I am not a PTA fan, so much so that I feel the need to state that at the top of this news item about the new one-sheet for his latest movie, The Master. I feel it is important for you to understand that context when I tell you how much I really love this poster.

The modern movie poster is a very specific beast. There is a pattern that these designers seem to fall into that can come across as lazy or uninspired. So when some one breaks the mold and delivers a legitimately interesting one sheet, you take notice.

This is not the first time PTA has inspired a rather brilliant poster, There Will Be Blood also had a pretty stellar one sheet design that was both classic and fresh all at once. And again, this is coming from the guy grumpy dude he thinks PTA is just a poor man’s Robert Altman, so I hope you can sense the real appreciation I am heaping on over here.

You can check out the full poster after the jump, and The Master when it hits cinema’s this fall.

There are few filmmakers who evoke the kind of passion from cinephiles the way PTA does. His films might not be everyone’s cup of tea (personally I rather Paul WS Anderson), but there is no doubt he has talent and an ability to relay a story in a unique way.

His newest film, The Master, has gotten a lot of people interested. It tells the tale of a man not to dissimilar to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, here is the official synopsis:

Universal Pictures period drama to star Philip Seymour Hoffman as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s. Hoffman would play “the Master,” as in “master of ceremonies,” a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952. The core is the relationship between the Master and Freddie, a twentysomething 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.

The film also stars Joaquin Phoenix whom the teaser centers around. This looks like a very interesting follow-up to There Will Be Blood and Phoenix’s own ‘interesting’ last few years. Even a non convert like myself is interested.

The film will be released this fall, check out the teaser after the jump.

The Resident Evil films are shameless, they are non-stop action filled cacophonies that are filled to the brim with characters that together share about three brain cells. So why is it that these films are so much fun? Because, for the most part, the series know what it is and it revels in it.

Director Paul W. S. Anderson is not trying to speak to the core of the human condition, he is trying to entertain the masses with well produced zombie violence. He is aiming for fun and stupid, not heady and contemplative. That is a big reason why he is my favorite of all Paul Anderson filmmakers, his goal in film-making is to entertain, and he is damn good at it.

Point of example. In the past Resident Evil films several fantastic characters have come and gone, including the immensely bad ass Oded Fehr. So what does ole W.S. do to spice up the fifth film? He brings nearly all of them back. Why, because it would be cool, that is why! No further explanation needed in this series.

Some times films should exist to put a smile on your face, to provide fun on visceral level. In that the Resident Evil movies have always succeeded, trying to reach down and entertain that inner 13-year-old inside all of us. If you want to be perplexed and challenged by a film, that other Paul Anderson has a movie coming out too, by all means enjoy it. I for one will be front and center for this particular celebration of entertainment for entertainment’s sake.

Resident Evil: Retribution hits theaters this September, check out the full trailer after the jump.

Even though we don’t really care all that much who or what wins an Academy Award, the rest of Hollywood does. It’s also likley many of you care as well.

So, in that spirit, here’s a list of the nominations that were announced this morning. There’s a lot of them and, to put it bluntly, not that many surprises. The movies and performances that seem “Oscar-worthy” were nominated. It was kinda a no-brainier year.

Of course, there’s also a few regulars who made the cut, like Meryl Streep, you would expect to see on the list. One notable exception is Tom Hanks, who seemed to be a shoe-in for a nomination for his role as Captain Phillips. He got nothing.

I guess every Oscar nominations list needs at least one surprise, just to try and keep it interesting and prove the Oscar voters don’t just vote for whomever or whatever wins a Golden Globe. Of course, Hanks didn’t win the Golden Globe either, but I’m sure it was just a pleasure to be nominated.

Anyway, here’s the nominations list (stolen from the folks at Deadline):

The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations were announced this morning by Aaron Paul, Neil Patrick Harris and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chairman/CEO Bruce Rosenblum at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, CA. The 65th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast will air live on Sunday, September 22nd (8 PM ET/5 PM PT) on CBS from the NOKIA Theater L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles.

