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There Will Be Blood is an unusual movie, it's very lengthy and more the most part incredibly well served. I liked the way the story was going offering a great deal of potential; I could see giant story arch's firing off in all directions. I could see the development of a story involving ... Read review
If there's a screen performance in 2008 that comes anywhere near to matching Daniel ... more
Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning turn inThere Will Be Blood, then we've come nowhere near to seeing it. A tour-de-force of acting and a career high for Day-Lewis, it's the high...
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Daniel Plainview and son are independent oil men, looking for prospects in California at ... more
the turn of the 20th century. They are challenged by a young preacher, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), whose own ambition is matched by Plainview's. Their battle forms the...
If there's a screen performance in 2008 that comes anywhere near to matching Daniel ... more
Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning turn inThere Will Be Blood, then we've come nowhere near to seeing it. A tour-de-force of acting and a career high for Day-Lewis, it's the high...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
If there's a screen performance in 2008 that comes anywhere near to matching Daniel ... more
Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning turn inThere Will Be Blood, then we've come nowhere near to seeing it. A tour-de-force of acting and a career high for Day-Lewis, it's the high...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
If there's a screen performance in 2008 that comes anywhere near to matching Daniel ... more
Day-Lewis' Oscar-winning turn inThere Will Be Blood, then we've come nowhere near to seeing it. A tour-de-force of acting and a career high for Day-Lewis, it's the high...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Daniel Plainview and son are independent oil men, looking for prospects in California at ... more
the turn of the 20th century. They are challenged by a young preacher, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), whose own ambition is matched by Plainview's. Their battle forms the centre of a scary, darkly-comic historical journey into an abyss of madness.
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Advantages: Great opening segment and first portion Disadvantages: The movie loses the plot suddenly and fails to get back on track
...tremendous loss.
There Will Be Blood is an unusual movie, it's very lengthy and more the most part incredibly well served. I liked the way the story was going offering a great deal of potential; I could see giant story arch's firing off in all directions. I could see the development of a story involving his son injured in an accident; I could see the trouble caused by choosing to stand up against the leader of a cult style church. ... .../>
The last hour of There Will Be Blood was nothing like its first, and there seemed nothing that could be done to elevate it back on track, and certainly for me I had lost it. I don't think I lost the plot because it had gone to some higher plain of intelligence beyond my vision. I lost the plot because the movies director and scriptwriters had lost track of the story they were delivering.
It takes a special sort of director to deliver a film that tells a full 10 years of story in 14 minutes without a word other than "oh no!" being said. This is a good start to Paul Thomas Anderson's vision of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil probably not surprisingly about an oil prospector at the turn of the 20th century.
Daniel Day Lewis stars as Daniel Plainview the prospector in question, a humble and hard working man whose initial discover of gold and then oil turns him into an ambitious and ruthless man. Daniel manages to juggle raising a child single handed and developing a business empire. Using his son H.W. as almost a gimmick offering the 10 year old as his business partner Daniel gains the trust and respect of many a community who trust his love of family and his plain talking manner, but things are to improve for this self made man, as the purchase of a ranch also earns him an ocean of oil beneath the surface, but good and bad luck come hand in hand for Daniel, and with tremendous gain so comes tremendous loss.
There Will Be Blood is an unusual movie, it's very lengthy and more the most part incredibly well served. I liked the way the story was going offering a great deal of potential; I could see giant story arch's firing off in all directions. I could see the development of a story involving his son injured in an accident; I could see the trouble caused by choosing to stand up against the leader of a cult style church. And from the promising 45 minutes opening I was gripped at the edge of my seat waiting for all the wonderful things to happen.
Sadly of all the promise the movie showed, 90 minutes in the movie got up, coughed and then lumbered its way into a spiralling tale enough to put an insomniac asleep. What had gone so terribly wrong? I had suddenly gone from watching and loving a movie to hating a movie more than any other I had seen in some time. Anderson flicks around like an amateur chopping and changing aspects of the story almost seemingly to suit his mood; it becomes hard to separate from the reality to the fantasy.
The last hour of There Will Be Blood was nothing like its first, and there seemed nothing that could be done to elevate it back on track, and certainly for me I had lost it. I don't think I lost the plot because it had gone to some higher plain of intelligence beyond my vision. I lost the plot because the movies director and scriptwriters had lost track of the story they were delivering.
Daniel Day Lewis in my mind delivers a role the best I have ever seen from the performer, he is hunched up with slightly wizened characteristics. This is a role that that no other actor could deliver, and I really sincerely believe this; and believe me I am far from a Day Lewis fan, an actor I have felt that up to this point is incredibly overrated. His onscreen traveller H.W. played by the talented young actor Dillon Freasier whom I'm sure we will see much more of over the next year or so delivers a powerful role as the adult never having the chance to live the life of a child, while others play H.W. is working the oil rigs. What makes Freasier good though is not his role as the adult child, but his sudden turn to the youth he never felt when an explosion and subsequent head injury renders him deaf. Unable to communicate and seemingly losing the plot we see this young actor spiral downhill for the majority of the movie.
