Boogie Nights

This week, people always tell us we look like Han Solo as we're closing out P.T.August with one of Anderson's many five-star masterpieces, this time a classic rise-and-fall Hollywood story set in California's other film industry. It's 1997's Boogie Nights, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Thomas Jane, Luis Guzmán, Ricky Jay, Philip Baker Hall, Nina Hartley, Robert Downey Sr., and Alfred Molina. Despite a pervasive undercurrent of darkness and dread, this is an often very funny comedy about the magic of The Movies and the pursuit of a dream, loaded with richly written characters and delightful performances. As our August canon consideration, it made for an enormously easy KA-CHUNK as a movie we both greatly enjoy. And to put a button on our month-long celebration, both hosts weigh in with a full PTA Power Ranking. Plus: Justin's back from the IMAX with a theatrical field report on Alien: Romulus! If you'd like to watch the film before listening to our discussion, Boogie Nights is currently streaming in Canada on Crave and Starz at the time of publication. Other works referenced on this episode include Edge of Tomorrow, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Don't Breathe, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, The Mole, Derailed, Saw, Domino, Evil, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lost, This Is 40, Twisters, Summer of Sam, 54, Normal People, and the entire P.T.A. catalog. We'll be back next week to kick off SepTIMEber with 2002's The Time Machine, starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, and directed by H.G. Wells' grandson! It is... not streaming anywhere, and not even rentable north of the border, so good luck with that one. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!