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ITT: Definitive Ranking of Paul Thomas Anderson Films

1. There Will Be Blood 2. Punch Drunk Love 3. Magnolia 4....
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  09/30/25
...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  09/30/25
Everyone agrees
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
Gen X just makes the Same Movie.
stimulating mediation hall
  10/01/25
1. Boogie Nights 2. There Will Be Blood 3. Magnolia 4. P...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
You didn’t like OBAA? I also feel like The Master i...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
It's the only one I haven't seen. I will wait for it to come...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
How many DVDs do you own?
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
About 30
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
Are you renting dvds?
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
No
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
But you intend this film to become 3 percent of your DVD col...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
9/30 = 30% It's safe to say I'm a PTA fan.
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
You’re a PTA completist
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
Yeah but I actually like most of em
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
One great film, maybe one of the best ever, and the rest is ...
Slimy Locus Boltzmann
  10/01/25
Which one is great?
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
TWBB
Slimy Locus Boltzmann
  10/01/25
Inherent Vice had the superlative scene with Brolin playing ...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
Lots to unpack here. I love Inherent Vice, but structurally...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
The biggest ding on Inherent Vice is that the book was subst...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
I think OUATIH may be his most substantial film. Really spe...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/01/25
I legitimately hated it. That being said it had some great i...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
Too much editing, it reads like he OCD nitpicked hard throug...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
Cr I am someone who thinks that every great movie has a g...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/01/25
qui gon was a plot necessary nobody but 2 and 3 were both pr...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
Did you ever end up using your BFA in Film to get a job
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/02/25
i'm a bachelor who happens to be in the fine arts but i don'...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/02/25
What do you do in the arts
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/02/25
i used to represent. i got an offer from an portraitist rece...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/02/25
You should make a Noah Baumbach style movie about it
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/02/25
he's talented but i prefer wes anderson for that type of fil...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/02/25
Yeah but you seem more like a Noah Baumbach type of mewling ...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/02/25
...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/03/25
a couple of upchucked coons guffawing at their gas station b...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/03/25
Cliff is the protagonist, not Rick. The Bruce Lee scene is ...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/02/25
i don't disagree but i found it inappropriate wrt the story ...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/02/25
it's a pillow mint on a hospice cot
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
Pynchon doesn't translate well to film. Neither would DFW fo...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
It's actually a pretty interesting juxtaposition when placed...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/01/25
I find this fan trailer to be beautiful: https://youtu.be/gW...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/02/25
Yeah, I really enjoyed Inherent Vice the 2nd time through.
well-lubricated exhilarant house
  10/01/25
you pick up on the humor in the details more it's a very &q...
magenta pocket flask shitlib
  10/02/25
there will be blood is overrated as all fuck, boogie nights ...
Garnet pozpig national security agency
  10/02/25
Boogie Nights is great, but it's a rip off of Goodfellas.
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/02/25
Telling that no one has challenged Punch Drunk Love at No. 2...
Lascivious henna generalized bond
  10/02/25
...
Amateur Millennial Butt Porn
  11/19/25
...
Emotionally + Physically Abusive Ex-Husband
  11/19/25
i thought licorice pizza and inherent vice were utter shit. ...
unholy arousing toaster space
  10/02/25
...
Wild rigor kitchen
  10/02/25
...
Slimy Locus Boltzmann
  10/02/25


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: September 30th, 2025 11:24 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

1. There Will Be Blood

2. Punch Drunk Love

3. Magnolia

4. Hard Eight

5. One Battle After Another

6. The Master

7. Phantom Thread

8. Boogie Nights

9. Inherent Vice

10. Licorice Pizza

Frankly, 2-8 are all almost interchangeable.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49314433)



Reply Favorite

Date: September 30th, 2025 8:27 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49316036)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 8:46 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Everyone agrees

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49316895)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 8:51 AM
Author: stimulating mediation hall

Gen X just makes the Same Movie.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49316901)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 8:58 AM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

1. Boogie Nights

2. There Will Be Blood

3. Magnolia

4. Phantom Thread

5. Punch Drunk Love

-----(substantial drop-off)-----

6. Licorice Pizza

7. Inherent Vice

8. Hard Eight

9. One Battle After Another

10. The Master

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49316905)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 10:31 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

You didn’t like OBAA?

