The Master Review
The Master
A Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future – until an encounter with a charismatic cult leader.
The Good:
The Master is visually breathtaking and showcases performances that are almost certainly going to be firm contenders come awards season.
Freddie Quill (Joaquin Phoenix) is a troubled WWII war veteran, left mentally and physically damaged by years of fighting and lost love. Numbing his pains with alcohol, he struggles to adapt to the world he left behind. Phoenix’s unprecedented performance demonstrates his immense skill and power as an actor; oozing raw emotion, aggression and vulnerability.
His awakening as a new man begins when he has a chance meeting with The Master (Philip Seymour Hoffman) a charismatic leader of a new belief system called The Cause, which welcomes Quills’ lost soul into its warm embrace.
The energy and charisma between these two characters, played out in long intrusive close ups, secures their status as two of the most talented and important actors working in film today. Whatever you think of the film as a whole it’s impossible to deny these stunning performances.
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) shows off these performances beautifully through the use of 65mm film. It’s well worth making the effort to catch The Master in this ideal format if you can. The colouring of every part of this film is lush and beautifully effective, transporting you back to a golden era of filmmaking. Anderson’s daring choice to capture intense emotional scenes with extreme close ups and long running takes leaves the audience unable to look away and the actors unable to hide.
Johnny Greenwoods brilliant instrumental score is another of the film’s many highlights, pulling audiences further into the drama and leaving them with a powerful feeling of impending doom at the right moments. It’s a stroke of genius in itself and perfectly combined with flawless acting and interesting directorial choices.
The Bad:
Despite all the visuals and performances being among the best of the year, the narrative seems so cryptic that Paul Thomas Anderson may be the only person who really knows what is going on in this film. This isn’t so surprising given his past work, but some audiences may find this challenging and perhaps even self-indulgent.
The Master is probably 20 minutes longer than it could be, with too much of a good thing perhaps resulting in inevitable frustration for audiences whose patience has worn thin.
Equally frustrating, is the under-use of Amy Adams talents. In yet another deeply diverse role, Adam provides the stern, determined force behind the master, overshadowed in public due to her gender and the inherent prejudice of the time. It would have been interesting to this character explored more throughout the film.
The Ugly Truth:
It’s difficult to review The Master because it treads a fine line between being a masterpiece and being the most arrogant film of the year. It will divide opinions intensely and openly invites endless analyses. However, The Master might just be a rare work of pure genius and deserves to be seen at least once. Though you may want and need to watch it a few times to unravel all its complicated cryptic messages.
Chris Pine Talks Jack Ryan & Star Trek Into Darkness
On last night’s London Red Carpet Premiere for new Dreamworks animated adventure Rise Of The Guardians we spoke to star Chris Pine about taking on the parts iconic characters of Jack Ryan in a reboot of the Tom Clancy espionage series and Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek Into Darkness sequel.
Chris shared his enthusiasm for the role of Jack Ryan, explaining that unlike other secret agent types like Jason Bourne, his character won’t be relying on well trained martial arts moves in the new film. Chris explains that he think the popular appeal of Jack Ryan is that the character is essentially an every-man who’s only weapon is his mind. Chris promised a great story for the new film and seems condifent fans will respond to this latest version of the character. Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck have all previously played the iconic role in blockbuster films.
Details of the new Star Trek film Into Darkness have been a closely guarded secret with Director J.J. Abrams threatening to feed anyone who blabs about the plot to the monster from Cloverfield, but Chris does confirms that Captain Kirk will once again be the focus of the new film.
Leading man Chris explains that while the first film in the new Star Trek franchise was about Kirk earning the right to sit in the famous U.S.S Enterprise Captain’s chair, this time it’s more about him “earning his stripes” in that position.
Check Out the Interview Video clip below:
The Grand Budapest Hotel Gets Composer Alexandre Desplat
Award winning composer Alexandre Desplat has confirmed that he will be re-teaming with director Wes Anderson for a third time to provide the soundtrack for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Alexandre Desplat previously provided the delightfully whimsical musical scores for Fantastic Mr Fox and Moornise Kingdom.
Speaking on the red carpet last night at the London premiere of new Dreamworks animated Christmas film Rise of The Guardians, the acclaimed composer also spoke about working with George Clooney on new film The Monuments Men and also confirmed that contrary to what IMDB say he now won’t be providing the soundtrack to a new version of Beauty and The Beast.
Check out the red carpet video Interview below:
Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja UK Launch
Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja voice acting stars Ben Schwartz & Andrew Caldwell talks to us about the exciting new animated series launching tonight on Disney XD 15th November 2012.
The new cartoon tells the story of Randy Cunningham an ordinary 9th Grade kid who becomes an awesome superhero after he’s give a mysterious book the Ninjanomicon and a magic Ninja suit. Armed with his new-found powers he must defend his school from all sorts of monsters and the evil servants of a villainous Sorcerer imprisoned beneath the school.
Packed with frantic action and great laughs the series also boast an impressive voice cast that includes the likes of Tim Curry and a whole host of celebrity guest stars.
Parks and Recreation star Ben Schwartz and Andrew Caldwell talk to us in depth about what makes Ninjas awesome, the inspiration for the new series and share some valuable Ninja Wisdom with us.
Check out the exclusive video interview below & don’t miss the first episode tonight on Disney XD:
Zack Snyder talks Man Of Steel
Director Zack Snyder has been talking about his much anticipated Superman reboot Man Of Steel and confirmed that as the brooding trailer and having Christopher Nolan on board as producer suggested, the film will be a slightly more serious take on the iconic superhero.
“It’s a more serious version of Superman. We took the mythology seriously. We take him as a character seriously. I believe the movie would appeal to anyone. I think that you’re going to see a Superman you’ve never seen before. We approached it as though no other films had been made.”
Expanding on what distinguishes Superman from all the other superheroes currently enjoying their time on the big screen, Snyder went on to celebrate Superman’s status as the ‘king-daddy’ of superheroes and one of the very first costume clad crime fighters.
“He’s the king-daddy. Honestly that’s why I wanted to do it. I’m interested in Superman because he’s the father of all superheroes. He’s this amazing ambassador for all superheroes. What was it about him that cracked the code that made pop culture embrace this other mythology? What we‘ve made as a film not only examines that but is also an amazing adventure story. It’s been an honour to work on. As a comic-book fan, Superman is like the Rosetta Stone of all superheroes. I wanted to be sure the movie treated it respectfully.”
Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon and Russell Crowe, Man Of Steel will be flying into UK cinemas faster than a speeding bullet on 14 June 2013.