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Also discussed this episode: Star Trek: Section 31 (2025), Kraven the Hunter (2025), Holland (2025), Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025), The Fabelmans (2022), Black Bag (2025), The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
When i first watched Inherent Vice, I loved it. Then I got the blu-ray and for some reasons the movie didn't work for me anymore.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i'm trying, but i really don't like The Fabelmans. For one, I can't buy Paul Dano as a dad. Obviously i like the Lynch scene
Really enjoyed the podcast, and completely understand the difficulty in trying to approach a discussion of this absolute raw nerve of a movie.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen it twice, due in part to how grueling (even if rewarding) a viewing experience it is. For 15ish years after my original viewing, I remembered it as being probably the most exhausting movie I'd ever seen, but also insanely ambitious, interesting, and entertaining. When I finally rewatched it a couple years ago, that memory was confirmed, but I think I probably appreciated some parts differently than when I watched it at 20. Magnolia definitely feels like a movie you can adapt with at different stages of life, and enjoy in new ways each time you watch it (whenever you can gear yourself up for its marathon sprint pace).
I know the Rewatchables episode Patrick mentioned, and I think it may even have prompted my most recent viewing. I do remember them being very down on the Melora Walters / John C. Reilly storyline and disagreeing completely because this time around that was my favorite thread of the movie. Their scenes really exemplify the movie for me: hard to watch as I cringe at their awkwardness, but so magnetic that I'm also rooting for them, feeling so much empathy for them, laughing at them and with them, being frustrated by them and sad for them and hopeful for them all at the same time.
Re: Rewatchables, the contrast between Fennessey, a big-time movie nerd, and BS, sort of the uber-casual movie fan, is often what I like about that podcast, whether they're agreeing and appreciating the movie in overlapping but different ways, or disagreeing via entertaining argument... but BS can be frustratingly closed off to appreciating certain types of movies or aspects of movies, and I think a lot of the things I like about Magnolia fall into that bucket.
I think I'm more tolerant of BS on the Rewatchables because I intially consumed more of his sports content and built up familiarity/affinity with/for him from that. I did enjoy a while back when Tarantino did a Rewatchables guest run for a few episodes, and basically gave off "Well, Bill's a movie idiot" vibes any time he disagreed with a BS take. There were several instances when Bill would say something that Sean would normally argue back against, but instead of Sean's good-humored ribbing of Bill, Tarantino would just no-holds-barred dunk on Bill in a sort of condescending way that would almost have felt mean if it wasn't directed at a media empire zillionaire with skin thickened by years of far worse treatment from unhinged sports fans in the comments section. I could feel Sean grinning through my headphones.
The discussion of The Fabelmans really has me wanting to give it a rewatch. It landed as "very good" for me when I watched it in the theater, and I'm wondering if repeat viewings will push it into "great" territory. Hope Rob gets to watch Black Bag soon. Patrick's right--it rules!