Every Paul Thomas Anderson movie, ranked from worst to best
Where do Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, and the new Licorice Pizza land in a full assessment of this great director’s work?
Film Lists Paul Thomas Anderson
This weekend brings one of the biggest events of any cinephile’s year: a new movie from Paul Thomas Anderson. Licorice Pizza, the writer-director’s ’70s-set comedy of puppy-love infatuation, is already earning glowing reviews from the critics, though it will be another few weeks before most of the country can dip into this digressive, meandering portrait of the San Fernando Valley of its maker’s youth. That the movie is earning raves should, of course, be no real surprise to anyone who’s been following Anderson’s career since he burst into the international movie-lover’s eye in the mid-’90s. Pretty much every one of Anderson’s features is, to one degree or another, cherished. He’s the rare filmmaker of any nationality or generation who seems to inspire something relatively close to consensus admiration each time at bat.
Where fans will naturally disagree is on the matter of preference within that filmography. You could poll 10 different Anderson aficionados and probably get 10 different opinions on what qualifies as his best and worst (though, actually, you’d probably see some general agreement on the worst). All of which is to say, the ranking that follows is really nothing more than one writer’s opinion; were even one other critic to contribute to it, the results might be radically different. Truthfully, all of Anderson’s movies are worthwhile–even his doodle of a hour-long music documentary, Junun, which we’ve decided to exclude from the hierarchy. Hell, even this critic might disagree with his own rankings on a different day. That’s the nature of assessing an artist as consistently rewarding as PT Anderson: He makes the very concept of a “favorite” an opinion in perpetual progress, as slippery as the psychologies of his characters.
90 Comments
An advertisement for the new PTA movie. Kay.
I haven’t seen LP yet, but that aside, this is how I would’ve ranked them as well. Which is weird, because these lists usually annoy the hell out of me.
My absolute favorite would be TWBB. Am I the only one finding TM barely accessible and giving up on it after 30 minutes?
You were right, you definitely lost me with the Magnolia ranking
Nah. Phantom Thread is the second worst. Worst is Inherent Vice.The Master is the best.
I don’t get why these reviewers like Inherent Vice so much. Its such a garbage movie that goes nowhere and is impossibly slow and boring. Its the ultimate in pretentiousness to give that movie high marks. Its his absolute worst in my opionin.
I don’t get why these reviewers like Inherent Vice so muchWell I mean, on this list of 9 movies, Vice is in the bottom 50%.
Idk what to tell you. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I didn’t even have to try. I liked the visuals, I liked the performances, I liked the music and I thought the script was good. Such a fun movie. I swear to you, I am not pretending. I really do like it a lot.
No by all means if you like it that’s totally cool. I just didn’t care for it.
Alright. I just took issue with you deeming it automatically pretentious to give the movie high marks. I can totally see that it’s not for everyone of course.
I’m with you. I really dug Inherent Vice. Brolin was hysterically funny. I enjoyed the shaggy dog ‘plot’ the adaptation of which seemed perfectly in keeping to the spirit of Pynchon’s source material, and I thought it all looked just beautiful, all wrapped up in L.A. sunshine… I always consider it a sibling film of The Big Lebowski. They are both ‘inside out film noir’. Bright and sunny instead of dark and rainy. Incompetent, casual, stoned ‘detectives’ instead of tough as nails, hard-drinkin’ macho dudes. ‘Mysteries’ that aren’t mysteries, or go no where, or have no real resolution. If ‘Lebowski’ is 70% comedy and 30% ‘art’, Vice just reverses that ratio, and it totally works.
Really well put, person.
You know what, you just really opened my eyes to a reading of ‘Lebowski’ I had never considered, of it being a postmodern narrative. But that’s totally what it is. It’s Pynchon-esque to the max. I think I just never noticed because they cleverly dress it up in that pristine yet homely style that is all classic cinema.And yes, Inherent Vice makes for a wonderful companion film. It’s very similar and very different. That’s a really fun double feature for a movie night with friends. I’ll try and remember that.
