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More so than with other directors, it’s always tempting to overly psychologize Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, looking for traces of his personal development and hints of autobiography: the father figures of “Magnolia” or “The Master,” the partnership of “Phantom Thread,” parenthood in the new “One Battle After Another.” Yet two things truly set his work apart. There’s the incredibly high level of craft in each of them, giving each a unique feel, sensibility and visual identity, and also the deeply felt humanism: a pure love of people, for all their faults and foibles.
Anderson is an 11-time Academy Award nominee without ever having won, a situation that could rectify itself soon enough, and it speaks to the extremely high bar set by his filmography that one could easily reverse the following list and still end up with a credible, if perhaps more idiosyncratic ranking. Reorder the films however you like — they are all, still, at the very least, extremely good. Simply put, there’s no one doing it like him.
Perhaps nothing marks Anderson as a filmmaker from the ’90s as much as his impeccable use of music, from the drowned-in-sound deluge of “Boogie Nights” to his ongoing collaboration with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood as a composer. So just to add to the arguability of the following list, we’ve also noted a favorite song or two from each movie, the song titles often becoming surprise summations of the plots themselves.
This list is made in good faith, without any purposeful stuntery (honest). Feel free to let us know how your opinions vary.
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10. ‘Licorice Pizza’ (2021)
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Look, we all did some questionable things during the peak of the pandemic, so Anderson can be forgiven for making a sweet, nostalgic look back at growing up in his beloved San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. There is much to like here in its story of a hustling teenage-boy entrepreneur and the twentysomething woman who becomes his friend, partner and maybe more, but considering the epic run of Anderson’s other recent films, “Licorice Pizza” just feels lacking somehow, lackadaisical rather than merely easygoing. The sparking dynamic between leads Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim, both making their feature debut, energizes the movie, while Bradley Cooper’s gonzo take on producer Jon Peters nearly justifies the entire endeavor on its own.
Needle drops: Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro, “Stumblin’ In”; Paul McCartney and Wings, “Let Me Roll It”
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9. ‘Punch Drunk Love’ (2002)
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A transitional film to get him out of the enfant terrible period of his earliest work, “Punch Drunk Love” remains a fulcrum point in Anderson’s career. A delicate balancing act of romance, comedy and whimsy, the film now actually feels a little overworked, as if Anderson was wrestling certain internal impulses in trying to purposefully make something light. There are moments of pure movie magic: A simple scene of a nascent couple (played by Adam Sandler and Emily Watson) walking down a Valley side street becomes a moment of spiritual transformation thanks to some sneaky lighting tricks. Sandler, in the performance that would launch the still-blossoming side of his career that’s exploring more demanding roles, captures the bold sense of growth that motivates the entire movie.
Needle drop: Shelley Duvall, “He Needs Me”
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8. ‘Hard Eight’ (1996)
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Much like “Bottle Rocket,” the 1996 debut feature from that other upstart Anderson Wes (no relation), “Hard Eight” suffers only in comparison to the richness of what would come after. For many other filmmakers, this would easily be their best work. Made in the rush of post-“Pulp Fiction” crime thrillers, the film is a perceptive character study that showcases Anderson’s sensitivity with actors, including early turns by John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow and a one-scene Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film was originally going to be titled “Sydney” after Philip Baker Hall’s character, a courtly man of another era who knows how to handle his business, and the veteran character actor truly shines in the rare spotlight. The world of low-level gamblers is evocatively drawn and Anderson displays an unexpected tenderness to those who inhabit it.
Needle drop: Brenton Wood, “Love Is Free”
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7. ‘The Master’ (2012)
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“The Master” features two of the greatest performances in any of Anderson’s films, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix throwing themselves completely into evoking, respectively, Lancaster Dodd, the self-styled leader of a somewhat-sham philosophical movement, and Freddie Quell, a WWII veteran, alcoholic drifter and willing acolyte. As the film explores the distinctions between behaving from instinct versus intellect — a battle between heart and mind — there is a chilly distance that Anderson never quite bridges. Possibly undone by prerelease expectations that the film would be an explicit exposé of the origins of Scientology, “The Master” (as with all of Anderson’s historical films) is simultaneously that and not that, drawing from the life of L. Ron Hubbard while also insistently charting its own course.
Needle drops: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Slow Boat to China”; Helen Forrest, “Changing Partners”
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6. ‘Boogie Nights’ (1997)
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Anderson was only 27 years old when “Boogie Nights” was released, which felt like a monumental achievement given its sweeping ensemble study of the rise and decline of the alternate L.A.-based studio system of pornography as the 1970s gave way to the ’80s. Mark Wahlberg and an impressive prosthetic play a boy “blessed with one special thing,” as he enters an industry all too willing to take everything he has to give. There now seems to be a bit of snickering immaturity in the film’s garish period trappings, though the emotional acuity and empathetic consideration of even the most minor of characters still makes “Boogie Nights” remarkable. Spawning not one but two soundtrack releases, the film had the air of a cultural phenomenon about it and anointed Anderson as a generational talent, earning him his first Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.
