Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master (1 Viewer)

[Jim Daniels]

Saw it at the weekend. It looks beautiful and the performances are outstanding, but, for me, the story, which should be interesting, failed to live up to its potential. It just wasn't as absorbing as say, Magnolia, which is one of my all time favourite movies.

I also sometimes find "great, physical performaces" such as Joaquin Phoenix's here or Daniel Day Lewis' elsewhere, to be a bit trying.

Reminds me of those "Best Movies" V "Favourite Movies" debates. For me, likeability usually trumps admiration. Not always, but mostly.

The Master - easy to admire, but hard to love.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I loved the duelling acting styles, the lush visuals and the hypnotic soundtrack.

It's just a pity these were put in service of a meandering and almost aimless story.

Still a must-see, but somehow less than the sum of its not-inconsiderable parts.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I really liked the kid from Breaking Bad in it. the image of the cruise ship all lit up and sailing under the bridge is my favourite cinematic moment of 2012. Beautiful.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Whatsherface is great in it.

Amy Adams.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Whatsherface is great in it.

Amy Adams.

She was indeed. Due to play Janis Joplin in the forthcoming Janis biopic. Wonder can she sing? Not that she probably needs to..

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/janis-joplin-biopic-amy-adams/

The life of late vocalist Janis Joplin has been the subject of much discussion in Hollywood over the years, and it looks like a biopic on the singer will finally get made. According to the Hollywood Reporter, director Lee Daniels is in talks to oversee ‘Get It While You Can,’ with ‘The Master’ actress Amy Adams attached to star as the music icon.

The path to making Joplin’s story on the big screen has been a long one, with numerous actresses, directors and film companies showing interest over the years. At one point, Renee Zellweger and Brittany Murphy were attached to projects on Joplin, while directors Fernando Meirelles and Catherine Hardwicke have been on board to oversee past Joplin films that never made it to completion.

Joplin is best known for her classic tracks ‘Piece of My Heart’ and ‘Me and Bobby McGee.’ She passed away in 1970 at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose. Despite her short tenure in music, Joplin’s impact was definitely felt. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Adams has seen her star rise in Hollywood in recent years. She earned Oscar nominations for her roles in ‘Junebug’ and ‘Doubt’ and has appeared in such box office hits as ‘Catch Me if You Can,’ ‘Enchanted,’ ‘Julie & Julia,’ and ‘The Muppets.’ In addition to ‘The Master,’ Adams also starred in the recent Clint Eastwood film, ‘Trouble With the Curve.’

Daniels caught his big break by directing the Oscar-nominated film ‘Precious.’ His next film, ‘Paperboy,’ just arrived in theaters. Earlier this year, it was revealed that another Joplin biopic was in the works, with Tony-winning actress Nina Arianda in the lead role. Producers for that film, titled ‘Joplin,’ have the rights to 21 of Joplin’s tracks, and Arianda will sing.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Ah, crap. Will they make her get fat?

 

[Jim Daniels]

Ah, crap. Will they make her get fat?

CGI and Cigs

 

[pissypants]

She was indeed. Due to play Janis Joplin in the forthcoming Janis biopic. Wonder can she sing? Not that she probably needs to

She's a very competent singer.

 

[hermie]

Saw it at the weekend. It looks beautiful and the performances are outstanding, but, for me, the story, which should be interesting, failed to live up to its potential. It just wasn't as absorbing as say, Magnolia, which is one of my all time favourite movies.

I also sometimes find "great, physical performaces" such as Joaquin Phoenix's here or Daniel Day Lewis' elsewhere, to be a bit trying.

Reminds me of those "Best Movies" V "Favourite Movies" debates. For me, likeability usually trumps admiration. Not always, but mostly.

The Master - easy to admire, but hard to love.

Haven't seen it yet but you've just described exactly how I feel about There Will Be Blood. Pity he's retreading that ground as opposed to revisiting something more Magnolia-ish but what can you do.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I thought TWBB was fucking riveting

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I thought TWBB was fucking riveting

Same here. Gonna watch it again this weekend in fact.

 

[washingcattle]

Haven't seen it yet but you've just described exactly how I feel about There Will Be Blood. Pity he's retreading that ground as opposed to revisiting something more Magnolia-ish but what can you do.

Magnolia does very little for me to be honest. I can't see what the fuss is about. There Will Be Blood and Punch Drunk Love are brilliant though.

 

[hugh]

Is that scene with DDL flailing around in the church at the end not the most ridiculously over-the-top hammy acting ever? I really enjoyed many aspects of that movie but that bit kind of ruined it for me.

 

[washingcattle]

Is that scene with DDL flailing around in the church at the end not the most ridiculously over-the-top hammy acting ever? I really enjoyed many aspects of that movie but that bit kind of ruined it for me.

You mean a bowling alley ?

