Mustache Marathon Movie 9: There Will Be Blood


Right now, I am sitting here on November 30th beginning to type up the write-up for the final movie of my Mustache Movie Marathon.  It’s been an interesting month.  I’ll get to that tomorrow.  Today, I’m here to discuss with myself how much I liked or disliked There Will Be Blood.  That is right.  The final movie of the Mustache Movie Marathon was There Will Be Blood.

There Will Be Blood stars Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview, an oil baron in the early 20th century western United States.  The movie tells the tale of Daniel Plainview getting oil from beneath a small town that grows as his wealth grows.  Also in the town is preacher Eli Sunday, played by Paul Dano.

There is so much good in this movie that I could fill many, many pages with it.  I’m not going to get into all of that stuff because the write-up shouldn’t take forever to read.  Let’s just say that it’s wonderfully acted, the movie looks spectacular, and I get completely engrossed in it whenever I see it.  Simple as that.  The movie sucks me in every time, mostly through Daniel Day Lewis’s perfect portrayal of Daniel Plainview.  Nobody else could have played that character as well as he did.

I cannot call this a perfect film.  I have one problem with it.  My problem comes in the form of Eli Sunday.  This isn’t a big thing.  His last name just seems too obvious to me.  He’s a preacher, he runs the town church, and his last name is Sunday.  Get it?  It’s because the Christians and Catholics go to church on Sundays.  Right?  Right?  That seems forced.

Now, onto the mustache.  This is the Mustache Movie Marathon so I must discuss it.  Daniel Plainview is as much anything in his personality as his ‘stache.  There is bearded Daniel.  There is clean ‘stache Plainview.  There is dirty ‘stache Plainview.  And at another point there is ‘stache and stubble Daniel Plainview.  He has a range with his facial hair which helps to add to the performance itself.  It’s a great work of facial hair.

There is one thing I really want to discuss that I am blown away by every time I see this movie.  The first fourteen minutes have no dialogue, and are as gripping as any other scene in the movie.  Not many talking movies have managed to get me so engrossed without the use of dialogue.  There Will Be Blood did and I am always amazed by how great that section of the film is.

What a great way to end the Mustache Movie Marathon.  Coming up in the next couple days will be the wrap-up, and the awards.  If you have any award ideas feel free to tell me.  I would at least take them into consideration.  Until then, fight the good fight every moment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Time Watches: March 2019

Image
I’ve been writing these first-time watch posts for a long time. They are a chronicle, month by month, of the movies that are new to me. They could be theatrical releases or they could be older movies that I’m finally getting around to. Either way, they’re fresh to my eyes, never having gone through them before. With that comes pleasant surprise, a great experience, disappointment, or frustration. There could be many more emotions as well. These posts share my emotions from having watched the movies with whoever decides to read them. I fell behind on these posts a long time ago and have been trying to work my way through them to eventually catch up. This post will cover March 2019 and the movies I saw for the first time over the course of that month. Any rewatches will not be a part of this post. If they aren’t first time watches, they don’t count. March was a month full of all kinds of movies. There were good and bad, like usual, and a variety of genres, also like usual. Th...
Read more

Is "Real Steel" Like "Over the Top"?

When I was going through my weekly movie binge a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon two movies that I had never seen before that tackled a very similar story.   It was an odd thing to have happen because I didn’t know of any similarities between the two movies.   The first was Real Steel, a movie about a man who participates in robot boxing while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   The second was Over the Top, a movie about a man who participates in arm wrestling while bonding with the son that he had left years before.   Similar?   I think so. Let’s begin with Real Steel.   I watched this one because, why the hell not?   I quite enjoyed the movie and by the end I was rooting for Hugh Jackman’s character to help his robot, Atom, to a victory.   The thing to point out about Real Steel is how good the visual effects were.   I wasn’t expecting too much going in, but I thought they masterfully crafted each robot in a way that...
Read more

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 8: The Power Stealer

Image
Last time we sat down with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers , Tommy was going through some serious stuff.   His powers were running low because Lord Zedd was targeting him.   He felt hopeless.   His friends were comforting him.   There was also a Robo Goat trying to take a powerful sword and use it against the Earth.   There were fights all over the place and an emotional hook that was unmatched in any episode that wasn’t in a multi-part arc. This episode, there might be follow-up to the Tommy storyline.   It would be nice to see more of the struggle with his powers.   Right now, that’s the one throughline that has been playing out.   II hope this episode continues to have some sort of meaning to the overall story, instead of being a self-contained and meaningless.   The show needs to grow and evolve, with a storyline that builds to something significant.   Having episodes that keep the story at a standstill is boring.   ...
Read more