Fear factor drives up gas prices

While watching the digital numbers jump as you pump gasoline into your car, consider this: That final sale figure is about 60 cents per gallon higher than normal economics would dictate because of

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By Barbara Falconer Newhall

It's not often you get to do something for the dead. But every year around this time, florists in San Francisco's East Bay are invited to put on a show to benefit the Friends of Mountain View Cemetery, a famous old cemetery at the top of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland.

My favorite floral arrangement was by Heather Dunne and Mari Tischenko of  the Orinda Garden Club – "Branch of Life," with scarlet tulips floating above a gnarled branch.

Also pretty cool was a concoction by Connie Hubbell and Gale Emigh of Connie Hubbell Arts – bright rays of yellow tulips shooting from a mid-century modern desk lamp. (See above)

The arrangement I'm most likely to try at home, however, was a bouquet of white tulips and orchids by Michael Delaney of Lyal Nickals Florist. It calls to mind the exquisite, tightly packed creations you see all over Thailand.

Too bad the florists weren't given an opportunity to identify the flowers they used in their arrangments. Maybe next year.

To get an eyeful of the other arrangements go to my more spacious website, www.BarbaraFalconerNewhall.com

Photos by Barbara Falconer Newhall

& & PORTLAND, Ore. — Groupon Inc. said Friday that its fourth-quarter loss was wider than initially reported because it needed to increase the amount of money it sets aside for refunds.&

The disclosure weakened the company's first quarterly report since it went public in November, which already had disappointed investors, and added to its list of fumbles.

Groupon prominently promises to refund money to any user unhappy with a deal, an important part of its business model that has made it so popular. The need for the revision, however, indicates it might not have the controls in place to adequately keep up with its own success.

Groupon said that it was selling online deals at higher prices during the period. and that put it on the hook for larger refunds. The revision lowered the company's quarterly revenue by $14.3 million and widened its loss by $22.6 million, or 4 cents per share.

The company originally reported in February a surprise loss of $42.7 million, or 8 cents per share, for the period. It said at the time that its revenue nearly tripled to $506.5 million from the same quarter a year earlier.

Groupon's auditor Ernst & Young also flagged a weakness in the company's internal controls over its financial statement for the period in a regulatory filing Friday.

Groupon said it is working to identify and address the underlying causes and said it may have added expenses to solve the problem, including the cost of hiring more financial staff for the quickly growing company.

The company's shares plunged in after-hours trading on the news.

This is not the first time Groupon has struggled to get its financial reporting in order. The company faced federal scrutiny before its initial public offering for the way it accounted for revenue.

Groupon makes money by sending out frequent emails to subscribers offering a chance to buy discount deals for anything from manicures to ballroom dance lessons. The company takes a cut of what people pay and gives the rest to the merchant.

The company used to report all of its gross billings, not just the money it gets to keep, as revenue. After federal regulators questioned the practice, Groupon submitted new documents in September that showed that net revenue in the first half of 2011 was about half of what it originally reported.

The company's rapid growth, financial reporting difficulties, high marketing expenses and enormous employee base have caused some IPO experts to compare its ascent to the late 1990s tech boom — and bust.

Groupon has failed to impress investors since its market debut. It started strong, pricing above expectations at $20 and raising $700 million in its offering. Its shares soared 31 percent in its first day of trading, closing at $26.11. It has fallen 30 percent since then, closing regular trading Friday at $18.38.

The company has struggled with intense competition from other daily deal sites and complaints by merchants after they've been overwhelmed by customers using, and sometimes abusing, the company's offers.

Groupon also issued a more modest growth forecast for its first quarter as the number of subscribers signing up for its service and the number of merchants joining appears to be slowing.

The company stood by its 2012 first-quarter expectations for revenue of $510 million to $550 million. But that is still single-digit growth year-over-year when it delivered double-digit growth in every quarter of 2011.

"We remain confident in the fundamentals of our business, as our performance continues to highlight the value that we provide to customers and merchants," Groupon's Chief Financial Officer Jason Child said in a statement.

The company also said Friday that it would extend its "lockup" period one month beyond what it had set out at its IPO. These agreements restrict the sale or transfer shares held by certain stockholders, often executives in the company. The agreements also prevent key stockholders from unloading shares or flooding the market, which could hurt its price.

Groupon said that its lockup agreements were originally scheduled to expire on May 2 but the company will be reporting its earnings on May 12 and the agreement forbids the two being so close to each other. As a result, the lockup period will be automatically extended through June 1.

