Rotten Tomatoes has officially cut the ribbon on its most anticipated movies of 2025, and while there’s something to be said about the beauty that comes with approaching everything with curiosity instead of skepticism, there’s a certain theme to this roundup that may result in some being none-too-pleased. 6y535e

Indeed, while there’s enough exceptions to be had, the overwhelming majority of next year’s most anticipated movies have taken the form of remakes, sequels, and adaptations of intellectual properties that range from safe to “how the hell are they going to pull this off without it being disastrously vapid">The Bride! is bound to be a deliciously subversive take on the 90-year-old creature feature.

And at the end of the day, folks, cinema is not and will probably never truly be dead; some Hollywood executives just speak a tragically different language than actual creatives, and sometimes that means major studios put out a soulless movie here or there (pejoratively, one might even call these movies “content”). But, there’s almost always a great film to be found in many a corner of the world ⏤ some of them are just hiding behind a streaming subscription, a miniscule theatrical window, or an IP sheen that may ultimately prove to be worth your curiosity (can you imagine how much more miserable we’d all be if we had written off Barbie?).

The film rumored to ruin Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s marriage, Eyes Wide Shut is a film you have to see. At least just once.

In famed director Stanley Kubrick’s final movie, you’ll see a collection of scenes demonstrating death, sex parties, and a nightmarish trek through New York. Dr. William Harford (Cruise) thinks everything is perfect until his wife, Alice (Kidman) confesses to having sexual fantasies of other men. Let’s face it, this is not what a husband wants to hear.

Disturbed by her ission, he goes out for the night to resolve his complicated feelings and encounters a secret side of New York run by sinister masked elites. After you finish this film, you’ll be just as confused about the state of dreams and nightmares as when you first started. As you will with many other movies of its kind.

1. Blue Velvet 6a1e2c

Obsession takes hold of us at the slightest provocation. One moment you’re walking in a field, and the next you have in your hand a human ear. That’s the situation in which Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) finds himself in Blue Velvet.

Though he could let it go, Jeffrey lets this strange occurrence turn into an obsession. After investigating the circumstances of the ear, he discovers an underworld of criminals, who have kidnapped nightclub singer, Dorothy’s (Isabella Rossellini), child. Throw in Dennis Hopper screaming about Pabst Blue Ribbon, and you’ve got another eerie mystery worth of the genre. Blue Velvet is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

2. Gone Girl 733u3a

David Fincher’s adaptation of the famous Gillian Flynn novel isn’t as mind-bending as Eyes Wide Shut, but it still is a noir story at its core. And a noir story about a fractured marriage at that. One day, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) arrives home to find his wife is missing.

He harbors feelings of relief since their marriage was on the rocks, but as detectives start to investigate further, it seems more and more likely that Nick is the culprit. The only problem: He’s innocent. Gone Girl dives into the dark realities of marriage and just exactly what one will do to make things work. Gone Girl is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

3. Saltburn 2g4g6h

Upon its release in the winter of 2023, you couldn’t escape the word of mouth about Saltburn. This in part had to do with the notorious drain scene and comparisons to other disturbing movies of its kind. But even more unsettling were the characterizations of the characters.

When Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) first enrolls in Oxford in 2006, he is a social pariah. Unlike the other students, he doesn’t come from an affluent home. Feeling like an outcast, he soon develops an obsession with popular student, Felix (Jacob Elordi), and gets invited to stay at his estate over the summer. The next few months devolve into a debauched holiday, all with blood, sex, and murder. It may seem like Eyes Wide Shut-lite at first, but we dare you to finish this film in one sitting. Saltburn is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

4. Closer 5q4n4a

Even without an overarching mystery or a neo-noir setting, Closer finds a way to make you want to stave off dating forever. Based on the play by Patrick Marber, the film follows a quartet of lovers all involved with infidelity.

While the four characters are in a constant game of musical chairs, none of them ever find happiness. Even as they strive for love, they can’t help but hurt and cheat on each other. The film is a wicked and unflinching look at the downside of relationships. Closer is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

5. Nocturnal Animals 5h4s

Nocturnal Animals drives home the point of the fragility of relationships. While Susan (Amy Adams) seems to have all the success in the world, she isn’t happy. Her husband is having an affair, and ever since her ex-husband sent her his book, she can’t stop thinking about it. Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Susan met in college, and even though they loved each other, Susan’s mother didn’t believe that Edward was ambitious enough to be successful.

In the present day, Susan reads his book and describes Edward’s writing as violent, drawing clear comparisons to their relationship. But it is a relic of time gone by. It is too late for reconciliation, and the book is just a reminder of her enduring loneliness. Nocturnal Animals is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

6. Mulholland Drive 6n2p

David Lynch is the king of neo-noir and makes that clear with his magnum opus, Mulholland Drive. The movie is an odyssey across Los Angeles as an amnesiac, Rita (Laura Harring), tries to find clues to her identity.

