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Reviews
The Master (2012)
My Simple Analysis
I didn't know much of L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology coming into this movie but I knew a few things.
As the film progressed and the strangeness and lack of plot/hook continued apace I started to piece together in my mind what was going on, and what I came up with is this:
Freddie Quell, the Joaquin Phoenix drifter in this film, is the Id-driven alter ego component of Lancaster Dodd/Hubbard (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Quell's life is, in fact, the same as Dodd's as they inhabit the same persona.
Dodd is wrestling with his demons and his ambitions and Quell represents the Id persona Dodd/Hubbard had to leave behind in order to fulfill his self-fulfilling prophecy of purity apart from animal instincts.
This explains the closeness of the two characters, the frequent twin-ism on screen (one example: the two of them wrestling when Quell returns) and the strangeness of the plot: the plot IS Hubbard/Dodd's quest to purify himself. Quell pacing back and forth between wall and window is part of that process.
Going back and looking at the movie and researching L. Ron Hubbard it also makes sense for Anderson to split the Master character's duality into two separate characters as Hubbard seems very clearly to have been a split personality character himself.
When Hubbard/Dodd goes off to sea the metaphor is that he has to leave the Id and animal instincts on shore. This explains the (spoiler alert) ending: Quell on the shore, no longer hung up on sex, but stuck in his animal instincts nonetheless, repeating lines from Hubbard/Dodd and finally left behind on the sand with a female nipple sand sculpture: the Id is abandoned and Dodd's Ego and Superego (Amy Adams, his wife) are on the sea.
Quell's name is chosen carefully, just as carefully as this film is constructed.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Sharp & Stupid
It's a pretty funny movie. You could tell Will Ferrell and Sacha Cohen (aka Ali G) and John C. Reilly all had the opportunity to improvise lines and riff on one another, and all three were pretty good.
Ricky Bobby's kids were given some choice lines and nailed home some great (albeit loud and aggro) deliveries. Amy Adams is totally hot. The dad role was well-played. The car action was money and you couldn't quite tell when it was CG and when it was recreated action, so that was good. They did it right.
The overabundance of seeded advertising was acknowledged in the film's dialogue and concretely addressed at the end of the movie (when Ricky Bobby goes sponsorless0 but it was still kind of annoying. I just can't understand how Hollywood blockbusters need more money. They could do the same movie without the extra $$ I think, but in this particular movie, set as it is with NASCAR, it certainly fits in the world we see on screen if there is rampant, colorful advertising.
So it's a good movie, a lot of gut laughs, and not unlike Dodgeball or Anchorman or the like...
The Players Club (1998)
Bitchin Action
This movie is straight pimp. Guns, chicks, chicks with guns, hoes, players, white cops getting spanked by black chicks who carry guns, deals, dopes, drive-bys, cripples and just about everything you want in a movie. Pure visceral fun. If you aren't down for the thrill of this movie go rent a Jimmy Stewart flick and bring your Wonderbread.
C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)
"pigeon, winged cloaked of grey"
There's few things more satisfying in life than to watch such a film as this, where an idiotic serial killer gets to expound his racist, homophobic, xenophopbic, base-level and ego-filled views comedically throughout a film in which he kills maybe 100 or so people, most by blasting them with a handgun. Few things are spared in the killer's appropriation of his world, which is what makes this so great. Silly, entertaining and quick-witted, yet crass, tacky, and jokey; our main character draws the filmmakers into his world as victims and perpetrators just as real life archetypes (less dangerous) of this type of personality draw sychophants and suckups to gather in all the yuck-yuck stories and live for the experiences.
Well, if that's too high-falutin, what you should at least get out of it is that the film crew are dupes and suckers who'll do anything to get a story or to follow someone with wits and character in more abundance than themselves.
This leads to two (at least) different sound men getting shot by the serial killer in the movie, and then later the remaining crew members join in on a "Clockwork Orange"-style rape/murder scene, delectable in its sickness.
A theme for the movie comes with this song, from an incontinent hospital mate (after he goes down in a boxing ring): "I sh**t for nights, I s**t for days, I s**t all over, I s**t always!" and this line "You sure raise a stink over a crap!"
At a birthday party for the killer, he gets a holster as a present. He practices pulling his gun out of it, and then plugs the guy who's throwing the bash for him. Everyone remains silent, disappointed by his boorish behavior. He pays no attention, and asks for more champagne. Finally the stunned dinner guests, conveniently forgetting the murder (one of them has blood spattered on her face) bring him the rests of his presents, finish eating the birthday cake, wrap up the victim and take the body to the quarry where they've been dumping the bodies.
Towards the end, he is watching his moves on a steenbeck. He has become the director, and the crew follows him. The lead is also apparently the guy who directed the film, Quite genius, then. Have to hand it to him. This movie even has bad poetry, intended as such.
There are so many funny moments in this movie, its hard to compare to many others. And check out the pre-Blair Witch ending....
C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)
"pigeon, winged cloaked of grey"
There's few things more satisfying in life than to watch such a film as this, where an idiotic serial killer gets to expound his racist, homophobic, xenophopbic, base-level and ego-filled views comedically throughout a film in which he kills maybe 100 or so people, most by blasting them with a handgun. Few things are spared in the killer's appropriation of his world, which is what makes this so great. Silly, entertaining and quick-witted, yet crass, tacky, and jokey; our main character draws the filmmakers into his world as victims and perpetrators just as real life archetypes (less dangerous) of this type of personality draw sychophants and suckups to gather in all the yuck-yuck stories and live for the experiences.
Well, if that's too high-falutin, what you should at least get out of it is that the film crew are dupes and suckers who'll do anything to get a story or to follow someone with wits and character in more abundance than themselves.
This leads to two (at least) different sound men getting shot by the serial killer in the movie, and then later the remaining crew members join in on a "Clockwork Orange"-style rape/murder scene, delectable in its sickness.
A theme for the movie comes with this song, from an incontinent hospital mate (after he goes down in a boxing ring): "I sh**t for nights, I s**t for days, I s**t all over, I s**t always!" and this line "You sure raise a stink over a crap!"
At a birthday party for the killer, he gets a holster as a present. He practices pulling his gun out of it, and then plugs the guy who's throwing the bash for him. Everyone remains silent, disappointed by his boorish behavior. He pays no attention, and asks for more champagne. Finally the stunned dinner guests, conveniently forgetting the murder (one of them has blood spattered on her face) bring him the rests of his presents, finish eating the birthday cake, wrap up the victim and take the body to the quarry where they've been dumping the bodies.
Towards the end, he is watching his moves on a steenbeck. He has become the director, and the crew follows him. The lead is also apparently the guy who directed the film, Quite genius, then. Have to hand it to him. This movie even has bad poetry, intended as such.
There are so many funny moments in this movie, its hard to compare to many others. And check out the pre-Blair Witch ending....