We've been anticipating Paul Thomas Anderson's movie The Master essentially since the moment we knew it existed, and every detail that's come since has made it sound all the better. A story allegedly based on the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard? A cast led by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix? Shooting on 70 mm film? It's like the director of There Will Be Blood didn't even realize we were guaranteed to see his next movie no matter what.
With The Master scheduled for release on September 14, as well as a spot in the Toronto Film Festival, we don't have that much longer to wait to finally get a look at it. But a few lucky moviegoers in Los Angeles, who were smart enough to check out a theatrical presentation of The Shining, don't have to wait anymore at all. Anderson held what appears to be the first-ever public screening of The Master as a surprise double feature after The Shining on Saturday, and this being the modern age, the reactions started coming in immediately. At Hollywood-Elsewhere, reader "bob film" calls it "pretty amazing…a strange fever dream," but notes that it's "not audience friendly AT ALL. An ambiguous ending and not one likable character." And before you claim that just sounds a whole lot like There Will Be Blood, he claims there are no "milkshake" lines-- meaning it might not be able to grab hold of pop culture the way Anderson's previous film did.
And yet, if you're already a fan, you've got plenty to anticipate anyway, like "the best work Amy Adams has ever done" and a (very premature) promise that "Phoenix WILL win Best Actor." If you don't want to trust the word from just this one guy, The Playlist has collected a few more reactions from other Twitter users, who call it "amazing," "possibly the best film watching experience I've ever had" and "like nothing you've ever seen before." Try no tot jump out of your skin with excitement after reading all these-- it's only about a month, after all, until the rest of us finally get a look for ourselves.
