Tag Archives: Joanna Gleason

1997 Films, Alfred Molina, Anne Fletcher, Best Film of the Year, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, Drama, Heather Graham, Independent, Independent Drama, Joanna Gleason, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Luis Guzman, Mark Wahlberg, Melora Walters, Paul Thomas Anderson, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Scott's Top 100 Films, William H. Macy

Boogie Nights-1997

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Boogie Nights-1997

Director Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds

Top 100 Films #21

Scott’s Review #312

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Reviewed December 31, 2015

Grade: A

Boogie Nights (1997) is a fantastic film about the pornography industry (The Golden Age of Porn) of the 1970s and 1980s and does a wonderful job of portraying the characters as human beings with feelings and emotions, rather than as nymphomaniacs or perverts.

They bond with one another as a family- a group of misfits striving to survive. This and many other reasons are why Boogie Nights is one of my favorite films of all time.

Written, produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia-1999, There Will Be Blood-2007, Inherent Vice-2014), he is a champion at exploring the underbelly of society and flawed and desperate characters.

Boogie Nights is no different.

The dysfunctional family is the common theme of the film. Most of his characters are not happy people, but they are survivors and desperately look for a piece of happiness.

Many in his cast of Boogie Nights also appear in Magnolia. Mark Wahlberg (Eddie/Dirk Diggler), Burt Reynolds (Jack Horner), Julianne Moore (Maggie), Don Cheadle (Buck), William H. Macy (Little Bill), John C. Reilly (Reed Rothchild), Heather Graham (Rollergirl), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Scotty), Malora Walters (Jessie), and Alfred Molina (Rahad Jackson), round out the large cast.

The setting of the film in Los Angeles and the period runs from 1977-1984. Though only seven years take place, much happens to most of the characters during this time and we experience their trials and tribulations.

The unique thing about Boogie Nights is that I care about every character, thanks to great writing and fantastic acting. They succeeded in obtaining my empathy for them. Boogie Nights is an extremely character-driven film, which is an enormous part of its brilliance.

The cast is an ensemble one, but the main character is Eddie Adams, a high school dropout, who we meet working as a dishwasher at a nightclub. He has an abusive mother who kicks him out of the house, leading him to audition for and move in with Jack Horner.

Jack is a patriarch type, who shares a house with Maggie, the matriarch of the household, and roller girl, a fellow high school dropout always wearing roller skates. Eddie’s talent is his large “manhood”.

We watch Eddie, at first shy and polite, rise to superstardom in the porn industry, becoming rich and living a lavish, drug-fueled, lifestyle, where his ego gets the best of him. He, like many of the characters, hit rough times as the early 1980’s shift to videotape was the death of many 1970’s porn actors careers.

The musical soundtrack is very important to the success of Boogie Nights. Many scenes contain songs that were hits of the time or prior, including “Sister Christian”, “Jessie’s Girl”, “God Only Knows”, “Got to Give it Up”, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”, and countless others- so much so that the soundtrack is almost a character of the film and we look forward to hearing what song might be featured next.

At one point later in the film, circa 1983, as things begin to spiral out of control for many of the characters- the musical score turns ominous with low bass music, a nighttime setting, the lighting becomes darker, and several stories begin to intersect on one late L.A. night on the streets.

Jack, filming a scene in a limousine starring Rollergirl and a young college jock they pick up off the streets, Dirk-forced to prostitute himself for $10 to a young man in a pickup truck, and Buck-who innocently stops to buy doughnuts for his very pregnant wife Jessie.

Each of these stories ends in brutal violence and the tone is crucial to the success of the scenes. This lengthy scene reminds me quite a bit of a Quentin Tarantino scene in its macabre tone.

Particular favorite scenes include the heartbreaking scene when Maggie loses custody of her son, the New Year’s Eve party at Jack’s house, and the ill-fated drug sale at Rahad Jackson’s.

Each is heartbreaking, powerful, fraught with tension, or otherwise empathetic to the characters, which makes them each quite powerful in different ways.