I also feel like The Master is massively polarizing, but I liked it after a second watch.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317080)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:19 AM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

It's the only one I haven't seen. I will wait for it to come out on DVD. I have no interest in seeing it beyond being a completionist. Maybe it's very good. I probably liked Licorice Pizza more than the average viewer.

I have seen The Master several times and I have never enjoyed it at all even a little bit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317176)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:34 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

How many DVDs do you own?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317195)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 2:30 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

About 30

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317556)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:03 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Are you renting dvds?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317692)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:06 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

No

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317704)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:38 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

But you intend this film to become 3 percent of your DVD collection? What percent of your DVD collection is Paul Thomas Anderson?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317763)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:57 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

9/30 = 30%

It's safe to say I'm a PTA fan.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317797)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 10:49 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

You’re a PTA completist

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318598)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:14 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

Yeah but I actually like most of em

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318640)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 10:35 AM
Author: Slimy Locus Boltzmann

One great film, maybe one of the best ever, and the rest is middling gen-x dreck. The Charlie Gordon of film

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317090)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:33 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Which one is great?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317194)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:42 AM
Author: Slimy Locus Boltzmann

TWBB

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317205)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 2:34 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

Inherent Vice had the superlative scene with Brolin playing a dicksucking closeted Hoover-coded FBI agent visibly lusting over Phoenix's Ashbury-Haight detective character and excellent Pynchonian set humor throughout. One of the last dramedies defined by a subtle and wry humor that I remember seeing in theaters

Reconsider your position

Licorice Pizza was only any good in the same way that Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time" could be considered as any good and will not hold up in the slightest once a couple years have passed. That said, PTA's best films have all been made *after* his coke addiction went and left. Discuss

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317567)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:56 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Lots to unpack here. I love Inherent Vice, but structurally it is a mess and did not really seem to have much deeper meaning compared to OBAA. I can’t really differentiate it from The Nice Guys or even The Big Lebowski (two great films). It is only a tick below films 2-8.

Licorice Pizza is the only PTA film I really didn’t like and it is several ticks below Inherent Vice.

I think the coke addiction changes are more about PTA growing as an artist and becoming more sure of himself rather than trying to pay homage to Scorsese, as in Boogie Nights.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317793)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 3:59 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

The biggest ding on Inherent Vice is that the book was substantially better than the film. That really dinged it for me.

I'm not gonna say LP was a masterpiece but it was a fun romp. It was a lot better than OUATIH.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49317808)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 7:18 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

I think OUATIH may be his most substantial film. Really speaks to me as a middle aged man.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318209)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 7:25 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

I legitimately hated it. That being said it had some great individual scenes. But the whole did not add up to anything worth remembering.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318226)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:16 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

Too much editing, it reads like he OCD nitpicked hard through the final cut and lost a good deal of the original vision on the cutting room floor. The plot was also pure wank even for Tarantino

"What if" guys lol win one for positivity! Go us! *contextless Peckinpah gore explosion sans Sam's sense of distinctly Christian morality-driven ambivalence rolls over the credits*. It started off fairly strong and then became pornographic from the Bruce Lee and Manson Ranch bits and on

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318644)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:33 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

Cr

I am someone who thinks that every great movie has a great story, and no good movies don't have a story. There's a great Red Letter Media episode breaking down why the Star Wars prequels suck about this. The guy says describe Han Solo without saying his name and all these people go oh well he's a dashing rogue, a thief with a heart of gold etc. Now describe Qui Gon Jin and they're like uhhh stoic?

It's the same with any great movie. I could probably recite the entire plot of The Godfather scene by scene with no preparation. Now do OUTIH. It's about an actor who's pissed that he's not in movies anymore? He watches TV a lot? And his friend is jacked and they go to the Manson ranch? I guess? It's just not good. Nothing without a plot is good. Show me a good movie with no plot I'll give you one million dollars.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318683)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:57 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

qui gon was a plot necessary nobody but 2 and 3 were both pretty good films imo and will likely hold up later on at least as far as star wars canon goes. Anakin's story is central and strong enough to usually drive the rest of the mediocre plot threads forward. ewan macgregor coming across the clones on the rainy water planet (highly underrated scenes; really, lucas was getting at something genuinely interesting there) and christensen's hemming and hawing around palpatine and padme both stand out pretty well even all of these years later. the finale of 3 and samuel L taking an L both stand on their own as well

