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| Magnolia [Region 2] | ![Magnolia [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MEDEGSG8L._SL160_.jpg)
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| Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Actors: Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  720 reviews
Format: Anamorphic, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 3512391303877
ASIN: B00005R6UW
Theatrical Release Date: January 7, 2000
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Amazon.com
A handful of people in the San Fernando Valley are having one hell of a day. TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is on his deathbed; his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) is popping pills with alarming frequency. Earl's nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying desperately to get in touch with Earl's only son, sex guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who's about to have his carefully constructed past blown by a TV reporter (April Grace). Whiz kid Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is being goaded by his selfish dad into breaking the record for the game show What Do Kids Know? Meanwhile, Stanley's predecessor, the grown-up quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has lost his job and is nursing a severe case of unrequited love. And the host of What Do Kids Know?, the affable Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), like Earl, is dying of cancer, and his attempt to reconcile with his cokehead daughter (Melora Walters) fails miserably. She, meanwhile, is running hot and cold with a cop (John C. Reilly) who would love to date her, if she can sit still for long enough. And over it all, a foreboding sky threatens to pour something more than just rain. This third feature from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) is a maddening, magnificent piece of filmmaking, and it's an ensemble film to rank with the best of Robert Altman--every little piece of the film means something, and it's solidly there for a reason. Deftly juggling a breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful parents, resentful children, and love-starved souls that's amazing in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of Magnolia is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle, and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since we've seen a filmmaker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful, and this electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral center of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited to everyone's taste, Magnolia is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful mediation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives. Featuring eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save Me." --Mark Englehart
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| Customer Reviews: Read 715 more reviews...
 Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing me again? October 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
'Magnolia' is quite a film, and though I could find fault with it, it is almost too impressive and monumental to attack. It is kind of like a mosaic, where a lot of interrelated characters and intertwined stories keep our interest, keep us waiting to see how it will all connect and how all the story threads will be tied together--but some are while others end ambiguously. The promised epiphany is never delivered--and yet I am forced to applaud Anderson's bravado, spunk, and panache. I think the title, Magnolia, was meant to imply that the various and sundry story lines were like the petals of a flower (it seems like whenever they are in a different room, there are always pictures of flowers on the wall). The title "Magnolia" not only refers to Magnolia Blvd in Los Angeles, where much of Magnolia takes place, but is also similar to the term Charles Fort (who is referenced many times in this film) coined for a hypothetical place where things that fall from the sky originate - "Magonia".
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Quiz Kid Donnie Smith: Have you ever been struck by lightning? It hurts.
=========================================
The mosaic, flower petal structure is kind of like the Oscar winning Crash--but at least Crash, it could be argued, had a unifying theme of racism and racial tensions in Los Angeles to tie it all together. Magnolia does have a kind of a thesis, that strange coincidences happen in life, and if they were in a movie, you wouldn't believe it. Perhaps it could be summed up as "truth is stranger than fiction" except it is hard to see how the strange mixture of banal, and mundane with fantastic and surreal, add up to anything remotely resembling a coherent artistic statement.
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Jim Kurring: Now, some neighbors claimed they heard screaming and a loud crash.
Marcie: I don't even know no loud crash.
===========================
I mean, just as things are getting to their grimmest for several of Magnolia's many story lines there is a musical sequence where all the characters, some even dying of cancer, sing along to an Aimee Mann song. The song, "Wise Up," was also used in the film, Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise. Think that was weird? You ain't seen nothin' yet, though, when there is a deus ex machina moment of Biblical proportions (don't want to spoil it for anyone, but check out Exodus 8:2, and therefore keep an eye out for the numbers 8 & 2 which feature prominently in Magnolia).
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Quiz Kid Donnie Smith: I'm sick and I'm in love.
Thurston Howell: You seem the sort of person who confuses the two.
Quiz Kid Donnie Smith: That's right. That's the first time you've been right. I confuse the two and I don't care.
==========================================
Paul Thomas Anderson is a very ambitious director, and one wonders how he seemingly went from grip to auteur overnight. He has absorbed so much film history that you would almost think he was just a copycat but he always uses what he has learned in a very creative and original way. He likes to work with an ensemble of actors, and in that he is like Robert Altman, the Coen Brothers, or even Will Ferrell, and indeed lots of his regulars are also shared with those directors. John C. Reilly and William H. Macy spring to mind. Though he must be comfortable working with his stalwarts, he is not afraid to approach big name actors. It is my understanding that he approached Tom Cruise on the set of 'Eyes Wide Shut,' the final film of director Stanley Kubrick. How he got Cruise to play Frank T. J. Mackey, the leader of a strange cult who conducts seminars on how to "Seduce and Destroy" females is anybody's guess, but the result was Tom Cruise's most unsympathetic yet riveting movie role.
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Gwenovier: Come on, Frank. What are you doing?
