Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood, and he’s got a bunch of classic movies that are well worth seeing. Here’s the top five Paul Thomas Anderson films to watch before watching his latest film, “Licorice Pizza.”
The “licorice pizza movie” is a film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is about two brothers who are trying to manage their father’s failing business.
With just a month before the restricted release of Licorice Pizza, people are anticipating how the famed filmmaker would approach Los Angeles in the 1970s (that is, for the third time). The film stars Alana Haim of the band Haim, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Maya Rudolph, and newcomer Cooper Hoffman (son of PTA’s regular collaborator, the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman).
Paul Thomas Anderson has directed some of the most well-known films in contemporary American cinema, as well as being regarded by other filmmakers as one of the finest living. PTA’s settings range from detective stories and fashion exploitations to oil baron epics and pornographic industry chronicles, but the common thread is a fluency in cinematography, movements, and dialogue with enough layers to keep you warm through a long winter of backstabs, bludgeonings, and prosthetic genitals. Is he always right on the money? Sure, you’re better than others, but you can’t explore new areas without sometimes driving over the cliff. Here is a ranking of all eight of Anderson’s films.
8Irreversible Vice
It’s unclear how this occurred. This is Anderson’s Zelda Goldman in terms of how it must be concealed when visitors arrive, and PTA followers have mostly hoped it would die, its memory permanently detached from their dreams. Inherent Vice is a detective narrative in which you find yourself cheering for no one, wishing for something tangible to happen, and mostly looking at your watch until the movie finishes or the hands start to seem like small people you picture going on adventures with. Also, the most terrible sex scene ever. But was it done on purpose?
7Difficult Eight
Your directorial debut tells a lot about what kind of talent you’ll ultimately accumulate, but it also says a lot about how you sound without a megaphone. Hard Eight is a character study set in an universe that is both familiar and unrecognizable: PTA’s bread and butter. Viewers will learn how to con casinos, appreciate a depth of connection that is so fuzzy that it seems to not exist, and see John C. Reilly in his well-deserved main role.
6Magnolia
Dare you to go back in time and pitch Magnolia to a studio without being slain with a fireman’s axe by every studio boss who survives your second-act explanation. Magnolia is one of Anderson’s most endearing films, a forty-car pile-up anthology about how bad life can be for everyone. You may detest it or believe it’s the New New Testament, but the main takeaways are that Bill Macy wears braces, Tom Cruise has temporary acting skills, and frogs are either grander symbols or just frogs.
5Punch-Drunk Infatuation
What makes Punch-Drunk Love so enjoyable is because its very existence seems like a fever dream. Before Uncut Gems, the Sandman would dip his toes into the indie seas here and there; PDL is the greatest rendition of that period. When two characters who aren’t sane meet in love, the anticipated result is that love irons out their particular wrinkles and renders them contentedly sane (per factory default). PDL doesn’t require that their love be onerous or conform to a societal paradigm, but instead thrives in the same manner that they do alone, only better.
4Boogie Nights 4Boogie Nights 4Boogie Nights
Is it arrogant to like PTA? Is the acronym itself pretentious? Yes, without a doubt. Don’t be afraid of it; just enjoy it. Boogie Nights is what happens when you give anabolic steroids to a minor league batter: it’s so much fun to see things go all the wrong ways that you forget about what’s going on under the surface of the little fellow. The film creeps up on you. It’s about porn in the location, not so much in the concepts, and 100 percent about porn in every frame. Say this is your favorite PTA if you want to irritate a budding cinephile. Say this is your favorite PTA and defend yourself by swinging the broken bottle of “I enjoy when movies are likable” if you want to acquire the respect of true cinema academics.
3The Architect
This would be the finest film made by almost any other filmmaker, hands down. The Master compares the birth of The Church of Scientology to a puppy and his adopted owner via Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as the movie calls it, “The Cause”). If you like tales about how institutions manipulate their own victims into becoming furious advocates, this is one of the best you’ll ever read. It’s a disaster. It’s aggravating. It’s extremely stunning to look at. This was where Phoenix earned his Oscar, just as Denzel was robbed for Malcolm X and had to be redeemed at a later date.
Blood Will Be Spilled
It’s surprising that this isn’t ranked first, since it’s possible that it’s flawless. This film is presumably how math aficionados felt when Newton invented calculus in a week and then went back to playing with his cat. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, “an oil man,” and his oil well and life are doomed to fail beneath the weight of Plainview’s ambition to drain the world of all its loyalty after his deadly pride crosses heads with a local priest (Paul Dano). The opening scene of There Will Be Blood has become dogma for screenwriters on how to introduce a character that your audience must respect for the duration of the film, while that character transforms into a character that no one should ever enjoy, embody, or even empathize with, but rather “cut their throat” and keep their head far from their body.
1Fantasy Thread
There is no such thing as the best film ever produced; attributing measurable certainty to an objective and aesthetically qualitative order is an exercise in futility. Having said that, you have discovered it. The cinematography, the story, the acting, and, of course, the costume design, soundtrack, and production design, all demonstrate an amazing understanding of what tales can do. It’s a film that comes in with his or her own set of expectations, then not only proves to be a worthy champion of those clichés, but also subverts each and every one of them. This is your warning: only watch this film if you’re dying soon, and please be certain that you are; otherwise, every other film will live in its shadow forever, and you’ll have to find other ways to pass the time in your post-Phantom Thread brain, such as talking to your neighbors or chewing on wallpaper.
Paul Thomas Anderson is a film director who has made many movies that are worth watching. Here are some of his films to watch before you watch “Licorice Pizza”. Reference: licorice pizza cinematographer.
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