Posted by MadKow at proxy-387.public.rwc.webtv.net on January 17, 2000 at 21:45:43:
In Reply to: How to enjoy MAGNOLIA (blah blah spoilers blah)--- posted by BrianLynch on January 17, 2000 at 21:42:03:
:
: ---sans alcohol or hard drugs.
: Okay, the kid pees his pants, right? And then we see him break into the school library and read from some books. And then the movie pretty much abandons him.
: And then it rains frogs and fucks some shit up. The kid watches and smiles, like he knew it was gonna happen. I believe he murmurs something, but I couldn't hear it over Vin's snoring.
: And then, the next morning, the kid marches into his Dad's bedroom and declares, very creepily, "You have to be nicer to me, Dad".
: Here's what happened. The kid is super-smart. He's TOO smart. Like Matilda (from the far superior film MALTILDA), once he reaches a certain level of intelligence he clicks in to super-human status, and he reads from one of the books in the library how to conjure frogs to destroy a world that has mocked him. That's why he beams like the dickens upon seeing the rain of frogs, because his Harry Potter-ish spell worked.
: And in the Dad's bedroom? A threat to his father, if the dad aint nice, he'll only do it again. Or worse, he'll make it rain pianos or something.
: So, the whole damn movie is a three and a half origin story for a new superhero. I'm assuming things will really get good in MAGNOLIA 2 (MAGNOLIA AND ROBIN?), when the kid hones his powers to fight crime.
: And the villain? Duh, the old dude who was gonna kill himself. The kid's frog rain made the dude shoot the TV instead, you saw sparks and whatnot, but you didn't SEE HIM DIE. He got electro-powers and is out to molest kids all over LA. Unless Frog-Boy can stop him.
: And, since Frog-Boy made the rain that caused Electro-ChickenHawk, he's tied into the origin. How Batman and Joker!
: See? It was a good movie.