Review: Little Amour for Django (spoilers)

So, head's up, I babble for the first five or so paragraphs, before I get to my review.  I spent a good chunk of my Sunday afternoon on a commenter named "Antoinette" at AD who vehemently despises the Les Misérables movie.  I haven't seen it, as I'm waiting for friends to get back into town, so we can watch it together.  I know that 1) I'm either going to go all gushy over it, 2) I'm going to have a great time making fun of it, or 3) A little bit of both, if history is any indication.  What bothers me most is that she asserts her tastes as being "above" others.  I used to read old Pauline Kael movie reviews, who was known for being quite snobby, and had her followers (the Paulettes, as they had come to be known) who carried themselves at the same level of arrogance.  But, I was young and beset with my own wardrobe of pretentions.  Regardless, the lady set the standard on film criticism and, boy, could she write.  I was saddened that I couldn't experience her reviews "live," as they were happening with the new movies coming out (I imagine, if she were kicking today, if age didn't send her into retirement, the quality of cinema would).  How excited I was when in the 1997 year-end edition of Entertainment Weekly (?), she was briefly interviewed about her opinion on that year's crop.  I couldn't find her comment on Titanic through a google search, but, apparently, according to Newsweek, she said, "It's square in ways people seem to have been longing for. I'm not one of those people."  Which is fair, but what I recall from EW is something more to the effect of, "How can I begrudge someone who thinks it's the best film they ever saw?"  Her point was: we all age and grow and our tastes change.  That's been my stance.  Titanic was far from a perfect film, filled with its share of flaws.  But, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't moving in parts. And, while it's fine to criticize a film based on its merits (even if one's motivations are unclear and/or they have an unconscious agenda against its filmmakers), the minute you judge someone for loving something you loathe, unless it's heinous like rape or murder, you're crossing a line.

But, what I realized, is that it also put me in the correct frame of mind (as much as it's going to be) to write my review for Django Unchained, a film that I loved the first third and then grew to detest the last two-thirds.  Now, admittedly, my loathing for the movie has probably grown disproportionately due to its reception (I'm being honest here).  It's an R-rated December release that is on track to join the high-grossing ranks of The Exorcist, Beverly Hills Cop, Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, and Gran Torino.  And while I don't sign off on all of those films, they've earned their place in the cinematic pantheon, no?  But, once you continue down the list you arrive at A Few Good Men, whom not everyone was a fan of, so big deal.  Despite everything, it's still encouraging that a director with such a distinct signature style can finance and produce a film to impressive success, no?  Still, I'm a bit mystified by the response it's receiving, which seems to have slightly surpassed the positive reception thrown to Tarantino's 2009 Inglourious Basterds, another one of his bloated efforts that was also a revisionist revenge fantasy steeped into historical context.

Both films, while genius at times, ultimately stumble over their own brilliance and are in need of industrial-sized editing clippers.  What I loved about Basterds, besides its concept, were the two vignettes involving Mélanie Laurent and Diane Kruger, both of whom were overlooked during Oscar time (which is sad especially considering how many accolades the AMPAS threw in the film's direction; why not two of its strongest elements?).  Laurent drove her story, the best of the bunch, and Kruger offered this old Hollywood broad, who was quite smashing.  The director got off on those two in all the right ways; Christoph Waltz was, also, of course, worth mentioning for his effective villain.  But, then, where Tarantino needed to hold himself back (i.e. the pack of "Nazi hunters," as well as Michael Myer's role), he was given full license to basically soil his own movie (his movie, his right, I guess).  But, critics and audiences responded to it alike, so what do I know?

Further Tarantino disclosure: I loved the Kill Bill films.  While they were both redundant, they were at least consistent in quality.  I also didn't mind the marketing strategy of breaking them into two films.  Perhaps it was all the feminine energy, but I slurped them right up.  And, while Pulp Fiction is overrated, I was young and willing enough at the time to look over its faults (and there are many).  However, I still get why it was success and put the director on the map.  And there is no denying that Tarantino had a profound effect on cinema, as Fiction basically opened the floodgates to more crime movies with an edgy personality.  Never got Reservoir Dogs, but I'm sure my mind could change with another viewing.  And while I don't remember much about Jackie Brown, I do recall thinking how cool it was for someone in his position at the time, had all this power and then decided to write a film about a demographic who barely ever sees the light of day at the cinema.  While it may have not spoken to the experience of the black woman, Hollywood certainly wasn't rushing out to make movies with African-American female protagonists.  But, I'm not a black woman, so what do I know.

That brings me to Django, a film which tries to reclaim an ugly period of U.S. history.  Admirable, of course.  Spike Lee has gone on record as saying Tarantino has trivialized black people with projecting the spaghetti Western genre on slavery, without actually having seen the film.  I can't disagree.  Some say you need to see a film to have an opinion.  I agree with this to an extent, however, I think I will lead a fuller life if I never have to sit down and witness The Human Centipede or any of its incarnations to know that I will find them all unbearably distasteful and not worth my time.  In fact, I wish my former coworker never brought its existence to my attention.  But, where I disagree with Lee is completely writing off Tarantino.  Regardless of the final product, I have to believe his motivations were true and genuine.  And while the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, I'm willing to give him a pass on this.

Review: Django Unchained
Django Unchained is Quentin's historical revenge fantasy followup to his historical revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds from three years ago.  Instead of World War II Nazi-hunters, we have former slave Django (Jamie Foxx)--"the 'd' is silent" (great line and gimmick)--who shoots plenty of honky-ass pre-Civil War while trying to save his enslaved wife Brunhilda (Kerry Washington).  He's freed by German dentist Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz), who has found a more lucrative career in bounty-hunting.  They spend the first hour bonding over spilling blood while kicking butt.  It's actually Quentin Tarantino at his best: fun, oiled, well-edited scenes pop and are full of tension.  There's even a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid chemistry between the two leads (and Waltz is very much a lead, despite the supporting campaign).  But, alas, that's not the point of the movie.  It's a revenge fantasy and we must get on with things and save the wife (Kerry, whose character is given a nice touch by speaking a tiny bit of German [the promise of which is built up way too thickly], for the most part, is used as a vessel for unnecessary relentless physical abuse and torture).