She is ed by starry-eyed newcomer, Betty (Naomi Watts,) hoping to look for answers. But the more they discover, the more they wish they hadn’t. Mulholland Drive is a movie you’ll want to watch again and again as you struggle to understand the ending. As any good noir does. Mulholland Drive is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

7. The Killing of a Sacred Deer 3v3q2u

A master of shock and awe, Yorgos Lanthimos does not miss. His 2017 film is slightly absurdist, but that does not diminish the simmering malice at the heart of the story. Steven (Colin Farrell) is a talented and charismatic doctor who seems to have everything together. That is until young Martin (Barry Keoghan) enters his life. 

Soon, his family starts to become ill, and Steven learns that this is fire and brimstone justice for being complicit in Martin’s father’s death. Lanthimos weaves the banality of the suburbs with the tragic events of the film — all with Nicole Kidman’s exemplary performance as Steven’s wife, Anna. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

8. Magnolia 2i1i1u

If you want to see Tom Cruise at his most reprehensible, Magnolia is the film for you. Paul Thomas Anderson’s absurd and fascinating work turns America’s favorite action star into an alpha male caricature before there was a name for the term.

Magnolia is a character drama where each character is connected to the next in a complex web — all in front of the backdrop of an Aimee Mann soundtrack. You see the good, the bad, and the extremely ugly as each character goes through their own arc. There is Cruise in the role of the misogynist motivational speaker. A cocaine-addicted daughter of a game show host. And, of course, the rain of frogs at the end. Magnolia is Anderson at his best and weirdest. Magnolia is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

9. Vertigo 34e3m

Alfred Hitchcock will always be ed as a master of the thriller, and while Psycho is his most famous work, Vertigo will always be his best. The 1958 film stars Jimmy Stewart and grapples with a man’s obsession with a woman, Madeleine (Kim Novak).

After being hired to follow a friend’s wife, Scottie (Stewart) falls in love with her only to see her jump from a bell tower. Or so he thinks. Unable to let go of his grief, he frequents her favorite places until he runs into a woman who looks strikingly like her. Through their interactions, Scottie discovers that the woman he knew never existed. Judy was in fact paid to impersonate her so her husband could get away with killing the real Madeleine. But the murder mystery is beside the point. Vertigo is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

10. Memento 4q1qi

The beginning of a string of nominated films for Christopher Nolan, Memento was where the filmmaker started to perfect his non-linear storytelling. The film is a modern noir that follows Leonard (Guy Pearce), a man who can’t form new memories. Haunted by his wife’s death, the only way he can go on is to try to find the man who killed her.

This situation is complicated by the fact that Leonard has to tattoo new information on his body since he can’t retain memories. Brilliantly, this makes Leonard the most unreliable narrator and puts the audience directly in his shoes. Memento is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Peacock.

11. Midsommar 76ov

Ari Aster’s Swedish vacation is a masterclass in toxic relationships. Not only does Midsommar depict the dissolution of a relationship but it does so against the scenery of a cult that delves into ritualistic sex practices. It may take place in the sunlight, but it is just as insidious as Stanley Kubrick’s New York adventure.

After Dani (Florence Pugh) endures a devastating family tragedy, she s her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), on a trip overseas. Exposure to a Swedish commune puts added pressure on a dying relationship and pushes Dani to become her best self. Midsommar is available to stream on Apple TV or Hulu.

12. The Ninth Gate 2v2g4p

An adaptation of the book, The Club Dumas, The Ninth Gate brings its protagonist down a Satanist path he never had any intention of traversing. A vintage book dealer by trade, Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) will do just about anything to make money. But when he gets his hand on a book, he gets more than he bargained for. This book is rumored to be written by Satan himself, and with Dean in possession of it, he finds himself dragged into a world of secret societies and Satanic rituals. The path to immortality never did run smoothly. The Ninth Gate is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

13. Deep Water 52393s

In a return to the erotic thriller decades after the genre fell out of fashion, Deep Water is another look at a fractured marriage. Vic (Ben Affleck) allows his wife, Melinda (Ana de Armas), to have extramarital affairs instead of getting a messy divorce. But when her lovers start to die off systematically, Vic can’t help but claim responsibility for the crimes. The film gravitates around one essential question: Did he do it? This is an integral part of the film has viewers guessing until the end. Deep Water is available to stream on Hulu.

14. Unfaithful 42726b

As the title suggests, Adrian Lyne’s 2002 film explores the subject of infidelity. Starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane as married couple Edward and Constance, Unfaithful suggests how easily cheating can arise. Though their relationship is loving, Connie explores an affair after a chance encounter with a mysterious man, Paul (Oliver Martinez).

