--- description: Your favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie probably depends on whether you prefer his oddball comedies or his operatic psychodramas. Sometimes, when you’re lucky, you get both at once. title: All of Paul Thomas Anderson's Movies, Ranked image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b43c67f6616a5c3/698a201622fb853cfde2ce2a/pt_anderson_films_illustration_by_ryan_olbrysh.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # All of Paul Thomas Anderson's Movies, Ranked by [Matthew Jacobs](/author/matthew-jacobs/) ## Matthew Jacobs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Sep 26, 2025 2:06 PM CUTPublished: Nov 24, 2021 1:00 PM CUT  Illustration by Ryan Olbrysh for TIME by [Matthew Jacobs](/author/matthew-jacobs/) ## Matthew Jacobs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Sep 26, 2025 2:06 PM CUTPublished: Nov 24, 2021 1:00 PM CUT Your favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie probably depends on whether you prefer his oddball comedies (_Punch-Drunk Love_, [_Inherent Vice_](https://time.com/3468400/inherent-vice-paul-thomas-anderson-pynchon-joaquin-phoenix/ "undefined"), [_Licorice Pizza_](https://time.com/6122812/licorice-pizza-paul-thomas-anderson-alana-haim/ "undefined")) or his operatic psychodramas ([_There Will Be Blood_](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1698168,00.html "undefined")_, The Master_, _Magnolia_, _Hard Eight_). Sometimes, when you’re lucky, you get both at once ([_Phantom Thread_](https://time.com/5075162/phantom-thread-movie-review/ "undefined"), _Boogie Nights_). Anderson tends to change tempos from film to film, which makes him one of the most energizing directors working today. Even when his films are sprawling, his work remains intimate and character-driven, using hyper-specific backdrops—[often the California of yesteryear](https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/paul-thomas-anderson-inherant-vice-magnolia-boogie-nights-california-history/ "undefined"), where he was born—to illuminate a particular moment in time. In some sense, every story he tells is one in which humans’ desperate need for connection butts up against greed of one kind or another (usually a distinctly American kind). But despite his headiness, Anderson is committed to entertaining the hell out of us. His soundtrack curation alone is exquisite—no surprise, as he is also a music enthusiast, having helmed slick videos for [Fiona Apple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxqtbqyoRk "undefined"), [Radiohead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAU7lLDZYU "undefined") and [Haim](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjuA%5Fo6Jzyo "undefined"). His plots are invigorating in their well-calculated unpredictability. Simply put, Anderson has never made a bad movie, and certainly never a dull one. If he ever does, it would probably still run circles around whatever else is playing at the multiplex that weekend. [_One Battle After Another_](https://time.com/7318569/one-battle-after-another-review-paul-thomas-anderson/ "undefined") marks Anderson’s tenth movie, and almost certainly the start of a long awards-season campaign, so it's as good an occasion as any to reflect on his catalog thus far. As the movie hits theaters on Sept. 26, we're updating this ranking of Anderson’s era-defining oeuvre, originally published in 2021. ## **10.** **_Inherent Vice_** **(2014)** One viewing of _Inherent Vice_ won’t suffice. Even if you’ve read the Thomas Pynchon novel on which it’s based, this rambling tangle about a perpetually stoned private investigator (a mutton-chopped Joaquin Phoenix) drifting through a Manson-paranoid Los Angeles can feel as hazy as a cloud of pot smoke. It is, as the kids say, a vibe—and a dense one at that, tackling the changing cultural mores of 1970 with deceptively layered humor. For many, _Vice_ is a “like it or leave it” situation. When consumed like a _Long Goodbye_\-esque parade of unified tableaux guided by a fashionable cast (Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Hong Chau, a scene-stealing Martin Short), the movie offers a groovy secondhand buzz. But it’s also a bit high on its own supply, lacking the emotional anchor needed to stay afloat. ## **9\.** **_Hard Eight_** **(1996)** Anderson got a rude awakening about Hollywood egos when the production company behind _Sydney_, his directorial debut, recut the film and named it _Hard Eight_. He acquiesced on the title but not the edit, ultimately convincing the powers that be to release his version. Even with Anderson’s thinnest plot, _Hard Eight_ is pretty great. The movie has early traces of his signature flair: stylish tracking shots, piercing close-ups, expressive monologues, and a story that changes course around the midway point. A neo-noir about a down-on-his-luck stiff (John C. Reilly) and the mysterious gambler (Philip Baker Hall) who lends him a hand, this established Anderson’s bona fides, even though it was only released in 29 theaters. ## **8\.