Inherent Vice is one of maybe ten or so movies I’ve ever walked out on. I gave it a full two hours, and then thought to myself ‘I’ve wasted enough time already and no matter how this ends, I genuinely won’t care.’That rationale was different than when I’ve done so with other films, where the common theme was that relatively early on I recognized they were flaming wrecks. This was just more of a concession that maybe I wasn’t smart enough for what Anderson was trying to accomplish – but neither was he smart enough to make a film that bothered to engage me rather than him.About half a dozen people in the theater preceded me.
I DIDN’T LIKE THIS MOVIE SO IF YOU DID YOU’RE PRETENTIOUS
FUCK YOU
Correct!
I can totally understand why someone wouldn’t like it, but I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about what other people do see in it: it’s a loose shaggy-dog riff on The Long Goodbye starring someone too stoned to understand the mystery he’s solving. If that vibe gels with you (and this is absolutely a vibe movie), it’s a fun ride with some memorable characters. If not, it’s going to be a confusing mess pretty much by design (if you’re trying to riff on Raymond Chandler and it isn’t a confusing mess, you’ve failed at capturing Raymond Chandler).
I liked it probably because the book itself comes off as unfilmable, like an oral history by someone too stoned to remember transitions or details. So the movie accurately capturing the disorienting sensation of reading the novel was a pleasant surprise, in addition to being pretty funny. Brolin killed me every time he was on screen, and Martin Short’s cameo as a drug-dispensing dentist with a bunch of horny young women as assistants was a random delight.
I was ready to love inherent vice and had so much trouble actually watching it, let alone following it. The master is my favourite.
I haven’t seen Inherent Vice (or the new one) but from the others I’d say:1. The Master2. TWBB3. Punch Drunk Love4. Boogie Nights5. Phantom Thread6. Magnolia 7. Hard Eight
His best are Their Will be Blood and Boogie Nights the only ones I’ve seen more then once.
I wouldn’t sleep on Punch Drunk Love. It’s ‘slight’ but I’d also say it’s pretty much scene-to-scene perfect. Phantom Thread gets points for the ghost scene as DDL’s lying feverish. One of Jonny Greenwood’s best scores.
Punch Drunk Love is his best! it’s the only PTA movie where I don’t feel like the Art is getting in the way of the artistry, if you know what I mean – he just sat back a little and let the movie work its own magic, and it pays off tremendously
It’s an absolute joy to watch, and yeah, it’s easily the tightest on a scene-to-scene level. I love The Master as well, but it’s much more difficult to like.
Haven’t rewatched Punch Drunk Love in ages but I think it’s his warmest work.
Punch Drunk Love is amazing in that it actually explains Adam Sandler’s bizarre rage. Plus that warehouse scene is so well put together.
Ha, good point. In most of his movies where he pops off (mostly comedies, ironically), he seems like a guy struggling to control serious rage issues who is probably going to murder someone at some point.
(stammers) “That’s that!” (walks away quickly)But seriously, this is almost the reverse for me. I would put Magnolia, Blood, Boogey in the top 3. I do agree that Phantom Thread was amazing so maybe 4. Putting The Master at #2, though… that was so boring. And I like boring movies.
Haven’t seen Licorice Pizza obviously, but for the rest I’d say:8. Inherent Vice7. Magnolia6. Hard Eight5. Boogie Nights4. The Master3. Phantom Thread2. There Will Be Blood1. Punch-Drunk LoveThe last 4 are the only ones I really love.
HOT TAKE: PTA disappeared up his own asshole with The Master and hasn’t been since.
As far as takes go, it’s not wholly without merit. There’s great stuff in the Master but it’s waaaaay too long and far too slow, and he doubled down on that vibe with Vice and – to a lesser extent – Phantom Thread. There’s things to enjoy in all three movies but he’s clearly making them mostly for himself at this point. Which is cool – you do you, PTA – but I do miss the energy of the earlier stuff. That said, really looking forward to LP as it kinda looks like he it might be a return to that kinda energy.
Incidentally, the best part of Phantom Thread was when Reynolds beat Sebulba in the podrace.
I’ve always been a PTA fan, but I’ve never walked away more disappointed in a movie than I did with The Master. I think I even like Inherent Vice more.