What commences is a marriage drama between the three characters. But the most intriguing prospect of the film is the thesis at the center. If Connie had never met Paul, it likely would never have crossed her mind to violate the vows of her marriage. These concepts are uncomfortable to look at, but apparent in many thrillers of its kind. Unfaithful is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

15. American Psycho 3u3p4e

American Psycho has little to do with the department of romance but does feature a character in the heart of New York coming to with his warped mind. Adapted from the controversial novel by Brett Easton Ellis, American Psycho stars Christian Bale in a role that put him on the map.

Patrick Bateman is a materialistic Wall Streeter obsessed with the finer things in life and what people think of him. These modern concerns become so extreme that Bateman goes over the edge, believing that he has turned into a serial killer. The film is satire at its best, demonstrating how absurd and shallow life can be. Even when you it to heinous crimes, no one will believe you. American Psycho is available to stream on Peacock or Apple TV.

16. Deception 5f4931

A classic story of Boy Meets Girl. Boy Loses Girl. Boy is pulled into a complicated plot of sex work and fraud. This is the situation that Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) finds himself in after meeting Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) at the law firm where they work.

After a phone switcheroo, Jonathan discovers the existence of an exclusive sex club where anonymity is key. Following several encounters, Jonathan falls for S (Michelle Williams) before she mysteriously goes missing. As with many of these stories, all is not what it appears, and Jonathan has to find out the truth about Wyatt’s identity to make sure that S stays alive. Deception is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

17. A Simple Favor 3p5r2a

The Anna Kendrick vehicle explores the mysteries of the upper class, but this time from a female perspective. The Pitch Perfect actor plays Stephanie, a parenting vlogger who finds an unlikely friend in fellow mother, Emily (Blake Lively).

Emily has style and class, but something is not quite right with her. When she goes missing, Stephanie is motivated to investigate. Of course, she finds more than she bargained for when she discovers the details about Emily’s past. Equal parts noir and absurdity, A Simple Favor is not what you expect with a delightful twist ending. A Simple Favor is available to stream on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.

18. Blue Valentine o634h

If you want to see a film depicting the start of a relationship to the bitter end, look no further than Blue Valentine. Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Wiliams as the lovers in question, the film is almost a nihilistic view of love. Taking place over years of their relationship, the film charts the demise of Dean (Gosling) and Cindy’s (Williams) relationship in excruciating detail. The performances are astounding, the subject material harrowing, and it will make you question the point of matrimony. Blue Valentine is available to stream on Hulu or Amazon Prime.

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Oscar-nominated production designer Jack Fisk has a famous wife in Sissy Spacek, and a filmmaking father-in-law in David Lynch, plus Alejandro Inarritu on speed dial. Having worked with The Revenant director, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood, it is fair to say Fisk comes with experience.

For his latest collaboration with director Lila Neugebauer and star Jennifer Lawrence, he embarked on a character-driven voyage of discovery in Causeway, an Apple original film which already has significant Oscar buzz around it. Fisk recently took time out to talk to We Got This Covered about his involvement in the project, as well as what made the project such an intriguing proposition.  

How did you first get involved with Causeway?

I was sent the script and then I met Lila. She’s just like an infectious, energy driven, brilliant person and I wanted to work with her.

In of the project, was it the subject, story, or Lila, the director, who piqued your interest?

The thing that really attracted me was to see Jennifer Lawrence in a serious role, like Winter’s Bone or one of her earlier films. I’ve always loved her as an actress and it was great that by working on this film I got a front row seat to see her do this. When Brian [Tyree Henry] came on it became even better and more exciting.

For Lila this is her first feature so it was kind of an unknown, she was exciting as a personality but I knew Jennifer and she was venturing into something exciting, like her roles of the past and I was excited to see that happen. Being married to an actress I’m always excited about the actors’ contribution to any project.

How did you achieve the lived in look, which so benefits both the storytelling and character creation on this project?

We were shooting in New Orleans, the story took place in New Orleans, and I didn’t want to make the town sensational and take away from the humanism of Lynsey, Jennifer’s character. The story needed to be told sort of from her world, and her world was not the New Orleans that we’re used to seeing in more commercial films but it was the New Orleans that was real.

We searched around to find locations that took place in New Orleans but didn’t scream New Orleans. I think that when we found her house, which was a location, it was so exciting because it was a house – most of the houses in New Orleans are low homes and they are the same. This was a little different, it had windows on all sides, it wasn’t locked up to another house so it was good for lighting, it sort of set it apart, it had kind of a timeless quality to it even though it was worn down when we see it, it looked like at one time it might have had a nice family there.

I don’t know what happened to her father, but her mother was there raising two kids and it had to be difficult in that house. We set it up to show how overwhelming life can be sometimes when it’s just you and you can’t do everything. I mean a lot of us are overwhelmed by the day to day and I think the mother (Linda Emond) beautifully played that. She was struggling not only to raise the kids but to maintain the house, maintain her own social life and deal with the whole family.

