With his blemish-free free filmography of far-reaching and singular works having already lent the 41-year-old director something of a Great American Novelist's aura, new Paul Thomas Anderson films would be breathlessly anticipated even if they didn't come around less regularly than the Olympics. Add to that the mystique inherent in the very premise of "The Master" -- allegedly a veiled study of the origins of Scientology -- and this Weinstein Company property is set to generate feverish levels of buzz. Anderson acolytes will be pleased to see the director back with star Philip Seymour Hoffman after a one-film separation, and this is the actor's meatiest in years. --Guy Lodge