100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 2: The Master

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 137 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymout Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern

Description: Returning from Navy service in World War II, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) drifts through a series of breakdowns. Finally he stumbles upon a cult which engages in exercises to clear emotions and he becomes deeply involved with them.

Review: Freddie Quell is a former marine who has to return to society. He’s an alcoholic, has a temper and is sexually frustrated. He can’t keep a job and it’s all going downhill for him. Then he meets the leader of ‘The Cause’, Lancaster Dodd, who they call ‘The Master’. Dodd takes Freddie under his wing and tries to get him on the right path again.
It’s a very heavy theme, but director Paul Thomas Anderson knows his way around such themes. “The Master” is mostly about the bond between Freddie and Dodd, which give us a lot of confronting conversations between them. That’s the goal of ‘The Cause’, a psychological movement that uses unconventional methods to make people give traumatic experiences a place.
This movie is pretty intense, mostly because of the performances of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. Both take each other to another level of acting, each with his own style. The Academy Award nomination for both actors is fully deserved. With that I think that the actors were better than the movie itself. We don’t get to know ‘The Cause’ enough to understand them completely and towards the end of the film it’s very repetitive. And because of the slow pace this isn’t a movie for just anyone. But the camerawork and the supporting music is beautiful.
“The Master” has, besides the two phenomenal performances, enough to offer.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (43)

This weeks trailers are about kidnappers in Istanbul, a married couple divorcing but watning to stay friends, an aristocrat having an affair, funny monsters and a charismatic intellectual known as "The Master".

Taken 2
Description: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a retired CIA agent with a particular set of skills who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from Albanian kidnappers. When the father of one of the kidnappers swears revenge and takes Bryan and his wife hostage during their family vacation in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim to help them escape, and uses the same advanced level of special forces tactics to get his family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers one by one.
Director: Oliver Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
Trailer: Trailer "Taken 2"
Comment: The first one was super exciting, so I'm kinda looking forward to the second installment.

Celeste & Jesse Forever
Description: Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) are two people who met in high school, married young and are growing apart. Now thirty, they decide to get divorced and attempt to stay best friends while pursuing other relationships. This plan is not as simple as they had imagined. Celeste - imperious, successful and driven - is convinced that divorcing the boyish Jesse is the right thing to do. Jesse passively accepts this transition into friendship, even though he still is in love with her. As the reality of their separation sets in, Celeste slowly and painfully realizes she has been cavalier about their relationship. But her timing with Jesse is less than fortuitous. While navigating the turbulent changes in their lives and in their hearts, these two learn that in order to truly love someone, you may have to let them go. The film is a humorous and honest examination of a broken heart and the long, hard road it takes to heal it.
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Starring: Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor, Will McCormack, Emma Roberts, Elijah Wood
Trailer: Trailer "Celeste & Jesse Forever"
Comment: This looks so good, really my kind of film.

Anna Karenina
Description: Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley) enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson).
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Kelly Macdonald, Aaron Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen
Trailer: Trailer "Anna Karenina"
Comment: Keira Knightley and director Joe Wright already made two fantastic films together, so I think this will succeed as well.

Monster's University
Description: Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) are an inseparable pair, but that wasn't always the case. From the moment these two mismatched monsters met they couldn't stand each other. "Monsters University" unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.
Director: Dan Scanlon
Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Dave Foley, Julia Sweeney, Joel Murray, Peter Sohn
Trailer: Teaser Trailer "Monsters University"
Comment: I know it's only a cople of teaser trailers, but this made me so excited about the movie. You know I love the first one!! When the full trailer comes out, I will probably share it too.

The Master
Description: A charismatic intellectual (Philip Seymour Hoffman) launches a faith-based organization and taps a young drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) as his right-hand man. But as the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the onetime vagabond finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Trailer: Trailer "The Master"
Comment: I think the fabulous cast says enough, but I also think this movie isn't for just anyone.