Never Mind Pop Film

Freddie Quells (Joaquin Phoenix) is the textbook definition of a scoundrel. Contained on a vessel in the Pacific he could pass for normal, but only due to the distressed nature of war-time. He remains in company purely due to his innate ability as a mixologist. Still, his cocktails possess the kinds of contents that bootleggers would consider hazardous.

Following his naval tour, Freddie is a veteran who finds himself without a place. Jobs come in an erratic order and he finds himself out of them just as quickly. He looks as uneasy in the world physically as he is mentally. Perpetually hunched, Freddie makes everyone around him a little more uncomfortable. He has a convicts' eyes, constantly searching for exits.

When Freddie seeks a free ride boarding a yacht, he finds himself under the inquisitive gaze of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Dodd takes Freddie in, for what reason is unknown, but he sees something in the feral cat of a man that no one else does. In the interes…

Before tomorrow's Academy Award nominations are announced, I would just like to take a second to offer a few predictions about Best Picture.

One of these films will have 10+ nominations
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

These Films Are Locks
Amour
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

They Will Be Happy Just to be Mentioned in Any Way
The Dark Knight Rises
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall

Let the drunken brawl between Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty for the shiny gold man commence!

The Critics Choice Movie Awards air January 10, 2013. A fun aside, the BFCA is introducing several new categories including “Favorite Fan Franchise,” where all fans vote for the winner. You can vote over at Awards Circuit!

BEST PICTURE
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
John Hawkes – “The Sessions”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”
Denzel Washington – “Flight”

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard – “Rust and Bone”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Javier Bardem – “Skyfall”
Robert De Niro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones – …

No two things look similar to any one person and this new poster for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master seems to be playing on that. Controversial figures, in particular, are most divisive. However Anderson's film is received (and it has been receiving high praise as of late from 70mm screenings) this will be one of the hottest film topics come Winter.

The is-it-about-Scientology-or-isn't-it film that has easily swept most of the conversation of the blogosphere has debuted its new poster exclusively to The Huffington Post. One of the more unique pieces of marketing that I've seen in a while. Kudos to the team behind Paul Thomas Anderson's latest feature, you've done a great job.

With every new snippet of footage from Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, the more excited I become by this film. Between this Django and Killing Them Softly, The Weinstein Company is going to make a killing this fall/winter.

Are we going to see a Daniel Day-Lewis level of committment from Joaquin Phoenix? Given the oddities revealed in the teaser for Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, I believe so. Jonny Greenwood is characteristically eerie here as well. And to think that we still haven't even seen Philip Seymour Hoffman as the titular character. Hopes for this film are going to be very high come its release date on October 12th.

The team at Cigarettes and Red Vines has received a few tidbits from Paul Thomas Anderson's forthcoming The Master, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as a man who creates a new religion following World War II. The film will be Anderson's first effort since There Will Be Blood and the chance for a sneak peek at Hoffman in character is almost too tempting to pass up. Luckily, Anderson sent over a negative for Cigarettes and Red Vines to develop, and a look is available below.

I cannot make out much, but for those of you with better vision, enjoy!

Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Punch Drunk Love) is starting  work on his new film The Master, $35 million period drama in which Hoffman will play a master of ceremonies nicknamed The Master, “a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952.” Variety has the scoop on plot details: The core is the relationship between The Master and Freddie, a twenty-something drifter who becomes the leader’s lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor. Anderson's last work was a definite condemnation on the extreme followers of religion and capitalism. It should be interesting to see whether The Master will be a philisophical sequel to There Will Be Blood, or not.