Frank T.J. Mackey: What am I doing? I'm quietly judging you.
==============================
So, as I'm quietly judging Magnolia, the verdict is guilty of being a most impressive cinematic monument in spite or because of its total lack of a coherent message. Really great performances from Magnolia's ensemble cast, and a really compelling vision from director Paul Thomas Anderson. A really long movie, but one that held my interest throughout. Two thumbs up.
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Claudia Wilson Gator: Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing me again?
=====================================
DIRECTED BY PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Magnolia (1999)
Boogie Nights (1997)
FILM ROLES OF JULLIANNE MOORE
I'm Not There. (2007) .... Alice Fabian
Savage Grace (2007) .... Barbara Baekeland
Magnolia (1999) .... Linda Partridge
The Big Lebowski - 10th Anniversary Edition (1998) .... Maude Lebowski
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Amber Waves
Benny & Joon (1993) .... Ruthie
FILM ROLES OF WILLIAM H. MACY
Wild Hogs (2007) .... Dudley Frank
Inland Empire (2006) .... Announcer
Bobby (2006) .... Paul Ebbers
The Cooler (2003) .... Bernie Lootz
Magnolia (1999) .... Donnie Smith
Mystery Men (1999) .... The Shoveller
Wag the Dog (1997) .... CIA Agent Charles Young
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Little Bill
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) .... Charlie Crisco
Fargo (Special Edition) (1996) .... Jerome 'Jerry' Lundegaard
"Bakersfield P.D." .... Russell Karp (1 episode, 1993)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) .... Tunafish Father
Benny & Joon (1993) .... Randy Burch
Shadows and Fog (1992) (as W.H. Macy) .... Cop with Spiro
Radio Days (1987) (as W.H. Macy) .... Radio actor
FILM ROLES OF JOHN C. REILLY
Step Brothers (2008) .... Dale Doback
The Promotion (2008) .... Richard Wehlner
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) .... Dewey Cox
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) (uncredited) .... Sasquatch
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) .... Cal Naughton Jr.
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) .... Lefty
Dark Water (2005) .... Mr. Murray
Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody? (2005)
The Aviator (2004) .... Noah Dietrich
The Hours (2002) .... Dan Brown
Chicago (2002) .... Amos Hart
Gangs of New York (2002) .... Happy Jack Mulraney
The Good Girl (2002) .... Phil Last
Frank's Book (2001) .... Frank
The Anniversary Party (2001) .... Mac Forsyth
The Perfect Storm (2000) .... Dale 'Murph' Murphy
Magnolia (1999) .... Officer Jim Kurring
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Reed Rothchild
Nightwatch (1997) (uncredited) .... Deputy Inspector Bill Davis
Boys (1996) .... Officer Kellogg Curry
Sydney (1996) .... John
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) .... Tucker Van Dyke
Hoffa (1992) .... Pete Connelly
Out on a Limb (1992) .... Jim Jr.
Shadows and Fog (1992) .... Cop at Police Station
State of Grace (1990) .... Stevie McGuire
Days of Thunder (1990) .... Buck Bretherton
We're No Angels (1989) .... Young Monk
Casualties of War (1989) .... PFC. Herbert Hatcher
FILM ROLES OF PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Synecdoche, New York (2008) .... Caden Cotard
Charlie Wilson's War (2007) .... Gust Avrakotos
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) .... Andy Hanson
The Savages (2007) .... Jon Savage
Mission: Impossible III (2006) .... Owen Davian
Capote (2005) .... Truman Capote
Empire Falls (2005) (TV) .... Charlie Mayne
Strangers with Candy (2005) .... Henry
Along Came Polly (2004) .... Sandy Lyle
Cold Mountain (2003) .... Reverend Veasey
Owning Mahowny (2003) .... Dan Mahowny
25th Hour (2002) .... Jacob Elinsky
Red Dragon (2002) .... Freddy Lounds
Punch-Drunk Love (2002) .... Dean Trumbell
Love Liza (2002) .... Wilson Joel
Almost Famous (2000) .... Lester Bangs
State and Main (2000) .... Joseph Turner White
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) .... Freddie Miles
... aka The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley (USA: complete title)
Magnolia (1999) .... Phil Parma
Flawless (1999) .... Rusty
Patch Adams (1998) .... Mitch Roman
Happiness (1998) .... Allen
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... Brandt
Next Stop Wonderland (1998) .... Sean
Montana (1998) .... Duncan
Culture (1998) .... Bill
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Scotty J.