Here are the major nominees:

Outstanding Drama Series

Breaking Bad • AMC • Sony Pictures Television

Downton Abbey • PBS • A Carnival / Masterpiece Co-Production

Game Of Thrones • HBO • Bighead, Littlehead, TV 360, Startling TV and Generator Prodns with HBO Ent

Homeland • Showtime • Showtime Presents, Teakwood Lane Prods, Cherry Pie Prods, Keshet, Fox 21

House Of Cards • Netflix • Donen/Fincher/Roth and Trigger Street Prods with Media Rights Capital for Netflix

Mad Men • AMC • Lionsgate Television

As we’re a site covering the movies, it would probably be a disservice not to put up something about the Oscar (aka Academy Award) nominations which were announced this morning by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone. So yes, the nominations are here and as always there’s a few surprises, a few “snubs” and the rest is rather predictable.

Here’s the nominations for your reading pleasure. Look for the actual ceremony, featuring host Seth MacFarlane, to air on Sunday, February 24th on ABC.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”
Denzel Washington in “Flight”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Alan Arkin in “Argo”
Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”

Nominees for the 28th Annual Spirit Awards were announced today and in many of the categories, some familiar names seem to be recurring. Best Feature nominees are Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Keep The Lights On, Moonrise Kingdom and Silver Linings Playbook.

Sean Baker’s Starlet will receive the Robert Altman Award, given to a film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast. Among distributors, Searchlight leads the way with nine nominations, followed by Music Box with seven and IFC Films, Focus and Sony Pictures Classics with six apiece. Winners will be announced at the ceremony on February 23.

The full list of nominees follows:

BEST FEATURE
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey & Josh Penn (producers)
Bernie
Liz Glotzer, Richard Linklater, David McFadzean, Dete Meserve, Judd Payne, Celine Rattray, Martin Shafer, Ginger Sledge, Matt Williams (producers)
Keep the Lights On
Marie Therese Guirgis, Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs (producers)
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales, Scott Rudin (producers)
Silver Linings Playbook
Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon (producers)

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom
Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

My first reaction to Paul Thomas Anderson’s films is generally mild — I thought Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love were all okay, but they didn’t blow my skirt up until I rewatched them. I haven’t seen Hard 8, and I really liked There Will Be Blood the first time I saw it. The Master, despite having more in common with There Will Be Blood, nevertheless left me with a “meh” feeling. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if someone had already seen it, I’d tell them to rewatch it, as I plan to. Rating-wise I’m not sure where that places it.

Still, after mulling it over for the 45 minutes it’s been since I left the theater, I’m starting to like it more, and any film that makes me think has done some sort of job.

The story follows Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a WWII vet whose wants teeter between drinking and screwing, and once one has been satisfied, he rigorously pursues the next. This doesn’t do much for his career as a photographer and later as a field hand, but he does end up as a stowaway on a ship captained by self-described “writer, doctor, nuclear physicist, theoretical philosopher, and, above all, human being” Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Take a good look at this photo. Ask yourself: Do I want to look at this face, up close, wearing mostly this expression, on the giant screen, for two plus hours? Because that is what watching The Master entails. I did, and I enjoyed it, I think, although there were definitely times during the grip of this intense, psychologically fraught film, when it felt very much as though I were myself caught in its subject: a cult of personality.

Although there is much double-talk on the part of both director and distributor to avoid litigation by the extremely defensive Scientology camp, this film can be taken as nothing other than a very clear roman à clef of the very strange life and work of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. His stand-in here is named Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who by all reports bears an uncanny resemblance to the young L. Ron Hubbard. Furthermore, the story begins in 1950, exactly the date of the beginning of the development of Hubbard’s own work in Dianetics and the “technologies” that would eventually come to be encoded as the doctrines of Scientology.

The Master is one of those major releases that is looming. The way the mains stream audience clamors with anticipation for a super hero movie, the more art-centric film community clamors for the next Paul Thomas Anderson film.

We showed you the excellent new poster for the movie yesterday, now we have a full theatrical trailer to sink our teeth into. For those of you not in the know about The Master, here is its synopsis:

A charismatic intellectual (Hoffman) launches a religious organization following World War II. A drifter (Phoenix) becomes his right-hand man but as the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the drifter finds himself questioning the belief system and his mentor.

We have seen a couple of teaser glimpses at the film, but this new trailer offers the first real jist of the story and the overall characters in the film. Especially Amy Adams, who has not really been a significant part of any market before the new one-sheet and this trailer.

It is also exciting to see Joaquin Phoenix embrace a serious role again, he is one of the better working actors in Hollywood, so hopefully his pit-stop in insanity is past him.

You can check out the full trailer after the jump.