The first Paul Thomas Anderson’s film I saw was his take on addiction and gambling called Hard Eight. It featured John C. rilley, Gwyneth Paltrow and the awesome Philip Baker Hall. It was filled with despicable characters who were selfish and hurt others to get what they wanted. I liked it very much and thought Anderson was definitely a filmmaker to watch.

His next piece of work was Boogie Nights, which further solidified his status as one of the best directors working today. Then, he released another seminal work of great distinction in Magnolia. This film, yet another pian to selfishness and the darker aspects of humanity, takes place in a single day in Los Angeles, focusing on a number of interconnected people whose lives are forever changed as they search for love and meaning in a chaotic world.

The film chronicles such diverse occurrences as a suicide turned homicide by a quirk of timing; a motivational speaker motivated by rage; and a quiz kid rendered stupid by a lightning strike and features Tom Cruise in what could arguably be called his best performance to date. Besides Cruise, look for more great acting from Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall and Julianne Moore.

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This week on The Flickcast, Matt and Chris fly solo as they take on Sunday’s Golden Globes. Some surprises, some reliefs, and Matt talks Christina Hendricks while Chris talks Mo’Nique. They also discuss some other stories making waves including Apple’s announcement next week, and what that could mean for users of the iPhone, as well as Marc Webb getting to take on the reboot of Spider-Man.

Since it was just the two of them this week, Chris and Matt both got cocky and opted for two picks. Matt went with The Adventures of Power, an indie comedy starring Ari Gold (not Jeremy Piven) and the silver screen adaptation of Tucker Max’s I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, which hits DVD on January 26th. Chris also had two picks, as he went with Paul Thoman Anderson’s Magnolia on Blu-ray, which we’ll have a review of next week, and Whiteout starring Kate Beckinsale.

Sorry for the tardiness of the episode, but due to how much Matt and Chris gushed about the Golden Globes, we think it’s well worth the wait. As usual, if you have any comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

2010 is in full swing and some really great movies are hitting store shelves this week for the first time and for the first time on Blu-ray. This week’s releases include Gamer, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Che, Damages, the complete run of ABC’s canceled too soon Defying Gravity and the Blu-ray release of Whiteout with Kate Beckinsale (pictured above).

Check out this week’s releases:

Movies

According to Greta ~ Hilary Duff, Ellen Burstyn (DVD)

Boogie Nights ~ Mark Wahlberg, Heather Graham, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore (Blu-ray)

Bourne Supremacy (Single-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) ~ Matt Damon, Brian Cox, Karl Urban (Blu-ray)

Bourne Ultimatum (Single-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) ~ Matt Damon, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn (Blu-ray)

Che (Criterion Collection) ~ Benicio del Toro (Blu-ray)

Gamer ~ Gerard Butler, Amber Valetta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick (DVD and Blu-ray)

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