Shares of Groupon, based in Chicago, plunged $1.24, nearly 7 percent, in after-hours trading.

& &

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

& & &

& COSTA MESA -- A 56-year-old man died Thursday afternoon after his vehicle crashed into a pole in a gym parking lot, police said. &

Officers about 12:50 p.m. responded to a crash in a 24-Hour Fitness parking lot in the 500 block of Anton Boulevard.

The driver of a sedan struck a pole, which fell onto another vehicle, Costa Mesa police Lt. Mark Manley said.

The driver of the sedan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, Manley said. Authorities are not identifying the man until his family is notified of the death.

The other vehicle was unoccupied, and no other injuries were reported.

Based on their initial investigation, police believe the driver may have suffered a heart attack behind the wheel before the crash. They are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the exact cause of his death.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7939 or semery@ocregister.com

& & & &

Improving energy conservation and developing additional supplies are the key to relieving high crude prices that are driving up the cost of gasoline, Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum said Friday.

Odum, the top U.S. executive for Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell, spoke with the Chronicle during an appearance at the Shell-sponsored EcoMarathon. At the annual event in Houston, teams of high school and college students compete to build the most environmentally friendly vehicles.

Much of the public debate over gasoline prices has involved oil company taxes and what measures the government can take to control prices at the pump, but Odum suggested other matters are more significant.

"We think all the focus on that is actually the wrong discussion," Odum said. "The world oil price is set outside of these companies. The question that high gasoline prices in the U.S. ought to raise is how do we impact the amount we use and how do we impact the amount we make ourselves - that is exactly where the conversation ought to go."

Odum said that long-term price solutions will come from conservation, such as vehicle fuel efficiency standards, and from further development of U.S. energy resources, including expanded exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic.

Long-term problem

Crude priced at more than $100 a barrel may seem beneficial to the companies that sell it, Odum said, but moderation in price would be of longer-term benefit.

"The idea of prices going high to the point they start to impact the economic recovery, or they start to destroy demand for the product, is not a good thing," Odum said.

Energy revolution?

Turning to an opposite price issue, Odum said the low price of natural gas might cause some short-term pain for Shell but could fuel a manufacturing revolution in the U.S.

Natural gas was down 2.3 cents to $2.13 per million British thermal units in trading Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange - its lowest close in more than 10 years.

"We have gone from the standpoint of thinking we were going to import to keep our systems going to being able to export, if we choose to do so, we have discovered so much," Odum said.

Odum said that an important next step should be to develop a national energy plan, to better guide how natural gas could supplement oil as a transportation fuel.

That use is limited now by lack of natural gas fueling infrastructure and by shortages of pipeline, storage and refining capacity.

Communication crucial

Shell received regulatory approval earlier this week for its oil response drilling plans for Alaska's Beaufort Sea, which Odum said means drilling could begin as early as July. Earlier this year, regulators approved Shell's drilling plan for the Chukchi Sea.

Before it can begin drilling, however, the company will need permits for specific wells and an air emissions permit.

"We have seen a steady stream of approval of permits," said Odum. "We attribute this to a lot of hard work and a lot of communication back and forth with the regulators on what we want to do and how we propose to do it in partnership with the regulators."

emily.pickrell@chron.com

There Will Be Blood is a 2007 drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!. It tells the story of a silver miner-turned-oilman on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano.

The film received significant critical praise and numerous award nominations and victories. It appeared on many critics' "top ten" lists for the year, notably the American Film Institute, the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Day-Lewis won Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, NYFCC, and IFTA Best Actor awards for his performance. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning Best Actor for Day-Lewis and Best Cinematography for Robert Elswit.

In late 2009, it was chosen by Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and At the Movies as the best film of the first decade of the 21st century.

Plot

In 1902, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a mineral prospector, discovers oil and establishes a small drilling company. Following the death of one of his workers in an accident, Plainview adopts the man's orphaned son (his mother nowhere to be seen). The boy, called H. W. (Dillon Freasier), is thereafter introduced as his business "partner".

Nine years later, Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), who tells him there is oil under his family's property in Little Boston, California. Plainview visits ostensibly to camp, and attempts to buy the farm at a bargain price. Another brother, Eli (also Dano), aware of the oil seeping out of the ground, holds out for more, wanting the money to fund the local church, of which he is the pastor. Plainview talks Eli's father to agree to the lesser amount being paid upfront, promising more for the church after the well comes in. Plainview goes on to snatch up all the available land in the Little Boston area, save for one holdout -- William Bandy (Hans Howes).

