Joaquin Phoenix "returns" to acting in the first teaser trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's hotly-anticipated new film The Master, which also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Dern. Neither of those two stars are seen in the trailer, which features Phoenix being interrogated by a naval officer. It's been widely reported that Anderson's film is some sort of thinly-veiled biopic inspired by the life of creepy Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and one could speculate that this trailer is drawing from Hubbard's checkered career in the Navy. more ›

A Word Or 78: Last night I didn't watch anything that I had listed or even Tivoed. I ended up watching "Monster In a Box" on IFC because I had the privelege of seeing Spalding Gray a couple times and there he was again on TV. Wile watching the movie I found it extraordinarily sad to both hear this amazing person talk about his mother's suicide as well as allude to committing suicide himself.... more ›

Alfred Hitchcock fans are in seventh heaven this month, thanks to the Egyptian Theatre’s series, “Hitchcockian: The Master & His Disciples.” For the next three weeks, the Egyptian will screen some of Hitch’s most lauded – and some lesser known – films, which will then be paired with other movies that paid homage to, stole from or mocked the master of suspense. more ›

Sometimes Sploid really makes us laugh. The appearance of a 400 degree hot spot in Santa Barbara really makes us wonder. Both are good things. It is a reminder that there are still grand mysteries on this planet and that there is still so much we don't know. It could be heat from an earthquake fault or it could be entirely new (to us) phenomenon. Or The Master has risen again. From beneath us it devours. more ›