They hatch a plan that is indeed novel: Schultz and Django concoct a way to get into the good graces of the plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo Dicaprio) who holds her papers.  Yet, the execution is so poor and telegraphed, and depends on convenient contrivances, the film loses steam quite quickly.  I loved the name of Candie's estate, "Candyland," but Tarantino illustrates matters with brutal telling, but showing flair in all the wrong places.  It doesn't help that DiCaprio, as the villain, is not intimidating in the least.  Long gone is his teen-friendly babyface, which he quickly craved to dispatch for more adult roles, yet there was something soft-gloved about his Candie's evil streak.  He lacked the loathsome presence required for a bloodlust fantasy.  There is no underlining insidiousness that makes us want to cheer his shortcomings.  This was a revenge fantasy, right?  While the stunt-casting gives DiCaprio the opportunity to stretch himself by being directed by someone who isn't named Martin Scorsese, it doesn't work.  He's not bad; he just doesn't sustain the second third or so of the film when it's necessary.  So, he likes watching two half-naked men fight to the death and, at another point, he produces a skull and hammer.  But I can't blame him entirely, as it's clear that Tarantino gives the Candie character a refineness that, considering his knick-knack collection and mannerisms, suggests he's a repressed homosexual, who communicates his confusion with incestuous tendencies toward his sister Lara Lee (Laura Cayouette).  In Tarantino's ongoing quest to prop up one minority on the silver screen, it's at the inadvertent expense of another (it wouldn't bother me so much if it was an isolated theme, but it also creeps up in Pulp Fiction's gimp finale, where some have argued "that moment" was unnecessary).

The last third is a pointless bloodbath conveyed rather bluntly and uneventfully (complete with a God-awful director cameo doing an "Australian" (?) accent) that can't hold a candle to one frame from the Kill Bill Vol. 1 finale.  While you can fault The Bride's battle with O-Ren Ishii and the Crazy 88s as graphic (hey, it's Tarantino, what do you expect), you can't deny that it was artfully directed with glee by someone who had the audience clearly in mind and in the palm of his hand.  In Django, it was as if he felt compelled to give his viewers what they paid for, but no wherewithal to deliver in a visually stunning way.  So, he just lets bullets fly.  And the sequence of false endings just makes the gore all the more torturous and the directing all the more unforgivable.  The fact that the protagonist couldn't give a proper burial to one of its more beloved characters further accentuates how false all those endings were.  Some have joked if the U.S. can't waterboard detainees, they should show them the recent Les Mis.  May I suggest the last two hours (or what felt like) of Django instead?

[12/31.  One thing I forgot to mention--and it's huge--is that Django, for the most part, is an example of Tarantino's linear storytelling.  He generally resorts to vignette-style, which helped escalate him to fame.  This is one of his only films where there is a traditional beginning, middle, and end.  And, how telling it is you can easily break this film up into glaring thirds.  Like Alejandro Iñárritu plays with time, both of the filmmakers hide their weaknesses behind shifting around moments, slicing up the narrative, and serving it up in a "fresh, exciting, and new" way.  That they've both built their careers on this conceit so much, they've become codependent and flounder when attempting something more straight-forward in presentation.]

They say ignorance is bliss. Awareness is a bit of curse to be able to simultaneously appreciate something while also seeing its glaring shortcomings.  Wish I had it in me to sign off completely on Tarantino like so many seem to be able to do (especially after all these years).  Part of his genius is that he has the talent for creating these great pulpy stories, but can't quite see them through entirely.  Basterds had some cinematically slick chapters, while other plotlines were just gratuitous and/or obnoxious.  The same goes for the Kill Bill series, but less so.  Tarantino is no doubt a cool filmmaker who can live up to the hype, but, just the same, he often doesn't know when to dial it back ... which includes casting himself in cameos ... and his use of the word 'nigger.'  Yeah, we get it, Tarantino.  Thanks for nailing it into our dimpled skulls (or whatever) over a hundred times.  But, you still haven't reclaimed it from the clutches of the dark past of U.S. history no matter how many times you do.

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Movie Spoiler THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Christopher Nolan wrapped up his Batman trilogy this past summer with The Dark Knight Rises to limited enthusiasm.  Many fans were ecstatic, while others were pleased, but mildly disappointed.  And, the film wasn't without detractors.  The third in the series retains a consistent detail-laden speed-through, while throwing in new characters, layering more social themes, and adding a few twists in an action-packed finale.  There's less of an underlying insidiousness that existed in the second installment, but more gimmicky plot points.  More telling, less showing.  In general, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is coaxed out of exile for bearing the brunt of Harvey Dent's transgressions.  A blunt villain who wears a headpiece covering most of his face and goes by the name of Bane (Tom Hardy), who along with other nefarious types, manages to create civil unrest by invading the Gotham City Stock Exchange and taking control over Wayne Enterprises and possession of a nuclear reactor that is reconfigured into a bomb.

While at a near three-hour length, it all goes by so quickly.  Even when it's a mess, it's watchable and engaging.  You may not know what's happening, but there's always something slightly more coherent, engaging, and/or distracting around the corner.  As usual, you have to be quick on your toes to figure everything that's happening as it plays out.  Even then, a second, sometimes third, viewing is required just to comprehend the events. God help you if you can't keep up the first time, though.  While watching the DVD, I realized my head must have been spinning last summer if I didn't even get that characters were sentenced to walk across a frozen river of thin ice.

The acting is hammier than the filmmakers and its fans are willing to admit.  At times, Bale inadvertently parodies his caped crusader with mouth formations and that throaty, barely audible voice manipulation that can only be described as comical.  For most of the film, you never see Hardy's mouth and his vocals come across like he looped in a Sean Connery impression during post-production with inflections that make him an easy target for derision.  It doesn't help that despite Hardy's impressive physical bulk, there's a threatening nature missing from the character.  Anne Hathaway, who plays Selena Kyle (and, for all intents and purposes, Catwoman) a young, street smart thief who fends for herself quite well and harbors a cynical view of humanity.  She's given the only real arc in the movie, which is as clunky and unbelievable.  She often employs the over-the-top acting seen in Brokeback Mountain, but is nevertheless fun to watch, as usual, even when she's laughably bad.  I can't say that I wouldn't have wanted the role to played any other way within the context of Nolan's world.  Kudos go to Michael Caine who turns on the tear-works quite tenderly and gives his Alfred an urgent sympathy.

The film plays fast and loose with concepts like wealth distribution and clean energy, somewhat stigmatizing liberal virtue in the process, yet dependent on an independently wealthy man in a latex costume with superhuman abilities and the willingness to work for free.  I guess that's why he's a myth at the end of the day.  Regardless, one can project their political persuasions all they want on this film, but they're not going to stick.  There are two big twists towards the end that were entertaining during the initial view.  One of them has a character reveal something about their identity that essentially presents two opposing agendas.  The other leaves this viewer confused about what exactly the film was saying about the future of another character.  I get more specific in the movie spoiler, of course.

Movie Spoiler Summary: The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises opens with Commissioner Gordon commemorating DA Harvey Dent eight years after his death.  With the help of comrades in a tailing plane, a villain known simply by the name of Bane (the full-lipped Tom Hardy) hijacks a jet carrying CIA agents involved in interrogation and Dr. Pavel (Alon Aboutboul), in a thrilling sequence including over-the-top dialogue and a driving score.  After attaching the tailing plane to the jet, it slowly loses control and disintegrates.  Before the hallow vessel is dropped, Bane imports a corpse and conducts some kind of blood transfusion with Pavel, so that it will be used to identify Pavel as deceased, before sky-hooking himself to his plane with the doctor, much like Batman kidnapped Lau from Hong Kong in the previous film.

