There Will Be Blood Still Courtesy of Paramount Vantage

“The identification of this extreme individualism of property ownership with all that is sacred in American life has been the source of many of the problems that I shall describe in the pages that follow,” Kunstler writes. Quoting Alexis de Tocqueville, he continues, “Individualism…at first, only saps the virtues of public life. But in the long run it attacks and destroys all others and is at length absorbed in selfishness.”

Based on a portion of Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!”, PT Anderson’s vast, visionary epic There Will Be Blood follows California oil man Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis in the most ferociously awesome performance of the year) on his long, lonely journey toward the so-called American Dream. But despite the obvious themes of power and faith, There Will Be Blood isn’t primarily about oil, or about religion, or about extremism. Rather, it’s a thorough excavation of the foundation of American identity—an examination of the ideals that underlie every aspect of our lives, from the way we’ve built our cities to the way we maintain our personal relationships.

From the very beginning, Johnny Greenwood’s dissonant, uneasy score sets the tone—all tension and anxiety and evil beneath the endless desert sky (West Texas stands in for California through much of the film). The first, mesmerizingly wordless fifteen minutes outline Plainview’s rise from lowly silver prospector to moderately successful driller as he accidentally, violently strikes oil at the bottom of a lonely, remote mineshaft.

In a lot of ways, Plainview is the picture of a quintessential American male: a hard-working, self-made family man. Along with his adopted son, H.W. (the orphan of an oil worker killed while working one of Plainview’s fields), Daniel travels the state, swindling landowners with his no-nonsense sales pitch and the young boy as a placatory gimmick.

Daniel presents himself as a builder of schools, a planter of crops, and an architect of prosperity. So when he arrives at a small inland dirt farm with an offer to buy up all the surrounding land, the locals are thrilled—especially a young, ambitious preacher named Eli Sunday, who sees an opportunity to insinuate himself as a key player in the newly developing town.

But as the oil derrick begins to run, Eli becomes increasingly impatient and demanding, setting the stage for a nasty rivalry between the two greedy men, whose confrontations grow fiercer and stranger with each passing day. The film’s best acting is contained in these exchanges—at his best moments, Paul Dano almost equals Day-Lewis’ bizarre, full-tilt intensity, and the two make supremely satisfying enemies.

With the arrival of Daniel’s mysterious long lost brother, an explosion that destroys H.W.’s hearing, and a lucrative distribution deal on the horizon, things begin to speed out of control. And as the film builds towards its utterly insane conclusion (complete with an instantly classic, venom-spewing monologue by Day-Lewis), Plainview undeniably goes stark raving mad.

But it’s a uniquely American madness—one grounded in the hollow desire for property at the expense of humanity; one born in a land where the societal fabric was never properly, thoughtfully woven. And though Plainview continues down the path of selfish misanthropy, he deeply mourns his obvious loss of self, until finally accepting that he’s gone too far to turn back. In some ways, Plainview is no less than America itself; choosing to ignore or deny the darkest parts of his identity for fear that the truth will devour him whole (which it eventually does).

With the exception of the lead performances, There Will Be Blood is surprisingly spare for an Anderson film. At a hefty two-and-a-half hour running time, it's as careful and slow-burning and understated a film as the acclaimed director has made. In fact, it initially took a few days for the full impact of the film to hit us. But don't let that fool you—it's thoroughly riveting and, in our opinion, the absolute best film in recent memory. [Trailer] [Website]

Cloverfield
We're positively embarrassed to say that we didn't go to one of the many midnight screenings of Cloverfield last night. After all, it's a big-budget, big-hype, monster attacks New York City movie--the kind of movie that practically demands a midnight screening.

But the early word seems to be a resounding "meh" (the most notable exceptions being the reliable folks at Cinematical, who loved it, and the Village Voice's Nathan Lee who also liked it, albeit for perverse yuppie-hating reasons). This doesn't diminish our desire to see it though, and we'll probably catch it tonight or tomorrow, no matter what anyone says.

We have to admit though--we're extremely surprised that people are still daring to call the first-person handheld shooting gimmick "original" or "inventive". If anything, it's completely fucking annoying, and has just recently ruined another otherwise awesome genre film, Diary of the Dead. So here's hoping it doesn't drag Cloverfield down too. [Trailer] [Website]

Cassandra's Dream
Hunky Colin Farrell and hunky Ewan McGregor play hunky brothers in Woody Allen's newest drama, Cassandra's Dream. When they're hired to murder a rich uncle's business associate, the strain of the task begins to destroy their relationship. Throw in a hot young lady (Hayley Atwell), and you've got yourself a knock-down, drag-out bro-battle. [Trailer] [Website]

27 Dresses
Directed by Anne Fletcher (whose only other full-on directing credit is the 2006 dance-fight movie Step Up), 27 Dresses stars Katherine Heigl as Jane, an "always a bridesmaid" type who literally owns 27 bridesmaid dresses. But when her sister announces plans to marry the man she secretly loves, Jane suddenly realizes how pathetic her life has been up to this point, and she finally gathers up the nerve to go after what she wants.

We don't want to hype this thing up too much, but 27 Dresses could very well be this year's The Wedding Planner. No kidding. [Trailer] [Website]

Mad Money
We were so upset to learn that this isn't a feature-length film adaptation of Jim Cramer's Mad Money that we immediately sold all of our stock in Overture Films.

At any rate, Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes star as three financially troubled ladies who decide to rob a bank in this remake of the British series Hot Money. But the money they're stealing is about to be destroyed or something, so that makes it okay, if not downright cute. [Trailer] [Website]