NikkoFranco When this film was released there was a lot of viewers who didn't understand what the purpose was. Instead of purpose , the viewer is advised to just watch the story unfold because there is stellar deliverance from many of the actors here e.g. Julianne Moore as an aging B movie actress, William H. Macy as the obsessed husband , Burt Reynolds as the sleazy producer. As a 70s child, I have a deep acceptance that the rules were not that defined and there's this transition from the flower power to the hippie era where the borders of sex are oftentimes too open and too easy to abuse. There is escapism to easy money but at the same time aspiration to make it better. Philip Seymour Hoffman is true to form as member of the film crew who lusts after Dirk Diggler ( Mark Wahlberg) . An entertaining film with sublime life lessons and heart-poking moments.

tk41 Go away naysayers, move past the porn theme and see this film for what it is. The greatest movie ever! Paul Thomas Anderson captured magic in a bottle. The dialogue, the music, the cinematography all works in sync. I'll take the pool scene over some sled any day. I await your blah, blah , blah. This is a real movie!

The Movie Diorama Can't say I've seen many theatrical released dramas about adult films, so this is new territory. Pornography is, obviously, very popular and this film showcases the rise of said industry in the 70's and its downhill in the 80's. It centres around the fictional Dirk Diggler (that name...it's just beautiful) and how he finds success through a adult film director named Jack Horner. Being in that type of business, Dirk starts becoming susceptible to the lavish lifestyle and the drugs and crime that follow. A fascinating albeit daring subject to tackle, director Paul Thomas Anderson manages to make it a rather compelling story. Slight tonal inconsistencies, particularly in the third act where it just loses steam but overall I found this to be thoroughly entertaining with dark comedic moments. It's another Anderson movie where his direction takes precedent. Super nice long takes that just lets the characters interact. Whether it be having sex, sniffing cocaine or running away from a shotgun wielding psychopath, the characters resembled the 70's. The disco attire looked fantastically authentic and really made me want to get down and boogie in my lounge (was so tempted...). Acting was outstanding all round. Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds deserved their award nominations. Mark Wahlberg pulled off that sparky confident teenager role well. When it came to filming the pornography, the acting was incredibly cheesy which was sooo good to see. They honestly nailed it. Then seeing how porn progressed to amateur and drive-by within the 80's was interesting. I'm not addicted to porn or anything, but it's a refreshing subject to watch instead of slavery, haunted houses or World War II. So yes, despite the inconsistent tones this was incredibly enjoyable with phenomenal direction.

pretentiousanderson Having grown up on watching movies and having no reason for making them other than to ape his idols, Anderson lifts the template from Scorsese's Goodfellas in this adolescent ripoff. Tell me - Which film am I describing here? Narrative structure: Set primarily over the course of the mid-1970s through the 80s, a young high-schooler has troubles at home and has to live with abusive family members. He feels trapped in this environment, and to help him escape, he grows attached to a surrogate family whose activities revolve around moral and societal vice. He finds that he excels in this environment and rises quickly in this new family hierarchy, earning both respect and riches from it. He eventually becomes fully initiated into this new family when he passes a test that demonstrates his commitment and talent to the vices that they support, and he is then rewarded by this new family with a celebration. At near mid-point, a "retro reel" involving 8mm or 16mm home movies and photos are used in a montage to express the passage of time and the deepening relationship between our protagonist and the other members of his new family. Things are going swimmingly until, at what is supposed to be a fun social occasion among friends, violence unexpectedly breaks out, resulting in murder and death. This scene mid-way through the plot tells the viewer that not all is well within this "fun" social structure, and that its very mores helped to contribute to the mindset that would lead someone to murder. But our protagonist tries to brush aside this violent event as a mere aberration, not wanting to question social world he has embraced. After eventually reaching a pinnacle of success, cultural shifts along with an infusion of drug abuse drag our protagonist down to the point where the same elements stemming from the vice and the surrogate family he joined now work against him until he hits rock bottom. When he hits rock bottom, he has a falling out with his surrogate "father figure" who turns against him for his betrayals and now uncontrollable drug use. All of this nearly kills him - but he still manages to survive rock bottom (unlike some of his friends around him). He is eventually able to pull himself up from rock bottom and settle into a less-than-ideal but by no means awful life, wistfully thinking back on the good times and how they are likely gone forever. Stylistic elements: Wall-to-wall music to help set tone, establish the time setting and occasionally provide an additional commentary on the action itself. Swish-pans, rapid editing sequences to convey frenetic energy, punctuated by extensive dolly and tracking shots to convey more leisurely times of our characters and cover the spaces of the lively nightclubs that they frequent. Title cards placed late in the film in order to subtly tell the viewer that the upcoming scene, times or sequences will be especially significant to the lives of the characters, followed by a shift in editing style to highlight the stresses that the protagonist has gotten himself into - which systematically builds the dramatic tension in the sequence until it results in a conclusive tipping point in his life. Which movie am I describing here? Boogie Nights? Or Goodfellas? Which one came first again? The final scene where our protagonist talks to himself in the mirror and looks back on his experiences is obviously ripped off from Raging Bull rather than Goodfellas, but that is still another Scorsese work.Anderson has nothing to say other than he wants to be thought of as a great director, but he needs to ape the true pioneers that came before him to make that happen. He just needed to make sure he adapted Scorsese's work into the porn world in order to appeal to his adolescent male fan base that eats up anything that helps mainstream their sexual fantasies. Don't fall for the hype. This is an extremely derivative, mediocre work.