The Master. Second viewing. I liked it a bit more than the first time I saw it. The argument at the party is such a great scene. I miss Philip Seymour Hoffman. :(
Tag: philipseymourhoffman
Punch-Drunk Love
Punch-Drunk Love. I put this one off for a long, long time. I started very skeptical, but it won me over. Brings out sides of Sandler I never knew were there, and gotta respect a movie that drifts so freely from convention when it feels right. My PT Anderson power rankings:
- The Master
- Hard Eight
- Punch-Drunk Love
- There Will Be Blood
- Magnolia
- Boogie Nights
The Ides of March
The Ides of March. I don’t think I remember a single thing about this one. ¯(ツ)/¯ Seems like a shame, with Hoffman, Giamatti, Tomei, and Wright on the cast.
Mission: Impossible 3
Mission: Impossible 3. Better than I remembered. Hoffman is casually one of the most terrifying villains of the past couple decades. It’s a shame that Keri Russell didn’t have a larger role. Current Mission: Impossible rankings:
- Mission: Impossible
- Mission: Impossible 3
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
- Mission: Impossible 2
It seems the rule of thumb here is that the quality of the MI films is inversely proportional to the length of Tom Cruise’s hair.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Pardot 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. It’s ~40 minutes of almost-revolution and ~80 minutes where we watch them shoot commercials. yawn I think there actually is an interesting movie to be made (already made?) about the internal/self-directed marketing for revolutionary movements, but it’s not this one. The first movie is the best. The second one has its moments. The trend is not good. Fingers crossed for a good finale.
A Most Wanted Man
A Most Wanted Man. No one I saw it with agreed with me, but I thought it was really good. Has a similar feel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: cold, deliberate. This isn’t the sexy/sneaky side of spying. This is conversation, paperwork, negotiation, management. Every now and then you get to use a hidden camera. The only other Anton Corbijn film I’ve seen is The American, and it’s great.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I like the world they created, but felt like this one kind of ran out of steam. I take it as a good sign, though, that the games were the least interesting part.
Philip Seymour Hoffman: The End of Quitting
He knew the habit wasn’t worth it. The inevitable consequences had long resonated, I’m sure. But the culture that says that such remembering, taken one day at a time, is the key to recovery is the culture that drives so many — even those who have sought help in the past — to die in the shadows. It’s just too embarrassing to admit you did it anyway. Again.
There are limits to empathy. Every addict lives in fear of reaching them.
The Master
The Master. Phoenix was robbed, right? Where DDL takes an amazing script written for a national hero we love to love and embodies it just like we imagined, Phoenix plays a dummy the likes of which we’ve never seen. Maybe the awards don’t capital-m Matter, but man, I can see how it would sting. But the movie: I liked it, but I didn’t really feel it. I felt the same with There Will Be Blood. Like, I didn’t want to blink for 3 hours but I haven’t wanted to see it again, either. Impressed, hell yes. But maybe this is exactly the kind of movie I should be re-watching though. Who knows. Greenwood’s score is fantastic. Hoffman is good at smug and speeches and he does the smile-with-closed-lips-audibly-breathing-out-of-the-nose thing. And his group is like a peripatetic band of gypsies, eking by at the fringe. They get an introduction to NYC high society, but that goes sour. They later run the business out of a patron’s house in Philadelphia. Their big annual conference is rather sad, and I don’t think that’s just my post-TED/Apple keynote perspective talking. Why did the whole gang pick up and leave SF, in the first place? And why is Dodd totally okay with a self-destructive stowaway? Take what you can get, I suppose.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley. I had to re-watch after reading the appreciation in Bright Lights. Like Drive, this is one of those movies where I go in thinking, “I’ll just watch the opening 20 minutes or so, then skip around a bit”, and then an hour later I haven’t moved… Tom is even more pitiful than I remembered. Dickie is even more of an asshole. I can’t help but find Marge adorable–such a sunny, blank foil to the other two. Freddie is one of those characters you root for and also find kind of insufferable (Hoffman!). I still think Plein Soleil is a bit better.
Mark Larson 