{"id":186067,"date":"2025-09-27T20:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T20:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/186067\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T20:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T20:33:13","slug":"the-best-performances-in-pta-movies-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/186067\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Performances in PTA Movies, Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Paul Thomas Anderson season.<\/p>\n<p>The acclaimed writer\/director is back with yet another masterpiece \u2014\u00a0this time, the epic action-comedy <a href=\"https:\/\/thewrap.com\/tag\/one-battle-after-another\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u201cOne Battle After Another.\u201d<\/a> Like many of PTA\u2019s films, \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d boasts a sprawling cast delivering pitch-perfect performances. Characters that only appear in a few scenes leave a lasting impact, while lead actors\u2019 work stands among the best in their careers.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, ranking a list of the best performances in a PTA movie feels like something of a fool\u2019s errand. If this ranking were twice as long, it would still not fit all of the phenomenal turns and characters found in the director\u2019s 10-film lineup. Comparing these performances against each other is equally challenging. <\/p>\n<p>While this PTA performance ranking is far from complete, these 15 performances stand out from the crowd as some of the strongest found in the director\u2019s robust filmography. Every role on this list is, in a word, phenomenal.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the 15 best Paul Thomas Anderson-directed performances.<\/p>\n<p>Note: This article contains actors and characters from \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d with no major spoilers. If you haven\u2019t seen the film, feel free to read ahead (but treat yourself as soon as possible).<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Don-Cheadle-Boogie-Nights.jpg\" alt=\"Don Cheadle holds a cup of coffee to his mouth while talking to a customer at a stereo store in &quot;Boogie Nights&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7851514\"  \/>Don Cheadle in \u201cBoogie Nights\u201d (New Line Cinema)<\/p>\n<p>15. Don Cheadle as Buck Swope (\u201cBoogie Nights\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to narrow most PTA films down to its one or two best performances. This is especially true of \u201cBoogie Nights,\u201d a sprawling showcase of character actors making meals of roles both big and small. Don Cheadle probably isn\u2019t the first actor that comes to mind when people think of \u201cBoogie Nights,\u201d but his performance is quietly one of the best.<\/p>\n<p>Buck Swope is a simple man. While other characters set their sights on becoming massive pornstars or true artistic filmmakers, Buck\u2019s ambitions are smaller in comparison. Buck, a former porn actor himself, wants to open a stereo store. He wants to dress as a cowboy. He wants to be a father. This comic turn adds a bit of warmth to balance some of the film\u2019s harsher elements \u2014\u00a0but when that harshness crashes into Buck, Cheadle sells the moment with just as much emotion as the film\u2019s stars.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/bradley-cooper-licorice-pizza.jpg\" alt=\"Bradley Cooper Licorice Pizza\" class=\"wp-image-5690794\"  \/>United Artists \/ MGM<\/p>\n<p>14. Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters (\u201cLicorice Pizza\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>If you broke every PTA performance into a laughs-per-minute average, Bradley Cooper\u2019s turn as hairdresser and future producer Jon Peters would have a good chance of coming out on top. The character is absent for most of the film, occupying only one segment in the picaresque narrative of growing up in the 1970s San Fernando Valley. The impression he leaves in this short stretch quickly becomes a highlight of an already strong piece.<\/p>\n<p>In just a handful of scenes, Cooper delivers hit after hit in a highly manic performance as Barbra Streisand\u2019s (stry-sand, like sands, like the ocean) lover. Whether acknowledging to a 15-year-old boy that \u201cWe\u2019re both from the streets,\u201d telling a young woman \u201cI don\u2019t want you to have the bear the burden\u201d of hitting his car or threatening a driver to give him a gas station nozzle by threatening to light them both on fire. Cooper is always hilarious, and deeply engaging. His portrayal of Peters feels exactly like a guy who would one day tell Kevin Smith he needs to add a giant spider to a \u201cSuperman\u201d movie.