If I wasn’t with other people I’d have walked out of the master half way through. Actively annoying movie to watch for me.
Agreed. I pretty much love all of his work, but I cannot begin to fathom the love for The Master (besides Hoffman’s overlooked fantastic performance). I don’t know how a list that can wax poetic about Magnolia being pretentious (I mean…it is, but that’s part of it) can unironically heap praise on The Master.
“Pretentious” and “ponderous” are to Paul Thomas Anderson as “twee” and “artificial” are to Wes Anderson. Everyone agrees it happens at some point, but nobody agrees where or how severe it is.
Hoffman and Phoenix performances are outstanding. Amazingly good. The subject matter — early Scientology — is fascinating. The soundtrack is much more subdued than TWBB or Punch Drunk Love (I don’t appreciate PTA’s overreliance on the soundtrack to ratchet up the tension).
Uh, how can you not begin to fathom the love for the greatest film of the 21st century? Kinda weird thing to say pal
He was already moving his IKEA furniture up his sphincter long before that . The Magnolia soundtrack is good though .
I definitely can’t abide the low Magnolia rating, or the high Phantom Thread placing. As you say from the outset, it feels like everyone has a different PTA ranking, Having not seen Liquorice Pizza, I think mine would be:1. The Master2. There Will Be Blood>>>3. Magnolia4. Punch Drunk Love5. Boogie Nights>>>(Any of these three could be swapped around)6. Phantom Thread7. Inherent Vice
8. Hard Eight
I’d go:1. The Master2. Boogie Nights3. Punch Drunk Love4. There Will be Blood5. Magnolia6. Phantom Thread7. Inherent Vice8. Hard Eight.
Oil! isn’t nonfiction. There’s a word to describe what it is, but it escapes me.
Would Truman have on opinion on how best to classify it as?
Boogie Nights is easily his best film. I absolutely hated Inherent Vice and honestly didn’t care for the Master all that much either. There Will Be Blood is also at the top of the list for me. My list would go as follows:8. Inherent Vice 7. The Master 6. Phantom Thread5. Hard Eight4. Punch Drunk Love3. Magnolia2. There Will Be Blood1. Boogie Nights I haven’t seen Licorice Pizza so can’t comment on that. He’s such a talented filmmakeer and Hollywood needs to Greenlight more projects from Directors like him and for God’s sake get away from the constant Superhero bullshit that is constantly waived in front of our faces. I was all in on the Thanos storyline but now its just gotten ridiculous and it needs to fade away. I get they make money but wow have they gotten desperate with some of these story lines.
This is very close to my own list. I almost stopped the slideshow when Hard Eight was the worst, because it was the movie that first alerted me to the talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C Reilly, the latter of whom I had only seen in standard supporting roles.
Boogie Nights is the most enjoyable and accessible of all his movies — if that makes me shallow, I can live with that — There Will Be Blood has two amazing central performances. And Magnolia has a brilliant ensemble cast and maybe my favorite Tom Cruise performance outside of Tropic Thunder.But we all know what opinions are like.
It was a good little film hardly his worst.
I don’t know if oBjEcTiVeLy Phantom Thread is the best PTA but it’s definitely my favorite. To everyone else, I cannot begin my day with a confrontation, please.
“To everyone else, I cannot begin my day with a confrontation, please.”
How is this our problem and not yours?
pour moi…1. There Will Be Blood (no movie has ever felt more like a ride to me than this – favourite movie of all time other than Billy Madison)2. The Master (sumptuous as fuck… AS PIG FUCK)3. Punch Drunk Love (this is the movie Earth should show to aliens to explain humanity)4. Magnolia (so up its own ass and IT KNOWS IT)5. Boogie Nights (the only thing it has against it is how its homages sometimes stray into copycat)6. Phantom Thread (does for costumes what Baby Driver does for soundtracks)7. Inherent Vice (gotta watch it again)and the others I haven’t seen
Boogie Nights is his best. Please; no need to be pretentious.
“9. Hard Eight”
Nope.
I’m going to refer to him as R. Lon Hubbard from now on.
