Top 25 Favorite Movies

[Orpheus]

LV, I'm afraid to axe this question, but are you not a Tarkovsky fan?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[LoathedVermin72]

I love The Master to pieces and Jedi was literally one spot above Empire, bruh.

[LoathedVermin72]

And I am not a Tarkovsky fan. I like Stalker but have disliked everything else I've seen. I do really wanna see Andrei Rublev, though. Just haven't committed the time yet.

[Orpheus]

Please, The Master is like watching the narrative themes of There Will Be Blood boiled down to their primal elements. It's an expertly-shot, incredibly-acted idea of a film.

I find them in no way similar, but alright. And The Master to me is roughly ten times more interesting. TWBB is well done but I've never gotten much out of it.

[Orpheus]

And I am not a Tarkovsky fan. I like Stalker but have disliked everything else I've seen. I do really wanna see Andrei Rublev, though. Just haven't committed the time yet.

Fair enough. Based on your favorites I guess I wouldn't really expect you to be a big fan.

[LoathedVermin72]

Please, The Master is like watching the narrative themes of There Will Be Blood boiled down to their primal elements. It's an expertly-shot, incredibly-acted idea of a film.

I find them in no way similar, but alright. And The Master to me is roughly ten times more interesting. TWBB is well done but I've never gotten much out of it.

Yeah I really don't see many parallels between the two.

[BurtReynolds]

Please, The Master is like watching the narrative themes of There Will Be Blood boiled down to their primal elements. It's an expertly-shot, incredibly-acted idea of a film.

I find them in no way similar, but alright. And The Master to me is roughly ten times more interesting. TWBB is well done but I've never gotten much out of it.

I love The Master and I'm not crazy about TWBB, but then again I liked Inherent Vice so what do I know.

[Orpheus]

I liked it as well, Burt, better than TWBB. It's a fine film.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Orpheus]

If I wanted to boil it down to essentials, TWBB is mostly about the search for domination, about hatred, and about finality. It ends with the protagonist denying his son and murdering his adversary. It almost seems to be driving towards man's state of war.

The Master is about the search for love and acceptance after coming out of war, death, and violence, and ends with a sort of beautiful reconciliation and what can be seen as the opposite of murder--making love/conception.

I really think they couldn't be more different, to be honest. But that's the beauty of film.

[LoathedVermin72]

I've never read The Master that way. On the surface, I guess, but I don't think that's what it's about. I've always viewed it as an exploration of the id and the superego.

[LoathedVermin72]

Hey have I mentioned lately that I attended the second-ever screening of The Master? And it was in 70mm? And I met PT Anderson there? Because I totally did.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Orpheus]

LV, that's a super interesting reading of it, actually. That's why I dug it so much, it's super open to interpretation. Also why I was never really a fan of TWBB. Just seemed way too closed in and claustrophobic for me.

I remember watching The Master in the theater for the first time and right after it ended these people in the audience were like "OMG, that's it???" while I was just sitting there beaming. It's great.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Orpheus]

If I wanted to boil it down to essentials, TWBB is mostly about the search for domination, about hatred, and about finality. It ends with the protagonist denying his son and murdering his adversary. It almost seems to be driving towards man's state of war.

The Master is about the search for love and acceptance after coming out of war, death, and violence, and ends with a sort of beautiful reconciliation and what can be seen as the opposite of murder--making love/conception.

I really think they couldn't be more different, to be honest. But that's the beauty of film.

That's a really interesting take on The Master. It's actually in our shortlist "to-watch" queue because my wife hasn't seen it, so I'll keep this in mind and report back.

I think it resonates especially for me because my paternal grandfather was one of those guys like Freddie that came back from the war and got pats on the back, but it had left him shellshocked and alcoholic and just deeply fucked up. And unlike Vietnam and the wars since then, WWII is generally glorified and we don't think as much about those guys being wounded in that way, while they obviously were. It actually helped me understand this guy I really had very little relationship with in a much deeper way. So in that respect I find it really powerful.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[LoathedVermin72]

A big thing that separates the films for me is that I think Dodd and Freddie are one person. Two sides of the same coin. Whereas TWBB is essentially about misanthropy. It's Plainview versus everyone else. The Master is very internal, exploring the psyche of one person, while TWBB is a bit more external, exploring how one person's psyche affects the way they relate to the people around them.