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rump-33.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Boogie Nights&quot; (New Line Cinema)\" class=\"wp-image-7609262\"  \/>\u201cBoogie Nights\u201d (New Line Cinema)<\/p>\n<p>13. John C. Reilly as Reed Rothchild (\u201cBoogie Nights\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Though he hasn\u2019t featured in a PTA film since (aside from a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it appearance in \u201cLicorice Pizza\u201d), John C. Reilly starred in the first three features of his friend\u2019s filmography: \u201cHard Eight,\u201d \u201cBoogie Nights\u201d and \u201cMagnolia.\u201d Though \u201cBoogie Nights\u201d is surely be the smallest part of the trio, it\u2019s also some of Reilly\u2019s best work as an actor to date.<\/p>\n<p>Reed Rothchild is a fascinating character. A pornography actor who quickly gets eclipsed by the star power of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), it would be easy for Reilly to play Reed as a jealous and vengeful second banana. Instead, he and PTA crafted a much more interesting man, a willing sidekick who immediately cedes the spotlight and becomes the supportive best friend of the rising talent. Reilly and Wahlberg bounce off of each other well, developing a hilarious relationship not wholly unlike the eventual \u201cStep Brothers\u201d duo of Reilly and Will Ferrell. <\/p>\n<p>Like Don Cheadle\u2019s Buck Swope, Reed Rothchild doesn\u2019t get the same flashy material as the phenomenal leading trio of Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore (all of whom would be at home on a \u201cBest of PTA\u201d ranking). Yet Reilly excels at playing a type of character seen across Anderson\u2019s films:\u00a0a utility player who makes the movie that much more interesting by knowing when to step back. In this way, Reilly (once the center of PTA\u2019s cinematic universe) is Reed Rothchild \u2014\u00a0and \u201cBoogie Nights\u201d is all the better for it.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1759005190_488_One-Battle-After-Another.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;One Battle After Another&quot; (Credit: Warner Bros.)\" class=\"wp-image-7729046\"  \/>\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d (Credit: Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n<p>12. Leonardo DiCaprio as \u201cGhetto\u201d Pat Calhoun \/ Bob Ferguson (\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>I tried not to let any one movie overpower this list \u2014 particularly when it came to PTA\u2019s latest masterpiece. In truth, there were numerous performances that I mulled over from \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d and I still wonder if the two I\u2019ve selected are indeed my two favorites. They\u2019re certainly the two that I took the most away from on my first watch. <\/p>\n<p>Bob Ferguson both is and isn\u2019t a familiar turn from Leonardo DiCaprio. While he lacks a lot of the suaveness and charisma of the actor\u2019s early career, he is filled with the mania and loserish behavior that defines current-stage Leo. In many ways, he evokes \u201cOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood\u2019s\u201d Rick Dalton, a version that lives with his heart outside of his body. He drinks and he smokes to forget that his best days are behind him (and that danger hides around every corner), yet he also knows that the single greatest thing in his life stands right before his eyes. He wishes he was better at communicating, but he always tries to connect.<\/p>\n<p>Leo, once a seemingly eternally youthful star, transitions into playing the role of girl dad, someone who recognizes that the future is now in the hands of the next generation. The next generation in \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d is well cared for \u2014\u00a0but DiCaprio still gives one of the most touching, enjoyable turns in his storied career alongside her.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"the-wrap-read-more__image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/martin-scorsese-what-happens-at-night-leonardo-dicaprio-jennifer-lawrence\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/martin-scorsese-killers-premiere.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Martin Scorsese at the &quot;Killers of the Flower Moon&quot; Los Angeles premiere.\"   data-portal-copyright=\"TheWrap\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/the-master-joaquin-phoenix.jpg\" alt=\"Joaquin Phoenix in &quot;The Master&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-5704957\"  \/>Joaquin Phoenix in \u201cThe Master (Annapurna\/Weinstein Company)<\/p>\n<p>11. Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell (\u201cThe Master\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a scene in \u201cThe Master\u201d where Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s Freddie Quell finds himself locked in a jail cell next to Philip Seymour Hoffman\u2019s enigmatic cult leader Lancaster Dodd. As Freddie stands with his hands cuffed behind his back, he begins thrashing violently around the room, banging a bed with the back of his neck and destroying a toilet with his feet. It\u2019s not the subtlest thing Phoenix has ever done, nor is it the extent of his performance in the film, but it\u2019s entirely entrancing to watch him become a caged animal whipped into frenzy.<\/p>\n<p>Freddie and Lancaster\u2019s relationship lies at the center of \u201cThe Master\u201d \u2014 a directionless, broken war veteran who falls into the orbit of a compelling, phony cult leader. There is not a moment with Phoenix on-camera where he is anything short of mesmerizing, selling the complex dynamic between these two men that is far from a mere master\/apprentice dichotomy. Phoenix shows shades of future performances in this role (one clownish Oscar winner, in particular), but he\u2019s perhaps never been better than he is here.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Chase-Infiniti-One-Battle-After-Another.jpg\" alt=\"Chase Infiniti sits on a bench in &quot;One Battle After Another&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7851563\"  \/>Chase Infiniti in \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d (Warner Bros. Pictures)<\/p>\n<p>10. Chase Infiniti as  Charlene Calhoun \/ Willa Ferguson (\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>PTA tosses a lot of established actors career-best roles, but he and casting director Cassandra Kulukundis also make a lot of compelling discoveries. Fresh off of her appearance in \u201cPresumed Innocent,\u201d Chase Infiniti makes her big-screen debut in \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d acting against the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Regina Hall. Her performance yields one major takeaway.<\/p>\n<p>Chase Infiniti is a movie star.<\/p>\n<p>While her screen time likely doesn\u2019t quite amount to DiCaprio\u2019s or Penn\u2019s, much of the story of \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d rides on Infiniti\u2019s shoulders. Willa Ferguson is forced to become an overnight revolutionary of a war her parents drafted her into, evading capture from the deranged Col. Lockjaw while trying to survive long enough to reunite with her father, Bob. Every scene of hers is utterly compelling, selling the confidence, uncertainty and fear that this teenage warrior needs to convey. You never feel the absence of more established names when Infiniti appears alone on-screen. Her performance, especially as the film enters its final act, is a knockout. <\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/phantom-thread-image.jpeg\" alt=\"phantom-thread-image\" class=\"wp-image-5730984\"  \/>Focus Features<\/p>\n<p>9. Vicky Krieps as Alma Elson (\u201cPhantom Thread\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>In \u201cPhantom Thread,\u201d Vicky Krieps stars alongside Daniel Day-Lewis in his second PTA role, following what is often regarded as one of the best performances of all time. Krieps, in what is now considered her breakout role, entirely holds her own, playing one of the most interesting characters in Anderson\u2019s filmography.<\/p>\n<p>Krieps is tasked with carrying much of the twisted romance at the center of \u201cPhantom Thread.\u201d As Reynolds pushes Alma further and further to the side, she must find new ways to assert her power in the House of Woodcock. In lesser hands, it would be easy for this performance to feel disastrous. Yet Krieps sells the role with a quiet complexity that helps make it into one of the most compelling love stories in modern film. \u201cPhantom Thread\u201d has gained even more esteem over the years as one of Anderson\u2019s best, a quiet contender among an already astounding filmography. Watching Krieps, Day-Lewis and Leslie Manville work in tandem, it\u2019s not hard to imagine why.