David Gómez-Rosado (dahveedgr)

As much as I find Ricky Gervais funny (for the most part)... this movie (written, directed and acted by him) has only but a couple of good moments (mainly the thinly disguised stabs at religion's fantastical rationalizations and society's civilized hypocrisies). The rest (specially the last third of the movie) is just predictable sappy formula. Also: The make-up is overpowering in a bad way, the product-placement is past the level of comfort, the music depressing and the lighting plain ghastly. Save it for streaming Netflix on a rainy day. When your mind is down and you don't want to waste a good movie.

This movie feels like sloppy seconds. It takes the succesful model of interwoven life stories in L.A. (Magnolia, Crash, etc) and turns it into an also-ran cheap melodrama with unclear logic, cardboard-like trite characters (steryotypes?) and just an overall feel of an unsuccessfully manipulative commercial. The only thing I found slightly amusing was the obssesive-conpulsive asshole producer with implanted Bluetooth earpiece.

WONDROUS, wondrous movie.... It single-handedly restored my faith in American cinema. A masterpiece of movie-making on all accounts: Story, script, acting, photography, lightning, music, sound, staging, location, casting, wardrobe, makeup... Nothing left to inertia or careless overlook. It is utterly beyond anything I have seen in, lets say, the past two decades. I am serious people. I am even considering reducing all my ratings (several hundred) by one star so this one deservingly stands-out. You see, there was a time, lets say the seventies, when American film making had something new to say, something that even European cinema was desperately trying to mimic... Yes, even the French looked up to us. Then came Steven Spielberg and Hollywood has never been the same again. Since then, the studios brought us colorful effects, cheap thrills and laughs... But nothing as sensibly well-rounded as, lets say, what Robert Altman was capable of with "3 Women" or "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", Sidney Lumet with "Dog Day Afternoon", Terrence Malick with "Days of Heaven" or the best first half of Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate". That way of visual storytelling paid attention to the charged loudness of a extended pause, to the mastery behind long, single takes, to the worship for a steady camera and focus on subtle acting, to the faithful reenactment (not trendy interpretations) of historical artifacts. On those times a wink of an eye was so loaded with meaning, a single note so fully embodied with tension, a prop utensil so lovingly reproduced... There was complexity and thick, layered stories. I loved that period of narrative introspection. This is what "There Will be Blood" brings back: True purpose on its enactment: Archetypal plots with humble stories of epic proportions. Evil and good intertwined. God through the symbiosis of human ambition and frailty. Open endings, interpretative meaning... Love for storytelling, not the pursuit of lowly bucks behind mass-produced "blockbustering" science. I am so happy today... This movie is truly a gem to my eyes. Please visit it with open ones, and yes, an open mind perhaps already narrowed and pre-conditioned to the "expected". But please do visit. Only the symbolic end scene can be judged as overplayed somehow... The rest is beyond reproach. This movie is a demonstration of what cinema should be all about. A textbook classic to be taught to future generations of filmmakers. I hope.

This amazing movie is all in the invisible details. It is also for those who hate Sandler and/or romantic movies.