Twister (1996) .... Dustin Davis
Sydney (1996) (as Phillip Seymour Hoffman) .... Young Craps Player
... aka Hard Eight (USA: new title)
The Fifteen Minute Hamlet (1995) (as Philip S. Hoffman) .... Bernardo / Horatio / Laertes
Nobody's Fool (1994) .... Officer Raymer
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) .... Gary
The Getaway (1994) (as Philip Hoffman) .... Frank Hansen
Money for Nothing (1993) (as Philip S. Hoffman) .... Cochran
My Boyfriend's Back (1993) (as Philip Hoffman) .... Chuck Bronski
Joey Breaker (1993) .... Wiley McCall
Scent of a Woman (1992) (as Philip S. Hoffman) .... George Willis, Jr.
Leap of Faith (1992) .... Matt
My New Gun (1992) .... Chris
Szuler (1992)
Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991) (as Phil Hoffman) .... Klutch
"Law & Order" .... Steven Hanauer (1 episode, 1991)
FILM ROLES OF TOM CRUISE
Valkyrie (2008) .... Col. Claus von Stauffenberg
Tropic Thunder (2008) .... Les Grossman
Lions for Lambs (2007) .... Senator Jasper Irving
Mission: Impossible III (2006) .... Ethan Hunt
War of the Worlds (2005) .... Ray Ferrier
Collateral (2004) .... Vincent
The Last Samurai (2003) .... Nathan Algren
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) .... Austin Powers (in film "Austinpussy")
Minority Report (2002) .... Chief John Anderton
Vanilla Sky (2001) .... David Aames
Mission: Impossible II (2000) .... Ethan Hunt
Magnolia (1999) .... Frank T.J. Mackey
Eyes Wide Shut (Unrated Two-Disc Special Edition) (1999) .... Dr. William 'Bill' Harford
"3rd Rock from the Sun" .... Guy on Couch (1 episode, 1998)
Jerry Maguire (1996) .... Jerry Maguire
Mission: Impossible (1996) .... Ethan Hunt
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) .... Lestat de Lioncourt
The Firm (1993) .... Mitch McDeere
A Few Good Men (1992) .... Lt. Daniel Kaffee
Far and Away (1992) .... Joseph Donnelly
Days of Thunder (1990) .... Cole Trickle
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) .... Ron Kovic
Rain Man (1988) .... Charlie Babbitt
Young Guns (1988) (uncredited) .... Cowboy
Cocktail (1988) .... Brian Flanagan
The Color of Money (1986) .... Vincent Lauria
Top Gun (1986) .... Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell
Legend (1985) .... Jack
All the Right Moves (1983) .... Stefen Djordjevic
Risky Business (1983) .... Joel Goodsen
Losin' It (1983) .... Woody
The Outsiders (1983) .... Steve Randle
Taps (1981) .... Cadet Captain David Shawn
Endless Love (1981) .... Billy
-----------
Quiz Kid Donnie Smith: I'm sick.
Thurston Howell: Stay that way.
======================================
There Will Be Frogs October 24, 2008
Magnolia seems to get better each time I watch it. After seeing it 3 times, I now realize it's a brilliant work and one of the all time classics for a drama. The performances are just unbelievable. All of the actors completely immersed themselves into their roles. This type of passion is rarely seen in today's cinema. Paul thomas anderson captured magic in a bottle and Magnolia lives on as a documantation of brilliant cinema. It is story driven and character driven and it is why Paul Thomas Anderson in my oppinion is one of the best directors and writers in Hollywood.
the darkside October 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
it is the bitter end of coffee - it is the twisted dark side of life - it is a masterpiece - I have watched it about a dozen times and everytime it brings home a new meaning. It is probably one of those rare movies where all the actors and actresses gave their life time best performance - specially Tom Cruise. It is about life - it is about our life - it is about my life - we build things and then they fall apart and we cry - we look for help and sometimes we get that help. If you ever have had a tough life then you will find a rare connection with a Hollywood movie and fall in love with it.
Strange things happen and they happen in our life and the movie depicts sometimes how all these can happen together - they may not be connected with a clear thread but there is an underlying sadness which ties them
 Long, dark and depressing September 21, 2008
Looking at the summary of reviews here on Amazon, it is clear that this is a "love it or hate it" movie. I don't fall completely into either of those camps, but I thought the director was trying WAY too hard to be arty, avant-garde and mysterious. There are too many balls in the air, and for the first half of this three-hour movie the plot lines seem totally unrelated. Tom Cruise is wonderful as the smarmy "seduce and destroy" seminar leader, until the deathbed scene near the end, when he goes right over the top, wailing and flailing.
The two main problems with Magnolia, as I see it, are that almost none of the characters are very likable, and the production is very dark. Many of the scenes are shot at night or in dark rooms, and the result is a cold, dark feel. Coupled with the sad, screwed-up lives of most of the protagonists, this makes for a depressing film.
movie July 14, 2008
funny how 9 years ago, when the movie first came out.I did'nt care for the movie at all.I liked Tom Cruise,that was the draw to the movie.But now 9 years later, I watched the movie again,and this time I have to say that I liked it.I still don't understand the frog scenes.
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