We list the 10 best films from the career of the genius Paul Thomas Anderson. The masterpieces selected below encompass the always fantastic drama, crime and comedy genres.
10 – Magnolia (1999)
An epic mosaic of many interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
9 – Cigarettes & Coffee (1993)
Cigarettes & Coffee tells the story of five people’s lives all interconnected through a $20 bill.
8 – Hard Eight (1996)
A stranger mentors a young Reno gambler who weds a hooker and befriends a vulgar casino regular. A intelligent movie that you must watch.
7 – Inherent Vice (2014)
In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry “Doc” Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.
6 – Boogie Nights (1997)
Set in 1977, back when everything was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic film producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around.
5 – Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
A socially awkward and volatile small business owner meets the love of his life after being threatened by a gang of scammers.
4 – Licorice Pizza (2021)
Set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, the film follows a high school student who is also a successful child actor.
3 – The Master (2012)
Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new “religion” he forms after World War II.
2 – Phantom Thread (2017)
Renowned British dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock comes across Alma, a young, strong-willed woman, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover.
1 – There Will Be Blood (2007)
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview’s motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.