Well, I don’t really know what else to say about this. First of all, it’s been a great day for trailers– Sam Mendes’ Skyfall teaser hit, and you can see it just about everywhere, and the Anchorman 2 teaser that played before The Dictator (meaning nobody saw it) landed on the web as well. But neither of these is anywhere near as exciting or arresting as the arrival of this little slice of footage from the immensely talented Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, The Master.
My initial reaction is “holy moly”. Frankly, I think this is how teasers really should be done; the lasting sensation I’m left with from watching this is a deep-rooted need to see the entire film as soon as possible so as to contextualize every single second displayed here in fullness. Saying “ticket sold” feels like a waste of word space, because that just goes without saying. It’s been too long since There Will Be Blood, and it’s about time we got our latest dose of Anderson’s cinematic alchemy.
And I can’t help but go back to announcements back in 2010 that The Master would act as a riff on scientology. The teaser doesn’t really get into that in any palatable sense– we don’t even see Hoffman, the man playing the L. Ron Hubbard figure– but I think that’s okay. It’s teasing. That’s what it’s meant to do. And it’s clearly working because I can neither stop watching the trailer nor thinking about it. All I know for now is that I’ll be there in October for release. How about you?
A Constant Visual Feast 
OMG that looks so damn amazing. PTA is one of my idols (Boogie Nights is one of my favorite films ever) and this is definitely near the top of the list of most anticipated. And the music by Jonny Greenwood sounds amazing. WANT NOW!
Same here. I don’t have any patience for the fall– I want to see this straight away!
I love the strong PTA vibe. You know from watching the clip that it’s a PTA movie. Joaquin Phoenix is back and in top form it looks like. And the movie is about the early days of Scientology so it will be interesting to see what will come out of it.
Absolutely– there’s no mistaking who’s behind this film from the first few seconds. I think this is going to be great for Phoenix, but I’m very interested to see how the Scientology allegory plays out; will it be really literal or much quieter?
Talk about a terrific teaser. Within a few minutes, one can easily see The Master as another notch in PTA’s legendary belt. I can’t wait for October. I want it now!
Preaching to the choir, Monty. I think this one’s going to be an immediate hit for most of us.
The lengthy wait for Phoenix’s next performance is feeling all the more worthwhile now. The hairs stand on my neck when he speaks in this teaser.
Yeah, I love the way he’s speaking here. Very disquieting in terms of how off-kilter it is.
So long as PTA continues to make a film every 3-4 years without breaks, I’ll be satisfied. Sure, I could stand for that window to be more in the 2-year range, but I’ve no complaints yet. Could me among the rest of you that is eager as hell to catch it as soon as possible.
Definitely. Give the man the time he needs to make great films. Would I prefer them closer together? Sure. But I’d prefer they all be top-quality even more.