** **_The Master_** **(2012)** The first thing you notice in _The Master_ is Jonny Greenwood’s score, a propulsive ticktock that hypnotizes the audience before a single word has been spoken. The second is Joaquin Phoenix’s hunched posture. The arch in his back, combined with his unwitting snarl, makes him at once diminutive and imposing, childlike and depraved. His Freddie Quell is a man of contradictions, beleaguered by the horrors of World War II and susceptible to the allure of a seductive charlatan ([Philip Seymour Hoffman](https://time.com/3879/philip-seymour-hoffman-appreciation-death-of-the-master/ "undefined"), playing an L. Ron Hubbard type in a film with pointed Scientology parallels). The final thing you notice in _The Master_ is that it’s somehow a love story between Freddie and his new guru, even if said guru’s wife (Amy Adams) tends to call the shots, sometimes while giving hand jobs. That uneasy constellation of spiritual crises, like all of Anderson’s films, rewards repeat viewings. ## **7\.** **_Licorice Pizza_** **(2021)** Unfolding like a series of ebullient vignettes, _Licorice Pizza_ roams through Los Angeles alongside a precocious 15-year-old showman (Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the slightly older apple of his eye (Alana Haim of the rock trio Haim). It’s a coming-of-age frolic about a bunch of schemes taking place amid the encroaching chaos of 1973, bridging the rise and fall of waterbeds with an international oil crisis. This is Anderson at his freest. The plot zigs, zags and zips through the two young hopefuls’ whimsical adventures. Their detours along the way, particularly one involving an unhinged Bradley Cooper as larger-than-life Hollywood producer Jon Peters, form a sweet ode to the ingenuity of youth. _Licorice Pizza_ is one huge grin in movie form. ## **6\.** **_Magnolia_** **(1999)** Following the success of _Boogie Nights_ in 1997, the suits at New Line Cinema [gave Anderson carte blanche](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/19/magazine/his-way.html "undefined"). What resulted was a three-hour mosaic of psychological freak-outs inspired by his stint as a PA on _Quiz Kids Challenge_, Aimee Mann’s music and the San Fernando Valley. _Magnolia_, with its feverish performances (Julianne Moore! Tom Cruise! Jason Robards! Melora Walters!) and where-the-hell-is-this-going velocity, is a movie about choices. Any choice a character makes sets off a chain reaction that spirals through the various narratives, which coalesce around a biblical squall in which frogs tumble from the heavens. Anderson milks the conventions of melodrama, assigning everyone’s experiences—no matter how mundane or misguided—near-epic scope. When asked what he would redo about the film during a [Reddit AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/7quthe/im%5Fpaul%5Fthomas%5Fanderson%5Fwriter%5Fand%5Fdirector%5Fof/ "undefined") four years ago, he responded, “Chill the f-ck out and cut 20 minutes.” Could it use a trim? Sure. But this is a rare behemoth unburdened by its running time, exemplifying Anderson’s masterly control. ## **5\.** **_Punch-Drunk_** **_Love_** **(2002)** After the unfettered sprawl of _Magnolia_, Anderson was determined to cap his next project at 90 minutes. Out of that came _Punch-Drunk Love_, at once, paradoxically, Anderson’s most fantastical and most grounded movie. To label it a romantic comedy feels limiting, though it is technically a love story about a jittery neurotic named Barry (a career-best Adam Sandler) and the shy sweetheart (Emily Watson) who takes a liking to his idiosyncrasies. _Punch-Drunk_ is better described as a manic lark, from the abandoned harmonium that kicks off the story to the phone-sex extortion ploy that threatens to disrupt Barry’s newfound contentment. It’s a testament to Anderson’s peculiar dialogue and roving camerawork that he can make such a humanistic film that still manages to become an out-of-this-world fairy tale. ## **4\.