Even better-L. Ron Bubba
L. Ron Hubba Hubba
I want to love The Master. I want to see the
masterpiece that so many critics do, but I just don’t. I mean from a
technical standpoint (direction, photography, acting, score) it’s phenomenal
and almost flawless. And it’s PYA so I don’t expect or need a screenwriting 101
story arc. But whatever the heart
of the film is supposed to be just doesn’t truly work for me, and honestly I’m
not convinced that’s on me as opposed to the film itself. I find
it kind of telling that if you go back & read the reviews for the film, many
of the critics who praised it effusively all still said (to varying degrees) “I
don’t necessarily get it, but it’s great”. Is it though if that’s the dominant opinion? And again I don’t actively dislike the movie,
but I’ve tried multiple times & I can’t see the brilliance on a story level
either. But then again PTA is more hit
& miss for me than allot of cinephiles. I think he has 3 great films (Blood/Boogie/Phantom) 2 horribly overrated films (Magnolia/Vice) and 3 other films.
I think it’s a mistake to remove Junun from the game. For me it ranks high amongst the fictions. (I have not yet seen Licorice Pizza).1. Phantom Thread2. There Will Be Blood3. Junun4. (tie) Inherent Vice/The Master6. Boogie Nights7. Hard Eight
8. (tie) Punch Drunk Love/MagnoliaI have nothing against the performances of those last two; it’s just how disjointed they seem to me. Hard Eight may not have his stamp on it and seem overly familiar, but it’s more satisfying overall to me than those two.
Pworked here will suggest movies like Swiss army man(maybe the worst movie I’ve ever seen) and the killing of a sacred deer(good movie but pretty self serious) and then call phantom thread or the master up it’s own ass, is kinda crazy to me, PTA has his whole career made artful and thoughtful movies, as he gets older and is looking for new things to say of course his cinema becomes more obscure.
Happy to see Magnolia ranked so low. I did n’t understand the lavish praise at the time.
A clothing designer talks to a waitress.
There, you can skip the first 45 mins of Phantom Thread. I turned it off, there, so I can’t say whether an actual movie happens later, but there’s nothing I could have missed that would elevate this to the top of a list of “Best Films with Phantom in the Title” much less any list that includes a single other PTA flick
I think the difference between people who love The Master and people who loathe The Master is how people feel about the characters.I showed the movie to my friend and he was just like, fuck this asshole Freddie Quell. But I have a lot of empathy for him. The key, is that he actually wants to be saved. He wants family. He wants to believe in The Cause.But eventually he realizes that what Lancaster Dodd is pedaling is bullshit. And so, there comes a time where he has to leave his master. Once again alone, wandering along, like a starved dog.I just don’t understand when people say this has no structure or that it’s inscrutable or something. Man wants to be saved. Man wants to save others. They meet. They fall in love. Man realizes he can’t be saved. Man returns to the beginning. Such a beating heart to this film, it’s my absolute favorite. I just find the chemistry between Lancaster Dodd and Freddie Quell electric. Best bromance put to screen, for my money. This film will be viewed as the crown jewel of PTA’s career.
It’s not just about character — it’s about pacing and creating something wholly interesting to watch for 2+ hours.
If I didn’t know beforehand that was Joaquin Phoenix I wouldn’t have been entirely sure throughout the movie until I looked it up later. He disappears into Freddie Quell that well. The Master is my #1 too.
Punch Drunk Love gets huge bonus points for the hilarious situation of pairing Adam Sandler with seven sisters. Easily my favorite scenes.
For all the analysis and scholarship written about The Master, I think “Man wants to be saved. Man wants to save others. They meet. They fall in love. Man realizes he can’t be saved. Man returns to the beginning” might just be the simplest and most beautiful explanation 0f the movie I’ve read. So thanks for giving me my new way of describing the movie to people.
That warms my heart, thank you!
Very well put. It’s a really beautiful work and one that resonates with me very deeply.
I like Magnolia better than Boogie Nights and way better than Inherent Vice
Come on, AV Club, if you’re gonna keep vomiting out these Buzzfeed-esque listicles, at least get the facts right. Inherent Vice is not really set in the San Fernando Valley. Mostly in the South Bay and Downtown L.A.