Paul Dano delivers a reasonably creepy performance as the church leader, a blatant fake who has a certain presence about him. However the lack of final scripting fails to give him the delivery the role deserves. Once he first appears as Paul he seems to dominate the movie, partly due to the alter ego of Eli that comes as part of the package.
I'm not sure what I was expecting from There Will Be Blood, I think I was expecting some sort of feud, almost like a western where Daniel Plainview has to fend of others trying to get his oil, which to some degree he does but in a strictly boardroom sense. There is in fact a distinct lack of blood in this movie; the three deaths featured in the movie two of which are incredibly understated do not deliver this promised blood.
I'm also annoyed by the movies score, its acompanying themes seem to consist of the same three or four musical bars pieced together to create something similar to music. It's themes annoying, and carry on for considerably longer than they should, during a scene involving a rig explosion its length actually starts to annoy more than anything else drawing attention away from the action.
I'm sure that some will find There Will Be Blood to be a masterpiece, but I'd have to ask what sort of person that is; while there is no doubt there are some Oscar winning performances and a promising first half the second portion is really quite pathetic, and I'm fully aware I was not the only person who had given up on this potential masterpiece. Anderson seems to be trying to deliver a movie of length over content, both his big successes Boogie Nights and Magnolia being fairly lengthy, maybe he hoped to replicate some of that success here by dragging the story out, who knows; I certainly know that this is not a movie I would be in any hurry to see ever again.
I made a comment on a previous review that this movie's title and that of No Country For Old Men should be swapped, I stand by that statement because this is an entirely inappropriate title for this movie. But let's see how it fairs at the Oscars with 8 nominations, it will be interesting to see if substance is a crucial point in receiving an award, and whether a couple of good performances can be enough to save by what would be a failure of a movie.
There Will Be Blood Opens in UK cinemas on the 15th February.
Advantages: Fantastic performances, characters, soundtrack, photography... Disadvantages: Story meanders a lot; at 158 minutes long, it will bore many
...is what, for me, makes There Will Be Blood so great. Whilst the finale is certainly unexpected, not entirely convincing and defies most of the rules of modern cinema, I loved it. As the grotesque Plainview bellowed "I'm finished!", everyone in the audience simultaneously held their breath in a shocked silence.
There Will Be Blood is one of the most ambitious, beautiful and unpredictable films of the new millennium. It's also incredibly divisive. ... ...is generally the case) or you will find it hammy. The shrieking, atonal score will haunt or annoy you. As for the ending, well, it either will blow your mind and go down as one of the best climaxes in the history of cinema, or leave you shaking your head in disbelief that the director could do something so ridiculous after the excellent preceding two hours of the film. Either way, you have to admire Anderson's audacity. ...
l-m-n-o-p 03.07.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of There Will Be Blood (DVD)
Advantages: Powerful performance by Day-Lewis. Disadvantages: Morbidly depressing.
...Daniel receives a tip that there is a parcel of land in Little Boston, California that contains, literally, an ocean of oil. When Daniel approaches the family who own the land, after having snooped around and confirmed the presence of oil, he offers to purchase the land from them, telling them that his son's health is poor and that country life would be more suitable for him. The owner's eldest son, Eli, who is a religious fanatic and self-proclaimed ... ...and intervenes, demanding a much higher price than the one Daniel is offering. Giving in to Eli's demands, Daniel is forced to endure the young man's religious fanaticism, and as he struggles to uphold his image as a decent and compassionate man, tragedy strikes and his 'son' becomes deaf after a mining accident. Forced to take care of his 'son' - as a good father would and as the population expect him to - the strain becomes unbearable when his ...
GoFigure 19.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of There Will Be Blood (DVD)
Advantages: Great Performances, Well Paced, Well Directed Disadvantages: None
...contender was Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, a film that quite rightly recognized the work of its lead actor Daniel Day Lewis with the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The film is set in the late 1800's where a silver miner Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) turns his hand to drilling for oil on the barren landscapes of America. When a worker dies on one o his sites, he takes the man's orphaned son as his own, using him as a foil to elicit trust. ... ...many conflicts.
For me There Will Be Blood is about the greed and lust for power that one man has and what it makes him become. In an industry associated with greed, this is the depiction of how it all began with a few men being aggressive in their dealings to get more power over their competitors.
Once again Paul Thomas Anderson shows that as a filmmaker he is not one to be pigeon holed, casting an eye on cinematic vision whilst also having a ...
utero 29.07.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of There Will Be Blood (DVD)
Advantages: Astounding cinematography, grpping plot, mesmerising lead performance. Disadvantages: That ending might throw some viewers a touch.
...about it). With There Will Be Blood, though, Anderson has crafted a film that truly feels like it could have been made by nobody else. It is a bold, idiosyncratic epic shot through with a lo-fi, indie-flick intimacy. It is at once cacophonous and quiet. A contradictory, Old Testament fable bristling with moral ambiguity and pitch-black humour. Deserving of every superlative thrown his direction, Daniel Day Lewis' plays Daniel Plainview, a relentless, ... ...and a half hours long, There Will Be Blood leaves one pleading for more. From its opening, dialogue-free twenty minutes of pit-delving and leg-breaking to its devastating, ambiguous conclusion, it is an absolute joy. A heavy, oft-times uncomfortable joy, perhaps, but a joy nonetheless. Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame composes a striking, skewed musical score which slathers even the most seemingly routine of sequences with an almost unbearable sense ...
