THE MASTER

Some 40 minutes into The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson’s fascinating, vexing drama about the leader of a questionable self-actualization movement and the man’s devoted acolyte – there’s a scene between stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman so thunderously well-written and -performed that, for movie lovers, it might singlehandedly make viewing the film less recommended than mandatory.

TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE

The latest movie to star Clint Eastwood, marking the icon’s first on-screen appearance since 2008’s Gran Torino, is director Robert Lorenz’s baseball drama Trouble with the Curve. That curve, by the way, is the least of this film’s troubles.

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION

If you were at a Friday-afternoon screening of Resident Evil: Retribution and heard, some 30 seconds before the end credits, an audible groan of frustration and annoyance, I apologize if my unplanned outburst was distracting. I just couldn’t believe that this mindless, endless series was going to require yet another freakin’ sequel.

THE WORDS

Three separate narratives dovetail in The Words, a modestly engaging morality drama by writers/directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal. Yet ironically enough, the one narrative I never bought into was the one that’s meant to be the most believable, though heaven knows the other two aren’t exactly models of cinematic authenticity.

THE POSSESSION

The new horror thriller The Possession is about a little girl who requires an exorcism to remove the evil dybbuk inhabiting her body, and it opens with a title card informing us that the film is “based on a true story.” You know what I’m aching to see one of these days? An exorcism-themed entertainment that isn’t based on a true story. Can you imagine how much fun these things could be if we weren’t consistently asked to believe in them?