About 15 minutes in I decided I wanted some popcorn, and upon looking at my phone, it appeared that an hour and a half had passed. From what I understand, that hasn’t been the standard reaction across the Internet, but for me at least, Django was incredibly easy to watch, and not for a moment did I want it to end.

The structure is right in tune with many Spaghetti Westerns (itself being one more in a long series of unofficial sequels to Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 film Django): the compacted serial with each episode lasting a half hour or so. There’s an overarching plot, but just as much does it like to get sidetracked in subplots.

The main story centers around Django (Jamie Foxx), a runaway slave many times over who only wants to be reunited with his wife. He has the good fortune of meeting up with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German dentist turned bounty hunter, hot on the trail of the notorious Brittle Brothers. Django, a former acquaintance of the Brittles, is the only man alive who knows what they look like, and Schultz, gleefully operating within the laws and well versed in all the loopholes, buys Django to help him hunt down the bounty.

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).

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.

Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker most cinephiles adore. He is a film fan a heart, so his films are a celebration of the many cinematic influences inside of him, which usually makes for a fun time at the cinema. His newest film, Django Unchained, is filming right now, but the first official poster has found it’s way online for us all to ogle at.

The poster has an incredibly simplistic design that is a throw back to the Saul Bass posters of yesteryear. This subtle, retro design is a perfect way to sell this slavery era exploitation film to us Tarantino fans, but we can’t help but shake the notion that Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio will figure heavy in the main marketing push of the film.

A star like Brad Pitt was able to help Inglorious Basterds become one of Tarantino’s most successful films.  So the studio must be licking their chops to see what star power of this film can add to the bottom line.

Speaking of the stars of the movie, a little casting tidbit for Django also came in today. The great Walton Goggins, currently of Justified fame, has joined the cast as one of DiCaprio’s slave wranglers. That is one of the best sentences I have ever had the pleasure of writing.

Check out the full new poster after the jump.

The legal battle between The Weinstein Company and Relativity is over, and The Crow reboot is looking like a foregone conclusion.

Director F. Javier Gutierrez and writer Jesse Wigutow have signed on to once again adapt the James O’Barr graphic novel about a slain musician resurrected for vengeance.

Gutierrez’s sci-fi debut Before the Fall has garnered him awards from bodies as diverse as the Cinema Writers Circle and Screamfest. He is currently in pre-production on an adaptation of The Monkey’s Paw.

Wigutow wrote the 2003 dramedy It Runs in the Family and the upcoming Irreparable Harm. He has also worked on the adaptations of Eragon and The Ruins.

Casting announcements are expected over the next few days.