Apparently, The Master was booed at the Venice Film Festival and had massive walkouts in Toronto. Of course, the American critics are falling all over themselves (save for a handful) proclaiming it a great new American film and a masterpiece. My how words have no meaning anymore. Of course, they said that about There Will Be Blood, but in the scheme of things that film will not be a blip on anyone's radar a decade from now, including the critics who proclaimed THAT one of the great masterpieces of modern cinema. And I do have to say it - for me, Joaquin Phoenix is the kind of actor I just can't stand watching. They all think they're being "real" and deep and inside their character, but at the end of the day, it just comes off as weird and grandstanding and, in the case of this film, completely unappetizing and grotesque right down to the posture of the character. Watch De Niro in Taxi Driver. THAT is what these fellows are aspiring to, but it's just like show and tell with them.
