Highest Rated Review by the Community
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community Jan 31, 2006
Pros: brilliant performances, interconnectedness, compassionate outlook
Cons: some violence, considerable lewdness, prolific profanity
Summary: I wasn’t sure what I would think of Magnolia when I set out to watch it last week. I’d heard of the movie but didn’t have any idea what it was about, only that it was stylistically unusual. When my brother’s friend Ian, who had brought it over, ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 5, 2008
Pros: Strong performances from Tom Cruise and Jason Robards.
Cons: Julianne Moore and Bill Macy are off target with their performances.
Summary: It's funny how your opinion of a given film can change in the span of eight years. I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia" just before its theatrical run ended in august of 1999. Back then, I rated it as a four star film. In 2008, I think that a ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 3, 2008
Pros: Great acting, beautifully filmed
Cons: Very long - nearly 3 hours in length
Summary: At nearly three hours long, Magnolia is an arduous cinematic experience. While taxing at times, the beautifully shot scenes and character development are simply incredible. The ensemble cast help to create an intricate storyline and an exciting overall ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 25, 2007
Pros: Pacing. Script. Performances. Direction.
Cons: Slightly slow beginning.
Summary: Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia is easy to attack for its abundance of coincidences and deus-ex-machina-esque ending, but people fail to understand that those two factors are what it's all about. Writer/director Anderson manages to weave in many ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Mar 20, 2005
Pros: Script, amazing cast, cinematography, intriguing, some good direction
Cons: Way too long, pacing problems
Summary: "Magnolia" (1999) Review by Marshall Garvey Rating (0 to 5): 4 Credits: Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Written by Anderson Produced by Anderson and Joanne Sellar Original music by Jon Brion, Fiona Apple, and Aimee Mann New Line ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Feb 18, 2004
Pros: Great acting, interesting characters, Tom Cruise in a 'baddie' role.
Cons: Ending is interesting but doesn't feel like it has come together well.
Summary: Magnolia is by the same director that gave us Boogie Nights, P. T. Anderson. The movie follows a bunch of characters that are loosely connected to each other by a long-running game show, which pits the intellect of children against that of ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Aug 27, 2003
Pros: Captivating, great theme (the seeming randomness of life), super acting
Cons: A bit too long
Summary: A movie with a tragic-comic start, which sets the theme. And perhaps that is the reality of life. ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 17, 2003
Pros: Beautiful superstructure of a film
Cons: "a long way to go for no punch...a little moral...story I say.."
Summary: I spend my life searching for and analyzing patterns in DNA. For this reason, I believe I fell in love with Magnolia for the embedded patterns and well-placed logic that organizes this gorgeous superstructure of a film. I've seen many critical ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Nov 2, 2002
Pros: profound exploration of fascinating characters and the human condition.
Cons: only if "depressing" is a con.
Summary: I try not to throw superlatives around too much, but this is one of the best movies I've seen in quite some time. What is important to me in a story is character development, and the degree to which greater truths are explored, and this movie has both ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 25, 2002
Pros: Original, creative, engrossing
Cons: Depressing
Summary: This is a great big bubbling stew of a movie, and director P.T. Anderson ("Boogie Nights") is an exuberant cook, throwing in ingredients no one has thought to combine before: heaping cups of Robert Altman-style interwoven stories -- seasoned with a ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 9, 2002
Pros: dialogue, acting, visually stunning, hidden meanings
Cons: dragged in some areas
Summary: Paul Thomas Anderson and the majority of his cast from Boogie Nights are back, but this time they're not in headbands and bellbottoms, and they have a new edition in the mix with none other than Tom Cruise. Cruise is a stand-out in the film, playing an ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jan 18, 2002
Pros: Outstanding performances and stories
Cons: Very long
Summary: Magnolia is the most recent movie by Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of the excellent Boogie Nights. It is several stories taking place in the San Fernando Valley of California. The intended theme of these stories is that the course of ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Dec 9, 2001
Pros: This is one of the best movies I have ever seen
Cons: None
Summary: I have seen Magnolia 5 times at least and love it more each time I see it. I must say this is truly one of the best films I have ever seen.
Magnolia is that it is built loosely on the principal that people are connected by six degrees of ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Sep 4, 2001
Pros: after what seemed like an eternity, it came to an end
Cons: the list is too long to write here, see review body
Summary: I love independent art house films just as much as the next pretentious yuppie, don't get me wrong, but they have to have a point. Now I will grant that it is possible that I completely missed the point of this "film," although I gave it plenty of ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Aug 19, 2001
Pros: Just about everything
Cons: Length will discourage viewers
Summary: “And the book says we may be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.”
-Magnolia
“Magnolia” takes us on a ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Aug 11, 2001
Pros: Admission for one to a 3-hour film: $8.50; understanding you are not alone: priceless
Cons: The storm scene is difficult for most to understand
Summary: Our pain always seems deeper and more vivid to us than the despair of others; it is hard to concretely appreciate the angst others experience around us. Every day, our lives intersect with hundreds of other lives. Can it be possible that these souls ... read more
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Rated a Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 22, 2001
Pros: well acted, diverse story
Cons: very weird.
Summary: This movie has me confused. It doesn't really seem to have a point. It starts out with a narrator explaining some events that happened in the past that seem unrelated, then the next three hours focuses on the lives of several people who are all loosely ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 6, 2001
Pros: Incredible acting, script and direction. Great specials on the DVD.
Cons: Some will find it long, pretentious and boring. But not me.
Summary: I first saw Magnolia in the cinema on a first date so unfortunately I was a bit distracted going into it. Sadly we forgot about each other as Magnolia unfolded on the screen in front of us. When we left i think we were a bit emotionally drained for a ... read more
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Rated a Somewhat Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jul 5, 2001
Pros: Hard-pressed to think of any.. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger I guess.
Cons: Long, boring, pointless. Need I go on?
Summary: Three hours worth of unconnected, rambling, pointless plot, combined with natural disasters that, although amusing, served no practical purpose were the substance of this movie.
I was told by many people before renting it, that you have to ... read more
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Rated a Very Helpful Review by the Epinions community
Jun 30, 2001
Pros: Some stunning scenes with great acting.
Cons: When out of ideas, throw in an biblical plague.
Summary: Madame Rose called this morning. Margo Channing has been bad mouthing me and my infomercial ventures to the trades again so it's time to mount a counterattack in earnest. I was all for calling a press conference to denounce the harpy publicly as a ... read more
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