Click here for the review of The Master

SPOILERS must be tagged with the "SPOILER" tag!

Snippets like this remind of why I love your criticism so much; I wish I could construct sentences and concepts together like that. Bravo

I will take a miss from Anderson over most of what comes into the cinema these days....

Not really a miss. More like a double instead of a home run.

According to imdb Hamlet was shot on 70mm, yet wikipedia says 65mm. Which is it? I always thought the industry standard was 70mm, but now I'm confused.

I have to disagree with labeling the film's narrative as "unspectacular". I was glued to the screen from start to finish, and I've always felt that a simple, yet cryptic (does that make sense?) Paul Thomas Anderson film is essentially the epitome of how a movie should be made. Loved it from start to finish. My favorite film of the year. By a mile.

Good point. I guess i am willing to give him a lot of slack because of There Will Be Blood, which honestly is one of my favorite films of all time. My wife always asks me how i can watch it so many times and i cant really explain it. Its so different from anything else. Just a fantastic movie. I have lost track of how many times i have spun up a There Will Be Blood/No Country for Old Men double feature.

If I understand what i have read abou this film, it was shot in 65 and then in post production its developed over onto 70mm.

Problem is, there are very few venues that can still show anything in 70mm. All the projectors have been junked. As a result, *none* of the release prints are in 70mm. The only way it was shown in 70mm in the special pre-release screenings.

I don't believe there are any traditional 35mm prints available either. It's rolling out in digital-only.

Luckily I am in Dallas and there are a couple here.

I saw it projected in 70mm on Friday, in New York at City Cinemas Village East. That's how it is playing during it's run there, as well as at Loews Lincoln Center. So these are release prints, not just the one-off pre-release screenings.

The extra 5mm is for sound.

I'm actually located in Dallas and cannot seem to find a theater with 70MM, unless I'm looking in the wrong places. There's an AMC Northpark showing in ETX, and that is the best I could come up with. Do you know of any other venues in the DFW area that are showing THE MASTER in 65/70MM? Any help would be greatly appreciated, been wanting to see this for a while now.

Wavering between *** and ***1/2.

The acting in it is fantastic. I admire Anderson for his ambition here. Yet it seems like he didn't have the same expert control over the story's trajectory that he did with Boogie Nights or Magnolia or There WIll Be Blood for that matter. That's mainly why to me The Master is a film that is easy to admire. But hard to love.

I'd say it's hard to even like. This is easily one of the most boring films I've seen in the theater, and I'm a guy who really enjoyed "Jeanne Dielman," which is about a woman who goes about her daily chores for 3 hours.

The AFI Silver Theatre in Washington, DC (actually, Silver Spring, MD, but close enough) has The Master in 70mm. I saw it on Friday, and I thought it was the best movie I've seen so far this year. The performances were riveting, and the cinematography was gorgeous.

The AFI showed a bunch of repertory movies in 70mm over the summer, including Baraka. So 70mm prints do exist, but maybe only the AFI has access to them via their archival efforts?

And I saw the film as very tightly controlled, arguably moreso than There Will Be Blood. Some of the themes are common between the two and at least one scene in The Master (the last meeting between Freddie and the Dodds) almost looked like a deliberate convergence between the films. They both explore father-son dynamics but The Master feels more organic, the emotions in the "holding cell scene" and the impromptu wrestling shortly thereafter feeling like the kind of non-verbals people actually share even when they're talking nonstop. It's so rare to see a movie, with the great performances and peerless cinematography, communicate so perfectly; the characters are endearing without their being endearing people.

Dirk Diggler was a character that was so dumb he eventually forgot he was some guy named Eddie from Torrance. Freddie Quell has a similar naiveté although he manages to score the victory by finding liberation in a woman made of sand. I like how the two characters, not so dissimilar, could take similar paths and end up with different conclusions - Boogie Nights, the greater of the two films, offers a biographical snapshot of Anderson The Youth. The Master is more cynical but also more hopeful, the kid eventually striking out on his own outside of the structures that tell him he's special.

Anderson's movies concern fathers returning to sons, sons returning to fathers and this movie -- so far the best of 2012 -- is genuine literature. I loved it so much that I'm hoping, like a kid, I don't see anything better this year. The movie worked on me, gave me a nice warm feeling: I have known and still know these people and they're wonderfully sad and authentic. Ahh! So great! Everyone should race out and see it!

I also saw the movie at the AFI theater Friday. How weird! I went to the 10PM show and it was as crowded as I've ever seen their big theater.

It's also worth pointing out that the theater is only showing the 70mm prints on weekend shows (Friday night through Sunday). Anyone know why that would be? Is it more expensive to show a movie in 70mm even if you have all the equipment?



Agreed on the There Will Be Blood parallel. The instant that final meeting began, I couldn't help but think of Anderson's previous film.

As for the movie's structure, I can understand why someone would accuse Anderson of losing control of the story, or why someone would call the latter half of the film aimless. However, Anderson is a seemingly huge proponent of structure matching, or mirroring, character. This is a story about Freddie's search for...something, and how he latches on to that something and gets stuck for a while. Given that, it makes sense to me for the narrative to slow down a bit and take it's time to emphasize just how stuck Freddie really is. It's style enhancing substance and felt like a correct, conscious choice, to me.

That said, there's still a balancing act between slowing the narrative and the narrative being painfully slow and dull. I guess that's a lot more subjective than plain intent. I felt like the movie was constantly interesting and involving. If someone else didn't, even if they recognize the reasoning behind the artistic choice, then that's their perogative.

Ha! I was at the 10pm showing as well. 6th or 7th row, exact middle.

I wouldn't say the theater was packed. I've been to lots of sold-out showings in the big theater, and this wasn't. I'd say about 75% capacity, but that is way bigger than the typical cineplex theater and at 10pm, so I'd say it did very well.



I suspect it's a personnel issue. They probably only have one senior projectionist who is trained in 70mm, and he/she works weekend evenings.