Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master

[lumpenprol]

"I'm still digesting everything I saw, but it was pretty amazing. It was like a strange fever dream. [but] not audience friendly AT ALL. An ambiguous ending and not one likable character. And without any 'milkshake' lines, it probably won't have the breakthrough that There Will Be Blood had... There are three or four scenes between Phoenix and Hoffman that are barn burners. It also containts the best work Amy Adams has ever done... Phoenix WILL win Best Actor unless Daniel Day Lewis blows us away with [his] Lincoln performance. This is Raging Bull territory for him. Believe it or not, his performance is stranger than that fake doc he made. The only way I can describe him is 'animalistic.' (I think the Master title refers to more of a dog and his master. At least that was the vibe I got).. The style feels like Terrence Malick by way of There Will Be Blood."

that's some reasonable sounding early buzz

[SR4]

"I'm still digesting everything I saw, but it was pretty amazing. It was like a strange fever dream. [but] not audience friendly AT ALL. An ambiguous ending and not one likable character. And without any 'milkshake' lines, it probably won't have the breakthrough that There Will Be Blood had... There are three or four scenes between Phoenix and Hoffman that are barn burners. It also containts the best work Amy Adams has ever done... Phoenix WILL win Best Actor unless Daniel Day Lewis blows us away with [his] Lincoln performance. This is Raging Bull territory for him. Believe it or not, his performance is stranger than that fake doc he made. The only way I can describe him is 'animalistic.' (I think the Master title refers to more of a dog and his master. At least that was the vibe I got).. The style feels like Terrence Malick by way of There Will Be Blood."

that's some reasonable sounding early buzz

 

lol at TWBB as having "breakthrough" lines that somehow catapulted it up to superstardom. Other than milkshake memes, the movie was boring as shit to mainstream cinemaphiles.

 

 

also, Terrence Malick meets TWBB.

 

 

so I take it then that according to 90% of WATMM this movie will blow ass?

[Candiru]

So many filmgasms are gonna happen.

[lumpenprol]

lol at TWBB as having "breakthrough" lines that somehow catapulted it up to superstardom. Other than milkshake memes, the movie was boring as shit to mainstream cinemaphiles.

 

 

also, Terrence Malick meets TWBB.

 

 

so I take it then that according to 90% of WATMM this movie will blow ass?

 

You don't think the meme-worthiness of "I...drink...your...milkshake!" helped boost the film in the public consciousness, and probably sales as well?

 

Actually I think watmm is quite optimistic about it. I was a bit concerned but I'm liking some of these early reviews. I'm guessing I won't like it as much as TWBB, but I won't hate it as much as Magnolia.

[Guest Gary C]

So many filmgasms are gonna happen.

[awepittance]

Magnolia is far better than There Will Be Blood, albeit being sort of a ripoff of Short Cuts

[lumpenprol]

okay

[FLA FUR BIS FLE]

Magnolia is fucking trash. Corny ass movie. Makes me wanna puke.

 

*glares at Robbie*

[Guest Gary C]

Aye. TWBB>Boogie Nights>Magnolia

 

Not that Magnolia's bad. It's very good, and despite having watched Boogie Nights a few times before, it's the one that made me a fan. I think I just imagined that Boogie Nights was Scorcese (Goodfellas-style) or something, lol.

 

I still haven't seen Punch Drunk Love. Must remember to.

[SR4]

lol at TWBB as having "breakthrough" lines that somehow catapulted it up to superstardom. Other than milkshake memes, the movie was boring as shit to mainstream cinemaphiles.

 

 

also, Terrence Malick meets TWBB.

 

 

so I take it then that according to 90% of WATMM this movie will blow ass?

 

You don't think the meme-worthiness of "I...drink...your...milkshake!" helped boost the film in the public consciousness, and probably sales as well?

 

Actually I think watmm is quite optimistic about it. I was a bit concerned but I'm liking some of these early reviews. I'm guessing I won't like it as much as TWBB, but I won't hate it as much as Magnolia.

 

almost every single person I recommended the movie to said it was "boring as shit". Even if the meme made them watch it, they hated it.

[vamos scorcho]

Punch Drunk Love > TWBB > Magnolia > BN > Hard Eight

 

Magnolia was the BEST MOVIE EVER when I saw it the first time. I fucking loved it, despite the infamous scenes.

 

Then I saw Short Cuts and kind of lost a bit of interest. It's still great, though I don't need to see it again. An emotional film. Great soundtrack, like all his movies.

