Thursday, November 10, 2011

Top Ranked Films of Paul Thomas Anderson



Paul Thomas Anderson
4 titles, 53rd in points with 13,990

1. There Will Be Blood (2007) #150
2. Boogie Nights (1997) #212
3. Magnolia (1999) #320
4. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) #536

Out of the top 1000
5. Hard Eight (1997) #1630


Interesting that my favorite of his films, Hard Eight (1997), is the one not in the top 1000, but it’s an excellent con-artist film, and also Anderson's tightest film overall, it's lean and mean. John C. Reilly stars as a newcomer on the gambling scene in Vegas who’s shown how to game the system there by a cagey veteran gambler, played by Philip Baker Hall in probably his career best; Gwyneth Paltrow has a nice supporting role, so the cast is excellent.

After that, I guess these are ranked about right vs. each other, though I’d lower each film by about 100 places myself, and not rank Punch-Drunk Love (the only Sandler film I’ve liked is 50 First Dates (2004) – it’s very weak compared to the others, and to Hard Eight. I found the others excessive in one way or another, though still very good films; usually a bit too long (or they just lost pacing), each could use a little editing.

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