At the end of 70's, porn director, who dreams of making porn and "real" movie fusion as his life masterpiece, meets extremely endowed young man, and there starts the story of the rise, culmination and downfall of the great porn star. This drama which, without prejudice and attitude, impartially tells about 70's porn industry, at the very transition from a theaters to video tapes, I watched primarily because of fantastic cast. Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, William H. Macy, William H. Macy and three Academy Awards nominations grant at least that it's not a bad movie. Screenplay is pretty much cliche story about rise and fall of any star in showbusiness, but acting and characterization are really good and make us bind to the characters real easy. Also, beautiful (and naked) women and good music are always welcome bonus. But this potential masterpiece is flawed by its length. It is good, but not good enough to hold undivided attention for two and a half hours. Somewhere about half it's began to loosen its grip and, I can not say I was bored, but it simply lost me. Still, it's cast is reason enough to recommend it anyway.7/10

Probably my favorite PT Anderson movie. I just love the rawness and exuberance of "Boogie Nights." This film is not only a celebration of the 70s, it's a celebration of life, and it contains one of my favorite tense scenes in any movie ever: the drug deal scene. You know the one I'm talking about. Night Ranger. Sister Christian. "MOTORING". Brilliant!

Boogie Nights (1997) is a pretty famous film. It received a lot of praise, including many positive reviews and major award recognition like the golden globes and the Oscars. This is also the film that credited with jump starting Mark Wahlberg's Hollywood career. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Don Cheadle. The acting from every one of the cast members is spot on, great performances all around. I especially liked Moore, Wahlberg, and Reynolds. Don't get me wrong, everyone else is still very good, but those three just really shined in their individual roles, enough so for Moore and Reynolds to get academy award nominations and Wahlberg to be thrust into a very successful Hollywood acting career. Boogie Nights is all about the pornography industry, well actually its more about these specifics people in the pornography industry, and how it affects their lives. I liked how the movie handled the individual lives of each character, they really gave ample amount of time to every persons storyline. The dialogue is written in a way that pulls you in and keeps you engaged. I wouldn't say that Boogie Nights is a 10/10 or that it's absolutely perfect, but it is a very well made film that deserves a watch. 8/10.

Having grown up on watching movies and having no reason for making them other than to ape his idols, Anderson lifts the template from Scorsese's Goodfellas in this adolescent ripoff. Tell me - Which film am I describing here? Narrative structure: Set primarily over the course of the mid-1970s through the 80s, a young high-schooler has troubles at home and has to live with abusive family members. He feels trapped in this environment, and to help him escape, he grows attached to a surrogate family whose activities revolve around moral and societal vice. He finds that he excels in this environment and rises quickly in this new family hierarchy, earning both respect and riches from it. He eventually becomes fully initiated into this new family when he passes a test that demonstrates his commitment and talent to the vices that they support, and he is then rewarded by this new family with a celebration. At near mid-point, a "retro reel" involving 8mm or 16mm home movies and photos are used in a montage to express the passage of time and the deepening relationship between our protagonist and the other members of his new family. Things are going swimmingly until, at what is supposed to be a fun social occasion among friends, violence unexpectedly breaks out, resulting in murder and death. This scene mid-way through the plot tells the viewer that not all is well within this "fun" social structure, and that its very mores helped to contribute to the mindset that would lead someone to murder. But our protagonist tries to brush aside this violent event as a mere aberration, not wanting to question social world he has embraced. After eventually reaching a pinnacle of success, cultural shifts along with an infusion of drug abuse drag our protagonist down to the point where the same elements stemming from the vice and the surrogate family he joined now work against him until he hits rock bottom. When he hits rock bottom, he has a falling out with his surrogate "father figure" who turns against him for his betrayals and now uncontrollable drug use. All of this nearly kills him - but he still manages to survive rock bottom (unlike some of his friends around him). He is eventually able to pull himself up from rock bottom and settle into a less-than-ideal but by no means awful life, wistfully thinking back on the good times and how they are likely gone forever. Stylistic elements: Wall-to-wall music to help set tone, establish the time setting and occasionally provide an additional commentary on the action itself. Swish-pans, rapid editing sequences to convey frenetic energy, punctuated by extensive dolly and tracking shots to convey more leisurely times of our characters and cover the spaces of the lively nightclubs that they frequent. Title cards placed late in the film in order to subtly tell the viewer that the upcoming scene, times or sequences will be especially significant to the lives of the characters, followed by a shift in editing style to highlight the stresses that the protagonist has gotten himself into - which systematically builds the dramatic tension in the sequence until it results in a conclusive tipping point in his life. Which movie am I describing here? Boogie Nights? Or Goodfellas? Which one came first again? The final scene where our protagonist talks to himself in the mirror and looks back on his experiences is obviously ripped off from Raging Bull rather than Goodfellas, but that is still another Scorsese work.Anderson has nothing to say other than he wants to be thought of as a great director, but he needs to ape the true pioneers that came before him to make that happen. He just needed to make sure he adapted Scorsese's work into the porn world in order to appeal to his adolescent male fan base that eats up anything that helps mainstream their sexual fantasies. Don't fall for the hype. This is an extremely derivative, mediocre work.