The Master is not a pleasant film. Neither are most of P.T. Anderson's other films but they are all essential. Anderson is holding the torch for Serious American Filmmaking in the exalted 1970s mode. The film follows the journey of the deeply unpleasant Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a sex-obsessed WWII vet and borderline sociopath as he drifts through life and in and out of the influence of The Master, a religious/cult leader played by Phili Seymour Hoffman and loosely modelled on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. If possible, see the film in 70mm - the gorgeous, massive format allows Anderson's impeccable style - think deep focus, long shots, sophisticated but understated editing choices - to flourish, and The Master is likely to be the most beautiful film you've seen theaters in a long time. The content is uncompromising, an exacting journey into man's basest urges and shortcomings. Anderson's most accomplished movie to date but also his most challenging. A contemporary classic.

Don't worry, you won't blink if your eyes are shut and you're snoring away through this snooze-fest. Not since the equally atrocious "Atonement", or perhaps "The English Patient", has there been a crappy film to have received so much critical acclaim. None of it is deserved. "The Master" is not only not the best film of 2012, but it is one of the most overrated films of all time. Now you know.

The worst tripe masquerading as some great intellectual character play. Would the sheep write such rave reviews if the critics had not gushed over it? The Emperor has no clothes, folks. WT

I was so bored and when it ended I had no idea what I watched as was the consensus of people around me in the theater. Phoenix trying to play a 20-something was a joke the scenes with him and the his girlfriend were creepy, like watching a child moletser in action, the obvious age difference was very disturbing. The only good part of the movie was when it finally ended. The characers were unlikeable and forgetable. Save your money.

There's a lot to admire about PT Anderson's The Master, from the gorgeous photography, set designs and the hypnotic score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood but what stands out the most is the brilliant performance by Joaquin Phoenix as a disturbed ex-veteran without a home to return to. Phoenix gives a committed performance bordering on madness. His crooked posture, intense glare (made more so by lazy eyes) and even his breathing invoke something beastly struggling within him. His character comes off as brutish, primordial and utterly masculine. He's incongruous in a post WW2 America, too violent to succeed in any profession for long. Then he comes across Philip Seymor Hoffman's "The Master," a character so megalomaniacal and delusional to see a friend and kindred soul in Phoenix's character, and instead seeks to study and cure him. My one complaint is that Hoffman's character is perhaps too one dimensional and familiar as the preacher who believes his own lies. 9/10