A unusually easy choice since two of his three best are from the 2010s; my affection for Inherent Vice is not needed to break any tie with another decade.
Josh B - 2 months ago
Had to be the 90s for me. Magnolia is the PTA that left the biggest emotional impact on me, and it's still the one I think about the most.
OBAA has me leaning towards the secret fourth option of the 20s...
Henry Murphy - 2 months ago
After seeing One Battle After Another, and given how much I love Licorice Pizza… I think I’m already willing to call my shot and give my vote to the unlisted (this poll is deeply flawed after all) option, of the 20s! PTA’s two most recent efforts are so great, that I’ll throw the rest in the incinerator and put my chips on whatever he’s got in store for us in the next 4 years too
Qball - 2 months ago
This was between the 90’s and the 10’s for me…and I love There Will be Blood, I’m meh on Punch Drunk (yes! I know I’m in the minority here in Filmspotting land). So this was tough, at first pondering, but The Master and Phantom Thread are just simply better than the nostalgic 90s Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Alex Torres - 2 months ago
Sam has really outdone himself with this one, but then again, maybe I should blame Paul Thomas Anderson for having such an incredible filmography. Some directors are easy for me to pick a specific decade/period (e.g., Coen Brothers, Tarantino), but PTA is a different beast. Maybe it's the evolution of his output, or maybe he's just that darn talented, but it's hard to identify a peak in his career. He hasn't made a weak film in my opinion and my favorites are fairly spread out. Do I go with the cocaine-energy of Boogie Nights and Magnolia? How about the more demure, mature filmmaking of Phantom Thread and the cerebral style of The Master?
I ultimately split the difference and picked the 2000s. There Will be Blood was my PTA entry point and need to revisit it because it's been many years, but it's status as a "Great American Film" makes it hard to put in the incinerator. More importantly, though, Punch-Drunk Love is my favorite Anderson film, capturing pure romance though his unique cinematic lens.
All of me wants to defy Sam and save all of these films, but if I have to pick, I think Anderson's 2000s film are an incredible bridge between the two poles of his evolution as a filmmaker.
Kat - 2 months ago
Phantom Thread is my single favorite, but if we're looking at the combined weight I have to go with Punch-Drunk Love & There Will Be Blood.
Michael - 2 months ago
3/4 of my favorite PTA films come out of the '10s, so this was an easy one for me
Carol Levenson - 2 months ago
The deep flaw this time around is that you should have excluded There Will Be Blood. If we’re being honest, no other decade will get a vote, and I would love to honor The Master or Phantom Thread, the quirkiest love story ever filmed.
From Chicago
Jonathan Anderson, Denver CO - 2 months ago
TL;DR: There Will Be Blood is in my personal top ten, I feel obligated to vote the 00's.
Longer answer: On my last rewatch of all of PTA's films, I found myself less interested in the 90s output than I had been. That's not to say that Boogie Nights and Magnolia aren't impressive and packed full of great stuff, but Punch Drunk Love is the moment when I feel like PTA came of age as a filmmaker and There Will Be Blood is still his masterpiece, one of the greatest films of all time.
Adam Graff - 2 months ago
My top three movies are each in a different decade so I thought this would be a tough choice, but my absolute favorite is Magnolia and my fourth favorite is Boogie Night so the 90s it is!
I can't cope with the thought of throwing Philip Seymour Hoffman's Phil Parma or Daniel Day-Lewis's Reynolds Woodcock into an incinerator. But then, I can't imagine living in a world where I can no longer revisit the singular wonder of Barry and Lena's love story or Daniel Plainview's harrowing plunge into America's heart of darkness.
Okay, I'm casting my vote for The 00s. That's my final answer. Don't argue. I have a competition in me. I want no other PTA decade to succeed.
Still, this poll caused me such emotional distress that I beat up the bathroom. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go out of town. I'm gonna go out of town for two days. Don't tell my sisters.
Alex Charner - 2 months ago
Such a difficult choice. I just think I return to There Will Be Blood and Punch Drunk Love most often.
Trent Robb - 2 months ago
That's a tough one. I went with the 10's. Here's my scores for these films. There Will Be Blood 97, The Master 95, Phantom Thread 92, Inherent Vice 91, Magnolia 87, Boogie Nights 86, Punch Drunk Love 81, Hard Eight 74. Yeah, looking at the numbers I guess it should not have been that hard. I'm a big Inherent Vice fan. I rewatched these when Licorice Pizza came out, and that's where these scores came from. By the way 81-100 is an A grade on my scale. Can't wait for One Battle After Another.
s/b An unusually easy...