DavidJay 13.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of There Will Be Blood (DVD)
Advantages: An immediate classic Disadvantages: As it never doubts its viewers' intelligence it's not for everyone
...create an illusion of humanity. There is a desire for love and family, but it is all drowned in oil. Plainview, and the film itself, are misanthropic to the core.
PT Anderson's films have been marked by invention, not least in terms of sound and music and 'There will be Blood' continues that trend. Jonny Greenwood's work is startlingly effective, perhaps most notably in the film's dialogue free opening scenes. There is something in the sound of ... ...out of the tradition of cinema, in fact it practically jolts you out of your seat. Everything about the experience of watching this film feels revelatory; it is visceral, powerful and executed in such unexpected ways. It is a beautifully shot epic where underneath bleached landscapes black liquid flows like blood, and above, noxious smoke and fire chase across cloudless skies. This is a true American masterpiece and its ingenious pacing means, at ...
Zoe 20.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of There Will Be Blood (DVD)
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Advantages: touching, funny tale Disadvantages: Some of the story is a bit unbelievable
and is hilarious!!!!
I'd definatly buy it on dvd and it isnt even that expensive if you look in the right places.
Actors -
Paul Dano (Dwayne) :Therewillbeblood
Toni Colette (Sheryl): In her shoes, Dirty Deeds
The actors play great parts. i found Dwayne especially interestin as he had to be silent but show emotion through his expressions.
About -
The movie took 5 years to make due to lack of funds and it has won 2 oscars
Music -
Chicago
No man's land ...
Advantages: cheap, plenty of action, it's MMA Disadvantages: poor sound and picture, no extras, quality of fights
or strangle hold. Chokes are when you apply pressure around the neck and cut the blood flow to the brain, if you do not tapout you will fall unconscious. Strangles just cut the oxygen getting to lungs and will do the same thing. Many holds need a lot of skill to use and even more to avoid and escape. One of the most effective chokes is the triangle choke; this involves locking your legs around the opponent's neck with one of their arms through. It's very effective and used to devastating effect in one fight in particular.
***Conclusion***
I will warn you that these fights are quite violent and therewillbe some blood spilt. This is not WWF it is the real deal.
I would recommend this DVD to anyone remotely interested in getting to know more about this type of combat or just wanting to see what it's like purely because of the price. Picture ...
Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's OIL! this film from Paul Thomas Anderson (MAGNOLIA) stars Daniel Day-Lewis as a man who finds black gold.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD, Blu-ray
Studio(s)
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
The Story of Petroleum: a silent film produced by the US Bureau of Mining about the oil business in the 1920s, 'Dailies Gone Wild', Deleted Scenes: Fishing, Haircut, Interrupted Hymn, Teaser and Theatrical Trailers, Steelbook
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Award information
BAFTA
Best Actor 2008 (Daniel Day-Lewis)
OSCAR
Best Actor In A Leading Role 2008 (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Professional reviews
Review
Daniel Day-Lewis stuns in Paul Thomas Anderson's saga of a soul-dead oil man (Hollywood Reporter, 06/06/2008)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD Paul Thomas Anderson's epic American nightmare, arrives belching fire and brimstone and damnation to Hell (New York Times, 06/06/2008)
Boldly and magnificently strange, THERE WILL BE BLOOD marks a significant departure in the work of Paul Thomas Anderson (Variety, 06/06/2008)
DVD Description
Director Paul Thomas Anderson's THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a masterly, unflinching examination of a consummately evil man. Daniel Plainview (via a transcendent performance by the great Daniel Day-Lewis) is, as he likes to remind those around him, an oil man: he finds it, he drills for it, and he makes money from it. Following a tip from a visitor named Paul Sunday, whose family sits atop a veritable ocean of oil, Plainview travels to the town of New Boston, California, with his young son. Sunday's preacher brother Eli (both roles are played by the excellent Paul Dano) grudgingly accepts Plainview's ambitions under the condition that he help fund the town church. As Plainview's plans come to fruition, a series of events begin to fracture the insular world he has constructed for himself, pitting Plainview against Sunday and forcing him to become even more vindictive and ruthless. Anderson proved with BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA that he was adept at handling expansive storylines and layered plots; however, he stakes out a claim here as a new master of the cinematic epic. The film is visually stunning, and alternates between lush widescreen shots of the desert and meticulously composed, darkly lit close-up of his actors, presenting complex images of the American landscape and the souls that dot it. As a narrative, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is told with a sense of economy, yet never at the expense of the film's inherently grand scope. It's difficult to determine precisely what Anderson wants his viewers to take from the experience: the film is, in the end, appropriately complex and ambiguous. THERE WILL BE BLOOD forces us to confront Plainville, who seems to be a larger-than-life personification of evil; that we don't entirely understand him at the film's conclusion is not a shortcoming, but rather a tribute to the depths of this most vile creature and this most brilliant film.
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