Oscar® Sundays

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s Altman-esque multicharacter epic focuses on the intersecting lives of several Angelenos in one eventful 24-hour period, culminating in an inexplicable, Biblical weather event. The film earned nominations for Anderson’s original screenplay, Aimee Mann’s original song “Save Me,” and Tom Cruise’s energetic performance as a men’s rights speaker. The massive cast includes several alumni from Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997), including Philip Baker Hall, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a warm and sensitive performance as nurse Phil Parma.

Director Cameron Crowe’s Oscar-winning original screenplay was inspired by his teenage years as a music journalist traveling with a rock band in 1973, with Patrick Fugit making his film debut as a young Crowe. The film received nominations for Joe Hutshing and Saar Klein’s film editing and the supporting performances of Kate Hudson as groupie Penny Lane and Frances McDormand as Fugit’s strong-willed mother. Philp Seymour Hoffman gives a witty performance as real-life rock journalist Lester Bangs.

The final feature directed by Oscar-winner Mike Nichols is a witty political docudrama about Texas congressman Charles Wilson’s attempts to fund Afghan rebels against their Soviet invaders in the 1980s. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts brought the full wattage of their movie star charisma to their performances as Wilson and socialite Joanne Herring. Philip Seymour Hoffman earned the film’s only nomination for his hilariously volatile supporting performance as real-life CIA operative Gust Avrakotos. Oscar-winner Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) adapted his script from the 2003 nonfiction book by George Crile.

John Patrick Shanley directed this film adaptation of his 2004 play set at a Catholic parish school in 1964 in the Bronx. Shanley received a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for his original play and an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay. He drew insightful, Oscar-nominated performances from his four principal actors: Meryl Streep as the imposing school principal, Amy Adams as a sensitive young nun, Viola Davis as the mother of a boy who may have been the victim of inappropriate behavior, and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a commanding and appropriately ambiguous portrayal of the suspected priest.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s ambitious and daring film tells the story of Freddie Quell, an emotionally troubled World War II veteran who falls under the spell of a religious leader, Lancaster Dodd, resulting in a strange dependency between the two men. With epic 70mm cinematography by Mihai Malamaire Jr., The Master is anchored by its vivid, Oscar-nominated lead performances—Joaquin Phoenix’s achingly vulnerable Freddie, Amy Adams’s strong-willed Peggy Dodd, and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s charismatic, complex Lancaster. The outstanding supporting cast includes Oscar winners Laura Dern and Rami Malek and Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons as Dodd’s son.