Boogie Nights

Pros: Fine directing and script by Paul Thomas Anderson.  Good acting by the cast.
Cons: While not a porn movie, the topic may be a turn off for some

Like millions of American men and women over 18 years of age, I've watched a few porn movies over the past few decades.  Heck, I even own one "starring Jenna Jameson" flick (Baby Doll), purchased at the tail end of my last romantic ...

Pros: Loaded with excellent top-tier actors, good plots and subplots
Cons: Too graphic to watch with family

NOTE: Major plot details here - drop down menu won't work Sometime during the summer of 1977, high school dropout and nightclub bus boy Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg)has to make a quick decision: stick around for abuse and ridicule from a ...

Pros: P.T. Anderson's Directing, Script, Look, Music, Detail, & Cast.
Cons: None.

When Paul Thomas Anderson emerged into the independent film scene with his 1996 debut film Hard Eight (originally titled Sydney), his film about the Las Vegas casino scene revolving a bad-luck gambler and a Vegas veteran. Though the film ...

Pros: Fantastic performances, script, directing
Cons: A bit long

The best film of 1997, P.T. Anderson's porn epic combines the world of the adult film industry with late 70s/early 80s ambiance and the result and nothing short of miraculous. Anderson establishes himself as a new wave director in the same vein as ...

Pros: Incredible ensemble cast delivers powerful performances / Superb direction by P.T. of his first epic film / Wonderful script & story
Cons: Mark Wahlberg's lead performance could be better / Subject matter is sure to repel many viewers

With only three feature films under his belt, Magnolia, Hard Eight, and of course, Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson has already established himself as one of the most poignant directors in Hollywood. A master storyteller, he has written...

Pros: The acting, most of the direction.
Cons: Drags on too long in the middle.

Some movies you see for the cast. Some movies you see for the director. Some movies you see for both. HA! GUESS WHAT?! BOOGIE NIGHTS IS ONE OF THOSE MOVIES! C'mon, here. Burt Reynolds. Julianne Moore (naked). John C. Reilly. Don Cheadle. ...

Pros: Brilliant first hour and a half.
Cons: There's another hour to go.

US Air has found only 13 pieces of my missing luggage so far. How it ended up in Singapore, they are unable to explain. I hate it when my suitcases travel more widely than I do. Rather than worry about the additional 59 pieces, which are probably...

Pros: Wahlberg, Cheadle, Moore, music, cinematography
Cons: sprawl and conceptual overkill

Seeing Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 movie "Boogie Nights" with its great ensemble cast (many of whose careers have bloomed since then) again, I found Mark Wahlberg's performance more remarkable even than when I first saw the movie. And I thought it was ...

Pros: Powerful, exciting filmmaking; terrific performances
Cons: Anderson "borrows" a lot

I've been going back and forth with Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. When I first caught this movie on the big screen years ago, I was quite impressed. Then I saw it again the other day and I noticed some weak spots - some cracks in an...

Pros: Characters, Story, DVD Bonuses, Acting
Cons: It feels long at times

There are very few artists whose works I will go to see without reading reviews and carefully deciding about the current project. Indeed, there are only three writer-directors whose films would instantly get me into the theaters: Terry Gilliam, Kevin ...

Pros: Acting
Cons: Poor script

The response to my recent epinion on Edge of Seventeen was so overwhelmingly supportive that I immediately decided to make sure my next epinion dealt with some topic into which I could interject some more sexual comments and anecdotes. How...

Pros: read the review
Cons: read the review

There's been a number of epic, "The Rise and Fall of..." films released in the last few years. It's a formula that's guaranteed for success if the characters are developed well enough so that when they "fall" it's effective. Most films using this formula ...

Pros: Anderson Takes an Affectionate Look at Some Offbeat Characters
Cons: Starts to Sound Like an Ad for K-Billy's "Best of the 70's"

A documentary was recently released about the porn actor John Holmes: Holmes – Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes.

According to David Poland, of TNN's "The Rough Cut" Web site, "Holmes had a career in gay porn as big as...

Pros: Solid, stylistic direction, wonderful performances
Cons: Some will be distanced by the subject and by the tone

There's a curious duality to the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, writer/director of Boogie Nights. On one level, he tells uncompromising stories about suffering people, people who are drug users (abusers), pedophiles, porn stars, and abusive...

Pros: Technically masterful
Cons: Spiritually bankrupt

*****
A note, July 15, 2000.

Because of this review, I've been accused of being totalitarian, callous, and even of sounding like someone's mother!! I'm a sensitive soul, and unlike the director of this film, I don't want to put something...