It came to my mind when I was watching the film that Lynsey is overwhelmed by everything, because she was just stepping back into real life and driving in New Orleans. A car honks at her and yells at her to get off the road, and it made me think that everyday we kind of interact with people on the street and we don’t know what traumas they’re just experiencing or that they’re carrying with them. It made me feel that I need to be more aware of other people.

I like that about the film, that we all have some baggage, some traumas, that we’re surviving and living with. The quietness of the film gave me, as an audience member, time to reflect on that and made me want to be better, do better, be nicer to other people.

In your opinion, is production design about building worlds or about building environments, or are they one in the same?

Environments and worlds are kind of the same thing because our environment is our world, but I really work through character and that’s one thing that attracted me to this piece. I’ve worked on some films where the characters in their lives weren’t important and they’re not as rewarding for me. It’s like every piece of furniture, every picture on the wall, every dirty fork, it’s motivated by the character. So you want to create an environment that reflects their lives and tells the audience member in just a quick moment more about them. I think that as designers on this type of film, that’s one of our challenges and one of the excitements. We can enlarge the character, we can tell you more about the character because of their environment.

In of directing style, how does Lila differ from someone like Terrence Malick, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Lynch and Alejandro Iñárritu?

Every director is different in the way they work. Alejandro when I met him, I sort of saw this ionate artist and I said this is not going to be easy but it’s going to be fun, and it pretty much turned out that way. I love Alejandro and I loved his excitement and the way he approached the film [The Revenant], it really was a complete piece. He was involved in every punch, every fall, even behind the monitor taking the kicks in the cold and everything.

I being out on location with Alejandro and Chivo [Emmanuel Lubezki] the cinematographer and they would start thinking about the scene and pretty soon they would be wrestling on the ground and fighting and running out into the water. It was above and beyond what many directors are able to do and it was exhilarating. I mean we were out in nature so that was fun and then to see both of them, these Mexican filmmakers are so ionate that if you ever get a chance to work with them you should, they’re not disappointing at all.

The other directors have different attributes that are just as strong and wonderful to work with but they’re all different. Going from one film to the other is not like you’re doing the same repetitive job day after day. I choose films carefully because I know it’s going to involve maybe a year of my life, or half a year, and you know it’s about what do you want to do, how do you want to spend that year, who do you want to be with and how do you want to grow. I consider myself one of the luckiest designers working because I’ve got to work with so many artists, they just feed your need for creative participation in the world.

As a production designer what continues to fascinate you about the film industry?

When I look for films generally I look for something that scares me a little bit. I find myself constantly thinking how to make it bigger, how to make it more important, how to make it tell us more. So I think it’s that I operate out of fear, and that’s my life.

When you do smaller films, like Causeway, it would be easy on the budget of The Revenant or even There Will Be Blood, but they trick you and they cut the budget way down and they cut the amount of time you have. So it is like they are tying your arms behind your back but you’re doing the same job. It’s a much smaller scale but they put financial limitations on you, so it kind of comes out about equal.

It’s a common thing in the art department, you never quite have enough money, you never quite have enough time and that excites me. When I got into film I got so excited, because I was a painter sculptor and I would move from one studio to the other and I’d have all this work and I’d try to carry it with me. Things would get damaged or I would just get too tired and just leave it in the cellar house I’m living in.

Then when I got into film I had this same excitement about building sets as I did building sculptures and there seemed to be a purpose to it, and I wasn’t alone like you are in a studio, suddenly there’s other people around and you’re interacting with them, so that was exciting. Then at the end you just destroyed this stuff, you didn’t have to keep it, they recorded it on film so you could look at it later.

You get much more recognition in film than you do in fine arts, unless you’re one of the top dogs, and I love the convenience of it. I need pressure, I need some time limits in stuff to really work, so film did all of that for me. When I’m not working on the film or looking for the film, I wish I was working on the film, you know it’s like I feel kind of complete when I’m pressured and when there’s a challenge.

 I Paul Thomas Anderson asked me when we started There Will Be Blood, how are you going to build the derrick, and I saying “I don’t know, I’ll  figure it out.” He loved that answer because I think in every department, every contributor, there is a challenge, they are finding new territory and trying to discover something about themselves and something about the film. Often looking back I wonder how did I do that.

Can you describe for me your perfect Sunday afternoon?

When I’m working on a film, my perfect Sunday afternoon is waking up without an alarm, never getting out of my pajamas, making French toast and reading and catching up. It’s like a time when you can catch up, so I treasure Sundays because when I was younger I worked seven days a week and now I take Sundays off. It really is a time to collect yourself and make up on some that sleep you lost during the week.

Causeway is now streaming on AppleTV Plus.