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/John-C-Reilly-Melora-Walters-Magnolia.jpg\" alt=\"John C. Reilly and Melora Walters in &quot;Magnolia&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7852926\"  \/>John C. Reilly and Melora Walters in \u201cMagnolia\u201d (New Line Cinema)<\/p>\n<p>8. Melora Walters as Claudia Wilson Gator (\u201cMagnolia\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>From a storytelling perspective, \u201cMagnolia\u201d remains one of PTA\u2019s most ambitious works. It\u2019s a sprawling story with a vast ensemble \u2014\u00a0something that can be said of many of him films, but never again quite to this degree. As such, it becomes incredibly difficult to narrow down the movie\u2019s best performances. Any list, however, would feel incomplete without Melora Walters.<\/p>\n<p>Walters has one of the trickier characters in \u201cMagnolia,\u201d playing the tortured and troubled Claudia Wilson Gator. Claudia has had an incredibly difficult life, one involving an abusive relationship with her father (played by Philip Baker Hall) that paved the way for addiction.<\/p>\n<p>Walters plays this part with immense compassion, knowing when to be showy and, more importantly, when to not. She creates some of the most memorable moments in the film with a highly emotive and lasting performance. \u201cMagnolia\u201d throws a lot at the wall, and it\u2019s likely that not all of it will stick for everyone. Walters\u2019 performances continues to stick for me.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"the-wrap-read-more__image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/where-to-watch-paul-thomas-anderson-pta-movies-streaming\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/There-Will-Be-Blood-Punch-Drunk-Love-Licorice-Pizza.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A split image of Daniel Day-Lewis sitting faced away from the camera in &quot;There Will Be Blood&quot; (left), Emily Watson and Adam Sandler kissing in silhouette in &quot;Punch-Drunk Love&quot; (center) and Cooper Hoffman wearing a white suit and red shirt (right)\"   data-portal-copyright=\"TheWrap\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Hard-Eight-PTA.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Baker Hall (right) and John C. Reilly (left) in &quot;Hard Eight&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7846311\"  \/>John C. Reilly and Philip Baker Hall in \u201cHard Eight\u201d (Rysher Entertainment)<\/p>\n<p>7. Philip Baker Hall as Sydney Brown (\u201cHard Eight\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHard Eight\u201d often ranks near the bottom of most evaluations of PTA\u2019s filmography. It was the director\u2019s first feature-length cinematic effort, a movie about a mysterious gambler who takes a struggling young man under his wing in an act of seemingly random charity. There\u2019s a lot to love in the film, though the screenplay doesn\u2019t quite live up to the standards of the director\u2019s later efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Philip Baker Hall\u2019s central performance is an astounding piece of work. Playing the role of Sydney Brown (the film was initially set to be called \u201cSydney\u201d), Hall enters every scene with mystique and swagger. He\u2019s electric in every frame, playing a man who carries a heavy burden yet radiates a steely kindness. \u201cHard Eight\u201d may not be PTA\u2019s best, yet it still carries one of his finest performances. This is far from a minor debut.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/licorice-pizza-sb_marketing_stills_12.00270346_CC_CROPV1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Licorice Pizza\" class=\"wp-image-5710418\"  \/>MGM<\/p>\n<p>6. Alana Haim as Alana Kane (\u201cLicorice Pizza\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Alana Kane is a mess.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s a 20-something-year-old (I wouldn\u2019t trust her answer of 25) looking for direction. After a day of taking high school pictures, she takes up a 15-year-old\u2019s offer for a date \u2014 though she wouldn\u2019t it call that \u2014 for reasons she probably couldn\u2019t name. As she continues to develop an ambiguous relationship with Gary Valentine (played by a fantastic Cooper Hoffman), she wonders why the only person she can really, deeply connect with is a 15-year-old \u201cidiot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an incredibly difficult role that Alana Haim plays with precision. Questions about the weirdness of Alana and Gary\u2019s relationship abound, and they\u2019re fair questions to raise. But Haim sinks deeply into this part (far from \u201cplaying herself\u201d), displaying the complexity, uncertainty and resistance that comes with \u201cgrowing up\u201d as a young adult. She\u2019s a force to be reckoned with throughout the film, and a character that invites constant interrogation. <\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Philip-Seymour-Hoffman-The-Master.