Before the city of Gotham, the mayor speaks the praises of the Dent Act, an "uncompromising stand against organized crime had made Gotham a safer place," because it "gave law enforcement teeth in its fight against the mob."  Bruce Wayne, and Batman, as a consequence, has become a recluse.  The mayor refers to him as "a murderous thug," who killed Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in cold blood.  Gordon steps up to speak the truth about Dent, but opts not to.  He also speaks of the success of the Dent Act, as there are now over a thousand violent and mafia-related criminals put away in Blackgate Prison.  

Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) asks a maid by the name of Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway), who is really a jewel thief, to deliver Bruce's dinner to his room.  She acts meek at first, but then reveals her true colors.  A man by the name of Joe Daggett (the dashing Ben Mendelsohn) and a woman Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), who has a charity looking for an investor, wish to speak with Bruce.  At the party, Foley (Matthew Modine) and a Congressman (Brett Cullen) gossip about Gordon.  While in his room, Kyle, breaks into his safe and steals his mother's peals.  He catches her off guard by shooting an arrow that hits a target right near her head.  She thinks quickly on her toes and knows how to use her heals, swiping his cane from underneath him; with a back flip out the window, she's gone, like a cat.  The congressman, with hopes of some sexy times, picks her up.  It turns out she has also swiped Bruce's fingerprints for Joe Daggett.  A cop, Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), questions Gordon about Batman.  The next morning, Alfred locates Bruce in the Batcave, who is looking up data on Kyle.  Blake visits an orphanage to get information on a young man named Jimmy, who aged out of the orphanage and fell into the wrong hands, no thanks to the ceased funding from the Wayne foundation. Jimmy's brother explains that he found work in the sewers.  

Kyle delivers Bruce's prints to Daggett's henchman Stryver (wonderfully played by Burn Gorman), but doesn't get her end of the deal (a software program giving her a clean record).  As a backup, the forward-thinking Kyle used the congressman as a bargaining chip; a blowout of firearms results when police arrive.  She then pretends to be a damsel in distress who was innocently caught in the shootout.  

Bane's men bring him Gordon, but he escapes via aqueduct.  Blake recovers and transfers him to the hospital.  Blake has figured out Batman's identity and informs Bruce that he is needed to beat this new villain Bane.  He also shares that Bruce has been a hero of his ever since he visited his orphanage when he was a kid.  Alfred shares with Bruce that Bane is a mercenary who secured a West African mining operation for Daggett.  Bruce visits a doctor (Thomas Lennon who is best known as Lt. Jim Dangle from Reno 911!) and then Gordon, wearing a mask over his head.  

Bruce arrives at a masquerade ball, hosted by Miranda.  "You have to invest if you want to restore balance to the world," she says and speaks of her clean energy project.  Bruce: "Sometimes, the investment doesn't pay off."  Miranda: "A man who doesn't care about the world, doesn't spend half his fortune on a plan to save it and isn't so wounded when it fails, but he goes into hiding."  Bruce has a dance with Kyle.  She plans on stealing the diamonds of her paramour's wife, who is in Ibiza.  "I take what I need from those who have more than enough.  I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less ... you think all this can last?  There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.  You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because, when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large [inhales], and leave so little for the rest of us."  "You sound like you're looking forward to it."  "I'm adaptable," she purrs as she curls her lips.  "Those pearls do look better on you than they did in my safe, but I still can't (Bale's accent slips) let you keep them."  She ends up stealing his car.  

Bruce visits Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who, apparently, still works for him.  Fox explains that Wayne mothballed a fusion project after heavily investing in it.  Bruce refuses to start the venture back up.  Fox's plan of action: "Your majority keeps Daggett at bay, while we figure out a future for the energy program with Miranda Tate."  Fox is unfortunately very supportive of Tate and her interests in the project.  Fox shows Bruce "The Bat," a fancy new air vehicle that flies like a hovercraft and looks like a beetle.  In the Batcave, Alfred unknowingly supplies partial misinformation and explains the prison "pit" where Bane was born and raised, before being trained by Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson), who would later excommunicate him from the League of Shadows for being too extreme.  

Bane, along with his henchmen, "occupy Wall Street," (which isn't the best analogy, as Bane and his thugs terrorize people, while executing a fraudulent trade) at the GCSE (Gotham City Stock Exchange). A trader informs Bane, "this is a stock exchange; there's no money you can steal."  Bane: "Really?  Why are you people here?"  Foley announces, "This is a hostage situation."  A trader corrects him, "This is a robbery; they have direct access to the online trading desk."  "I'm not risking my men for your money." Another says, "It's not our money, it's everybody's."  Another, "Mine's in my mattress."  Yet, another, "You want to put these guys down, then the money's in your mattress will be worth a whole Hell of a lot less."  After terrorizing the exchange, Bane and his gang make a memorable escape with bankers tied backwards to the seat of each of their motorcycles.  Batman manages to kill the power in the garage where the chase has led through, just as he did earlier when he stepped out onto the red carpet lined with paparazzi at Tate's shindig.  Foley, hell-bent on arresting Batman, has his men corner him a couple of times, but he escapes each time, the second of which with The Bat.  

Stryver updates Daggett on the status of Bane's progress.  Kyle shows up to give Daggett his just desserts, if not to procure the "clean slate" application that will help her start a new life.  Daggett says the program was a ruse.  His goons show up and Batman helps kick their asses.  Just as Bane arrives, they take off in The Bat.  Before she disappears, she shares that she gave Bruce's prints to Daggett and suggests that it may have been tied to the Stock Exchange raid.

At the Bat Cave, Alfred tells Bruce that he needs to move on and that Rachel didn't really love him.  Fox lets Bruce know that his prints were used to buy some failed options, he's broke, and Daggett is in position to take over Wayne Enterprises, which oversees the energy project.  Fox and Bruce show Tate the reactor, which was created by Pavel.  Bruce fears it getting into the wrong hands (haha) and being used as a nuclear weapon.  He asks her to take over Wayne Enterprises, and destroy the reactor if necessary.  At a meeting, where Daggett is in attendance, Bruce steps down.  Later, Daggett is furious that Tate has taken over.  Bane shows up at his home and kills him.   Blake takes Bruce on a ride to Kyle's.  He offers her a clean slate for information on Bane.  Blake shares with Gordon that Daggett had applied for several city permits to access Gotham's tunnel system.  Gordon takes him under his wing. Tate shows up at Wayne Manor in the rain and they make love.  If it wasn't enough that one woman was about to backstab him (later, literally), Kyle leads Batman into Bane's clutches in an underground tunnel.  It turns out they have been underneath Wayne Enterprise this whole time.  Bane pummels him and tears off his mask as a souvenir.

