In 2008. shortly after There Will Be Blood, I made the statement that if we had anything even close to a "Stanley Kubrick of our time," then PT Anderson was it. I wasn't crazy about The Master but loved the leading performances. Then came what I felt to be two thoroughly disappointing PT films - the technically proficient but aimless Inherent Vice, and the drab bordering on buzzkill vibe of Phantom Thread. I began to wonder. Then, like some multi-colored tropical bird that lands on a dreary stoop, along comes Licorice Pizza, an absolutely brilliant film.
Cooper Hoffman's resemblance to his dad is not uncanny so much as mystical or magical. A very wise decision to unleash him on the world in a very fluffy accessible role but we certainly hope down the line he will do something dark and edgy, roles that his dad was so good at. Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters is totally stunning. I was a teenager at the time but growing up in Hollywood I was one degree of separation from him and Babs and I remember hearing many times what a jerk he was. The entire Jon Peters sequence is PT at his best and almost could have been part of the Magnolia clan.
In the soundtrack department, PT is not quite as talented as his buddy QT (although Boogie Nights is pretty damn nice) but here PT has his best music supervision to date and some of the pics (this is 1973 remember) are exquisite like Taj Mahal, Gordon Lightfoot and The Congregation. Welcome back PT, it's great to see you again! 4.5 stars/5
TOMMY RATES THE PT CANON W/ A COMMENT OR TWO
HARD EIGHT (1996) **** - might be one of the most underappreciated directorial debuts of all time.
BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) **** - climatic scene with Alfred Molina as Eddie Nash is pure genius
MAGNOLIA (1999) ***** - time to call it what it is, a masterpiece people walked out on in theaters
PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002) ***1/2 - a miss, mostly because it's too short and underdeveloped!
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) ***** - one of the greatest character study films of all time.
THE MASTER (2012) **** - Not a big Joaquin Phoenix fan but holy shit, what a performance.
INHERENT VICE (2014) not rated because I have yet to be able to sit through the whole thing.
PHANTOM THREAD (2017) also not rated although I've watched most of it, in one word- buzzkill
LICORICE PIZZA (2021) ****1/2
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