TheRetroCritic

Over the years, Paul Thomas Anderson seems to have perfected his journey into tackling big themes through personal stories and through flawed, toxic characters. Case and point: The Master . Religion was a prominent theme in Anderson's previous effort There Will Be Blood and you could say that the whole film, despite outlining the rise and fall of Daniel Day Lewis' oil tycoon, was indeed about the relationship between business and religion. With his latest, we take a look at cults, yes, but also humanity in general. Here we have a Scientology-style organisation, "The Cause", based on the idea that Man is not an animal and, in fact, is far more important and deeper than he realizes and along comes Joaquin Phoenix's drifter, a down-and-out alcoholic drifter with a sex fixation. Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffmann), the cult's "master", decides to make him his pet-project, his guinea-pig. But it seems that proving the core theory that man isn

Wes Anderson films aren't for everyone and if you're new to the director's unique style then Moonrise Kingdom is probably not the best place to start. This latest tale is essentially a kids movie for adults so whether you're one or the other you'll find it's a bit of a weird one to fully get into. The story follows two kids in love who one day decide to run away together, this leaves the parents, Scout Master Ward (a perfect Edward Norton), his scouts and Bruce Willis' cop to try their best to hunt them down. This doesn't prove to be that straight-forward as Sam (Jared Hilman), the loose scout, is a skilled survivor and his partner in crime Suzy (Kara Hayward) has a bit of a violent streak. It's a cute love story with  a sweet, touching resolution and Anderson's style compliments the 60's setting perfectly. He does give the film a bit of an edge also which is very welcome as otherwise this would have been one cutesy-ass movie. As it sta

Ok people. Brace yourselves. You might want to be sitting down for this. Here goes. *exhales* Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers is nothing like Alexandre Dumas' original novel. THERE. I said it. Oh sure you've got the main plot points intact: Milady rock-sliding under an Indiana Jones booby trap, The Duke Of Buckingham's evil flying boats, razor beams... Wait... Here's the deal: I have nothing against an over-the-top version of the musketeers, I still have my Gene Kelly 1948 version and I'm happy with that one. Steampunk Three Musketeers? Why the fuck not? Everything else exists. BUT... (and this is a big BUT) Make it good. I'll admit a lot of this Three Musketeers made me laugh. The film bears that special kind of stupidity that's just about silly enough to be funny. Take the very last shot of the film (which opens the path for a sequel btw): CUT TO: Boats. (Tilt up to the sky to reveal...) Boats. CUT TO: BLACK Wow. Something