Blake brings in Kyle for questioning.  Bane takes Bruce to an underground jail, The Pit prison, with a small view of the sky.  Kyle is transported to a men's penitentiary.  At the next board meeting, Bane surprises Fox and Tate.  He shows them the work they're doing in the sewer system.  In confinement, some prisoners take care of Bruce.  He explains how many have tried to scale the wall to escape, but only one child has managed.  We'll be led to believe it was Bane, but it wasn't.  Foley and Blake go on a hunt for Bane.  Tate and Fox volunteer to sign into the reactor's access system at Bane's gunpoint.  Pavel is produced and works on the reactor to convert it to a bomb.  Blake finds two of Bane's men and explosives.  The mayor arrives at a football game.  Foley orders his troops out of the tunnel, as a young boy sings "The Star Spangled Banner."  Bane engages the bomb at kickoff, and the city, including the playing field, begins to implode.  Bane arrives at the stadium.  Blake saves Gordon from some of his men.  Bane kills Pavel in front of everyone, falsely informs the audience that one of them holds the detonator to another bomb that will destroy the city, and announces Martial Law. US Armed Forces arrive.  One of Bane's men informs a soldier that one person leaving the city will detonate the bomb.

Bane stands before Blackgate Prison and reads Gordon's confession in front of cameras that Batman didn't kill Harvey Dent, who was actually a madman.  Gordon allowed criminals to be imprisoned under a law that was passed based on a false myth.  Bane frees the prisoners.  The rich are thrown into the streets in scenes reminiscent of Kristallnacht.  It's complete anarchy.

The reactor is packed into a truck.  A prisoner tells Bruce of "Bane's" (but really Tate's) origins.  He tells the tale of a mercenary and a woman whose love is torn apart by the father.  He agrees to allow the mercenary to be free, when the daughter, who is with child, agrees to take his place in The Pit.  She is raped and killed, and a man takes the child under his wing.  Bruce begins to heal.  Ra's al Ghul appears and Bruce identifies him as the mercenary.  Kyle begins to feel regret for the way things have turned out for Gotham City, while she ransacks an apartment with her girlfriend and partner Jen (Juno Temple).  Blake visits an orphanage.  Bruce tries and fails to scale the wall of The Pit.  Captain Jones (the delicious Daniel Sunjata) arrives with special forces to save the cops.  Gordon and Blake catch him up to speed on the reactor, now a bomb.  A surprise attack kills Jones and his men, and they are hung from a bridge.  Bruce fails to scale the wall again.  But, on his next attempt, he manages to escape.

Dr. Jonathan Crana aka The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) presides over a kangaroo court.  He sentences Stryver to exile  which involves walking across a partially frozen over river.  He falls through a hole and dies.  Gordon summons Foley, who blows him off.  Tate offers to volunteer.  Kyle saves a boy from some guys he stole an apple from.  Bruce enlists Kyle's help.  He offers her the clean slate for Fox's whereabouts.  Gordon is arrested and put before the court of anarchy.  He's sentenced to death by exile.  Bane grabs Tate.  Bruce briefly reunites with Tate and Fox.  Kyle shows up as Catwoman and frees all of them.  Bruce and Fox break into the warehouse.  Gordon walks the ice with others.  Blake is caught smuggling a cop through a manhole.  Batman finds Gordon on the ice and has him light the bat signal.  Batman saves Blake's life.  "If you're working alone, wear a mask ... the mask is not for you.  It's to protect the people you care about."  He sends Blake to save people.  Kyle agrees to clear the tunnel with one of Batman's cycles, but that's it.

There's a standoff between the criminals and cops, headed by Foley.  The Bat interrupts Bane's attack.  Kyle clears the tunnel, but contemplates saving herself and leaving.  The police brawl with the prisoners.  Batman and Bane fight.  Blake rallies some orphans to save the city.  Batman overpowers Bane and demands to know where the bomb trigger is.  Tate reveals herself to be the mercenary's child, Talia Al Ghul, who scaled the wall, as she stabs Batman.  Bane was her protector, whom she went back to save at the pit.  Now, even though her father fucked her over, she is still going to carry out his plan to destroy Gotham City and the rest of the world.  She tries unsuccessfully to detonate the bomb.  Blake tries to cross the bridge with the orphans, but the authorities won't let them cross.  Tate takes off.  Kyle saves Batman from Bane.  The authorities blow up the bridge as Blake tries to cross.  Tate assumes control of the vehicle carrying the bomb.  A big action sequence ensues.  Tate crashes the vehicle.  Gordon climbs out from the back.  Tate enacts the emergency flood in the warehouse.  Tate dies a hammy death.  Kyle kisses Bruce (so long Jen!).  Gordon figures out Batman's identity.  Batman uses The Bat to carry the bomb over the ocean, where it explodes.  Gordon delivers eulogy in the presence of Alfred and Blake.  Bruce's assets are liquidated, leaving Alfred a good share; Wayne Manor is turned into an orphanage.  We learn that Blake's first name is Robin, Batman's partner-in-crime in the comics.  Blake enters the Bat Cave and assumes the caped crusader's mantle.  Some say he's now going to be Batman, as Bruce is retiring.  I don't really follow the comics, but it's just kind of weird for Robin to become Batman, especially when played by a little pip squeak.  Alfred travels to Italy, where he sees Bruce and Selena in retirement.

While writing this post, I found it impossible to google "Ra's al Ghul."  Try it.  My computer froze each time before I finished typing his name.  Perhaps I'm just crazy.

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Movie Spoiler HOLY MOTORS (2012)

You know how you go into a movie and you just *know* you're going to love it no matter what? How much of a bonus is it when that happens coupled with the reality that what you just witnessed was truly bold and visionary separate from your personal bias? I just snuck in a viewing of Leos Carax' Holy Motors at the last minute. It was playing for a week-long limited engagement ending Thursday at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica. This was basically my only chance to see it. So strange that it opened in New York a few weeks before and this is all the City of Angels gets. Perhaps, it will hop over to a Laemlee or Arclight. I doubt it, though, considering its PSA is shrinking down to nothing. So, I had to go, not knowing if and when this film was ever going to get released on DVD. And, I'm so glad I did. This French head-trip is still settling inside of me and, due to time constraints, I'm going to eke out what I can of a reaction and perhaps whatever I can't, I'll save for my Top Ten Films of 2012. That is, if there is one, considering the trouble I'll probably have making one. But, if I do, Holy Motors will surely be on it and it just might make it to the very top. 

If one were to reduce this movie to a plot-line and judge it purely on its surface elements, it's about an actor Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) whose driven around Paris in a white limousine by Céline (Edith Scob) where he prepares for each role and basically shows up at random places and employs his next character. It's very David Lynch, but it's also accessible (closer to Blue Velvet and further away from his later films) in that oftentimes there is little explanation for motivation, but a great deal begins to make sense as the film plugs along. With its esoteric nature, this tale speaks to larger universal themes about love, morality, and life. And, while I can't exactly articulate what was happening all the time, my instincts certainly knew what I was feeling. Carax says a great deal about the human condition and he does so in a way that is fresh and exhilarating. With Caroline Champetier's cinematography, Anaïs Romand's costume design, and Florian Sanson's production design, among others, the technicals are simply engrossing.  Did you enjoy the trailer? Well, then, quite simply, you are going to LOVE the film. You can ream me later if you don't.  The spoiler summary has a few minor revelation that are nice surprises if you go into the film blind.

