Paul Thomas Anderson gives us a trippy look into the porn industry in this dark comedy. From hilarious to heartbreaking, this movie will go places you don’t expect. Marky Mark and his manhood become stars, but stardom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As these strange characters descend into a world of drugs and abuse, the message of the movie becomes harder to decipher. And A.Ron has some wild, JJ Abram-approved theories about the end of the film.
Our belated obsession with The Queen’s Gambit has lead us back to our formative years to cover a movie that also has a young chess prodigy at its center, Searching for Bobby Fischer. It’s an under-celebrated classic about being successful without losing your decency in the process.
Special thanks to Lauren, Anne, and Rick who chipped in to commission this podcast on Magnolia for Alex Myers as a Christmas (!!!) present. Jim and I had never seen Magnolia, the Paul Thomas Anderson classic before now, and wow is it a doozy. Starring greats such as William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, to name just a few, it involves a day in the life of a dozen or so characters on a collision course with fate and coincidence, and what they’ll learn about themselves and each other along the way. Fueled by raw emotion and melodrama, we were intrigued by the complex tale being woven before our eyes. If you haven’t seen it, check it out before we spoil it for you on this podcast, because it’s an amazing film.