What is the best Paul Thomas Anderson movie of all time?

Sprawling ensemble epics, obsessive character studies, and one of cinema's most intense relationships with Daniel Day-Lewis — his filmography is pure cinema. Which one tops them all?

1

There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day-Lewis is a monstrous oil prospector in early 20th century California, delivering one of the greatest screen performances ever.

2

Boogie Nights

A sprawling ensemble portrait of the porn industry in the 1970s and 80s, full of humanity and excess.

3

Magnolia

An interwoven mosaic of Los Angeles lives on the verge of emotional breakdown, climaxing in one of cinema's most audacious moments.

4

The Master

Joaquin Phoenix plays a drifting WWII veteran drawn into a cult-like spiritual movement in postwar America.

5

Punch-Drunk Love

Adam Sandler's finest hour — a strange, tender romance about a lonely small businessman overwhelmed by love.

6

Phantom Thread

Daniel Day-Lewis's final role: a fastidious London couturier whose obsessive world is disrupted by an unexpected muse.

7

Licorice Pizza

A nostalgic coming-of-age story set in San Fernando Valley in the 1970s about two misfits falling in and out of love.

8

Hard Eight

A mysterious older gambler takes a down-on-his-luck drifter under his wing in Reno — PTA's quiet, confident debut.