Movie Spoiler Summary
After Holy Motors' opening credits, Carax’ camera observes an audience watching a black and white movie. A blond man wearing glasses and PJ’s (possibly director Carax as Le dormeur) wakes up in a room that may be near an airport. He feels around the walls and finds a portal to another world, with his dog in tow. While there are sounds of seagulls, he walks onto a balcony overlooking the moviegoers. A dark beast of some sort that, on first glance looks like some sleek breed of Mastiff, but is something entirely different, perhaps not even canine, languidly moves down the aisle towards the screen.

Le banquier
Daylight, a young girl or la petite fille (Nastya Golubeva Carax) looks out a window from a modern designed home. Her father is leaving. While he may be playing the role of parent, he is, at the very least, the protagonist of the movie who goes by the name of Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) when he’s not in character. Céline (Edith Scob), his driver, picks him up for his next assignment. Oscar’s job is to play an assortment of characters around Paris, and Céline drives him to every gig in a white limousine. On the way to each assignment, Oscar prepares for each role by changing his hair, makeup, and wardrobe, assuming a completely different identity with their own name and personality each time. Everyone plays along.  Over the phone, as the character he last played, Le banquier or banker, he and Serge discuss business, as well as stepping up security and that night’s meeting at Fouquet’s. 

La mendiante

Oscar combs through a wig. They arrive in Paris and pull alongside la Seine by another car. He steps out as La mendiante or the beggar, a decrepit old (wo)man who uses a cane and has a gait suggesting an unfortunate physical disposition. S/he stands on the street seeking alms, while her/his mind goes over an inner monologue.

L’OS de Motion-Capture

He steps back into the limo, and takes his wig off and decaying teeth, in preparation for his next character. Céline debriefs him on the assignment. He opens his trunk and she drops him off at a large building. He’s dressed in a motion-capture suit (the solid colored getups with several balls attached to various points on their bodies) actors wear while being filmed for those computer-generated movies that Robert Zemeckis loves to produce. He identifies himself using this complex machine, which allows him access into a room. He opens a briefcase, removes the contents, and a man over the loudspeaker touches base with him. Oscar’s L’OS de Motion-Capture in action is actually L’acrobate Mo-Cap (played by Reda Oumouzoune).  The talented performer begins practicing an acrobatic routine, which includes flips, kicks, and twirling around guns. He then brandishes a semi-automatic weapon and begins running on a treadmill in front of a green screen, which produces various images. He falls off and a woman, La cyber-femme (! love it !) (Zlata) arrives, also dressed in a motion-capture-suit. Their interactions with each other quickly take on an erotic nature. At one point, their bodies begin to twist in a distorted fashion, before we’re treated to the animated version of their work which resembles two reptile-like creatures wrapped around each other in some kind of netherworld. 

M. Merde (the segment with Eva Mendes)
In the limo, Oscar reads up on assignment #3: M. Merde, who is the red-headed freak dressed in green with the glassy eye that you may or may not recall from the trailer. He applies spirit gum on his face to attach his facial hair and when he’s fully costumed, he sits with a meal before him while watching the monitor showing passing footage of the outside. Céline notifies him that they are running late. Oscar yearns for a previous job which took place in a forest. Ready for showtime, he steps out of the limo barefoot and climbs down a manhole and navigates his way through the Parisian sewer system, which is populated by many others. There’s a panoramic shot of the city, which then hones in on M. Merde creeping out of another manhole located in a cemetery. He begins a tirade stomping through the premises vandalizing graves and consuming flower bouquets. He puffs on a cigarette and scares visitors, even attacking one of them.

He stumbles upon a fashion shoot as Le photographe Harry (Geoffrey Carey) captures multiple images of the emotionless model Kay M (but, might as well have shared the name of the actor playing her, Eva Mendes) towering over a large group of onlookers, taped off. An enthralled Harry giddily takes photos and keeps commenting “beauty” as M. Merde barges in and makes a scene. He requests his L’assistante photographe (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) to ask M. Merde if he would be willing to have his photo taken with Kay M for Wave magazine in a kind of a Beauty & Beast theme. He responds by biting off her hand and carrying a completely unfazed Kay M off into the French sewers ala Phantom of the Opera. All the while, Harry is taking pictures until they part ways.

While down in the sewer, they find a corner and sit. M. Merde empties her purse, lights one of her cigarettes, and starts eating her money. Her response is to rip her hairpiece off. He tears some of her outfit and redresses her in the gold fabric, completely covering her, even placing a veil over her face, all the while mumbling and grunting to himself. He has her do a runway walk and then takes off all of his clothes, exposing a full-on erection (wow, not sure if I've ever seen one in a legitimate film before). As she sits upright, fully clothed, he lies at her side and covers himself in crumpled flowers. She sings him to sleep with a lullaby. Fade out.

La père

In the limo, Oscar prepares for his next character. He parts ways with Céline and takes off in a red hatchback as Le père or the father, picking up his daughter Angèle (Jeanne Disson). There is a shot of her at a party hiding in the bathroom. Le père smokes and listens to the radio and pulls up to an apartment building, where the party is taking place several stories up. Upstairs, people enjoy Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” blasting from the balcony as Angèle enters her father’s car. She lies to him and tells him that her friend Sonia went home with her boyfriend, but they both had a good time at the party. They discuss the evening’s events and she ignores a call from Sonia (her ringtone is also the Minogue hit from the early 2000s), who then calls the father. He realizes his daughter has lied to him and they get into an argument. She doesn’t believe that she is attractive, which is why she stayed in the bathroom the whole evening and then lied to her father about it. He drops her off at home and takes off, listening to music, and meets up with Céline.

L’accordéoniste (Intervel)
There’s a short black and white clip denoting an Intervel. Oscar walks through an old building, possibly a church, playing an accordion. He’s joined by an army of other accordion players aka Musicien à l'église (Elliot Simon, Quentin Auvray, Doctor L, Bertrand Cantat, Alexandre Leitao, David Nzavotunga Kiala, Johann Riche, Clément Robin, Yao Dembele, Yves Abadi, Miguel Saboga, Grégoire Simon, Viviane Amoux, Hugo Boulesteix, Eloi Miehe), composed of the young, old, men, women; the group also includes a guitarist and drummer amongst others. As the accordion player, he leads a procession from room to room featuring the upbeat, driving song you may recognize from the trailer.