This list would have been more fun if it had ranked the movies of Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson, just to see where Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon ended up.
Event Horizon at #1 and Mortal Kombat at #2? I liked his Death Race movie too.
I’d rank his Death Race a little below the first Resident Evil, tbh, but definitely on board with the other rankings.
It would be hard for me to rank any of PWSA’s movies above any of PTA’s, but I will say:1. Monster Hunter2. Resident Evil: Afterlife3. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter4. Pompeii5. Alien vs. Predator6. Death Race7. Mortal Kombat8. Soldier9. Resident Evil10. The Three MusketeersPretty sure I’ve seen Shopping but I remember nothing about it.
You won me with your Magnolia ranking. I’ve anticipated very few movies in my life more than Magnolia, and very rarely felt a letdown so severe. Also props for your modest ranking of There Will Be Blood in comparison to some of the others and for recognizing just how precise and awesome Phantom Thread is.
This ranking really validated some of my uncertainly-held contrarian opinions. Thank you for making me feel like I was on less of an island here.
FUCK YOU
lol… Oh, Dowd. This list is pure contrarian bs.
When did A.V Club start doing their ranked lists in random order?
1. Boogie Nights2. There Will Be Blood3. The Master4. Phantom Thread5. Magnolia 6. Punch Drunk Love7. Inherent Vice8. Hard EightTBD: Licorice Pizza
*Pointing Rick Dalton
I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I was kind of confused about who Paul Thomas Anderson was until recently, but I recognized his name.
Turns out, I’ve watched and enjoyed many of his movies! In fact, some of them are my favorites!
Here’s where we’ll surely lose some of you.Close browser.
1) There Will Be Blood2) Punch-Drunk Love3) The Master4) Inherent Vice5) Boogie Nights6) Phantom Thread7) Hard Eight8) Magnolia3-6 were pretty difficult, but the top two and bottom two were easy. Particularly Magnolia, which is the only PTA movie I just flat-out dislike. There’s tons to love in it, and I have to admire the balls it took to make the thing, but the end result leaves me incredibly cold.
Even the good ones (Boogie Nights, There Will be Blood) I’ve only watched once and have no desire to see again. They are really good but they are harrowing.Magnolia almost stopped me from watching films altogether. Never has a film gone so far up it’s own arse only to find that the arse contains absolutely nothing. It’s worse than shit.
Phantom Thread? Fuck no. Beautifully shot, designed and acted. Every costume was impeccable, and even the way the actors chewed in some scenes conveyed volumes of emotion. Unfortunately it was in the service of two characters so tedious and loathsome that I didn’t care about anything that happened to them and actively regretted spending even a single minute watching them. Oh well.
1) Boogie Nights2) There Will Be Blood3) Magnolia4) The Master5) Phantom Thread6) Punch-Drunk Love7) Inherent Vice8) Hard Eight
Haven’t seen Inherent Vice or Licorice Pizza yet, but other than those, my ranking would probably be:1) There Will Be Blood2) The Master3) Boogie Nights4) Phantom Thread5) Magnolia6) Punch-Drunk Love (with the caveat that it’s the first of his I saw and I was a lot younger and I’d probably appreciate it more now, though I don’t know how much the ranking would change)7) Hard Eight (which I still like more than a lot of people, but every list has to have a bottom)The great thing about a filmmaker as varied as PTA is that I think all (most) of his movies have a legitimate claim to being his best depending on your metric. Boogie Nights is his most fun, Magnolia is his most ambitious, Punch-Drunk Love is his most purely sweet (and if that makes it minor, so be it), There Will Be Blood is his most mythic and towering and all the other words and has one of THE all-time great performances, The Master is the one that offers the most to analyze and contemplate (for me at least), and Phantom Thread is his most beautiful and also maybe his funniest (in the most unexpected way). Even Hard Eight is a fun, tight little gambling movie with a lot of great moments. Can’t really go wrong no matter how you rank them.