Eli's religious fervor, along with his relative self-importance, is seen as a threat by the similarly egotistical Plainview. When Eli requests permission to bless the well before drilling starts, and be acknowledged for it, Plainview ostensibly agrees but then upstages Eli by making a speech instead. Soon after oil production begins, an on-site accident kills a worker. Thereafter, a burst of pressured air knocks H.W. off the derrick and robs him of his hearing. The oil gushing from the well catches fire and burns for several days. Eli states the accidents would not have occurred had he been allowed to give his blessing. The animosity between the two men soon becomes a deep-set hatred.

One day, a visitor (Kevin J. O'Connor) arrives on Plainview's doorstep claiming to be his half-brother, Henry, and seeking work. Plainview asks a number of questions about the family and eventually takes him in. H.W. goes through the stranger's papers, and soon thereafter sets the bed linens on fire. Plainview decides to send the boy away to a school. A representative from Standard Oil offers to buy out Plainview's interests for a million dollars, enraging Plainview, who elects to strike a deal with Union Oil instead for construction of a pipeline to the Californian coast. However, the held-out Bandy ranch remains an impediment, such that Plainview's project cannot come to fruition without purchase of the land. While spending a few days surveying the property with Henry, Plainview expresses his contempt for most people and the desire to have no one but himself succeed. Soon, however, he becomes suspicious of Henry and confronts him at gunpoint. He confesses that he had befriended Plainview's real half-brother before he died from tuberculosis, and decided to assume his identity. The impostor begs to be let go, but Plainview shoots him and buries his body.

The next morning, Plainview is awakened by Mr. Bandy. Bandy says he is willing to lease Plainview land for a pipeline -- on the provision that the latter repent his sin of the night before, which Bandy reveals he somehow knows about, and join the Church of the Third Revelation. At the church, Eli repeatedly slaps and humiliates Plainview as part of his initiation, forcing him to call himself a sinner and confess "I have abandoned my child!" Plainview seems genuinely affected at having to say this, but knows as well as Eli that it is all an act meant to demean him. Soon after, Plainview decides to bring H.W. back while Eli leaves town to perform missionary work.

In 1927, a grown up H.W. (Russell Harvard) marries his childhood sweetheart, Mary Sunday (Colleen Foy), whom the first well was named after. By this time Plainview, now an alcoholic but extremely wealthy, is living in an enormous mansion with only a servant for company. H.W. asks his father (through an interpreter) to dissolve their partnership so he can establish his own business in Mexico. Feeling betrayed, Plainview mocks his son's deafness and tells him of his true origins. H.W. states he is glad to learn that they are not related, and leaves.

Eli, now working in radio, visits Plainview. He explains that Mr. Bandy has died and offers to broker a deal on his land. Plainview agrees to the deal if Eli confesses, "I am a false prophet; God is a superstition", subjecting Eli to the same humiliation Eli had put him through years earlier. Eli does so after much berating by Plainview. To Eli's horror, Plainview then reveals that his rights had already allowed him to take the oil from the Bandy property via drainage. Eli reveals that he is in dire financial straits and is desperate to make a deal with Plainview, whom he reminds that they are related by marriage. Plainview flies into a rage, chases Eli about the mansion's bowling alley, and beats him to death with a bowling pin. When Plainview's butler comes down to check on him, Plainview simply says, "I'm finished."

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview

Paul Dano as Paul Sunday / Eli Sunday

Kevin J. O'Connor as Henry

Ciarán Hinds as Fletcher

Russell Harvard (Dillon Freasier, young) as H.W.

Colleen Foy as Mary Sunday

David Willis as Abel Sunday

Hans Howes as William Bandy

Paul F. Tompkins as Prescott

Jim Meskimen as Signal Hill married man

Randall Carver and Coco Leigh as Mr. and Mrs. Bankside

Tom Doyle as J.J. Carter

Production

Development

After Eric Schlosser finished writing Fast Food Nation reporters kept asking him about Upton Sinclair, and although he had read Sinclair's The Jungle, he did not know about his other works or anything about Sinclair himself. He decided to read most of Sinclair's works, and eventually read the novel Oil!, which he loved. Schlosser, who found the book to be exciting and thought it would make a great film, sought out the Sinclair estate and purchased the film rights. He then thought that he would try to find a director that was as passionate about the book as he was, but Paul Thomas Anderson approached him first.

