I've never read the work of Thomas Pynchon, but I understand it to be incredibly dense, packed with far-out ideas, and, while brilliant, definitely not for the casual reader. If that's true, then I assume Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice is very faithful to the book. A marijuana-fueled riff on the detective genre, the 1970-set… read more!

Writer/director Anderson once again turns to Los Angeles of the 1970s for his latest concoction, although Licorice Pizza, a quirky romance set in 1973, is far more enjoyable than Boogie Nights and far more accessible than Inherent Vice. And it feels like Anderson's most personal work, a labor of love in the best sense of the word. The film marks… read more!

Magnolia is about a bunch of messed-up LA residents whose unhappy lives interconnect, sort of. Sound like Robert Altman's Short Cuts? Sure, but Anderson is after some other idea – something about the sins of the fathers being visited on the sons, I guess, since nearly every character in the film is either a father who has treated his children… read more!

As Anderson's highly anticipated followup to There Will Be Blood, The Master's reputation precedes it, since it had been reported that the film was a dramatization of the early days of Scientology and its leader L. Ron Hubbard. In fact the titular "Master" – one Lancaster Dodd (Anderson regular Philip Seymour Hoffman) – is obviously modeled on Hubbard, and certain… read more!

After a pair of exceptionally baffling films – The Master and Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson returns with an original story that is much more accessible, if a little perverse. Phantom Thread concerns a fashion designer in 1950s London with the preposterous name of Reynolds Woodcock, played by Daniel Day-Lewis in what the actor insists is his final role.… read more!

If nothing else, Paul Thomas Anderson will be remembered for his hubris. First he shamelessly apes Scorsese and Altman in his overstuffed and overrated Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and now he has decided he's going to be the guy who taught Adam Sandler how to act. Frankly, I had no real doubts that Sandler could put in a good performance… read more!

Maybe it says something about me that the Paul Thomas Anderson film I like best is the one that nobody else likes: Punch-Drunk Love. For I found both Magnolia and Boogie Nights – still hailed by most film geeks as classics – bloated and irritating. Still, I think Anderson is an interesting director and I looked forward to There Will… read more!