THE MASTER (2012) P.T. Anderson's film on the origions of Scientology (sort of), Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Laura Dern

Teeter Brahearse

Skeeter Slavers of Trolling Crone Magazine calls The Master "A heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat, non-stop thrill ride of a searing, soulful dramedy with lots of heart for the whole family!"

so, I think this movie is really just 'punch drunk love' with joaquin phoenix in the place of adam sandler and PSH in the place of emily watson.

sold!

i was just wondering aloud earlier today what punch drunk love would have been like with a real lead actor

lol

Bret Easton Ellis ‏@BretEastonEllis

God, I wish P.T. Anderson would spend his huge talent on something trashy and sexy and fun. The current movie suggests an ominous dead-end.

Bret Easton Ellis ‏@BretEastonEllis

The Master: Yeah, whatever: I haven't made the great movies P.T. Anderson has, but you don't need to be a chef to know if a meal tastes bad.

is pot/kettle/black too obvious of a pun here?

Bret Easton Ellis's desperate cries for attention are kind of the most pathetic thing going right now, dead heat with the Romney campaign

Yeah he's totally wrong: Anderson has never made a "great" movie. (Haven't seen this one yet.)

God, I wish P.T. Anderson would spend his huge talent on something trashy and sexy and fun.

whats boogie nights???

half a movie

Rex!

http://observer.com/2012/09/the-master-rex-reed-philip-seymour-hoffman-joaquin-phoenix-paul-thomas-anderson/

i think my favorite part of that was Rex's decision to put "freaky" in front of Todd Solondz's name

the-master-rex-reed

Just saw this in 70mm--still digesting but I liked it about as much as I liked TWBB, which is a lot with reservations.

Strangely (or perhaps not) it reminded me a lot of Gregory Bateson's thesis about alcoholics and their obsessive need for self-control--basically the dialectic that both Freddie and Dodd seem to struggle with.

this is a fantastic movie without a script

rex reed is funnier to read than armond. in his TIFF report he called this movie "the latest hyperthyroidal discharge from paul thomas anderson".

removing bookmark from thread because i'm not seeing this until next thursday

hyperthyroidal discharge? gross

this is a character study of joaquins face

^OTM.

I really liked it.

I don't get the "...but what it's all ABOUT?" criticisms. Seems a backwards way to approach this movie.

have to decide between seeing this or the Rodriguez doc on Tuesday

Saw a trailer for this at the Rodriguez doc.

This kinda reminded me of Raging Bull in a weird way.

i think the "what's it about?" questions are kinda off base too but there's definitely a feeling (at least after a first viewing) that watching it feels a bit desultory and stultifying.

desultory and stultifying

repeat x times like 'back beyond'

time-travel farce called Cloud Atlas

there is no time travel in this story

I'm sure that movie will suck but no need for misrepresentation Rex

"And what's with all these wizards. ENOUGH WITH THE WIZARDS ALREADY"

I don't get the "...but what it's all ABOUT?" criticisms. Seems a backwards way to approach this movie.

yeah. i'm totally prepared to be unimpressed by this movie, but ebert's review in particular seemed dim in this regard.

This paragraph is amazing in its detail

With so many amateurs who run what’s left of the once-great movie industry making bad movies that pander to an easy-to-satisfy youth market that doesn’t care what it’s watching as long as the projectors keep running, and with so many bogus producers who used to be parking lot attendants at the Brown Derby always miraculously raising the money to make more, one thing is certain: no matter how rotten the movie is that you just suffered through, there’s always another one on its way that is 10 times worse

*gasps for breath*

Rex is really getting his Andy Rooney on, lol

god i love that he threw Brewster McCloud in with a pile of movies from the 00s

we should poll that list

would love to know if he did that stream of consciousness or if there was a logic to having one stray bit of old hippie horseshit in with all the modern hipster horseshit

also how the fuck i have never heard of this history of mankind movie

lol brewster mccloud

Harpo Marx played Isaac Newton?!

i dunno if there's some other bit with dennis as napoleon but he's pretty damn unhysterical in this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ae9O1jAEIo

and though the movie looks like bad idea jeans, the harpo bit seems on par with your average harpo bit re: overacting. Did Rex just have the DVD in his eyeline when writing or something?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7de1sTeD6w

rex gets a B- in trolling

so is this horribly boring or what? I am going to go see it tomorrow, maybe. I wasted my money seeing cosmopolis two weeks ago and would like to avoid that.

leaning towards Rodriguez at this point

i dont think it's boring! my SAT word description of "desultory and stultifying" wasnt really meant as a criticism but kind of a "theme" of the movie.

i wish the "master" himself had been more charismatic--that is, i have a hard time understanding why someone, even someone in a lot of pain and quite lost, would take what he says at face value. but then actual history belies that complaint so what do i know.

And seeing it in 70mm is totally worth it.

I figured that was part of the critique of scientology/cult itself - like these people, cult leaders, aren't particularly charming or pied pipers, but tend to take advantage of people who are at a bad crossroads

like, they're not so much charismatic and charmers as much as exploitative and manipulative.

is equally is a lil mystifyin what PSH sees in joaquin but i think both ways they are getting something they need from the other, & ppl irl often do that even when its not completely sensical, etc

Rex also reviewed a film last year that was set about 20 years ago, but he didn't notice it. "Why don't these teenagers have cellphones?"

Story of Mankind got a lot of retro attention cuz it was an Irwin Allen bomb from the late '50s full of a lot of (fading) stars in cameos. It showed up in all those "golden turkey" Medved books in the '70s.

the harpo bit seems on par with your average harpo bit re: overacting.

hey croup go to hell