Paul Thomas Anderson Movies: Ranked! (And discussion)

[Snarf Zagyg]

As a certified glutton for punishment, I am continuing with the rankings of directors.
I've done Tarantino.
I've done the Coen Brothers.
I've done the other Anderson (WES ANDERSON).
I've done Cronenberg. (So ... many ... movies).

Now it's time PT Anderson, aka, "The Anderson who doesn't do twee and will absolutely, positively drink your milkshake."

The rules, briefly-
It has to be a PT Anderson movie. It has to be a feature-length film (sorry, Anima). It has to be fiction (sorry, Junun). And that's it. Some of these rankings may be controversial, and that's okay! Please fell free to express your contradictory and wrong opinions in the comments!

The rankings are from Awesome to Awesomest.

10. Cigarettes and Coffee. He made it for $10k. So there's that. And yet, if you pay attention, you can already see the hallmarks of his style.

9. Hard Eight. Loosely based on Cigarettes and Coffee, this was mistaken at the time for yet another Tarantino rip-off. But it is so much more.

8. Inherent Vice. A movie that you want to love, it meanders about like a goofy ersatz Big Lebowski, without the charm or tight plot, leaving you wishing it had been better. Visually and sonically it's all there, and yet ... something is missing.

7. Magnolia. Yes, many people rank this as his best film. Those people are wrong. It's a very good film, but he has done better.

6. Phantom Thread. An absolute masterpiece, and yet not a film that I want to return to. Both exquisite and off-putting, it demands your attention, but not your love.

5. Licorice Pizza. The film that Vice wanted to be, it's not trying to be a masterpiece, but it instead is just a perfect slice of life.

4. Boogie Nights. A movie that is a uniquely American tragedy, showing that the pursuit of happiness doesn't always lead to it.

3. Punch Drunk Love. I'll say it. Adam Sandler is amazing, and this movie is both a rom-com, and a subversion of the genre at the same time.

2. The Master. PT Anderson has said that this is his favorite movie. He is wrong. It is only his second best. Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who was a regular in his movies before his death) steals the movie.

1. There Will Be Blood. Between the scene compositions and the score, to the repeated motifs (fatherhood, faith as opposed to knowledge, the rapacious effects of capitalism), this is a perfect American movie. I ... drink .... your .... milkshake.


So, there it is! I look forward to the astute comments that agree with me.

 

[payn]

Im marking the calendar because Snarf got it right this time.

 

[MGibster]

4. Boogie Nights. A movie that is a uniquely American tragedy, showing that the pursuit of happiness doesn't always lead to it.

I watched the movie with my mother and my sister. It was very awkward.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

Glad to see Punch-Drunk Love up near the top where it belongs. And Licorice Pizza was just plain fun.

 

[KYRON45]

As a certified glutton for punishment, I am continuing with the rankings of directors.
I've done Tarantino.
I've done the Coen Brothers.
I've done the other Anderson (WES ANDERSON).
I've done Cronenberg. (So ... many ... movies).

Now it's time PT Anderson, aka, "The Anderson who doesn't do twee and will absolutely, positively drink your milkshake."

The rules, briefly-
It has to be a PT Anderson movie. It has to be a feature-length film (sorry, Anima). It has to be fiction (sorry, Junun). And that's it. Some of these rankings may be controversial, and that's okay! Please fell free to express your contradictory and wrong opinions in the comments!

The rankings are from Awesome to Awesomest.

10. Cigarettes and Coffee. He made it for $10k. So there's that. And yet, if you pay attention, you can already see the hallmarks of his style.

9. Hard Eight. Loosely based on Cigarettes and Coffee, this was mistaken at the time for yet another Tarantino rip-off. But it is so much more.

8. Inherent Vice. A movie that you want to love, it meanders about like a goofy ersatz Big Lebowski, without the charm or tight plot, leaving you wishing it had been better. Visually and sonically it's all there, and yet ... something is missing.

7. Magnolia. Yes, many people rank this as his best film. Those people are wrong. It's a very good film, but he has done better.

6. Phantom Thread. An absolute masterpiece, and yet not a film that I want to return to. Both exquisite and off-putting, it demands your attention, but not your love.

5. Licorice Pizza. The film that Vice wanted to be, it's not trying to be a masterpiece, but it instead is just a perfect slice of life.

4. Boogie Nights. A movie that is a uniquely American tragedy, showing that the pursuit of happiness doesn't always lead to it.

3. Punch Drunk Love. I'll say it. Adam Sandler is amazing, and this movie is both a rom-com, and a subversion of the genre at the same time.

2. The Master. PT Anderson has said that this is his favorite movie. He is wrong. It is only his second best. Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who was a regular in his movies before his death) steals the movie.

1. There Will Be Blood. Between the scene compositions and the score, to the repeated motifs (fatherhood, faith as opposed to knowledge, the rapacious effects of capitalism), this is a perfect American movie. I ... drink .... your .... milkshake.


So, there it is! I look forward to the astute comments that agree with me.

This is the only movie list ive ever seen where i have never heard of any of the movies. I feel so inadequate.

 

[Retreater]

Why do I always confuse him with Paul W. S. Anderson?

I was coming here to rank the Resident Evil and Alien Vs Predator movies.

 

[payn]

Why do I always confuse him with Paul W. S. Anderson?

I was coming here to rank the Resident Evil and Alien Vs Predator movies.

Rank is the right word, but the other definition.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

This is the only movie list ive ever seen where i have never heard of any of the movies. I feel so inadequate.

Instead of feeling inadequate, feel happy!

Now you just heard about a whole bunch of great movies you can watch.

 

[KYRON45]

Instead of feeling inadequate, feel happy!

Now you just heard about a whole bunch of great movies you can watch.

Thank you for turning my frown upside down.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

UPDATE!

I don't normally do an update to these threads, but I just watched One Battle After Another, the new P.T. Anderson movie starring Leo, Benicio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti (great name) in a breakout role, and many others (Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, etc.).

Brief review- I'm not going to do spoilers, but if you like P.T. Anderson movies (and you should), then you have to see this. It's more "action-y" than usual, but it's not an action movie. It's very loosely based on Vineland if you're a Pynchon fan, but if you've read that book the plot elements are different enough to shock and surprise. I think that a lot of people will, of course, talk about how it is "relevant" to our current time (and it is), but like all great art ... it has much more important and deeper thematic elements. I loved it!

That said, where does it rank? That's a lot harder. I tend to be hesitant to rank movies I've just seen because I tend to rank them either too high or to low. You have to let them marinate for a while and watch them again after that first blush has worn off. That said ...

My initial instinct is to say that it's one of his great films, but not his best film. It's not There Will Be Blood, which, to me, is practically a modern Citizen Kane. It's not The Master, which ... I mean, c'mon. So it's not in the top two.

But it's above Phantom Thread. That's the movie that I think of as "technically perfect, but I don't love it." I really enjoyed this film.

So it's ... it's top 5. It's better than Licorice Pizza- not because LP is, in any way, bad, but because LP just isn't trying to be more. Which is fine, but One Battle After Another definitely has more deep thematic resonance.

I know I might be alone in ranking Punch Drunk Love so high, but I'm right and everyone else is wrong. And Boogie Nights is a stone-cold classic. It's with those movies. I need to let it settle a while, but it's somewhere in the #3-#5 range. Pretty sure.