After a long dry spell, legacy studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, has finally appeared on the Oscar’s best picture nomination list with Paul Thomas Anderson’s ninth feature film Licorice Pizza. The film is a coming-of-age dramedy set in the ’70s about a 15-year-old boy with an entrepreneurial spirit attempting to win the attention of a 25-year-old woman.

The last time MGM competed for the top prize was in 1988 with Barry Levinson’s Rain Man, the Tom Cruise-Dustin Hoffman-led road drama. This is also the first Best Picture nomination for the t distribution venture between MGM and Annapurna Pictures, United Artist Releasing. MGM and UAR collected eight Oscar nominations for Licorice Pizza, House of Gucci, and No Time to Die.

Overall this was a great year for legacy studios as they hold seven out of ten Best Picture slots. Warner Bros. leads with two for Dune and King Richard. Focus Features has Belfast, while Searchlight/Disney has Nightmare Alley. Lastly, 20th Century/Disney has West Side Story.

As far as the new Hollywood studios go, Apple Original Films secured a first-ever Best Picture nomination this year with CODA. Netflix leads all with a total of 27 nominations, including two best picture slots with The Power of the Dog and Don’t Look Up.

With the advent of streamers ing the Best Picture race year after year, it will continue to be a challenge for old legacy studios like MGM to place on the Best Picture category. Rain Man came away with Best Picture in 1988. Time will tell if Licorice Pizza will have that same outcome.

Award-winning director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza is already picking up critical acclaim. It looks to be yet another prize contender for Oscar season, but many call out the film for cultural insensitivity.

In two scenes, John Michael Higgins’ character, Jerry Frick, owner of The Mikado, LAs first Japanese restaurant, speaks to his first and second wives, respectively. Both women are of Japanese descent and seemingly interchangeable to Frick. The restauranteur speaks to both using an over-the-top fake Japanese accent that Culturally Relevant podcast host David Chen has characterized as “buffoonish.”

Others have pointed out that the insensitive caricature seemed to serve no real purpose to further the film’s narrative. Director and Writer Karen Maine calls the scenes “seemingly pointless,” stating that their only purpose is “a cheap laugh.”

Anderson has defended the film as representing the racist attitudes of the time, stating, “I think it would be a mistake to tell a period film through the eyes of 2021. You can’t have a crystal ball. You have to be honest to that time. Not that it wouldn’t happen right now, by the way. My mother-in-law’s Japanese, and my father-in-law is white, so seeing people speak English to her with a Japanese accent is something that happens all the time. I don’t think they even know they’re doing it.”

However, many take issue with this slice of life approach toward racist attitudes of the time and argue that a director as skilled PTA should actually establish his authorial intent. In the past two years, it’s been evident that attitudes towards Asian Americans have not changed all that much since the 70s.

“That’s exactly what we see with the racist jokes in Licorice Pizza, where Asian viewers are ere experiencing theatrical experiences where a predominantly white audience laughs along with the racist joke instead of taking it as an uncouth relic of a bygone era,” wrote one viewer.

This isn’t the first controversial issue to be raised by Licorice Pizza. Some on social media have definitely looked askance at the love story between the protagonists in the film, a fifteen-year-old boy and a twenty-five-year-old woman. Even several critics have described being made uncomfortable by the ten-year age gap.

The controversies don’t seem to negatively affect the critical performance of Licorice Pizza, though. The film has a 90 “Universal Acclaim” rating on Metacritic based on an aggregate of 39 reviews.

Licorice Pizza has been in limited release since November 26 and goes into wide release on Christmas Day.

Paul Thomas Anderson is back in cinemas with Licorice Pizza. The acclaimed auteur has one of the best track records of any filmmaker ever and his latest film looks like it’s up to his high standards. As of now, the film has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews. It should be one of the most popular indie flicks to come out this year.

However, that doesn’t mean everybody is going to have access to it immediately. Licorice Pizza is set to premiere in Los Angeles on November 26th and on November 25th in New York but people who live outside of those big cities are going to have a hard time seeing the film in theaters. Fans on Twitter are desperately trying to figure out their way to see the film when it premieres.

Unfortunately for fans who don’t live in Los Angeles or New York, they are going to have to wait until December 25th before Licorice Pizza is released wide. Anderson is a big enough name as a director to sell a film but the cast is also drawing a lot of attention. The film features the debuts of Alana Haim, who is part of the hugely popular pop band Haim. It also will be the debut of Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who was one of Anderson’s most frequent collaborators.

It’s a long road ahead for fans hoping to see Licorice Pizza but the reviews are making it sound like it will be well worth the wait.

Directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Terence Malick are basically the Jonathan Franzen and Thomas Pynchon of the cinematic world; they take a lot of time between works, which either means that they’re allowing projects to gestate, or they take a long time to get going. Or they can’t be bothered. But for once both PT Anderson and Malick have stepped up their game and begun releasing films like normal filmmakers – i.e. more than one every ten years. Malick has To The Wonder. And Anderson? Well, he’s planning to shoot Inherent Vice sometime next year. In an interview with The New York Times, Anderson confirmed yet again that his next film will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s last novel Inherent Vice and that he hopes to begin shooting within the next year. He plans for it to be a faithful adaptation of the book, viewing his role as ‘secretarial’:

“The credit should be like ‘secretary to the author’… but it’s no less fun. In some ways it’s just what the doctor ordered right now for me: being more selfless.”

And while he won’t confirm that Pynchon himself is collaborating on the work, there’s a good chance that the author is (or will be) involved:

“It feels really good to be doing that, being a participant in his mind.”

As near as I can tell, this is a match made in heaven. Paul Thomas Anderson and Thomas Pynchon have the same sort of post-modern sensibility and loose narrative structure. Inherent Vice is one of Pynchon’s most accessible – and filmable – works. Anderson claims to be drawing further inspiration from underground comics like The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, so expect this one to psychedelically weird. With Robert Downey Jr. still rumored to be taking on the role of stoned detective Doc Sportello and Anderson gearing up for a shoot sometime next year, there’s a good chance that we’ll be seeing this one by the end of 2014. I certainly hope that RDJ can tear himself away from The Avengers for long enough.

When I think of who could helm an “Airplane!­-like comedy,” my first impulse is definitely “Paul Thomas Anderson!” OK, maybe not, but according to an interview with Moviehole via The Film Stage, The Master director actually does want to a make a proper comedy someday soon:

“I’d like to make a film like Airplane!. That never gets old. Or Ted. It was a big hit. Why? Because It’s great. Movies that are that big a hit are never f*cking bad. I mean, there’s no such… You know, people aren’t that stupid, that movie’s a hit because it’s hilarious. I hope [Seth MacFarlane] makes another film.”

Although we do not quite associate Paul Thomas Anderson with “full-blown comedy” a la Ted, it’s not such a far-fetched idea. His partner is Bridesmaids star and SNL alum Maya Rudolph, so he must have a sense of humor. What’s more, he plans to infuse a good bit of Cheech and Chong into his adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice, itself a prestigious but definitely funny stoner novel. Anderson’s track record may not be in the comic vein – unless you found the very end of There Will Be Blood a laugh-riot – but there’s nothing to say that a director cannot branch out. Certainly a Paul Thomas Anderson remake of Airplane! is not yet in the offing, but who’s to say it wouldn’t be awesome? Stranger things have happened. So what do you think? Would a PT Anderson comedy bring you into the cinema?

