There Will Be Salad Tossing

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2007)

About 7 Stars
Daniel Day-Lewis DOES deserve a nomination. Though the flaws of the movie can't be dismissed. Dano's acting is utterly eclipsed by Day-Lewis,which works against the telling of the story. Also, over the 40 year course of the story there's zero age progression on DD-L or Dano, who always looks 14. Did Anderson think that was cute?
Little House On The Prairie meets A Clockwork Orange (but neutered to a virtual PG-13), with some vibes from the original Planet Of The Apes.
Cinematography, Tempo and Acting are fantastic. Ambition is the most critical element in this movie; and I give it to Anderson... that he makes the point that The Meek Are Blessed, even if terrorized by the ruthless.This movie though is a major criticism against Americans; you can't construct a universe where the greatest businessman and religious person are reckless without saying "Hey, This is how the world is."
It blurs the line between between ambition and corruption; like cheering for ignorance. I am not drawn into movies about nihilists. If you think christians and capitalists suck then this may be your movie. To be fair to Anderson, there are businessmen and christians in this flick that aren't nasty; they just have no ambition... so where's the socialist white knight, Anderson? Or should Americans just take a f-ing leap? This story works better as a story than it does as a movie: Movies are a visual medium; symmetry can't just break for the ending, then call it clever. For the better part of 2 and a half hours Anderson immerses us in sweeping vistas of the California wilderness... which leads to us spending the last 15 minutes in the main character's basement.(?) I don't understand how this made sense to Anderson while story-boarding.
When I think of PT I think of Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Hard Eight. When I think of Quenton Tarantino I think of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. For me this flick might be for PT what Kill Bill is for Tarantino.