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100The kind of film I instinctively respond to. Leave logic at the door. Do not expect subdued taste and restraint, but instead a kind of operatic ecstasy.
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100The kind of brilliantly weirdo picture that, by all rights, shouldn't have gotten made at all but this time, miraculously, was.
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100Hands-down the best movie of the year.
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100Spellbinding.
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100Part poem, part jungle blossom, all brilliance.
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90One of the best movies of the year--startling, innovative, hugely funny and powerfully, courageously moving.
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90What leaves you breathless, though, is the knockout acting by the cast.
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90At its best, Magnolia towers over most Hollywood films this year.
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90Anderson must have needed that bonkers third-hour climax because there was nowhere to go short of spontaneous combustion.
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90A quantum leap in ambition from "Hard Eight" and "Boogie Nights" and is, to my mind, much more interesting.
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88The most imperfect of the year's best movies, Magnolia's flaws are easily forgiven because they are the result of go-for-broke ambition.
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85An exhilarating and at times operatic film.
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83Anderson's big, showy flower of a movie unfurls brilliantly, each plot petal a thing of exquisite design. Then it ripens. Then it disintegrates, leaving a mess of color and a faint whiff of rot.
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83If you thought "Boogie Nights" blew it in its final third, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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83Like Spielberg, even if the content is questionable or the performance is missing, his scenes always manage to be visually thrilling.
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80Anderson strikes a near flawless balance between looseness and structure, and indulges the occasional flight of cinematic fancy without undermining the movie's emotional integrity.
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80Highly audacious, hugely enjoyable, exceptionally well-written, brilliantly edited, and exuberantly actor-driven extravaganza.
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80Drunk and disorderly on the pure joy of making movies. A frantic, flawed, fascinating film that is both impressive and a bit out of control, often at the same time.
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It's astonishing to see a film begin this brilliantly only to torpedo itself in its final hour.
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80As intoxicating as the flower it's named for, and its characters, most of them as flawed and fascinating as the film itself, seem intoxicated by the overpowering scent.
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75Exhausting at times, frustrating in others, Magnolia is mostly just exhilarating, the product of a raw, vibrant talent finding his footing in an adult world -- and unafraid to make mistakes.
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75Anderson, 29, does so much in Magnolia, with such nerve, with wily humor and out-of-the-blue bravado, that the film's flaws and lapses don't really matter. It ain't perfect, but it's awe-inspiring.
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75At times, Anderson may be too brilliant for his own good, and there is a risk that viewers will tire of the director's relentlessly prowling camera.
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75Magnolia is "Short Cuts" with hope. It's my kind of mess.
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75There is undeniable power in Magnolia, in which small moments of truth are given epic gravitas, not just by Anderson's adroit cinematic style (no one's camera is more restless or inquisitive), but by the wisdom and compassion of the characters he creates.
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70A remarkably inventive and audacious film that almost overcomes its flaws.
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67Unlike any other film released this past year, be it from the aspect of its storylines, of which there are many, or its emotional clarity, which is, quite frankly, brutal.
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60None of the characters in Magnolia feel as vividly imagined as the porn stars and filmmakers and hangers-on of "Boogie Nights."
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60A hard-striving, convoluted movie, which never quite becomes the smoothly reciprocating engine Anderson ...would like it to be.
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50There's precious little to think about despite the screenplay's comic-philosophical musings on fate and coincidence.
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50But while this terrific cast gets to strut and preen, it's difficult to make an emotional connection with most of them.
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40I went into Magnolia like a kid running onto a beach with a pail and shovel ready to explore, only to find myself neck deep in quicksand three hours later, screaming for help.
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40A brilliant piece of garbage -- mesmerizing, but only because you can't believe someone has the temerity to put so much into so little.
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25A three-hour-and-10-minute exercise in slight characterization, pointlessly showy editing and vapid plotting.