THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Reviewer: JOE TAYLOR
Dialogue:
Plainview: You're not the chosen brother, Eli. It was Paul who was chosen. You see, he found me and told me about your land. You're just a fool.
Eli Sunday: Why are you talking about Paul? Don't say this to me.
Plainview: I did what your brother couldn't. I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He's the prophet. He's the smart one. He knew what was there and he found me to take it out of the ground, and you know what the funny thing is? Listen... listen... listen... I paid him ten thousand dollars, cash in hand, just like that. He has his own company now. A prosperous little business. Three wells producing. Five thousand dollars a week.
[Eli cries] (source:IMDB)
Review:
I saw THERE WILL BE BLOOD several weeks ago and it fits in the same category as No Country For Old Men which was a good movie, very well done, and held my attention. There Will Be Blood didn't do it for me.
This movie is based on Upton Sinclairs 1927 novel, Oil, but Paul Thomas Anderson put his on spin on the movie , There Will Be Blood.
I, personally like to come out of a movie with some measure of both feeling OK-good would be better-and thinking that there is a lesson to learn. I fully understand that most go for entertainment, but not me.
In a way, movies mirror life; and, I'm always asking myself, what is there to learn from this movie? Answer: not much here. A friend of mine disagrees. He thought that anyone with anger issues should see it. Anger, to him, caused Plainview, played by Daniel Day Lewis to go to extremes.
Daniel Day Lewis is good no doubt about it. He plays an early oil baron. Lewis was very cutthroat as Daniel Plainview, but yet so very human. Plainview's son was merely an object to be used. He paraded his son around for business. How can anyone not grant mineral rights to this kind, family man who promises that once we get the oil, all will prosper. NOT!
The religious aspect of the movie was quite surprising; a very primitive, "snake handling" kind of religion that took the Scriptures literally and made them worse. What is scary is that there are people in the world like this. Paul Dano plays Eli Sunday, the pastor of The Third Revelation Church.
Eli Sunday is an eerie like Elmer Gantry type personality with less sophistication but more madness-a twist that I can't tell you about. Very interesting.
There Will Be Blood is a movie not for entertainment, but one for pondering. I'm sorry that I didn't discuss it more with my friend. 2 parachutes
Oscar Winners
Airborne Press Reviews of other oscar nominated films:
No Country For Old Men(Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay)
Juno(Best Actress, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay)
Charlie Wilson's War(Best Supporting Actor)
American Gangster(Best Art Direction)
August Rush(Best Original Song)
Once(Best Original Song)
Sicko(Best Documentary)
In Valley of Elah(Best Actor)
There Will Be Blood(Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Art Direction, Adapted Screenplay)
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