Anderson had been working on a screenplay about two fighting families. He struggled with the script and soon realized it just was not working. Homesick, he purchased a copy of Upton Sinclair's Oil! in London, drawn to its cover illustration of a California oilfield. As he read, Anderson became even more fascinated with the novel, and after contacting Schlosser, adapted the first 150 pages to a screenplay. He began to get a real sense of where his script was going after making many trips to museums dedicated to early oilmen in Bakersfield. He changed the title from Oil! to There Will Be Blood because, "there's not enough of the book to feel like it's a proper adaptation."

Anderson, who had previously stated that he would like to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, wrote the screenplay with Day-Lewis in mind and approached the actor when the script was nearly complete. Anderson had heard that Daniel Day-Lewis liked his earlier film Punch-Drunk Love, which gave him the confidence to hand Day-Lewis a copy of the incomplete script. According to Day-Lewis, simply being asked to do the film was enough to convince him. In an interview with The New York Observer, the actor elaborated on what drew him to the project. It was "the understanding that [Anderson] had already entered into that world. [He] wasn't observing it — [he'd] entered into it — and indeed [he'd] populated it with characters who [he] felt had lives of their own."

The line in the final scene, "I drink your milkshake!", is paraphrased from a quote by U.S. Senator for New Mexico Albert Fall speaking before a Congressional investigation into the 1920s oil-related Teapot Dome scandal. Anderson was enamoured of the fact that a term like "milkshake" found its way into such official testimony, to explain the complicated technical process of oil drainage to senators.

According to Joanne Sellar, one of the film's producers, it was a hard film to finance because "the studios didn't think it had the scope of a major picture." It took two years to acquire financing for the film.

For the role of Plainview's "son," Anderson looked at people in Los Angeles and New York City, but he realized that they needed someone from Texas who knew how to shoot shotguns and "live in that world." The filmmakers asked around at a school and the principal recommended Dillon Freasier. They did not have him read any scenes and instead talked to him, realizing that he was the perfect person for the role.

To build his character, Day-Lewis started with the voice. Anderson sent him recordings from the late 19th century to 1927 and a copy of the 1948 film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, including documentaries on its director, John Huston, an important influence on Anderson's film. According to Anderson, he was inspired by the fact that Sierra Madre is "about greed and ambition and paranoia and looking at the worst parts of yourself." While writing the script, he would put the film on before he went to bed at night. To research for the role, Day-Lewis read letters from laborers and studied photographs from the time period. He also read up on oil tycoon Edward Doheny, upon whom Sinclair's book is loosely based.

Filming

Principal photography began in June 2006 on a ranch in Marfa, Texas, and took three months. Other location shooting took place in Los Angeles. Anderson tried to shoot the script in sequence with most of the sets on the ranch. Two weeks into the 60-day shoot, Anderson replaced the actor playing Eli Sunday with Paul Dano, who had originally only been cast in the much smaller role of Paul Sunday, the brother who tipped off Plainview about the oil on the Sunday ranch. A profile of Day-Lewis in The New York Times Magazine suggested that the original actor, Kel O'Neill, had been intimidated by Day-Lewis's intensity and habit of staying in character on and off the set. Both Anderson and Day-Lewis deny this claim, and Day-Lewis stated, "I absolutely don't believe that it was because he was intimidated by me. I happen to believe that — and I hope I'm right."

Anderson first saw Dano in The Ballad of Jack and Rose (in which Dano co-starred with Day-Lewis) and thought that he would be perfect to play Paul Sunday, a role he originally envisioned to be a 12 or 13-year-old boy. Dano only had four days to prepare for the much larger role of Eli Sunday, but he researched the time period that the film is set in as well as evangelical preachers. Three weeks of scenes with Sunday and Plainview had to be re-shot with Dano instead of O'Neill. The interior mansion scenes were filmed at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, the former real-life home of Edward Doheny Jr., a gift from his father, Edward Doheny. Scenes filmed at Greystone involved the careful renovation of the basement's two lane bowling alley.

Anderson dedicated the film to Robert Altman, who died while Anderson was editing it.

There Will Be Blood was shot using Panavision XL 35 mm cameras outfitted primarily with Panavision C series and high-speed anamorphic lenses.

Day-Lewis broke a rib in a fall during filming.

