This week, it's the first week of P.T.August as we're set to spend the next five Fridays indulging in the works of Paul Thomas Anderson, beginning with a Blu-ray J Mo's been carting around for 11 years now without having ever actually watched before now. It's 2012's The Master, written and directed by P.T. Anderson, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Rami Malek, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, Ambyr Childers and Kevin J. O'Connor. Watching it now, it feels like PTA was a good four years ahead of the culture in exploring the dynamics of cults, how they operate and why people get sucked in to them -- a subject on which there are now countless documentary series, but must have felt cutting edge in 2012. Loaded with visual flair and anchored by a trio of tremendous lead performances, it's Anderson's own personal favourite of his films. Will our hosts agree? Plus: Hayley's still boiling over the cut kiss from the end of Twisters.

If you'd like to watch the film along with us this week, The Master can be found streaming in Canada on Amazon Prime, Hoopla and the Criterion Channel at the time of publication, the latter of which is also celebrating P.T.August with an August collection of Anderson's work.

Other works discussed in this episode include The Fabelmans, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Species, Species II, Under The Skin, Evil, Plane, There Will Be Blood, Arrival, Night Bitch, Nocturnal Animals, Ren Faire, Fight Club and many more.

P.T.August continues next week as we get back at it with an unseen film-on-disc from Hayley's collection, as we watch Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps in 2017's Phantom Thread, also available to stream at the moment on Amazon Prime. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!

ADHD-DVD - 73 - The Master

This week, P.T.August continues with P.T.A.'s most recent output, and for the second time this year we're joined once again by the people's champion Matt Pollock to talk about a movie he has been smitten with since its COVID-era theatrical release: it's 2021's Licorice Pizza, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Harriet Sansom Harris, and the entire Haim family. A collection of mostly true stories from 1970s L.A. embued with the golden glow of Anderson's own That One Summer childhood nostalgia, its led by two extremely winning performances from a pair of actors both making their big screen debuts. While not without its controversies, it's a dreamlike hazy hangout movie we all loved quite a lot.

If you'd like to watch the film before listening along to our discussion, Licorice Pizza is currently streaming in Canada on Crave and across the globe on the Criterion Channel at the time of publication.

Other works referenced in this episode include Twisters, Targets, Scanners, Kim's Video, Michael Clayton, Saturday Night, The Ladies Man, Coneheads, It's Pat, Rebel Ridge, Hold The Dark, Green Room, Blue Ruin, Clueless, Dazed and Confused, Wild Wild West, An Evening With Kevin Smith, A Star Is Born, Maestro, Warrior, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, The Curse, Good Time, Coffee and Cigarettes, Down By Law, Rumble Fish, The Outsiders, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Mystery Men, Domino, Seven Psychopaths, Special When Lit, Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood..., among countless others.

We'll be back next week with more P.T.August as Travis Woloshyn joins the two-timer club, returning to talk another fumblingly comic detective noir as we watch Joaquin Phoenix and Katherine Waterston in 2014's Inherent Vice! Which is shockingly not currently streaming, at least not in Canada, so... good luck. Try the library! Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!

ADHD-DVD - 75 - Licorice Pizza (with Matt Pollock)

This week we are once again fumbling our way to the end of a mystery as we're joined by our noir-comedy correspondent, as the great "Wild Eyes" Travis Woloshyn (Boom Pro Wrestling, Percy Jackson & The Olympians) returns to the program to talk a movie that is thematically linked to the last movie he was here to discuss. It's 2014's Inherent Vice, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson from the novel by Thomas Pynchon, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Hong Chau, Martin Short and Joanna Newsom. If it's not Anderson's funniest film it's certainly right up there, with two heavyweight comedy performances from Phoenix and Brolin, who are just as adept at character comedy as they are at broad slapstick.

If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to our conversation, you may be out of luck! Inherent Vice is not currently streaming in Canada at the time of publication. You may however be able to find it in stock at your local library.

Other works discussed on this episode include The Long Goodbye, Trap, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, Wrath of Man, The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, Don't Breathe, Gremlins, Batman ('89), Jurassic Park, Melvin and Howard, Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom, Twister, Twisters, Riverdale, The Big Lebowski, Mandy, Her, C'mon C'mon, You Were Never Really Here, Joker, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleeping With Other People, Alien: Covenant, Tenet, The Candidate, A Talking Cat?!, and other entries in the PTA ouevre like Phantom Thread, Punch-Drunk Love, Licorice Pizza, Magnolia, and Hard Eight.

We'll be back next week to close out P.T.August with our monthly canon selection, as 1998's Boogie Nights is up for consideration this time. You can find that movie streaming in Canada on Crave, Starz and Hollywood Suite, so good luck to ya. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!

ADHD-DVD - 76 - Inherent Vice (with Travis Woloshyn)

This week, people always tell us we look like Han Solo as we're closing out P.T.August with one of Anderson's many five-star masterpieces, this time a classic rise-and-fall Hollywood story set in California's other film industry. It's 1997's Boogie Nights, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Thomas Jane, Luis Guzmán, Ricky Jay, Philip Baker Hall, Nina Hartley, Robert Downey Sr., and Alfred Molina. Despite a pervasive undercurrent of darkness and dread, this is an often very funny comedy about the magic of The Movies and the pursuit of a dream, loaded with richly written characters and delightful performances. As our August canon consideration, it made for an enormously easy KA-CHUNK as a movie we both greatly enjoy. And to put a button on our month-long celebration, both hosts weigh in with a full PTA Power Ranking. Plus: Justin's back from the IMAX with a theatrical field report on Alien: Romulus!

If you'd like to watch the film before listening to our discussion, Boogie Nights is currently streaming in Canada on Crave and Starz at the time of publication.

Other works referenced on this episode include Edge of Tomorrow, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Don't Breathe, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, The Mole, Derailed, Saw, Domino, Evil, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lost, This Is 40, Twisters, Summer of Sam, 54, Normal People, and the entire P.T.A. catalog.

We'll be back next week to kick off SepTIMEber with 2002's The Time Machine, starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, and directed by H.G. Wells' grandson! It is... not streaming anywhere, and not even rentable north of the border, so good luck with that one. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!

ADHD-DVD - 77 - Boogie Nights

Co-Host / Producer / Engineer of the Real Good Show and Top Marks podcasts. Sports Announcer. Board Op / Producer @ Sportsnet 650. Formerly a play-by-play voice for the BCHL, NWJHL, and BasketballBC. Former Music Director and afternoon host on Peace FM in Chetwynd and Dawson Creek.

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