counterpoint: some of fellini (that one that was just 8 or 9 unconnected vignettes) or maybe other "low concept" italian experimentation films from the 60s and 70s. the big lebowski has an "anti-plot" which is still a plot in a sense. inherent vice is also in this camp. "paris texas" was more or less plotless but still a gripping film. i guess you could lawyer "nature documentaries" or similar as being great but plotless films. there was a movie from one of the shaw brothers greats that was just a guy walking around hong kong and interacting with street vendors and stuff as a slice of life AV experience but idr the name of it. koyaanisqatsi (sp) was plotless but still a great film

once upon a time definitely has a defined plot but it's self-fellating, pornographic, and all of this happens at a benthic michael bay level of self awareness married to tarantino's similarly high level of technical skill so you wind up with something propagandistic, heavy-handed (especially for the times), and maybe even a little unsettling to rewatch without proper contextualization. like "inglorious basterds" release vis a vis the era it comes across as tone-deaf and not in a genuinely challenging van sant infant terrible auteur way but as a dopamine junkie manchild pooping his pants and gleefully pointing attention to their soiled trouser leg sort of fashion

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318728)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:05 AM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

Did you ever end up using your BFA in Film to get a job

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318744)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:06 AM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

i'm a bachelor who happens to be in the fine arts but i don't have a bfa

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318747)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:12 AM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

What do you do in the arts

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318753)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:23 AM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

i used to represent. i got an offer from an portraitist recently to run his fromt end but am too inundated with family tragedy to do much other than mope and cope atm

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318763)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:31 AM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

You should make a Noah Baumbach style movie about it

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318776)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:19 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

he's talented but i prefer wes anderson for that type of film

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320019)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:42 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen

Yeah but you seem more like a Noah Baumbach type of mewling kike imho

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320088)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 3rd, 2025 7:46 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49321621)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 3rd, 2025 4:01 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

a couple of upchucked coons guffawing at their gas station bologna sandwich "jokes" itt

autoadmit geek show

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49322865)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 8:37 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Cliff is the protagonist, not Rick. The Bruce Lee scene is essential. Cliff goes through a classic hero's journey - Rick is stagnant until the end when he finds strength in Cliff's example.

It's about accepting your limits as a man and then using that acceptance to break forward.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49319082)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:24 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

i don't disagree but i found it inappropriate wrt the story being told and the times being shown

he could've done something radical and artistically bold but instead decided to make more pornography. it's probably going to be the last major film made about the end of the flower generation for a long while. it was a squandered opportunity

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320031)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 7:27 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

it's a pillow mint on a hospice cot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318234)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 7:26 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

Pynchon doesn't translate well to film. Neither would DFW for that matter

The disjointedness is part of the thematic framing as well as an accurate representation of the structure of the plot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318232)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 11:59 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

It's actually a pretty interesting juxtaposition when placed in contrast to the Tarantino film we're discussing above

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318733)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 10:56 PM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

I find this fan trailer to be beautiful: https://youtu.be/gW39U8nxoQU

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49321204)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 1st, 2025 7:26 PM
Author: well-lubricated exhilarant house

Yeah, I really enjoyed Inherent Vice the 2nd time through.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318231)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:20 PM
Author: magenta pocket flask shitlib

you pick up on the humor in the details more

it's a very "busy" film both in visual texture and dialogue, appropriate for the lushness of the source material

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320023)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 12:28 AM
Author: Garnet pozpig national security agency

there will be blood is overrated as all fuck, boogie nights is a better film in all respects it just doesn't have a dark score and dramatic backgrounds

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49318771)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 8:38 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Boogie Nights is great, but it's a rip off of Goodfellas.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49319084)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 8:38 AM
Author: Lascivious henna generalized bond

Telling that no one has challenged Punch Drunk Love at No. 2.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49319085)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2025 4:38 PM
Author: Amateur Millennial Butt Porn



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49444492)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2025 4:45 PM
Author: Emotionally + Physically Abusive Ex-Husband (oppose bitchbois)



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49444512)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:42 PM
Author: unholy arousing toaster space

i thought licorice pizza and inherent vice were utter shit. PTA is a very uneven filmmaker imo. boogie nights, magnolia and there will be blood are top-tier, but some of his other stuff i really dislike. i thought the master fucking blew. long, plodding, boring.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320089)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 2:43 PM
Author: Wild rigor kitchen



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49320090)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 2nd, 2025 11:20 PM
Author: Slimy Locus Boltzmann



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5781505&forum_id=2/#49321249)