Long Movies You Should Watch Now That You Have Time
Here's two of the most rewarding movie experiences streaming now. Plus: a review of Extraction on Netflix
Last week we recommended short movies (90 minutes or less) for your streaming enjoyment. This week it’s all about long movies, which we are defining as over two and a half hours. With many of us quarantined for the time being, it’s the perfect occasion to fire up a long movie that you wouldn’t normally have time for. The movies we chose are epic, enthralling, and so very worth your time.
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Drew recommends…
There Will Be Blood (streaming on Netflix)
The year 2007 was one for the ages at the movies. You had award-winning dramas like No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, and Atonement, beloved comedies like Superbad, Juno, and Ratatouille, and underappreciated gems like Zodiac, The Assassination of Jesse James, and Gone Baby Gone. However, the crown jewel of this extraordinary movie year remains There Will Be Blood.
Have you ever come to love a movie that you didn’t like the first time you saw it? I remember my dad rented the Netflix DVD (remember that?) of There Will Be Blood and I watched the first half or so before bailing on what I thought was a slow-moving and sleepy drama. A couple years later I revisited it only to discover the masterpiece that I had initially overlooked. The film's length (2 hours, 38 minutes) and the story’s scope (a plot that covers over three decades) may seem too drawn out at first glance, but once I surrendered the movie my full attention and let the beautiful and strange images and sounds wash over me, I realized this was a work of astounding ambition and skill.
The two main creative forces behind There Will Be Blood are undoubtedly writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Anderson based the screenplay loosely off the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. His film centers on Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), a prospector that discovers oil in California at the end of the 1800s. He founds an oil company and strikes an uneasy business partnership with a local evangelical preacher (Paul Dano). Anderson unfolds his story at a controlled, measured pace with occasional spasms of shocking violence and drama. From the very first scene, there’s a serene and awe-inspiring atmosphere tinged with ominous dread. The title itself makes a promise that you know will be fulfilled.
Day-Lewis’ titanic performance gives the film its undeniable force. Considered by many to be the (now-retired) Greatest Living Actor, he won the second of his three Oscars for this role. His Plainview is a terrifying symbol of unfettered capitalist greed. No other actor could disappear into the character like Day-Lewis, who transforms into this homicidally competitive, yet utterly compelling, turn-of-the-century oilman.
The central conflict at stake in There Will Be Blood is between capitalism and religion. Plainview’s rival is Eli Sunday, the sniveling con man preacher played by Paul Dano (It’s a testament to Dano’s acting that he isn’t blown off the screen by Day-Lewis). Early on, it’s easy to see Eli only cares for enriching himself, which makes him more like the predatory Plainview than either of them would like to believe. What makes There Will Be Blood tick is that the interplay between Plainview and Eli works as both a personal character study and a symbolic societal one. On an intimate level, the clash of personalities between the two is captivating. On a big-picture level, unchecked greed and corrupt religion are two ugly sides of the same coin, the movie seems to be showing us, and both are deeply embedded in our nation’s past.
Even if you don’t watch it with those themes in mind, it’s still an astonishing and unforgettable experience, with an indispensable score from Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and a startling amount of quotable lines (“I… drink… your… milkshake!”). The filmmaking vision is unparalleled and the themes couldn’t be bigger or more important, making There Will Be Blood a monumental achievement that ranks not just among the best movies of 2007, but of the entire 21st century.
Billy recommends…
Hoop Dreams (streaming on HBO Now)
Seeing this as a kid and seeing this as an adult bring two extremely different reactions. Both positive and powerful in their own way. Hoop Dreams follows two young black Chicago-area kids, William Gates (no, not that William Gates) and Arthur Agee, who have the same dream of making it to the NBA.
Hoop Dreams highlights an area and community that is often invisible to the daily consciousness of most outsiders. If not invisible then thought of negatively. Then as soon as we see two young kids persevering the negative begins to deteriorate and the positive becomes so much more clear.
I must turn to legendary film critic Roger Ebert for a second. His words far surpass my own for this film. As much as I want to convey my own original thought, and I will, this is a recommendation after all. This little excerpt is the perfect descriptor for why you should see this movie.
“We learn, for example, of how their extended families pull together to help give kids a chance. How if one family member is going through a period of trouble (Arthur's father is fighting a drug problem), others seem to rise to periods of strength. How if some family members are unemployed, or if the lights get turned off, there is also somehow an uncle with a big back yard, just right for a family celebration. We see how the strong black church structure provides support and encouragement - how it is rooted in reality, accepts people as they are, and believes in redemption.”
What Roger hits on above reminds me of a lie that I was told growing up. The lie that the areas that Hoop Dreams highlights have a lack of family structure or community and that is the main source for poverty and deterioration of these areas. Now I can’t speak to what is the main reason for poverty, but the lack of positive community doesn’t seem to be one of them. Throughout this whole movie the community that aids the Gates and Agee family comes primarily from their families and surrounding neighbors. While almost no support comes from the school that is supposed to “save” Arthur and William, but instead exploits their talents.
Hoop Dreams is what movies are meant to be. Opening our hearts and souls so that it can be filled with empathy and wonderment. Empathy for communities that are forgotten and wonderment for the inner child that exists in all of us. When I first saw this as a child all I cared about was the idea of being a pro athlete. Such a seemingly juvenile and unrealistic dream brings so much hope for the self and the community around you. Without that wonderment Hoop Dreams would have been a preachy (Kind of how I was above. Sorry.) and melodramatic story with no staying power. Instead this 3-hour epic breezes by and is a perfect quarantine watch for the whole family.
Recently Released Mini-Reviews
Extraction (streaming on Netflix)
Drew: As starved as I am for new movies in the midst of this pandemic that has closed theaters, I still didn’t enjoy my time with Extraction. It’s a bad Netflix Original action movie that takes itself much too seriously — at least 6 Underground wanted to have some fun.
The screenplay is by Joe Russo, one of the co-directors of Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War. I guess this is the amount of free reign you get after such a massive success, because this story feels less than half baked. I never even got remotely close to caring about what happens in Extraction. Even worse, Chris Hemsworth, who can be legitimately funny, isn’t really allowed to have a good time either.
That’s also because the action takes up all the oxygen here. Extraction is directed by Sam Hargrave, the stunt coordinator on those Avengers movies and several other action flicks. The one genuinely thrilling, how-did-they-do-that moment is the 11-minute one-take in the middle of the movie. Other than that, it’s mostly a joyless ride with meaningless violence from start to finish. - 2 / 5 Apples
Links to get you through your quarantine
Parks and Recreation showrunner Mike Schur explains how last night’s reunion special came together.
Adam Driver News Alert! Driver has signed on to star in Jeff Nichols’ (Mud, Midnight Special) next film about the Cuban Revolution.
Amazon’s Homecoming, one of the best shows of 2018, is returning May 22 with Janelle Monae taking over in the lead role for Julia Roberts. Check out the trailer.