Big news today from three huge and highly anticipated upcoming movies. Trailers and teasers have been released for Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby and of course, Anchorman Two. Commentary and videos for each project follow below.
The Master
To be honest, no one saw There Will Be Blood coming and no one was quite ready for what it held. Sure, Paul Thomas Anderson has been steadily establishing himself as one of the few Hollywood auteurs with pictures like Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love, but There Will Be Blood seemed something beyond all these. Many people call it a masterpiece. Others, actually insisted the movie's ending tainted its own opportunity at such a title. But if nothing else, everyone can agree Daniel Day-Lewis gave the performance of a lifetime, one that is surely up there with greatest ever. For those who were left spellbound by Daniel Plainview & Co. (myself included), the five year hiatus of Paul Thomas Anderson has not been a favorable one. Nonetheless, vague details about his follow up project, "something about a returning soldier and a new cult-like religion" had been out there for years and while nothing was ever confirmed, the untitled, upcoming project always carried the name The Master.
Well all that can be confirmed as The Master now has an official teaser trailer over at YouTube. After producing an excellent score for There Will Be Blood, it makes sense that PTA has again grabbed Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood for the music. It looks very much aligned with the same sort of unnerving dramatic tension that always hides within a PTA film. So the bar should naturally be very high for this movie. With no Daniel Day-Lewis, The Master now rests in the hands of Joaquin Phoenix. Ever since he went AWOL from Hollywood, grew a huge beard and tried his luck at rapping in the I'm Still Here documentary (mockumentary?), Phoenix has yet to appear back on screen and re-establish himself as an actor of serious quality. If he can do something along the lines of his impeccable Johnny Cash interpretation from Walk The Line (2005), then we have nothing to worry about. We should expect great things.
+ For good thought, I already see some Daniel Plainview in Phoenix's preformance as Freddie Sutton.
The Great Gatsby
As one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century, the 2012 adaptation of The Great Gatsby has some equally high expectations set for itself. Leonardo DiCaprio lead the way followed by a strong supporting cast that includes includes Tobey Macguire and Carey Mulligan. A period piece drama set in the 1920s, I doubt anyone expected to hear a little Kanye West at the start of a trailer for The Great Gatsby. The director, Baz Luhrmann, has always had his fun with music and movies. If anyone recalls the bizarre meshing of Shakespeare meets Venice Beach that occurred in the contemporary Romeo + Juliet. Well that was Luhrmann. He also directed the heavily music-oriented Moulin Rogue! as well. So, if anyone can manage to place Kanye West and Jay Gatsby in the same movie, let alone in the same sentence, it's this guy. I highly doubt the song to show up in the actual movie, but I would not put it past him either.
Besides Kanye, the movie in general looks great. Those huge and elegantly crafted party scenes will look spectacular on the big screen and if anything, we can expect a solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as the titled character. The Great Gatsby is set to be released on Christmas 2012.
Anchorman Two
There's no much to be said here, other than that we are all thoroughly excited for this period piece drama. Hideous suit patters and ugly loafers are back in style! Finally we are given a teaser for the upcoming epic adventures of Ron Burgundy and his immature band of ill-prepared and very immature news anchors. As far as I am concerned, there are no details out there regarding the movie's story, but was that ever a serious concern? Jean Luc-Godard once said "all you need for a movie is a gun and girl." Do "sub machine guns and boobies" count?
Its been eight long years since we've felt Ron's hot breath and I think we can agree that we all do miss it, dearly. Time to apply the Sex Panther and stand guard as Channel 5 News makes its return and assembles once and for all.
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