Needle drops: The Commodores, “Machine Gun”; Electric Light Orchestra, “Livin’ Thing”
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5. ‘Magnolia’ (1999)
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As if “Boogie Nights” wasn’t audacious enough, Anderson boldly followed it up with a film of naked vulnerability: an emotional weather report unafraid to risk embarrassment in examining a perpetual dark night of the soul. The everything-turned-up-to-11 extremes of “Magnolia” are both its biggest virtues and largest drawbacks, lending the film a remarkable sense of propulsion as it interweaves a complex tapestry of L.A. lives revolving around a long-running television game show. Among those characters is a damaged male self-help guru played by Tom Cruise in a big-swing performance he has never quite topped before or since. Anderson used a few older actors known for their work in the films of two of his avowed heroes, Jonathan Demme and Robert Altman, as if he were working through their influence to find out who he really wanted to be as a filmmaker — and perhaps even as a person.
Needle drops: Aimee Mann, “Wise Up”; Supertramp, “Goodbye Stranger”
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4. ‘Phantom Thread’ (2017)
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Anderson’s films now tend to arrive under a veil of secrecy — it’s often unclear what the movie’s about ahead of time. Prerelease rumors around “Phantom Thread” had it based on fashion designer Charles James and also something of a romantic ghost story, which turned out misdirections from the charming, offbeat comedic drama it turned out to be. The controlled life of fastidious English designer Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) is upended by the mischievous, headstrong European émigré Alma Elson (a magnetic Vicky Krieps). There is a clever simplicity to the film, laced within the hidden complexities of a fine piece of tailoring. Aching, enigmatic and at times downright hilarious, the film magnificently combines the energies of a then-essentially-unknown Krieps, as she makes a perfect foil to Day-Lewis’ roiled titan.
Needle drops: Oscar Peterson, “My Foolish Heart”; Jonny Greenwood, “For the Hungry Boy”
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3. ‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)
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All of Anderson’s films grow and gain depth over time, so this film could eventually move up a spot or two. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” the film mostly borrows vibes: the struggle of how to move forward when it feels your path has run its course. Anderson employs many of the strategies of his historical films to evocative results, creating a distorted dystopia out of modern times. Somehow equal parts angry and optimistic, hopeful and defeated, “Battle” follows Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio, antic and broken), a former member of a revolutionary cadre who reenters the fight when his daughter is endangered by enemies from his past. A satirical action-comedy and a mediation on family, with an enviable ensemble including Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and newcomer Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another” is a movie with the courage and conviction to fearlessly meet its moment.
Needle drops: Gil Scott-Heron, “Revolution Will Not Be Televised”; Steely Dan, “Dirty Work”
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2. ‘Inherent Vice’ (2014)
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A more straightforward and faithful Pynchon adaptation, “Inherent Vice” is part silly and part sad, as stalwart stoner detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is drawn into a labyrinthine world of power and corruption in post-Manson Los Angeles by his wayward ex-girlfriend. Living in a fog of melancholy and regret, Doc still holds a torch for Shasta Fay, so his work on her behalf spins a complex web of emotional complications as the film grapples with the fallout of the end of the 1960s and the onset of the big bummer realization that business and money will always prevail. Reuniting with Phoenix in a nuanced turn and working with another extended cast that also featured Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Jeannie Berlin, Hong Chau, Reese Witherspoon and Martin Short, Anderson focuses what could be a sprawling mess into something that knows just where it’s going. The movie reveals itself to you, layer by layer, incident by incident, in a way that becomes downright intoxicating.
Needle drops: Can, “Vitamin C”; Neil Young, “Journey Through the Past”
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1. ‘There Will Be Blood’ (2007)
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Drawing inspiration from Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel, “Oil,” Anderson’s best, most accomplished movie levels up from the freewheeling antics of his early films to something intentionally serious and epic, with more than a touch of the visionary. Transforming the settling of California into a revisionist allegory for American expansionism, the film features a ferocious, for-the-ages performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, who goes from a lone man literally crawling his way out of a hole in the ground to a ruthless oil baron, willing to sacrifice anything to claim a little more for himself. Which is not to say the film lacks Anderson’s typical wit or humor, as in the infamous “I drink your milkshake!” scene during a final showdown between Plainview and his nemesis, a scheming evangelist played by Paul Dano. With “There Will Be Blood,” Anderson stepped confidently into the mature phase of his career, from which he has never stopped hurtling forward.
Needle drop: Johannes Brahms, “Violin Concerto in D Major”
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