Enjoying Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master may, for many people, be a case of controlling expectations. This is a very different film than the director’s most recent and best known work, There Will Be Blood. That film was grand and sweeping, spanning vast amounts of time and tackling numerous psychological, economic, and historical issues. The Master is a smaller film, a quiet and intimate character study with a much more streamlined thematic focus. That is not to say it is any less emotionally or philosophically complex – the film is built around several impossibly large questions about the human condition – but Anderson explores his ideas very differently this time around. This is a measured and meditative work, a largely observational piece that implies more than it provides, provokes more than it performs, and compels the viewer not with an overt and obvious hold, but a subtle and transfixing gaze. The film is not an immediately powerful experience, but a lingering cinematic time bomb, one that does not detonate in full until the curtain has closed and the viewer begins to reflect. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Freddie Quell, a WWII veteran with severe post-traumatic stress and debilitating alcoholism. It is a stunningly powerful piece of acting, dirty, animalistic, and frighteningly spontaneous. Relying on body language the way Phoenix does here demands a tremendous amount of precision, but he is in complete command of every detail, right on down to the quivers of his eyes. Phoenix performs without ego, unafraid to make Freddie as ugly and broken as he needs to be, without ever losing sight of the character’s deep-seated humanity. It is fascinating to merely watch Phoenix inhabit this role, so much so that the early scenes – which simply establish Freddie’s status as drifter, unable to hold one job for long – are disproportionately spellbinding. Freddie’s dysfunction simply grows and grows, and just when the man seems as though he is on the verge of splitting apart at the seams, he stumbles upon a yacht. He boards in a drunken haze, and upon waking the next morning, meets Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), referred to by those on the ship as ‘The Master.’ Dodd is a religious leader, creator of a cult known as ‘The Cause,’ and he takes an immediate interest in Freddie. ‘The Cause’ is not dissimilar to Scientology, though the actual beliefs and practices of the organization are almost entirely beside the point. Anderson is more interested in exploring the relationship between preacher and follower, in the desires that compel some men to seek answers while others choose to dole them out. His interest in the subject stems less from distrust than it does genuine curiosity. He wants to explore how a man like Dodd uses insight and rhetoric to captivate others with empty and outlandish promises, but he also wants to portray how intensely a broken soul like Freddie requires the acceptance and structure Dodd gives. There is nothing simplistic about this relationship. Though one could argue Freddie is being manipulated, Anderson also makes it clear that Dodd truly cares for his newest follower, and is honestly interested in guiding him through a process of healing. Does Dodd actually believe in his own methods, though? Probably not, though therein lies the beauty of Hoffman’s performance. He delivers every speech and sophism with the conviction one would expect, but is always careful, especially in quieter moments, to portray Dodd as a man – flawed, insecure, and vulnerable – instead of an icon. He is mysterious, but not out of reach, and because of that, we can view his philosophy as dishonest while simultaneously accepting his need to help Freddie. I believe Dodd truly loves this man, whether or not he can offer Freddie an ounce of the salvation he promises, and that complex duality is key to understanding the film. Near the end of the film, Dodd says to Freddie: “If you figure out a way to live without serving a master, any master, let us know, won’t you? For you would be the first person in the history of the world.” It is the Preacher’s most vulnerable, honest moment, for humans do, as a rule, look to others – be they prophets, lovers, or Gods – for answers. Weakness – embodied in The Master by Freddie but shared in obvious ways by Dodd – is a feeling all of us experience, and moments of frailty will invariably create a desire for acceptance, understanding, or above all else, escape. Escape from the problems that made us weak, be they mental or physical. Escape from the need to confront our demons, or to rely on one’s own inner strength to make sense of the world that hurt us. When we are weak, we deflect, and the Masters Dodd speaks of are those onto whom we do so. Masters simplify life’s complexities. They provide answers. They give us acceptance. By placing our burdens elsewhere, they allow us to escape. As long as people hurt, they will search for masters, and masters shall in turn appoint themselves for similar reasons. This is the tacit ission contained in Dodd’s words. He does not preach because he has solved the mysteries of the universe, but because he, like Freddie, is confused and wandering. Giving the answers, and being loved in return, is his form of deflection, for it prevents him from considering that the world he lives in is a truly unsolvable puzzle. Perhaps this is the core essence of faith: A cycle of hurting, searching, giving, and receiving, not necessarily in that order, but similar for those on both sides of the pulpit. One of the film’s most fascinating elements is Mary Sue, Dodd’s beautiful wife played by Amy Adams, for she throws an unsettling wrench into these larger thematic conversations. Mary, unlike her husband, very obviously believes in ‘The Cause,’ and has an almost fetishistic desire to see this religion furthered. Dodd preaches for humans to control their animal instincts, but he himself is highly susceptible to sexual urges, a desire Mary Sue is apparently in complete control of. She is, in fact, always in control. She demonstrates greater mastery of her husband’s rhetorical techniques than Dodd himself, and thanks to Adams’ spellbinding, utterly entrancing performance, the film becomes immediately tense whenever she appears. Mary Sue exists outside the symbiotic cycle Freddie and her husband are trapped in, and it is possible that she, not Dodd, is the true ‘Master’ of the title. She embodies those who truly serve as their own masters, those whose honest, unwavering devotion to their own convictions allows them to transcend the insecure desires others fall prey to. Because of this, she is foreign to us, frightening and unsettling for the very virtues we should, theoretically, be in awe of. Perhaps her presence indicates a soft acceptance of human imperfection; our flaws may weigh us down, but if we actually manage to strip ourselves of harmful base instincts, do we end up as nothing more than a hollow, distant shell? While asking such broad, provocative questions, The Master simultaneously proves itself to be one of the most technically accomplished films of the year. Anderson chose to photograph the film on 70mm, an extremely high-resolution stock, and the results – even projected digitally – are immediately awe-inspiring. The clarity is absolutely stupendous, creating an image so deep, vivid and detailed that one feels as though one could simply fall into the fathoms of the frame and disappear forever. Mihai Malaimare Jr.’s gorgeous cinematography would be impressive no matter what, but 70mm just enhances the power of every composition, making for a largely unrivaled visual experience. Though I have praised the film extensively, The Master is a very difficult film to digest, and I will therefore wait to see it a second time before deeming it ‘great.’ It is simply too dense and opaque to judge in full after one viewing. But the film is often immensely impactful in the moment, and hits even harder after one exits the theatre and begins to contemplate the material. I am, at this instant, enamored with The Master, and recommend it as one of the most singularly fascinating experiences of 2012. Sorry, this video is currently unavailable.