[Guest Mirezzi]

Punch Drunk Love > Who gives a shit? > No, really. Who gives a shit? > There Will Be Blood

[vamos scorcho]

cocks stretching assholes . g i f

[syd syside]

Only PTA film I like to re-watch is TWBB. PDL, Magnolia, etc are interesting but forgettable

[Boxus]

Hard Eight is a really fun film. Not in the same league as his other material but very charming. I like it for its lack of pretense compared to his new stuff.

[jules]

i have a huge hard on for twbb. adored punch drunk love. dont really care for boogie nights and never saw magnolia.

[lumpenprol]

Boogie Nights is very well put together, and has some great acting. But it's just a tad too simplistic, cartoonish...and most annoying for me, seems to be moralizing. Whether he intended it or not, it comes across a bit as "promiscuity and drug use are bad mmkay?"...not as badly as, say, Requiem for a Dream (one of the few movies I walked out on), but still enough to leave a slightly bad aftertaste. Not that I wouldn't expect many of the characters to go through some of what they did. But it all just became a bit overdramatic.

 

 

Magnolia was super emo and moralizing as well. Which is why I liked TWBB so much. It struck me that Anderson had gotten past his youthful emo and was really ready to dig a bit deeper, or give the audience a bit more freedom to react naturally, without being manipulated into a cathartic situation.

[Guest Gary C]

Magnolia was super emo and moralizing as well. Which is why I liked TWBB so much. It struck me that Anderson had gotten past his youthful emo and was really ready to dig a bit deeper, or give the audience a bit more freedom to react naturally, without being manipulated into a cathartic situation.

 

This. Although I think it was integral that DDL was on-fire for the duration. I should imagine that PTA saw what DDL had done and just let everything else fall behind him.

 

Boogie Nights is fun. Great characters. Great highs and shocking lows (everything converges on a single night, like Magnolia), but it's got to be taken in a fun way. It's a dramatic comedy about the porn business.

 

Thinking of it now, PTA really gets the best out of his actors. Wahlberg will never do anything better than Boogie Nights. Julianne Moore neither. Even Burt Reynolds came back from the dead. Daniel Day Lewis. Paul Dano still has potential, but he hasn't really got away from TWBB yet in my mind either. I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love, but I gather that it's Sandler's best too. John C Reilly is awesome in both Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He even tricked Tom Cruise into playing a parody of himself.

 

No idea how he does it, but he gets everybody in a peak mind-set. Maybe free cocaine.

[awepittance]

Hard Eight is a really fun film. Not in the same league as his other material but very charming. I like it for its lack of pretense compared to his new stuff.

i liked hard eight a lot, i forgot he made that

[lumpenprol]

Thinking of it now, PTA really gets the best out of his actors. Wahlberg will never do anything better than Boogie Nights. Julianne Moore neither. Even Burt Reynolds came back from the dead. Daniel Day Lewis. Paul Dano still has potential, but he hasn't really got away from TWBB yet in my mind either. I haven't seen Punch Drunk Love, but I gather that it's Sandler's best too. John C Reilly is awesome in both Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He even tricked Tom Cruise into playing a parody of himself.

 

No idea how he does it, but he gets everybody in a peak mind-set. Maybe free cocaine.

 

Completely agree. He's just a super-talented filmmaker. I think I called him a "muscular" filmmaker in another thread and I stand by that. He gets brilliant performances out of people, but he also knows how to move the camera and edit like nobody's business. Or else he just has great DPs and editors. Whatever, I won't pretend to know much about film. But his cuts and shots are just tight and sexy. Solid filmmaker all the way through.

[syd syside]

Definitely agree with that... I think its mainly his writing that I didn't totally fall in love with until TWBB. I would be delighted if Tarantino and PTA made a film together, I know that they hang out at each other places often smoking mass quantities of weed and watch movies.

[lumpenprol]

Was just thinking about Heather Graham and how he managed to pull a great performance out of her too. Has she done anything before or since where she wasn't horrible or robotic? Yet she was perfectly cast for that role. But not just the ditzy free-love girl, she did a great transformation to the completely callous and coked out career slut...the curb stomping scene, powerful stuff. No idea how Anderson got that out of her.

[awepittance]

can't say i thought Whalberg was good in Boogie Nights, passable yes. In the case of Adam Sandler, definitely.

[patternoverlap]

In the case of Adam Sandler, definitely.

 

Yeah, really surprising role for him, but also believable for him to do. I was hoping he would branch out after PDL and try some more new things but alas he went back to his usual stuff.

[Guest Gary C]

Was just thinking about Heather Graham and how he managed to pull a great performance out of her too. Has she done anything before or since where she wasn't horrible or robotic?

 

Nope, don't think so. It's her only good role.

 

I didn't know that PTA and Tarantino were buddies.