As I see it, there are his
early films that I walked into blind and was absolutely blown away by: the
virtuosity of his camera work, and how he was able to capture essential human
emotions that while we all can recognize, are very difficult to actually portray,
chiefly because they are nuanced and most attempts result in caricature and
reveal how little the filmmaker actually understands life and, worse, reveals a
paucity of empathy. Magnolia is far from perfect, parts of it are cheesy and
had me wincing in my seat. Yet, I found it endearing how open he was about his
influences and his respect for the crafty and its history. Then came the rest:
when what most stands out is a filmmaker who enshrined himself as a god so
early on that his focus shifted towards looking upon the great legacy in the
blue yonder; and hence the canonically-driven filmmaker is born. His desire to
film Inherent Vice has everything to do with the fact that Pynchon was once
spoken of with such intellectual awe that the mere mention of his name proved
something about…I forget what…now I remember: how one belonged to such an
exclusive set that merely being asked to elucidate Pynchon was verboten; since
only a real dolt would ask anyone to do so especially if I arrived first to the
cocktail party, with lips flapping for the world to overhear. As I have grown
older, I am the same age as PTA, the fire I felt for him is like a warm
toaster. Was great while it lasted. But I do admire people who have the energy
to passionately debate him. If this new film shows again the penetrating
insight I once witnessed then game on. But who knows.
I like Phantom Thread a whole lot but putting it at number one seems insane to me. my list1. There Will Be Blood – a true masterpiece 2. Punch Drunk Love – my favorite PTA film to re-watch, a gigantic artistic leap forward for PTA and genuinely fantastic performance from Adam Sandler. I love the score and the way the film structures sequences around it. I love the colorful transitions. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman as the mattress man. I could go onand on.3. The Master – Freddy’s story resonated with me very deeply. PSH is obviously killing it. But so is Joaquin and so is Amy Adams. It’s also a little trippy and weird which is fun.
4. Inherent Vice – This movie whips ass. Great movie to get stoned too. Josh Brolin is very funny. The book is also great. 5. Boogie Nights 5. Magnolia These movies meant so much to me when I first discovered them as a teenager. Impossible to say which one I like more but I did used to say Magnolia was my favorite movie when asked. 6. Phantom Thread – I like the ghost scene and how kinky it is. It’s only so low because all these movies are very good and very different. Both this and Punch Drunk are love stories but one stars Adam Sandler as a plunger salesman and the other has fucking Daniel Day Lewis. I just don’t personally find this story or these character as relatable. I’m sadly more of a Freddy Quell or a Barry Egan than a Reynolds Woodcock.
7. Hard 8 – Bottle Rocket is also my least favorite Wes Anderson movie. Hard 8 is cool though, amazing cast. Really looking forward to Licorice Pizza, seems more in the vein of Inherent Vice than Phantom Thread and I’m all for it.
I think all of these are “masterpieces” except Hard Eight, and Hard Eight is a pretty good movie. Needless to say, I’m fuckin stoked for Licorice Pizza.1. The Master2. Punch-Drunk Love3. Boogie Nights4. There Will Be Blood5. Inherent Vice6. Phantom Thread7. Magnolia8. Hard 8I don’t wanna say too much about em right now cause unpacking my feelings is a lot of work.
This is a fair ranking. I would just swap # 8 and # 3. Magnolia and Boogie Nights are his homages to Altman and Scorsese, respectively. And for me, the Altman nostalgia trip is a lot more enjoyable than the Scoresese one. Magnolia up, Boogie down.
Bad list. There Will Be Blood is his best movie, though The Master is a close second (Boogie Nights being a close third). Phantom Thread is only his best if you’re thinking too hard about it. Inherent Vice and Magnolia both kind of suck.
Looking forward to seeing Licorice Pizza, though I might be looking forward to it more if the leads were attractive.
Everyone’s list is of course different, but I can’t think of a list that would be more different than mine (and no, I haven’t had a chance to see Licorice Pizza yet).For what it’s worth, my Top Eight P.T. Anderson films:8. Inherent Vice7. Punch-Drunk Love6. Hard Eight5. Phantom Thread4. The Master3. Magnolia2. There Will Be Blood1. Boogie Nights