strong all-star cast, and it has a certain layered richness and complexity to it, but I didn’t think it was all that bold or cogent – it’s still pretty much a well-made play, there isn’t anything really innovative about it that wasn’t done in the 1830s. Black hats, white hats, people switching hats, heroes who might be villains, it’s all melodrama when you get down to it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love melodrama, but There Will Be Blood is a more challenging piece, its form is more robust in terms of working in relation with its elements and images — it sets and breaks expectation in ways that might not be quite as thrilling, but which command a larger space.

I left The Departed thinking, “Wow Marky Mark Kicks Ass.”

I left There Will Be Blood sputtering and speechless.

By the way, There Will Be Blood? Not a great date movie. It took a little while to recover from that.