Maybe he just wanted to make more personal, idiosyncratic movies...

What was his last mass appeal movie? Magnolia? Boogie Nights?

Yeah, he did it again though. The Master was borderline shite, and Inherent Vice was unwatchable.

@MongoLloyd said:

It official, PTA has left the building. After that last clusterf( )ck of his, I was willing to see what he came up with next. This proves he's lost interest in producing films that would achieve mass appeal.

I'm curious as why you think he should produce films that achieve mass appeal?

Are you serious? Motion pictures by their nature are meant for mass audiences. How many of these asinine "little films" do you think PTA will be able to get financing for until they realize he's just intent on making art house crap?

@MongoLloyd said:

Are you serious? Motion pictures by their nature are meant for mass audiences. How many of these asinine "little films" do you think PTA will be able to get financing for until they realize he's just intent on making art house crap? You're basically saying he should make films because they make money not make films for the art of film. That's called trash Hollywood cinema. PTA is one the directors I love the most because of this reasons exactly... he creates what he wants to create because that's what artists do.

Yeah, but having Day Lewis means that you can spend time on mood and atmosphere... You can let scenes breathe and not have to worry too much about plot...

He affords directors that luxury...

@mechajutaro said:

Can't give him a break on There Will be Blood as one shudders to imagine what would have been had Day Lewis's scenery chewing not saved the day.

But how do you go from TWBB to The Master and then Inherent Vice?!?!? And now this????

@Chulres said:

he creates what he wants to create because that's what artists do.

That's called "experimental film" or "art cinema."

@MongoLloyd said:

@Chulres said:

he creates what he wants to create because that's what artists do.

That's called "experimental film" or "art cinema."

There is a point where style outweighs the substance, and there is precious little substance to this movie. To be clear, I like PTA's work and I m no hater of DLD either, but this movie is utterly pointless. I was tempted to give it a facetious, satirical review but it isn't even worth the effort.

Btw, what is the objection to Inherent Vice and The Master? I enjoyed both of those.

well... there is something to be said for the style in this movie alone... why can't it be enough? It's an antidote to all of the style-less other movies released in the past year 😉

Anyway, i do think there is substence to the movie so I disagree with your premise, although i can understand it when compared to his other films...

@MongoLloyd said:

Are you serious? Motion pictures by their nature are meant for mass audiences. How many of these asinine "little films" do you think PTA will be able to get financing for until they realize he's just intent on making art house crap?

@MongoLloyd said:

But how do you go from TWBB to The Master and then Inherent Vice?!?!? And now this????

TWBB made far less money than Jurassic World. So, by your rationality Jurassic World is a better film than TWBB. That's a fine opinion, you are entitled to your opinion, but recognize that other people are entitled to theirs.

Note that by the same rational pathway you would have to come to the admission that Robert Ryman's $15 million fully white painting is better than any painting that sold for less than $15 million. I'm not sure you are willing to come to that admission. But, I'd like to know why. Why is Robert Ryman's painting less valuable than a beautiful painting, in your eyes? And when you answer the question I'd like you to consider whether or not different people can have different preferences from yours.

Similarly, if you think that TWBB is a better film that Jurassic World, why do you think this? Certainly if you measure success by the number of people who spent money to see the movie, Jurassic World is the clear winner.

If I'm a production company and I look at the data, why should I ever invest in a film like TWBB instead of a film like Jurassic World? To hell with you if you think TWBB is better, you just have poor taste in film as evidenced by the fact that everyone else disagrees with you and their disagreement is evidenced by their wallets.

@Renovatio said:

well... there is something to be said for the style in this movie alone... why can't it be enough? It's an antidote to all of the style-less other movies released in the past year 😉

Anyway, i do think there is substence to the movie so I disagree with your premise, although i can understand it when compared to his other films...

By substance I mean plot. Or failing that, some kind of insight into the human heart. I grant that this movie has made an impression on me, but putting three spiders into a glass jar will hardly produce a revelation. Some people enjoy that sort of thing and I have on occasion stumbled upon youtube videos doing pretty much exactly that. I think it is fair to hold people like PTA to a higher standard.

@Jacinto Cupboard said:

Btw, what is the objection to Inherent Vice and The Master? I enjoyed both of those.

I had NO idea what was going on in IV. None. The Master, yeah, ok, I could sort of come to some understanding, but then at the same time - who gives a f( `)ck? I thought he was gonna rip Scientology a new a5shole when I first heard about the project but instead it turned into a study in sympathy (I guess). Who cares? I wanted to see LRH turned into the fruitcake he was.

PTA's earlier work - I'm a huge fan. And it's not that I'm too stupid to understand his more recent films, I'm above average in IQ, some people think I'm at genius level.

@Geff said:

@MongoLloyd said:

Are you serious? Motion pictures by their nature are meant for mass audiences. How many of these asinine "little films" do you think PTA will be able to get financing for until they realize he's just intent on making art house crap?

@MongoLloyd said:

But how do you go from TWBB to The Master and then Inherent Vice?!?!? And now this????

TWBB made far less money than Jurassic World. So, by your rationality Jurassic World is a better film than TWBB. That's a fine opinion, you are entitled to your opinion, but recognize that other people are entitled to theirs.

I never said a mass audience was the only goal of filmmaking. It is however, the main goal. JW certainly has more mass appeal than TWBB, no doubt. And I never said anything about people not being entitled to their own opinions. There IS a point at which a filmmaker can deviate too much from the goal of achieving a mass audience and I wouldn't necessarily say an intelligent, epic drama like TWBB is a failure because it made less than a dorky family film about dinosaurs. I'd be willing to bet that any Chuck E. Cheese location rakes in far more in revenues than a 5 star restaurant that serves real food but the 5 star restaurant needs to still make a certain amount to stay open.

@MongoLloyd said:

@Jacinto Cupboard said:

Btw, what is the objection to Inherent Vice and The Master? I enjoyed both of those.

I had NO idea what was going on in IV. None. The Master, yeah, ok, I could sort of come to some understanding, but then at the same time - who gives a f( `)ck? I thought he was gonna rip Scientology a new a5shole when I first heard about the project but instead it turned into a study in sympathy (I guess). Who cares? I wanted to see LRH turned into the fruitcake he was.

PTA's earlier work - I'm a huge fan. And it's not that I'm too stupid to understand his more recent films, I'm above average in IQ, some people think I'm at genius level.

These are reasons why you didn't like the movies, and of course that opinion is as valid as anyone else's. That isn't quite the same thing as finding fault. To use a food analogy, it is like saying you didn't enjoy a meal as opposed to saying the chef did a poor job. While one thing might mean the other, the latter claim requires something more substantial than that you didn't like/understand it or that you had in your head it would be something different.

Seems to me that most of PTA's work meanders, and that includes TWBB, and I have no doubt that as a writer and director he thinks the journey is as important as the destination. Where I think Phantom Thread fails is that not only is there no destination at all, the journey, the interplay between the three main characters, isn't revealing of anything beyond DDL's acting ability. Watching three adults behaving like a$$holes for 2 hours doesn't do much for me. Hell, I can hang around home for that.