Cigarettes & Coffee

I found this to be a strangely enjoyable watch which was a nice surprise because I kept confusing this with Coffee and Cigarettes from Jim Jarmusch.

It wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be, and my expectations were formed before I knew who Paul Thomas Anderson was. I don't know what happened here. It was an experiment, but it was just okay. The trailer is the best thing about the movie, imo.

All the relative crap I've been watching lately made this even more enjoyable. Really good writing--it's a pleasure to hear dialogue with some actual subtlety--good actors, good camera work. If you like Anderson, it's a safe bet you'll like this

The production of this movie is leaps and bounds compared to Anderson's first short. The story is also intriguing. There are three stories going on in a coffee shop and each of the stories connects in some ways. The acting is very good. The married couple was creepy and made me uneasy. The two guys, at first, seemed innocent enough but then the brutal truth of it came out. Finally, the guy in the car seemed nice enough with a hard edge but that also helped develop the story between the two men.

Effectively a demo reel, but still plenty fascinating.

Not a bad short -- it's well-written and the three stories are handled well with enough screen-time to each one. Not sure what the purpose of it was, as it feels open-ended (as if it's just the beginning of a feature film), but it only feels just slightly too long at 23 minutes. I hope I can get Philip Baker Hall to act in my first movie, too.

A good enough short. I didn't feel much substance in the material but there were some definite flashes of PTA's potential and what would come. Extra points for finding out that he made this after dropping out of film school because one of his teachers talked shit about Terminator 2.

Required viewing if you're a PTA fan. I probably threw on an extra 20 points since he's my favorite director and wrote/filmed this at my age. Still it's pretty impressive and interesting to watch knowing what he's accomplished at this point in his career.

One of the 3 stories became the basis of Hard Eight.

YES!! After searching for this for years I finally found it! PTA's worst but still an entertaining enough short. Very impressive for someone of his age though.