** **_Boogie_** **_Nights_** **(1997)** _Boogie Nights_ established Anderson’s sense of scale. It’s a saga about family—the chosen kind, or at least the happened-upon kind—filtered through the disco-inflected California porn scene of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Anderson isn’t interested in trite ideas like “growth,” that gingerly Hollywood fixation that requires characters to change or mature by the time the plot expires. This menagerie of outcasts remain the same people they were when the film began, finding refuge in the employment of a demanding director (Burt Reynolds). Expanded from a short film Anderson made in high school, _Nights_ is a master class in tone: dark, funny and oddly comforting, sometimes within the same scene. Alfred Molina’s [drugged-out climax](https://www.newyorker.com/recommends/watch/the-still-splendid-drug-deal-scene-in-boogie-nights "undefined") alone belongs in some kind of pantheon. The movie can also claim credit for turning Mark Wahlberg, best known at the time as hip-hop upstart Marky Mark, into a viable movie star. (He can thank Leonardo DiCaprio, who recommended Wahlberg for the role of well-endowed dunce Dirk Diggler because he’d already signed on to do _Titanic_.) ## 3\. _One Battle After Another_ PTA's Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration has been simmering since the actor turned down _Boogie Nights_ all those years ago, and this rip-roaring feat was worth the wait. Most of Anderson's movies look to the past—the early-1900s American West, 1950s London, '70s California—which makes _One Battle After Another_ a real surprise. The film's 21st-century politics are jarringly of the moment, with the guerrillas at its center warring against militarized police, migrant detention camps, white-nationalist cabals, and fascism at large. But its emotional heft is that of a father-daughter story: DiCaprio’s frayed ex-revolutionary coming out of hiding to track down his teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti) after she’s targeted by the opposition. Anderson, a wizard of disparate tones, pushes _One Battle_ from a propulsive thriller to a zesty stoner comedy and back again, culminating in a chase sequence as electrifying as anything in _The French Connection_. This loose update of Thomas Pynchon's Reagan-era satire [_Vineland_](https://time.com/7319399/one-battle-after-another-vineland-thomas-pynchon/ "undefined") wonders what happens when you give up the fight. Answer: It turns up at your door while you're lolling around in your bathrobe. ## **2\.** **_Phantom_** **_Thread_** **(2017)** Anderson came up with _Phantom Thread_ while sick in bed. “My wife”—that’s Maya Rudolph, though they aren’t technically married—“looked at me with a love and affection that I hadn’t seen in a long time,” [he said](https://ew.com/movies/2017/11/27/daniel-day-lewis-phantom-thread-new-york-screening/ "undefined"). “So I called Daniel \[Day-Lewis\] the next day and said, ‘I think I have a good idea for a movie.’” That idea birthed one of the strangest and most rapturous romances of the last decade, in which tempestuous 1950s couturier Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) is mellowed by a soft-spoken muse (Vicky Krieps) who feeds him toxic mushrooms as a means of disarmament. It’s surprising to say that a film about the sadomasochistic eccentricities of coupledom produced Anderson’s wittiest script and prettiest cinematography, but _Phantom Thread_ did exactly that. Just when you think Alma has set out to kill Reynolds, the film reveals itself to be a euphoric meditation on power, tenderness and the intimate negotiations that exist behind closed doors. ## **1\.** **_There Will Be Blood_** **(2007)** _There Will Be Blood_ is the moment Anderson went from an exciting director to an essential one. At the time of its release, antiheroes weren’t as unusual in movies as they were on TV, with Tony Soprano’s influence trickling its way through prestige programming, and yet Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) feels almost unmatched in his brand of [hyper-articulate monstrosity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28BXqQWqYJU "undefined"). An early-1900s petroleum capitalist, Daniel has a misanthropic streak—to put it lightly—that reflects a quintessentially American nightmare. Tearing his way through the undeveloped West with a devilish poise, he strikes it rich through greed and manipulation, those all-too-human attributes that would come to define the 20th century and beyond. A masterpiece loosely inspired by Upton Sinclair’s novel _Oil!_, this movie is at once a haunting psychodrama, a damning portrait of masculinity and a terrifyingly fun exercise in villainy. _Matthew Jacobs is a New York City-based culture writer specializing in movies and television. His work has appeared in_ Vulture_,_ The Cut_,_ Vanity Fair_,_ The Hollywood Reporter_,_ The Wall Street Journal Magazine _and_ HuffPost_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6122813/paul-thomas-anderson-movies-ranked/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6122813/paul-thomas-anderson-movies-ranked/"},"headline":"All of Paul Thomas Anderson's Movies, Ranked","datePublished":"2021-11-24T13:00:18.000Z","dateModified":"2025-09-26T14:06:03.000Z","description":"Your favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie probably depends on whether you prefer his oddball comedies or his operatic psychodramas. 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