Le tueur 
In the limo, he learns that his next assignment has a victim (Théo) and weapon (a knife). The limo enters the garage and Céline lets Oscar out. As Alex the serial killer, he’s dressed as a thug and casts suspicious glances everywhere he goes. Madame Ling greets him in a warehouse where he goes looking for Théo. They look similar (and may both be played by Lavant is my guess). Alex stabs him and opens his briefcase. He shaves Théo’s head clean and dresses him in his clothes. He even uses the knife to mark him identical to Alex’ previous wounds. Just as he’s finishing, Théo procures a weapon and stabs him in the same area which Alex cut him, resulting in a profound shot of their two bodies lying by each other. Alex (or perhaps Théo?) manages to escape, but collapses. Céline arrives in the rain and drags his body into the limo.

In the limo, Oscar is greeted by L'homme à la tache de vin (Michel Piccoli) who comments on his lack of passion for his craft. Oscar responds that cameras are getting smaller and lighter. “Beauty, they say is in the eye of the beholder,” is met with the question, “And if there's no more beholder?” Later, Céline and Oscar chat while the camera briefly filters the city through a translucent green similar to the title credit in the trailer and in various publicity materials. 

Le tué 
Time passes and Oscar begins speaking to himself and then asks Céline to pull the car over. As the assassin, he runs out shirtless and hooded and shoots a banker. There is a shootout and one of the gunmen shouts, “Aim for the crotch!” Oscar takes some serious hits and Céline rushes through a crowd of people to his side and guides him back to the limo. They drive off.

Le mourant 
A bellhop greets him (instead of Céline getting the door like she usually does) in front of his character M. Vogen’s posh apartment residence. He takes an elevator up to his home where his dog waits for him patiently. He spritzes himself and goes to bed. The Dying Man speaks about Théo, as a young woman, his niece Léa (Elise Lhomeau), played by a woman named Elise, tends to him. She leaves and undresses in her quarters. She returns fully clothed and they talk some more as she sits by his side. They discuss dying and he says, “Nothing makes me feel more alive than to watch others die.” She expresses regret over her husband, whom she believes only married her because her uncle willed her his entire fortune. After some tears, she falls asleep. Finished with his role as M. Vogen, Oscar gets up. They both have to attend to their next assignments and express a desire to see each other soon.

L’homme au foyer (the segment with Kylie Minogue)
Céline picks Oscar up. He’s now coughing from, he believes, his job as Le tuere (or Le tué?).  Céline turns on a simulated burner in the back and Oscar prepares for his next character. They drive down a lonely, scary road at night and the footage of the outside begins to bleed together. Céline gets into an accident with another limo right in front of La Samaritaine. “Ectoplasm on wheels” she calls the other driver. While Oscar waits, he recognizes the actor Jean (Minogue) in the other limo. They take a walk and Jean explains how she is already in character for her next role, Eva Grace, as Oscar is already partially in character. A man greets them and they enter the La Samaritaine, which used to be an old department store that is now being converted into a luxury hotel. He comments how he used to buy her bras from that store. They walk up a few levels and reach a floor scattered with old mannequin parts. He picks her up and carries her a flight of stairs. She begins singing a melancholic song from the trailer (the one that starts “Who are we, who were we, when we were who we were ... back then …” and sounds like David Bowie’s version of “Nature Boy” from Moulin Rouge!). He violently kicks a mannequin head. They arrive on the rooftop and talk some more. After they part ways, she takes off her wig and jacket to get into Jean’s complete character, revealing a flight attendant outfit and steps on the edge of the roof between the large “A” and “I” letters titling the building. She talks of Henry and a man arrives looking for Jean. Oscar arrives downstairs where their bodies are splattered side by side next to Céline and the limo, having both committed suicide.

There’s a darkened neon effect on the outside footage and Céline implores Oscar to eat. They drive through a tunnel and Oscar continues to drink. The two of them softly sing a song at one point. Céline speaks of her days as a dancer and a pigeon startles her driving. They share a laugh. He looks at his house, wife, and daughters of final assignment. They arrive and there’s a short clip of some old black and white footage. Céline asks Oscar about his status. He finally wakes up and she lets him out of the limo for his final assignment (on this particular day anyway). She gives him a key and drives off, as a song (“Make the long journey once more”) plays. He walks slowly to his front door, and once he enters we discover through the windows, to much comical effect, that his relatives Luce and Aude are played by chimps. Upstairs, the three of them look out the window as the song continues.

Céline drives to Holy Motors, where you can find all of the other white limos in France. She parks the car, lets her hair down, and puts on a mask. She makes a call that she’s headed home and leaves. In an overhead shot of the limos lined up parked, the lights go out. The brake lights start blinking in conjunction with various voices speaking in English and some French (Carax, Carey, Laurent Lacotte, David Stanley Phillips, Michel Delahaye, Leslie Palanker, Camille Rutherford, Adrien Guitton, Johanna Nizard, Kester Lovelace). There is talk of how people don’t want visible machines anymore, which ends in a chorus of, “Amens.” Roll credits.

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Movie Spoiler THE MASTER (2012) starring Joaquin Phoenix - after review

It has been five years since the release of PT Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. His films, whether you like them or not, are well-crafted and a marvel to observe. After looking at the titles right now on next year’s release schedule, I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve known for some time that Hollywood product is becoming more commercial and profit-driven, with concentrations on known literary properties, as the years have gone on. But, I’ve kind of just ignored it and felt comfortable in my own bubble bitching how crappy films are nowadays, secretly waiting for the next year things would slightly get better, and films that tickle my personal fancy, just so I can fill a Top Ten List at the end of every year. But, I’m realizing that I need to get over myself and open my eyes up to the limited, but bountiful options that are out there.  

Quell ruminates over an abyss

Many, including myself, speculated this film would be a take-down of Scientology.  In fact, Anderson smartly shoots for a more universal approach.  While it's clear he uses founder L. Ron Hubbard's religion as a template, rather than expose the specific group's questionable underbelly, the director focuses on the student/teacher relationship between Freddie Quell (Phoenix) and Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).  Frankly, Tom Cruise (who scored an Oscar nod for Anderson's Magnolia at the turn-of-the-century), John Travolta, et al, get off scott-free.  Anderson is more concerned with a lost soul's susceptibility to the influence of others who profess to have all the answers, or, in Dodd's case, carries the gravitas as one who appears closer than most others.  Dodd immediately recognizes a kindred virile, youthful, curious spirit in Quell and takes him under his wings as a project of sorts.  His goal is to tame the base animal within his subject as a way of validating his own beliefs to himself.  However, beset with doubts and his own shortcomings, Quell proves to be quite the challenge.

Quell's alcohol-fueled romantic passion

A few years ago, I wrote Phoenix off as a tool. The friends I saw it with were fortunate enough to catch a very special 70mm screening at the Landmark in Los Angeles this past weekend (I highly recommend this if you're lucky enough to be in an area that is doing this). Incidentally, the last film I saw there with one of them was Phoenix’ last film, Two Lovers, released in 2008, over four years ago. That was before he “retired” from acting, grew a bushy beard, acted aloof, and made that mockumentary about him becoming a hip-hop star. I was way too hard on him and he has totally redeemed himself here, proving his mettle as one of the best film actor's of his generation. He strikes me as pretty messed up person, but it’s clear that he has rededicated himself to his profession and channeled his demons into one of cinema’s best performances of the year.  Phoenix brims over with a raw edginess, which Anderson encapsulates and shapes into an involving tale.  Hoffman, the title character, is solid, and Amy Adams, as his dutiful, yet assertive wife proves her versatility in adapting to yet another diverse role on her resume.  

