My first Robert Altman film. An interesting set of stories where the fact that it is based off several seperate pieces of literature is clear throughout. While I watched this film pretty much solely because of its comparisons to Magnolia, it didn't quite have the sense of an overall omnipresent theme that Anderson's film retains. It seems as though perhaps Altman should have narrowed down the character list and focused more on the technical aspects of the film, which I felt was one key category where Magnolia clearly triumphed.
While the ending did provide a nice way to cut things off, and I was happy to see that Anderson borrowed the theme of natural phenomenen affecting character's lives, some of the characters here felt as though maybe they weren't exactly at a place where their story should've ended. Overall an interesting piece of cinema, a wonderful portrait of early 90's LA, and an important film for any fan of Magnolia to see.