Music

Anderson had been a fan of Radiohead's music and was impressed with Jonny Greenwood's scoring of the film Bodysong. While writing the script for There Will Be Blood, Anderson heard Greenwood's orchestral piece Popcorn Superhet Receiver, which prompted him to ask Greenwood to work with him. After initially agreeing to score the film, Greenwood had doubts and thought about backing out, but Anderson's reassurance and enthusiasm for the film convinced the musician to stick with the project. Anderson gave Greenwood a copy of the film and three weeks later he came back with two hours of music recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Concerning his approach to composing the soundtrack, Greenwood said to Entertainment Weekly:

I think it was about not necessarily just making period music, which very traditionally you would do. But because they were traditional orchestral sounds, I suppose that's what we hoped was a little unsettling, even though you know all the sounds you're hearing are coming from very old technology. You can just do things with the classical orchestra that do unsettle you, that are sort of slightly wrong, that have some kind of undercurrent that's slightly sinister.

The film also contains the cello and piano transcription of Fratres by Arvo Pärt, and the third movement from Johannes Brahms's Violin Concerto. The recording is by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Berlin Philharmonic directed by Herbert von Karajan.

The song "Convergence", which can be heard during the tower explosion sequence, was taken straight from the Bodysong soundtrack.

In December 2008, Greenwood's score was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" for the 51st Grammy Awards.

Release

Critical reception

The film received very positive reviews from critics; as of October 4, 2010 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 202 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 92 out of 100, based on 39 reviews.

Andrew Sarris called the film "an impressive achievement in its confident expertness in rendering the simulated realities of a bygone time and place, largely with an inspired use of regional amateur actors and extras with all the right moves and sounds." In Premiere magazine, Glenn Kenny praised Day-Lewis's performance: "Once his Plainview takes wing, the relentless focus of the performance makes the character unique." Manohla Dargis wrote, in her review for The New York Times, "the film is above all a consummate work of art, one that transcends the historically fraught context of its making, and its pleasures are unapologetically aesthetic." Esquire magazine also praised Day-Lewis's performance: "what's most fun, albeit in a frightening way, is watching this greedmeister become more and more unhinged as he locks horns with Eli Sunday ... both Anderson and Day-Lewis go for broke. But it's a pleasure to be reminded, if only once every four years, that subtlety can be overrated." Richard Schickel in Time magazine praised There Will Be Blood as "one of the most wholly original American movies ever made." Critic Tom Charity, writing about CNN's ten-best films list, calls the film the only "flat-out masterpiece" of 2007.

Schickel also named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at 9, calling Daniel Day Lewis' performance "astonishing", and calling the film "a mesmerizing meditation on the American spirit in all its maddening ambiguities: mean and noble, angry and secretive, hypocritical and more than a little insane in its aspirations."

The Times chief film critic, James Christopher, published a list in April 2008 of the Top 100 films of all time, placing There Will Be Blood at 2, behind Casablanca.

However, some critics were more negative. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle shot out at the film's praises by saying "there should be no need to pretend There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece just because Anderson sincerely tried to make it one." Several months after his initial review of the film, LaSalle reiterated that while he felt it was "clear" that There Will Be Blood was not a masterpiece, he wondered if its "style, an approach, an attitude... might become important in the future." Carla Meyer, of the Sacramento Bee, gave the film three and a half out of four stars; while calling it a "masterpiece", she said that the final confrontation between Daniel and Eli marked when There Will Be Blood "stops being a masterpiece and becomes a really good movie. What was grand becomes petty, then overwrought."

Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying that, "There Will Be Blood is the kind of film that is easily called great. I am not sure of its greatness. It was filmed in the same area of Texas used by No Country for Old Men, and that is a great film, and a perfect one. But There Will Be Blood is not perfect, and in its imperfections (its unbending characters, its lack of women or any reflection of ordinary society, its ending, its relentlessness) we may see its reach exceeding its grasp. Which is not a dishonorable thing."

Top ten lists

The film was on the American Film Institute's 10 Movies of the Year; AFI's jury said:

There Will Be Blood is bravura film-making by one of American film's modern masters. Paul Thomas Anderson's epic poem of savagery, optimism and obsession is a true meditation on America. The film drills down into the dark heart of capitalism, where domination, not gain, is the ultimate goal. In a career defined by transcendent performances, Daniel Day-Lewis creates a character so rich and so towering, that "Daniel Plainview" will haunt the history of film for generations to come.