Quell's disdain for being ordinary

The Master is one of those thinking-person’s films that I’m gathering wouldn’t have any problem getting funded in the late 1960s/1970s. Yet, today, the Megan Ellison's Annapurna-funded film stands as an exception. I’m not saying that I’m giving the movie more leeway, because it bucks the system and tells an actual story, regardless of its monetary prospects. I am saying, however, that I’m trying harder now to give films such as these more of my attention, because if I don’t, that’s less of an excuse for someone else to.

Will it end up on my Top Ten List for the year? Probably. Is it something that I can jizz all over? Maybe not ... right now. Or maybe so, and I just haven’t tapped into the part of myself that can (no pun intended). What I know is that PT Anderson tried to tell an original story that hadn’t been done before. His intentions were true, and its execution was nothing short of impressive. Is it great? It quite possibly is and I want to be more flexible to opening myself up to that over time. I’m also hoping that more people go see this film, so they can at least give it a chance and decide for themselves.  If greatness can be achieved these days just by being thought-provoking, then, consider Anderson's latest mission accomplished.

Movie Spoiler Summary 
The film opens up with seaman Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) on a ship in the middle of the ocean and then at the beach in the early 1950s. He and his mates create a woman made out of sand, presumably with no ladies in their immediate proximity, and he copulating with her. Later, they extract a liquid out of some artillery (?) below deck. It becomes very clear over the course of the beginning of the film that Quell has an interest in mixology, particular involving substances not fit for consumption, making him a hard-core alcoholic like few others. He’s a lost soul, hell-bent on destroying himself from the inside. After class instruction on assimilating to the real world, he submits to an inkblot test with a Rorschach doctor (Mike Howard). All Quell can make out of the creations are cocks, vaginas, and coitus. He’s questioned by another doctor (Bruce Goodchild) about a crying episode he recently experienced over reading a letter from a past love, as well as relationships with family members.  By no coincidence, these interactions are eerily similar to a cult he will later join up with.

One of Quell's Portrait Photos

Quell begins to make his living as a photographer at a department store. A bluesy ballad cover of the White Stripes “Blue Orchid” (with the lyric "Get thee behind me satan") plays over the soundtrack. There’s a lovely extended shot of a dressed-up salesgirl Martha (Amy Ferguson) walking through the establishment before connecting with Quell. In the light room, she drinks one of his concoctions not knowing the ingredients and they begin to get intimate, before they go out for dinner, where he loses steam quickly and falls asleep at their table. During a photo shoot the next day with a businessman (W. Earl Brown), Quell provokes a fight which ends in an ugly altercation. Needless to say, his days as a professional photographer are numbered and likely inconsistent, few and far between.

While working on a farm, he offers one of his lethal beverages to his Filipino colleagues, causing one of them to have an incredibly adverse reaction. Quell flees the fields. While passing the docked cruise ship Alethia, he decides to stowaway, while Lancaster Dodd, or as he is known for most of the film as “The Master” (Anderson veteran Philip Seymour Hoffman) dances on the top floor with his wife Peggy (Amy Adams), while the guests encircle them in admiration. As the vessel embarks back on the river towards New York City, in a great shot juxtaposed to the previous frame, Dodd has a private moment below deck with another woman with only the bartender in attendance, everyone else above them.

Ambyr Childers plays Elizabeth Dodd

The next day, one of the members of “the Cause” (the name of Dodd’s cult) discovers Quell and brings him to Dodd’s attention. The Master has a long conversation with Quell, while familiarizing himself with the young man. It turns out that Quell had partied with the guests the night before who enjoyed his talents as a mixologist. When Dodd asks him about more beverage, Quell responds, “I can make something special for you. How do you like to feel?” He takes a liking to the confused Quell and invites him to his daughter Elizabeth’s (Ambyr Childers) wedding to Clark (Rami Malek), with the patriarch officiating the occasion on deck. At the reception afterwards, Dodd shares a metaphor of taming the dragon within. Later, he exclaims, “We fought against the day and we won.” Quell mingles with the guests and meet’s Dodd’s son Val (Friday Night Light’s sweet-natured Jesse Plemons), who it’s later revealed enjoys living off his father’s fortune, but believes him to be a charlatan quack. Peggy and Quell converse during breakfast the next day and they sit down to dine. She shares that Dodd has many enemies who believes him to be harmful and/or full of shit, but has also taken a shine to Quell. Dodd conducts an audit with one of the members. Peggy informs Quell that “we record everything … through all lifetimes,” which takes on a figurative and literal significance, as we watch Quell walk below deck to a table full of people taking notes of Dodd’s session utilizing audio surveillance equipment. Quell sits down and hits on the women while they work. He writes down the message, “Do you want to fuck?” to one of them.

Rami Malek plays Clark, the possibly
gay husband of Dodd's daughter Elizabeth
(why else would she stray?); Malek will
appear in the final Twilight film in November

Later, he creates a drink cut with paint thinner and shares the beverage with Dodd, who performs an audit on Quell. He asks him several questions, often repeated. In a funny moment, Dodd asks Quell, “Are you unpredictable?” and he farts (I love potty humor). While he laughs, Dodd casually calls him a “silly animal.” Dodd shuts the process down, but Quell insists they proceed. Dodd acquiesces and implores Quell to answer without blinking, sending them back to start all over each time upon failure in what becomes one of the most engrossing scenes in the film. Quell shares some personal details, including having sex with his aunt when he was younger (so he says), as well as the cross he still bears for losing the love of his life, Doris Solstad (Madisen Beaty), in Lynn, Massachusetts. The scene involves flashbacks to the romance he shared with Doris years ago, when she was only sixteen. At one point, she serenades him with “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.” They end with the last time Quell saw Doris. He stands outside her bedroom window, about to be shipped off to sea; she was also going to make a trip to Norway to visit family. He rips off her screen to kiss her in a memorable shot. After the audit, Dodd and Quell share a smoke (Dodd’s favorite brand is Kool).

The ship docks and Dodd and his entourage attends a party held by the very wealthy Mildred Drummond (Patty McCormack, who was excellent and left quite an impression as the demon child in The Bad Seed way back when). The socially awkward Quell cases the home for valuables. Partygoer John More (Christopher Even Welch) interrupts Dodd’s audit on Margaret O’Brien (Barbara Brownell, who appeared in a film called Mark of the Witch decades ago) after butting in with one too many “excuse me’s.” More challenges Dodd on his methods, as well as his unproven beliefs involving reincarnation and being able to heal the infirm: “Good science by definition allows for more than one opinion … otherwise, you merely have the will of one man, which is the basis of cult.” Dodd ends matters with, “If you already know the answers to your questions, then why even ask, PIG FUCK?!” Later, Peggy dictates an aggressive letter which Dodd transcribes. Quell enlists Clark to mess More up (or worse) in his hotel room. When Quell informs Dodd of his actions, he’s verbally reprimanded. Dodd preaches pacifism in regards to his critics, but he takes no measures to rectify what Quell had endeavored on his behalf.

