Does the overt happiness from the first two teaser trailers make you feel shame?
Do the films of Paul Thomas Anderson make you unduly excited?
Do you enjoy the performances of Joaquin Phoenix beyond all reasonable health?
Does Philip Seymour Hoffman make your pupils dilate?
Do you get occasional twitches of your muscles from the music of Jonny Greenwood?
Does the knowledge that this film was shot in 65mm make you impulsive to buy a ticket?
The first full-length trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" is here, and holy hell, is it ever an astonishing piece of work. And if there is any line of dialogue within that will firmly put to rest about whether or not this film is riffing on Scientology it's this: "Good science by matter of definition allows for a difference of opinion, otherwise you merely have the will of one man, which is the basis of cult." And if you need even more, the piece of dialogue that apparently got Tom Cruise all in a huff, about Lancaster Dodd (surrogate for L. Ron Hubbard) "making it all up" is here as well.
But the best part of all this? It goes so much further beyond being "about" Scientology. Boasting breathtaking camerawork by Mihai Malaimare Jr. (who has worked on Francis Ford Coppola's recent indie efforts and featured on our list of cinematographers to watch) and an overall tone that matches the uneasiness and uncertainty that faces Freddie Sutton, there are some bigger thematic elements at play here – one of the most prominent seeming to be trying to make the most of the opportunities America has to offer, and where your path takes you when you don't. But most of all, this is looking like the Joaquin Phoenix show all the way. Save him a seat at the Dolby Theater, becuase he's headed there; we can start the Oscar chatter around him right now. Enough talk. Watch below and mark October 12th on your calendar.
PTA is standing in the elevator at 1:25, partially hidden behind Kevin J. O'Connor.
It looks beautiful. Could anyone tell me the name of the song that starts playing at the 1:40 mark?
I want to buy the tickets…now! Joaquin Phoenix should take home the oscar for this one. Amazing.
Hoffman's shtick has begun to grate on me a bit – he can seem so hamfisted – but Phoenix looks amazing. Of course, the endless dregs of summer movies have me thrilled at the thought of any film that doesn't explode every 7 minutes.
Can anyone else see this movie inspiring some sort of men's spiritual movement? Not Scientological, though.
Wow! So many brilliant shots.
Looks amazing. The most intriguing trailer I've seen in a very long time.
The trailer confirms that this is the hot the favourite to sweep the awards season, unless this has a Shortland Tales like premiere when people actually see the full movie, it appears to combine the everything the academy and critics look for. Expect nominations for Hoffman (Best Actor), Phoenix and Adams (Best Supporting), Best Director and Best Picture.
A very worthy film a fantastic one.
my 'Jack Reacher' was a better performance, you just wait and see. If my telepathic mind control powers have anything to say about it, I'll be walking home with that smooth golden statuette idol come academy night.
This looks very promising, nice photography and acting appears to be top notch!
Breathtaking. This film is going to arouse so much interest in the early history of Scientology which it parallels. Attack the attacker. Ideas of one man. Cult. Ship. Tom Cruise must have had a fit. If the TomKat divorce didn't already kill the cult, the movie is going to really finish it off. I wonder if Anderson had his tongue in his cheek when he showed this to Cruise and tried to claim with a straight face, that it wasn't about Scientology. I would have loved to seen the look on Cruise's face, when the character says the "Good Science… " line. That was extraordinary. There's a reason a Pulitzer prize winning author like Lawrence Wright is writing a book about Haggis and Scientology — it's a fascinating subject, full of bizarre stranger-than-fiction events and contradictions.
Good lord!
Are we all just going to gloss over the fact that Landry is in this film??! How does one go from Battleship to PTA? Damn! Also, I'm pretty sure this trailer is way too high brow for the regular movie going public… I barely understood what was going on and I scored in the 90% percentile on my LSAT! Yep, I just went there!!!!
Holy shit, this looks great.
Wow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnovAgwS1V4&feature=player_embedded
Holy fucking shit this looks pretty damn good!
Yikes! Why do studios insist on premiering some trailers on Yahoo with their cruddy video. Since I don't want to watch this as a series of still photos, like La Jetee, I'll try again at home tonight, and then likely wait for the trailer to surface elsewhere. Hate Yahoo video.
that was amazing.
Literally salivating at this. The first shot in that trailer sent my heart aflutter it's so great.
The movie looks amazing and the leading actors in state of grace. I didn't expect anything less from PTA
PTA is the best director in showbiz at this point on purely directorial skills alone. This trailer just reinforced that imo
if this is not the film of the decade i will be shocked, looks incredible