Induced in the drug sale scene is some black comedy- Rahad’s presumed Chinese houseboy has a fetish for firecrackers, which startle Dirk, Reed, and Todd, as the fear of possible gunshots fills the air. Maggie’s sob scene elicits viewer emotion as we cry with her, and the New Year’s Eve turn of events involving Scotty and Little Bill is tragic.

Boogie Nights (1997) is one of my favorite films because it contains brilliant writing, characters who are fleshed out, damaged, and human, a killer soundtrack, and a dark, mysterious industry (porn) that is both misunderstood and categorized.

Thanks to director, Anderson, we see the people within this lifestyle as real people, with issues, but also with full hearts and kindness.

Oscar Nominations: Best Supporting Actor-Burt Reynolds, Best Supporting Actress-Julianne Moore, Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

2014 Films, Bill Hader, Boyd Holbrook, Comedy, Craig Johnson, Dark Comedy, Independent, Independent Comedy, Joanna Gleason, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell

The Skeleton Twins-2014

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The Skeleton Twins-2014

Director Craig Johnson

Starring Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig

Scott’s Review #179

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Reviewed October 2, 2014

Grade: A-

The Skeleton Twins (2014) is a tremendous, character-driven, family drama that focuses on character development rather than standard plot devices.

The film stars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig from Saturday Night Live, but do not be fooled based on the actors involved that The Skeleton Twins is a light comedy- it is not.

There are laugh-out-loud scenes throughout, but this is a serious story about depression, suicide, and anger, and at times, very dark.

Wiig plays Maggie, a woman in her thirties who seemingly has it all. Lance, her handsome, loyal husband, played by Luke Wilson, adores her. She has a stable job as a dental hygienist and lives a quiet, quaint life in upstate New York- seemingly enjoying a happy middle-class existence.

Hader plays Milo, Maggie’s estranged twin brother, who lives in Los Angeles and is a struggling actor with no agent, reduced to waiting tables in a lousy restaurant. Presumably, just out of a relationship, Milo attempts suicide by slitting his wrists.

Maggie flies to Los Angeles to visit Milo in the hospital and invites him to recuperate with Maggie and Lance in New York.

Having grown up as best friends, they reconnect once Milo moves in.

The Skeleton Twins is so jam-packed with interesting stories, both current and back story, that it becomes effortless to fall in love with Maggie and Milo.

When the twins were aged fourteen, their father committed suicide by jumping off a bridge, a father they were very connected to.

Their mother, played by Joanna Gleason, was a horrible mother growing up and, in present times, is a hippie involved in an interracial marriage. She awkwardly visits Maggie and Milo and attempts to heal them through meditation.

Other character history is revealed.

Milo, who is gay, was molested by his teacher when he was fifteen years old, a teacher he is still in love with, and is wonderfully played against type by Ty Burrell.

Maggie has carried on affairs with various men throughout her marriage to Lance and is secretly using birth control pills to avoid becoming pregnant. Lance happily thinks they are trying to conceive.

The characters of Milo and Maggie are incredibly layered and well-written. They are both damaged from a difficult childhood, suffer from depression, and now only have each other.

Scenes in The Skeleton Twins range from hysterical- a scene in a dentist’s office involving laughing gas rolling on the floor funny and a lip-synching scene to the hit “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, are both wonderful.

Dramatic and shocking scenes where Milo and Maggie go at each other with gusto, dredging up childhood wounds, are brilliantly acted by Wiig and Hader.

The chemistry between Wiig and Hader is incredible and both actors are very successful at playing hysterical comedy versus dark drama, which impressed me.

Luke Wilson is great in support as the straight-laced, nice guy married to Maggie.

A slight criticism- the character of Milo is written as stereotypically gay- man-hungry and hardly a man’s man. He has trouble clearing brush because presumably, he is too girly to handle the task.

I wish more films would steer away from these stereotypes.

Ty Burrell’s character of Rich is so complex that I wish he would have been explored a bit more- being gay how can things work with his girlfriend while harboring many secrets? Is he still in love with Milo despite repeatedly pushing him away? I would have loved more depth to this complex character.

After the film, I felt the filmmakers did not go as dark as they could have, and audiences will know what I mean following the final scene.

There is no fairy tale ending ether.

Milo and Maggie are damaged goods who only have each other making for a dynamic character-rich film.