I'm going to keep this post pretty short, because I just hit up my dudes at Extraordinary DVD down by Manhattan's Union Square, and they, as always, had the crazy hook-up. I left there with three new DVDs for my ever-growing collection (I'm guessing it now caps off somewhere in the high 400s or so). Added hours ago—Cloverfield (hate it or love it, you have to at least respect it; I, for one, adore it), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (insanely underrated domestic crime drama from late '07, a definite must-rent if a meshing of Memento's off-balanced structure, The Usual Suspects' botched robbery aftermath, and The Simpsons' family dysfunction entices you), and the French modern horror masterpiece Inside (more on this one next week).
Before I watch my man Clover terrorize Manhattan and the prototype Jessica Lucas again, though, I feel obligated to inform the masses about this week's top new Blockbuster choice, otherwise known as the best overall movie of 2007, There Will Be Blood. One of the main objectives of this blog is to feature flicks on KING-mag.com that'd, without this blog, never see the light of this day on this site, other than in the possible punchline or two. And, undoubtedly, There Will Be Blood is one that I can't recommend enough.
Reasons….you want reasons? Let's see. First, there's the gargantuan performance from the greatest living actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. Dude hibernates for like five years at a time, resurfaces in a dynamic role, completely bodies his acting peers, and then goes back into hibernation. How can you not love that? I'd compare him to a rapper and his/her rap peers, but frankly, no rapper is at the level in his/her respective craft that DDL is in his. True story.
Secondly, there's Radiohead member Johnny Greenwood's off-putting, eerie, ballsy, and otherworldly score, a nightmarish spectacle of string sirens, old school orchestra, and rattling bass that keeps you unsure of what the hell you're watching. Is it a dramatic period piece? Horror movie disguised as a period piece? Or a pitch-black comedy? We know, for sure, that it's an intense character study of money-hungry, tormented oil man in turn-of-the-century California, but that's all we're 100% sure of.
In reality, it's all three rolled into one, a masterwork of assured genius from Paul Thomas Anderson. PTA had already placed his bid for best American filmmaker working today with 1997's Boogie Nights and 1999's Magnolia (if you don't love all three-plus, overly chatty minutes of Magnolia, I don't even want to chat wit cha). With There Will Be Blood, though, he spellbinds in ways unseen in his previous works. Channeling the god Stanley Kubrick with wide angle shots and subtly haunting imagery, PTA is unstoppable here.
Okay, this wasn't that short of a post after all, but too bad. I could write for hours about this film, but really, I can do it most justice with eleven simple words: get your ass away from the computer and rent it now. Now, on to Jessica Lucas—if only that were literally.

And here's the result of too much free time on one's hands.

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