Box office records are made to be shattered, but there’s still something encouraging about this one. According to /Film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest opus The Master opened this past weekend to a box-office draw of $736,311. Not very impressive, until you realize that The Master only opened on five screens, averaging $147,262 a screen. This gives it the highest per-screen average for a live-action, traditional release film. While parsing out these sorts of averages might seem like splitting hairs, or tallying baseball statistics, this is a pretty spectacular achievement for an art-house type film. The Avengers opened on 4,300 screens to an average of $47,698 dollars per screen, grossing $207 million and shattering opening weekend records. While it’s unlikely that The Master could have broken that in a general release, the fact that Anderson’s film successfully tripled the per-screen average of a big-budget release like The Avengers bodes well for smaller, more personal films in a world of blockbusters. Erik Lomis, head of distribution at The Weinstein Company, had this to say about the box office results:

“We’re thrilled with the numbers. It set the screen record and all the credit in the world goes to Paul Thomas Anderson with his guerrilla marketing strategy combined with moving the [release date] to this weekend.”

There are obviously catches here, including the ever-present inflation factor. The Master is actually in ninth place for per-screen averages, if you count animated Disney features. The Lion King alone opened on just two screens and averaged $793,377 per screen. But we have to take what we can get. The Master is an R-rated, art-house style live-action feature film that does not feature animated lions, superheroes or lots of explosions. It was released traditionally, with regular ticket prices and no 3D. The fact that it has achieved a box-office record like this is nothing short of spectacular. Of course, we cannot claim that The Master is in any sense a ‘small’ film. Nothing can be called small with stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams, director P.T. Anderson and Weinstein backing. But it is encouraging to see a serious adult film getting such a wave of at the box office and I can’t wait to see what it does in general release. The Master opens to wide release this Friday, September 21.

Many people have been waiting for the first critical reactions to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, The Master, ever since the secret screening that was held in Santa Monica about a month ago resulted in great word of mouth from the audience who were lucky enough to see it. With the film having officially premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the first reviews are starting to pour in and thanks to Rotten Tomatoes, we are starting to get an early consensus of how the film is being received. To put it simply, those who viewed it in Venice were almost all blown away, giving the film a score of 9.2/10 thus far. At the time of this article, there are 11 reviews posted, ten of which are positive. Here are just a few of the things critics have said so far:

A bold, challenging, brilliantly acted drama that is a must for serious audiences. – Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter It makes words like ‘bold’ and ‘extraordinary’ seem utterly inadequate. – Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph The recurring theme in my many thoughts and conversations about one of the most remarkable film-going events of my life has been this – Paul Thomas Anderson may be the most ambitious filmmaker working today. – Brian Tallerico, HollywoodChicago.com ‘The Master’ is another tale of warped power and fanatical delusions, and it sees Anderson on captivating form as a director who is able to surprise and impress with scene after scene. – David Calhoun, Time Out The film is not as dramatically compelling or cohesive as the 2007 Blood, but it’s provocative in ideas and supremely acted by Phoenix and Hoffman (Oscar caliber turns), reaffirming Anderson’s status as one of the boldest directors today. – Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.com

So far, there has only been one negative review to hit the site, coming from Richard Corliss of Time Magazine, who says that “The problem with The Master is that it doesn’t extend or expand Anderson’s artistic journey,” going so far as to add “There Will Be Boredom” in his headline. It sounds like this group is mostly confirming what those at the secret screening have already said, that the film is quite impressive. This news makes me even more excited for it. Sounds like another trip to the Oscars could indeed be in Anderson’s future. The film will also be showing at The Toronto International Film Festival this month before making its way to limited theaters on September 14th, with an expansion on September 21st.

Paul Thomas Anderson has never been one to shy away from the difficult or the strange, and that’s exactly the case with his attempt to adapt a Thomas Pynchon novel for the big screen. Inherent Vice is arguably Pynchon’s most accessible novel to date. It’s a kaleidoscopic noir journey through 1970s California in the company of a perpetually stoned detective, as he attempts to solve an increasingly complex case involving a former lover, Malibu beach houses, mental institutions and a surfer band or two. Think Cheech and Chong meet Phillip Marlowe. Definitely a good subject for a Paul Thomas Anderson film, right? The project has been in development for a while now with little news, so it’s nice to hear Anderson talking about it again. There’s even been talk of Robert Downey Jr. taking on the role of the private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello.

“Adapting Pychon’s work is just gonna be great and, hopefully, fun” he told Empire. As for the timeframe of when we’ll see the film, Anderson says “Hopefully not long. I’d like to have a few years of being more productive. But we’ll see.”

Having read Inherent Vice, I’m personally very excited for this one. It’s an immensely entertaining book, easier than most Pynchon novel, and tailor-made for Anderson’s strange, dream-like style. It’s also probably the only Pynchon novel I can see making a coherent, cohesive film. It’s early days yet, but with a good cast and good script forthcoming, there’s really no way this can go wrong. Paul Thomas Anderson is currently at the Venice Film Festival showcasing his new film The Master. Hopefully we’ll be seeing Inherent Vice in a few years time, in the same place. We’ll definitely keep an eye on casting and script decisions as they happen and we’ll let you know as soon as updates arise.