Eh no not really hammy at all for me. I've met drunks like that.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Just watched TWBB. It's awesome.

 

[tim]

I couldn't log in last week but I was in Deli O Deli with my friend and there was a guy there who looked the spitting image of Paul Thomas Anderson, and I couldn't tell if it was him or not. When he went to the counter to pay for his food i was even more confused whether it could be him or not.

Only logical reason I could think of him being in Dublin was that he was promoting the film elsewhere and had an overnight stop off and came into town, he was visiting Daniel Day Lewis, he was delivering a 70mm print to the IFI.

I don't know, anybody else potentially see PTA last week in Dublin????

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

The Master

I realise this has it's own thread but I like this one fine, thank you. So after There Will Be Blood I though to myself PT Anderson was heading down the Stanley Kubrick route, he's making films which look inventive, feel authentic and deal with the kind of tough somewhat impenetrable characters that made Kubrick the master of a adult difficult cinema, I thought I can't wait to see what he does next. I thought here's a guy who can only get better. Fair play to him, and so when I heard that the next thing he was up to was taking on Scientology (allegedly) I thought sweet this is going to be everything I could want in a movie.

So with bated breath I went to see tha Master and I can say that he has gotten that little bit closer to rubbing shoulders with Kubrick. But in the worst possible way. Kubricks last film - Eyes Wide Shut- was his worst film that's pretty much a given, most people agree on this. It made orgies look boring and unfortunately fell flat on it's face because neither Tom Cruise or Nicole Kidman seemed to "get" what Stan was asking them to do. As a result the performanes were flat and the characters seemed bland and un-engaging and for all of Kubricks brilliance he couldn't quite fashion a world that seemed as seedy and sureal as he might have wanted. Maybe he wasn't as much of a sex freak as he needed to be to pull it off. Maybe David "kinky" Lynch should have taken him aside and whispered some filth in his ear but either way it didn't work it never fit together properly and really it just went nowhere. It was one of those missed opportunities that occur every once in a while. Like Shutter Island (why do I keep mentioning this film ? I don't know)

For me Anderson has just made his Eyes Wide Shut. But in this case the performances are brilliant everyone is fully on board with what he's doing but unfortunately, somewhere along the line someone seemed to get lost and as a result you as a viewer never quite gets fully engaged with anyone or anything that's happening. On the surface it's a fine film, it looks great, Juaquin Pheonix is playing a sort of lost son of Daniel Day Lewis's Henry Plainview character from There Will Be Blood, right down to the bad posture. He's excellant as a bad tempered, unhinged, unpredictable loser. Phillip Seymore Hoffman is equally assured as the brooding eccentric, charismatic Ron L..... wait sorry he's called Lancaster Dodd and Amy Adams is fantastic as his wife. The problem lies in the fact that The Master sets it's self up briliantly. The charachters are extremely difficult to like but I did find myself caring about them towards the end, there's an interesting exploration of scientology as a vaugue bat shit crazy hypnosis based cult which could well simply be a con being made up on the spot to take money from the weak. This starts to head towards a conclusion and then........ nothing really gets explored any further. I do like films in which the audience is expected draw their own conclusions but here it feels far more like we are expected to fill in gaps and as such the film ends up only existing as a fascinating surface with little depth. Somewhat impenitrable and cold and unsatisfying. Like Eyes Wide Shut and far too similar in tone and execution to There Will Be Blood file The Master under missed opportunity.

Yup

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

The scene with Phoenix going from wall to window in a neverending loop.

I mean it could have been about anything - the pointlessness of religion, the futility of obedience.. you name it.
If I had been on board with what the movie was really trying to say, it could have been a powerful scene (maybe it was for others), but after a while it just became part of my overall lack of engagement with the film.


Like I've said before, Anderson knows more about the language of film than me, or probably most people, so he could have made a brilliant film that I just don't get.

 

[tim]

I saw it twice. I'm a huge PTA fan.
Speaking honestly I found it very engaging up until about 2/3's of the way through. I felt at that point though it really needed to go somewhere or do something story wise to keep me hooked but instead it just sort of has a gradual wind down without it ever really reaching any sort of climax or mountain top from which it can climb down from (if that analogy makes sense).

I'm like everyone else, I thought it had amazing acting, cinematography and music but the lack of any major story or heavy plotting..... there's icing on the cake maybe, but there's no cherry on top like his other films.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I saw it twice. I'm a huge PTA fan.
Speaking honestly I found it very engaging up until about 2/3's of the way through. I felt at that point though it really needed to go somewhere or do something story wise to keep me hooked but instead it just sort of has a gradual wind down without it ever really reaching any sort of climax or mountain top from which it can climb down from (if that analogy makes sense).

But then right at the end he throws in these loops like maybe Amy Adams was the Master all along and should I have been watching that film.
Or the whole thing was a gay unrequited love story - Slow Boat To China? Was that the film?

Like wut? you know?