Paul Thomas Anderson; the New Robert Altman ~ BOOGIE NIGHTS
With it's criss-crossing story-lines and myriad of complex characters, Paul Thomas Anderson's cunning examination of the underbelly of the porno industry circa late 1970's, BOOGIE NIGHTS stuns with its raw visual virtuosity and terrific ensemble acting. Surprisingly good is Mark Wahlberg in a on point portrayal of a disenfranchised youth, Dirk Diggler who is befriended by self-lauded sleaze Meister Jack Horner ( an incredibly stalwart Burt Reynolds ) who has created a commune of a wayward family of sorts and ignorantly presses on when the adult film industry is waning and thrusting into the new age of straight-to-video. Lots of inspired vignettes of the various degenerated souls to admire here including the luminous Julianne Moore as Amber Waves ( her scene after losing the custody battle for her son to her suspect ex-husband is marvelous ) and Philip Seymour Hoffman in an extraordinary early glimpse of his burgeoning genius as Scotty, the hopeless homosexual who pines away for Dirk!