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

1st – Ethar Alter, Giant Magazine 1st – Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle 1st – Tom Charity, CNN 1st – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times 1st – David Fear, Time Out New York 1st – Scott Foundas, LA Weekly 1st – Stephen Holden, The New York Times 1st – Tod Hill, Staten Island Advance 1st – Glenn Kenny, Premiere 1st – Craig Outhier, Orange County Register 1st – Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club 1st – Ray Pride, Salon.com 1st – Mike Russell, The Oregonian 1st – Hank Sartin, Chicago Reader 1st – Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle 1st – Mark Slutsky, Montreal Mirror 1st – Nick Schager, Slant Magazine 1st – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly 1st – Jan Stuart, Newsday 1st – Ella Taylor, LA Weekly 2nd – David Ansen, Newsweek 2nd – Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club 2nd – Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald 2nd – Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club

3rd – A.O. Scott, The New York Times (tied with Sweeney Todd) 3rd – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post 3rd – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal 4th – Desson Thomson, The Washington Post 4th – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe 5th – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice 5th – Shawn Levy, The Oregonian 6th – Christy Lemire, Associated Press

6th — Adam Kempenaar, Filmspotting

6th – Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 7th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone 9th – Claudia Puig, USA Today 9th – Richard Schickel, TIME magazine 10th – Lou Lumenick, New York Post Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Dana Stevens, Slate

"Best films of the decade" lists

In November 2009, the critics of Time Out New York chose the film as the second-best of the decade, saying:

As an oblique critique of Bush II's self-made power brokers and winner-take-all capitalism, There Will Be Blood cuts to the bone. As the work of a visionary artist, it's truly sui generis.

In December 2009, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone chose the film as the 1 best film of the decade, saying:

Two years after first seeing There Will Be Blood, I am convinced that Paul Thomas Anderson's profound portrait of an American primitive—take that, Citizen Kane—deserves pride of place among the decade's finest. Daniel Day-Lewis gave the best and ballsiest performance of the past 10 years. As Daniel Plainview, a prospector who loots the land of its natural resources in silver and oil to fill his pockets and gargantuan ego, he showed us a man draining his humanity for power. And Anderson, having extended Plainview's rage from Earth to heaven in the form of a corrupt preacher (Paul Dano), managed to "drink the milkshake" of other risk-taking directors. If I had to stake the future of film in the next decade on one filmmaker, I'd go with PTA. Even more than Boogie Nights and Magnolia—his rebel cries from the 1990s—Blood let Anderson put technology at the service of character. The score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood was a sonic explosion that reinvented what film music could be. And the images captured by Robert Elswit, a genius of camera and lighting, made visual poetry out of an oil well consumed by flame. For the final word on Blood, I'll quote Plainview: "It was one goddamn hell of a show."

Chicago Tribune and At the Movies critic Michael Phillips named There Will Be Blood the decade's best film. Phillips stated:

This most eccentric and haunting of modern epics is driven by oilman Daniel Plainview, who, in the hands of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, becomes a Horatio Alger story gone horribly wrong. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's camera is as crucial to the films hypnotic pull as the performance at its center. For its evocation of the early 1900's, its relentless focus on one man's fascinating obsessions, and for its inspiring example of how to freely adapt a novel--plus, what I think is the performance of the new century--There Will Be Blood stands alone. The more I see it, the sadder, and stranger, and more visually astounding it grows--and the more it seems to say about the best and worst in the American ethos of rugged individualism. Awfully good!

Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum named There Will Be Blood the decade's best film as well. In her original review, Schwarzbaum stated:

Anyhow, a fierce story meshing big exterior-oriented themes of American character with an interior-oriented portrait of an impenetrable man (two men, really, including the false prophet Sunday) is only half Anderson's quest, and his exciting achievement. The other half lies in the innovation applied to the telling itself. For a huge picture, There Will Be Blood is exquisitely intimate, almost a collection of sketches. For a long, slow movie, it speeds. For a story set in the fabled bad-old-days past, it's got the terrors of modernity in its DNA. Leaps of romantic chordal grandeur from Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major announce the launch of a fortune-changing oil well down the road from Eli Sunday's church — and then, much later, announce a kind of end of the world. For bleakness, the movie can't be beat — nor for brilliance.

In December 2009, the website Gawker.com determined that There Will Be Blood is film critics' consensus best film of the decade when aggregating all Best of the Decade lists, stating: "And when the votes were all in, by a nose, There Will Be Blood stood alone at the top of the decade, its straw in the whole damn cinema's milkshake."

The list of critics who lauded There Will Be Blood in their assessments of films from the past decade include:

The A. V. Club The Daily Telegraph The Guardian Slant Magazine Time Out New York David Denby, The New Yorker Scott Foundas, SF Weekly David Germain and Christy Lemire, The Associated Press Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly Dana Stevens, Slate (magazine) Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News

Box office

The first public screening of There Will Be Blood was on September 29, 2007, at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The film was released on December 26, 2007, in New York and Los Angeles where it grossed US$190,739 on its opening weekend. The film then opened in 885 theaters in selected markets on January 25, 2008, grossing $4.8 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to make $40.2 million in North America and $35.9 million in the rest of the world, with a worldwide total of $76.1 million, well above its $25 million budget. But the prints and advertising cost for the film's United States release was about $40 million.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on April 8, 2008. It was released with one and two-disc editions, both are packaged in a cardboard case. Anderson has refused to record an audio commentary for the film. A HD DVD release was confirmed, but later canceled due to the death of the format. A Blu-ray edition was released on June 3, 2008. The film has grossed $23,604,823 through DVD sales.

