Paul Thomas Anderson

Anderson's most mature and ambitious film yet...[though his] growth as a filmmaker remains hindered by an obsession with effect and a disinterest in depth.

The Master begs for a reorientation of the viewer, perhaps requiring more than one viewing...there's nothing easy or conventional about this account of a doomed search for external meaning, doubling as a meditative tone poem on human frailty.

The plot is a sideshow to Inherent Vice's luxuriant atmosphere, cracked sense of humor, and idiosyncratic characterization.

Work[s] out some timely issues of the runaway male ego, the dubious excuse of great art for grotesque personality, and the shock and awe attendant to the select few who can see through genius and, for better or for worse, cut to the quick.