A unusually easy choice since two of his three best are from the 2010s; my affection for Inherent Vice is not needed to break any tie with another decade.
Had to be the 90s for me. Magnolia is the PTA that left the biggest emotional impact on me, and it's still the one I think about the most.
OBAA has me leaning towards the secret fourth option of the 20s...
After seeing One Battle After Another, and given how much I love Licorice Pizza… I think I’m already willing to call my shot and give my vote to the unlisted (this poll is deeply flawed after all) option, of the 20s! PTA’s two most recent efforts are so great, that I’ll throw the rest in the incinerator and put my chips on whatever he’s got in store for us in the next 4 years too
This was between the 90’s and the 10’s for me…and I love There Will be Blood, I’m meh on Punch Drunk (yes! I know I’m in the minority here in Filmspotting land). So this was tough, at first pondering, but The Master and Phantom Thread are just simply better than the nostalgic 90s Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Sam has really outdone himself with this one, but then again, maybe I should blame Paul Thomas Anderson for having such an incredible filmography. Some directors are easy for me to pick a specific decade/period (e.g., Coen Brothers, Tarantino), but PTA is a different beast. Maybe it's the evolution of his output, or maybe he's just that darn talented, but it's hard to identify a peak in his career. He hasn't made a weak film in my opinion and my favorites are fairly spread out. Do I go with the cocaine-energy of Boogie Nights and Magnolia? How about the more demure, mature filmmaking of Phantom Thread and the cerebral style of The Master?
I ultimately split the difference and picked the 2000s. There Will be Blood was my PTA entry point and need to revisit it because it's been many years, but it's status as a "Great American Film" makes it hard to put in the incinerator. More importantly, though, Punch-Drunk Love is my favorite Anderson film, capturing pure romance though his unique cinematic lens.
All of me wants to defy Sam and save all of these films, but if I have to pick, I think Anderson's 2000s film are an incredible bridge between the two poles of his evolution as a filmmaker.
Phantom Thread is my single favorite, but if we're looking at the combined weight I have to go with Punch-Drunk Love & There Will Be Blood.
3/4 of my favorite PTA films come out of the '10s, so this was an easy one for me
The deep flaw this time around is that you should have excluded There Will Be Blood. If we’re being honest, no other decade will get a vote, and I would love to honor The Master or Phantom Thread, the quirkiest love story ever filmed.
From Chicago
TL;DR: There Will Be Blood is in my personal top ten, I feel obligated to vote the 00's.
Longer answer: On my last rewatch of all of PTA's films, I found myself less interested in the 90s output than I had been. That's not to say that Boogie Nights and Magnolia aren't impressive and packed full of great stuff, but Punch Drunk Love is the moment when I feel like PTA came of age as a filmmaker and There Will Be Blood is still his masterpiece, one of the greatest films of all time.
My top three movies are each in a different decade so I thought this would be a tough choice, but my absolute favorite is Magnolia and my fourth favorite is Boogie Night so the 90s it is!
I can't cope with the thought of throwing Philip Seymour Hoffman's Phil Parma or Daniel Day-Lewis's Reynolds Woodcock into an incinerator. But then, I can't imagine living in a world where I can no longer revisit the singular wonder of Barry and Lena's love story or Daniel Plainview's harrowing plunge into America's heart of darkness.
Okay, I'm casting my vote for The 00s. That's my final answer. Don't argue. I have a competition in me. I want no other PTA decade to succeed.
Still, this poll caused me such emotional distress that I beat up the bathroom. I'm sorry. I'm gonna go out of town. I'm gonna go out of town for two days. Don't tell my sisters.
Such a difficult choice. I just think I return to There Will Be Blood and Punch Drunk Love most often.
That's a tough one. I went with the 10's. Here's my scores for these films. There Will Be Blood 97, The Master 95, Phantom Thread 92, Inherent Vice 91, Magnolia 87, Boogie Nights 86, Punch Drunk Love 81, Hard Eight 74. Yeah, looking at the numbers I guess it should not have been that hard. I'm a big Inherent Vice fan. I rewatched these when Licorice Pizza came out, and that's where these scores came from. By the way 81-100 is an A grade on my scale. Can't wait for One Battle After Another.