Accolades

;80th Academy Awards Eight nominations including:

Best Picture

Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) — Winner

Best Adapted Screenplay (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Best Art Direction (Jack Fisk and Jim Erickson)

Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit) — Winner

Best Film Editing (Dylan Tichenor)

Best Sound Editing (Matthew Wood, Christopher Scarabosio)

;61st British Academy Film Awards 9 nominations including:

Best Leading Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) — Winner

Best Film

Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Best Supporting Actor (Paul Dano)

Best Music (Jonny Greenwood)

Best Screenplay — Adapted (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Best Production Design (Jack Fisk and Jim Erickson)

Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit)

Best Sound (Matthew Wood)

;65th Golden Globe Awards 2 nominations including:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama (Daniel Day-Lewis) — winner

Best Motion Picture — Drama

Critics associations

;Austin Film Critics Association Five wins including:

Best Picture

Best Actor

Best Director

Best Cinematography

Best Original Score

;Australian Film Critics Association

Best Overseas Film

;National Society of Film Critics Four wins including:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Cinematography

;Los Angeles Film Critics Association Four wins including:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Production Design

;Broadcast Film Critics Association Two wins including:

Best Actor

Best Composer

Guild awards

;Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America nominated Paul Thomas Anderson for the DGA Award.

;Screen Actors Guild Daniel Day-Lewis won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role at the 14th Screen Actors Guild Awards held in 2008.

;Writers Guild of America Anderson was also nominated by the Writers Guild of America for "Best Adapted Screenplay".

;Producers Guild of America The film also garnered a "Producer of the Year Award" nomination from the Producers Guild of America.

;American Society of Cinematographers Director of photography Robert Elswit won the American Society of Cinematographers' award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

;The American Film Institute's Top 10 The American Film Institute listed it as an AFI Movie of the Year for 2007.

In popular culture

"I drink your milkshake"

The quote "I drink your milkshake" has been used in other media repeatedly. In season 24 of Jeopardy!, "I Drink Your Milkshake" was the title of a category about milkshakes. Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show and the 80th Academy Awards (for which There Will Be Blood was nominated for eight Oscars), has referenced the phrase "I drink your milkshake" several times on his show in response to news involving oil drilling, including during interviews with Ted Koppel and Nancy Pelosi.

In February 2008, the night before the 80th Academy Awards, a Saturday Night Live skit featured a Food Network show starring Daniel Plainview (played by Bill Hader) and H.W. Plainview (played by Amy Poehler) called "I Drink Your Milkshake" in which Daniel and his son travel from state to state looking for the perfect milkshake. "I drink your milkshake" has inspired a There Will Be Blood fansite of the same name. Former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann also used this phrase on many occasions as part of his monologues of the stories he covered on Countdown.

Other references

Other media references include the South Park episode "Breast Cancer Show Ever", which parodied the final scene of the film: after Wendy beats up Cartman, Mr. Mackey approaches and says "Wendy!" to which she replies "I'm finished" as Cartman lies facedown in blood. The December 8, 2008 episode of the stop-motion animation comedy show Robot Chicken featured a brief parody of the film in a segment titled "Just the Good Parts", which singled the oil rig explosion that robs H.W. of his hearing and the line "A BASTARD IN A BASKET" near the end of the film as the most notable parts of the film. A Daily Show segment used a film clip of Daniel Plainview speaking to the residents of Little Boston to poke fun at real-life Big Oil executives, while The Colbert Report utilized a clip from the film's oil derrick explosion scene in the segment "Aqua Colbert." In the deleted scenes for the Academy Award-nominated film In the Loop, two characters debate the accuracy of the title of There Will Be Blood, with one proclaiming, "I went to see There Will Be Blood. And there wasn't any fucking blood." Video game Red Dead Redemption also makes a reference to the movie: There is an area with many oil wells named "Plainview", as an homage to the central character.