Elizabeth looking for trouble in Quell's crotch

In Philadelphia, Helen Sullivan (the always welcome, talented, and little used, Laura Dern) puts Dodd and his people up in her home. During a lecture, Elizabeth quite overtly, yet unnoticeably hits on Quell. Dodd dances and sings “Maid of Amsterdam” during a celebration. During a quick cut, suddenly, every woman in the room is nude (hinting at sexism within the cult: the males are fully clothed). Later, in Adams’ best moment, Peggy approaches Dodd from behind in the bathroom. While employing a hand job, she grants him the permission to stray, but is very clear about the rules (anyone as long as she and any of her acquaintances don’t find out). She also offers Quell an ultimatum: he must sober up if he is going to continue to sponge off her husband. Val informs Quell he thinks his father is a crock, “He’s making all this up as he goes along. You don’t see that? I could sleep and wake up and not miss one thing.” Quell begins one of his outbursts when the police arrive to arrest Dodd (this is when the audience first hears the name “Lancaster Dodd”--from an outside, objective source) for operating a medical practice without a license. Quell goes bat-shit crazy and they both end up in cells adjacent to each other. In another great scene from Phoenix, Quell tops himself from earlier and goes even more over the edge, punishing himself for believing in Dodd, violently banging his head on his bed and destroying his toilet). The Master attempts to talk him back down, but then gives up and urinates in his cell commode. In court, Judge Phoenix (Thomas Knickerbocker) orders Dodd to pay a heavy series of fines. (Side note: Anderson favorite Big Love’s Melora Walters is a singer in a band in a scene that may have been cut, or I completely missed her.)

At dinner, everyone gossips about Quell being suppressive and perhaps a spy, and tries to convince Dodd to cut him loose once and for all. Unconvinced, Dodd welcomes Quell back into Sullivan’s home, embracing him and giving him a playful spank. With the assistance of Peggy and Clark, Dodd begins to conduct an intensive audit on Quell, involving a series of activities (voluntarily remaining in a room while pacing, facing his fears; staring into Peggy’s eyes as they turn from blue to black; Clark subjecting repeated lines to challenge Quell while they stare at each other; and Peggy reading pornography to Quell) conveyed through montage. There is another flashback to Quell’s time a sea, including when he read Doris’ heartbreaking letter.

Dodd celebrates the printing of his second book

In Sullivan’s home, Peggy announces the debut of Dodd’s second book in Phoenix, Arizona. Out in the desert, Dodd and Quell dig up a container holding Dodd’s unpublished work. After self-publishing The Second Saber (“as a gift to homo sapiens” is inscribed on the title page) with his own printing press, Quell and Clark take to the radio and streets to push Dodd’s latest tome. Quell uses his talents as a photographer to take a professional picture of Dodd for the book jacket. The release is held at the 1st Phoenix Congress. There, a nervous Quell beats the heck out of a critic who reduces the book’s content worthy of a “three page pamphlet.” While a song-version of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” plays, an astute Helen approaches Dodd about a important adjustment he made in his beliefs reflected in his new book, which may have happened unconsciously or was deliberate and conducted conspicuously (probably the former, as Val asserted, “He’s making all this up as he goes along”). He reacts unfavorably to her for bringing it to his attention. Out in the desert, Dodd enlists Quell, Elizabeth, and Clark, to play a game of “Pick a Point.” The rules are simple, as Dodd demonstrates by picking a point and riding his motorcycle to the point and back again. When it’s Quell’s turn, he hops on the vehicle, picks his point, drives past it, and leaves everyone behind. The song “No Other Love” plays.

Two men traveling separate directions

Quell visits Doris’ mother (Lena Endre, a Swedish actress who appeared as Mikael’s girlfriend in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films) and learns that she remarried four years ago to an unattractive kid he used to know (making her married name Doris Day). While watching a Casper feature in a beautiful, empty movie theatre, an attendant hands Quell a telephone (!). Somehow, inexplicably, Dodd learned the location of Quell's whereabouts and implores him to visit him at his new school in England. Quells travels via ship and meets Dodd in his grandiose office. Peggy is there and cuts to the chase, asking him rhetorically, “You can't take this life straight, can you?"  She earnestly displays how much her religion means to her and how disgusted she is at Quell's disrespect.  It's revealed that their daughter Elizabeth is a DCF (a possible acronym signifying a suppressive person).  In a vulnerable, sympathetic moment, Dodd muses, "Free winds and no tyranny for you.  Freddie, sailor of the seas; you pay no rent, free to go where you please.  Then go, go to that landless latitude and good luck.  [If it forces] you a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you?  For you will be the first person in the history of the world."  Dodd believes what he does, because he knows nothing else that works better for him.  Anyone who doubts him, stands in his way towards enlightenment (as any person devoted to their religion).  He cannot tolerate such beings in his life, well-intentioned or otherwise.  Dodd gives him one more chance to remain or leave his cult forever, in this world and otherwise.  "If we meet again in the next life, you will be my sworn enemy and I will show you no mercy."  Dodd sings, "Slow Boat to China," a song made popular only a few years before.  Quell leaves and picks up a woman, Winn Manchester (Jennifer Neala Page), at a bar. After they have sex, they chat and Quell humorously requests in regards to his member, "Now stick it back in, it fell out."  Later, he falls asleep on the beach during the daytime. Role credits.

Oscar Predictions 
Right now, I’m calling Actor (Phoenix), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Hoffman), Supporting Actress (Adams), Editing, Art Direction (in that order from likely to least likely). As the box-office definitely is showing some weak signs early on in interest, and therefore prospects could wane. However, while I could see someone stepping ahead of him in the Best Actor race, Phoenix is a lock and I imagine he’s the one to beat right now.

Box Office 
I’m a little confused by the quick rollout, especially after the film set an all-time record (surpassing the recent feat of Moonrise Kingdom) on per-theater average. It opened in five cinemas and, instead of gradually rolling out (to, say 50, then, say 150, etc), it shot its load the second weekend and its average plummeted more rapidly then perhaps it might have with a more cautious approach. Miramax waited until the fifth weekend to expand to 800-some-odd screens with There Will Be Blood, three weeks later than TWC's The Master. I’m not saying to read the final rites, as it’s still to early, I just found the decision to be rather unusual and shocking for a film as pensive as this one. Even Black Swan waited until the third weekend before such a leap, yet that film was a psychological thriller set in modern time with hot, young actresses. There was a major difference in variables and this indeed was a tougher sell. I guess we shall see.

Shot from the trailer I don't recall in the film

Another shot I don't remember 

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