You ever see a movie advertised that you just know would be a good one but for some reason you'd rather have someone let a rabid badger loose in your underpants than sit for two hours to watch it?Well, try sitting for nearly three. "There Will Be Blood" came recommended by a workmate who's movie-buff credentials really make me look like a cretin by comparison and when I saw it on my trusty cable-guide/social director I recorded it for later consumption. Ordinarily I'd have bothered to read the spartan description of the thing before sitting down to finally watch it, but my Severe Laziness-affective Disorder was working overtime last night and I just cued it up without thinking. Doing things without thinking is a subtext in my life that I believe others including my significant other and co-workers are beginning to notice. But I digress...
Right off I'm pretty sure this is a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. He's big on the whole weird camera pan/zoom thing with disconcerting noise/scores. My affection for "Boogie Nights" and especially "Punch Drunk Love" are great enough that I'm willing to forgive Anderson much his cinematic excreta ("Magnolia"?!) for the sake of these merciful departures.
This isn't a flouncy fan-boy movie review, all of this is prelude to my posing this single question:
If you close your eyes and listen to Daniel Day Lewis speak as Daniel Plainview, does anyone else hear the ghost of Jack Palance? Maybe its the lanky cowpoke image he's rocking but damn. A trivia turdlet in the IMDB mentions that John Huston was the inspiration for his voice and demeanor, PTA going so far as to send Lewis documentaries on Huston. I'm not buying it. If that's not Jack Palance I'll eat my hat, as the kids say these days.So now I have to go watch "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and "Chinatown" again. Damn your eyes Anderson!