References

External links

Category:2007 films Category:2000s drama films Category:American films Category:American drama films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Category:Films based on novels Category:Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance Category:Films set in 1902 Category:Films set in 1911 Category:Films set in 1927 Category:Films set in California Category:Films shot in Texas Category:Films shot anamorphically Category:Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award Category:Miramax Films films Category:Paramount Vantage films

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Updated: March 29, 2012 11:23AM

Endeavoring to give the public what it wants, Medieval Times in Schaumburg has created an all-new show replete with more horsemanship, jousting, swordplay and falconry. Unveiled with much fanfare this month, the show succeeds on all levels.

Two years in the making, this is the first new show in five years at the recently renovated castle. But not to worry, many traditions remain, including the pre-show knighting ceremony, cheering for one of six knights, and eating with your fingers. And yes, the castle still boasts its museumlike display of weaponry and instruments of torture (which some guests might find disturbing) tucked at the end of one corridor.

The show opens on a stunning note. The arena fills with fog and as the tempo of the percussive music quickens a stunning white stallion with a silver mane bursts in, mesmerizing the audience as the narrator talks about the importance of the bond between horse and knight.

The steed leaves and the heralds introduce the Lord Chancellor. While this may be the king's castle, the Lord Chancellor runs the show — beckoning guests when it's time for the knighting ceremony, explaining the rules of the house (no banging of bowls; it disturbs the horses), serving as narrator and running the tournament. Shawn Block embraces the role with authoritative relish, from his booming radio-quality baritone to his sword flourishes that start each contest.

As guests enjoy meals of garlicky focaccia, spicy tomato bisque, half a succulent roasted chicken and large spare rib (vegetarian entrees available upon request) finished off by a delicate apple strudel, they're treated to an eight-horse dressage segment (Medieval Times employs Andalusians, quarter horses, Friesians and Menorcas) that's beautifully choreographed and executed. Falconer Kirk Williams follows, setting loose a bird of prey to swoop over the audience as he tempts it with a lure. You can feel the rush of the wind the bird creates as it passes by.

Set in the 11th century, the plot for this show has been simplified. King Carlos (the charming and dignified Dave Gordon) is hosting a tournament featuring six knights from different provinces; the winner will become champion to the king. A sinister stranger (played with convincing menace by Robert Idrizi) arrives claiming to be a herald from Lord Ulrich, the king of the north. He promises King Carlos a gift if only he will make his daughter, Princess Catalina (the graceful Kari Schumann), the bride of Ulrich. A modern man for the medieval era, Carlos says he does not barter his children and that only his daughter can choose her husband. The herald leaves threatening doom to the kingdom and the games begin in earnest as the audience is left to speculate about Catalina's future.

The six knights are introduced and engage in several quick challenges to get the crowd revved up. When they leave to prepare for the main event — jousting and sword fights — horse master Mario Contreras (an award-winning dressage competitor) enters the arena and offers a dazzling dressage demonstration; it's evident that both man and horse are enjoying themselves immensely.

The knights return for the jousting segment, which skillfully weaves together horsemanship, stunts and fights with authentic weapons in believable nonstop action. These knights — Keith Nadel, Garrett Cornman, Eddie Maciejczyk, Scott Madden, Adam Jaecks and Travis Frerichs — and their horses are superb athletes who practice daily, and it shows. They may not speak, but they don't have to because their actions speak volumes.

Authentic, rich-looking costumes for humans and horses; composer Daniel May's (of IMAX film fame) fast-paced, dramatic and percussive score and atmospheric lighting all serve to transport the audience to an era where honor and chivalry reigned. There's also not a bad seat in the house. It's hard not to have a jolly old time at this castle.

Note: Last year's popular knights-in-training pre-show sessions will be offered again this summer. Geared to 5- to 12-year-olds, the sessions take place one hour before the first Sunday show each week. Details forthcoming at medievaltimes.com.

KIDDING AROUND

♦ The National Hellenic Museum, 333 S. Halsted, hosts a family day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 1. Explore exhibits and make crafts. Children 12 and younger admitted free; adults, $10. Call (312) 655-1234 or visit nationalhellenic
museum.org.

♦ Bikes! The Green Revolution — exploring the past, present and future of bicycles — opens March 31 at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2430 N. Cannon, and runs through Sept. 9. Admission is $9 for adults, $6 for kids 3 to 12. Call (773) 755-5100 or visit naturemuseum.org.

♦ Chicago Kids Company presents The Three Little Pigs April 4 to 13 at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center, 111 W. Campbell in Arlington Heights. Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for kids 12 and younger. Call (847) 577-2121 or visit metropolisarts.com.

Jennifer Burklow is a local free-lance writer.