The actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman The character: Lester Bangs The film: Almost Famous The quote: “I’m always home. I’m uncool.” I came to Elizabethtown well before I came to the stuff that made Cameron Crowe famous, and that left a mark on me. Crowe was never the popular screenwriter-director who wrote the memorable dialogue in… Read More Top 100 American Movie Quotes of the 21st Century: #70
The actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman The character: Lancaster Dodd The film: The Master The quote: “Close your eyes. From now on you are not to blink. If you blink we go back to the start.” There are three categories of great lines from The Master. The first is a small category. It’s lines from skeptics… Read More Top 100 American Movie Quotes of the 21st Century: #86
Dir. Anthony Minghella. Starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law On an individual level, just about everything in this movie is wonderful. Anthony Minghella’s direction is competent and assured. His screenplay is effectively paced, providing ample time for us to watch Tom Ripley come up with ideas about how to manipulate his compatriots in age… Read More The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Dir. Spike Lee. Starring Edward Norton, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper What makes a teacher kiss his seventeen-year-old student? What leads a father to contemplate a new life for his son bound for a seven-year prison term, fantasizing about going on the run together? What makes a Wall Street analyst look himself in the mirror after… Read More 25th Hour (2002)
Dir. Charlie Kaufman. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams Everyone loves Caden Cotard’s (Hoffman) production of Death of a Salesman. He casts young people to play older ones, and in so doing has put in the mind of the audience the sense that eventually young people will turn old, and dawn will go down… Read More Synecdoche, New York (2008)
In the following talk, Tim and Matt think about the career of Paul Thomas Anderson, his movies, Phantom Thread in particular, and where he sits at what is probably the midpoint of his career. In lieu of an actual podcast, we give you this lightly edited conversation. You can find Matt’s work here. Tim: After… Read More Baumann and Burch Conversations, #2: Paul Thomas Anderson
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams In that long lull in the beginning of Gettysburg’s fourth act, there’s a throwaway scene with Hancock and Chamberlain which serves to show that Hancock is thinking about Armistead almost as much as Armistead thinks about him. Hancock asks the learned Chamberlain, a professor… Read More The Master (2012)
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman “This is Barry,” Barry (Sandler) says whenever he picks up the phone. It’s one of those friendly touches one adds to whatever entrepreneurs call bedside manner – “Yes, ma’am, there is a real live human on the other end of this line!” – and it’s… Read More Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Dir. Jan de Bont. Starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffmann The roving band of free spirits who chase tornadoes, who each have their own weird nickname and their own competency within the group, have seen it all in their years of following twisters…except for an F5. Only Jo (Hunt), whose father was killed… Read More Twister (1996)
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds The right song over a montage in a film can be magic. Think “Layla” in Goodfellas. “Eye of the Tiger” in Rocky III. “Joy” in Boogie Nights, which plays as we walk into Eddie Adams’ bedroom, which is a swirling monument to all things hip, groovy, and masculine in… Read More Boogie Nights (1997)
Seeing Things Secondhand 