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Seymour Hoffman in &quot;The Master&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7852927\"  \/>Philip Seymour Hoffman in \u201cThe Master\u201d (Annapurna\/Weinstein Company)<\/p>\n<p>5. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd (\u201cThe Master\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Philip Seymour Hoffman appears in half of PTA\u2019s filmography, and you could make a fair argument for just about any of those performances belonging on this list. \u201cThe Master\u201d is certainly where Anderson gives him the most to do. In a film with a lot on its mind, Hoffman gives a centerpiece performance as a charismatic cult leader that takes Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s troubled Freddie Quell under his wing.<\/p>\n<p>Hoffman, often a king of background acting, commands the foreground in a calculated performance, bringing all the nuance and intricacy of his always stellar supporting work. Almost every word out of Lancaster Dodd\u2019s mouth feels entirely measured, making those few moments where he lets the mask slip all the more interesting. Without Hoffman\u2019s unparalleled ability to turn in hypnotic character work, this entire film would fall apart. For as massive, probing and distant as \u201cThe Master\u201d can seem, Hoffman makes Dodd\u2019s final moments with Quell one of the most emotional pieces in Anderson\u2019s filmography.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Leslie-Manville-Phantom-Thread.jpg\" alt=\"Leslie Manville in &quot;Phantom Thread&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7852928\"  \/>Leslie Manville in \u201cPhantom Thread\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n<p>4. Lesley Manville as Cyril Woodcock (\u201cPhantom Thread\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Power dynamics have always been a preoccupation of PTA\u2019s. Especially as the filmmaker settles into his later career, many of his films revolve around the idea of who controls a relationship, romantic or otherwise. \u201cPhantom Thread\u201d has some of the most overt portrayals of this theme \u2014\u00a0and some of the strongest.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Day-Lewis\u2019 Reynolds may be the frontman of the House of Woodcock, but his sister Cyril demonstrates that it truly is a family affair. Lesley Manville plays the character with an expert calm and assuredness, one of the only people in Reynolds\u2019 life who can best him, who wields any sort of power over him at all. It\u2019s a role they\u2019re both aware of, even if Reynolds sometimes threatens to forget it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t pick a fight with me, you certainly won\u2019t come out alive. I\u2019ll go right through you and it\u2019ll be you who ends up on the floor. Understood?\u201d Cyril says in one of the film\u2019s best moments. It\u2019s one of the only times in the film anyone is able to quiet Reynolds in a moment of his wrath.<\/p>\n<p>Much of \u201cPhantom Thread\u201d goes unsaid between sister, brother and lover. It\u2019s one of Anderson\u2019s quietest and most ethereal works. Yet Manville perfectly conveys every element of Cyril and Reynolds\u2019 complex, often unremarked upon relationship. She needn\u2019t a word, but it\u2019s a treat when she speaks.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a class=\"the-wrap-read-more__image\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/one-battle-after-another-box-office-preview\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/One-Battle-After-Another-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"One Battle After Another\"   data-portal-copyright=\"TheWrap\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Emily-Watson-and-Adam-Sandler-in-Punch-Drunk-Love.jpg\" alt=\"Emily Watson and Adam Sandler in &quot;Punch-Drunk Love.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-7699116\"  \/>Sony<\/p>\n<p>3. Adam Sandler as Barry Egan (\u201cPunch-Drunk Love\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard for me to write about this one without getting emotional. In \u201cPunch-Drunk Love,\u201d Adam Sandler\u2019s performance reminds me of someone very important to me, in a way no other movie really has. This character gives me hope for things that I sometimes stay up at night worrying about. He connects with me in ways that I don\u2019t really know how to put into words. I find this performance meaningful, and incredibly personal \u2014 a testament to Sandler\u2019s strength in the role.<\/p>\n<p>Barry Egan is, above all, an outsider. He\u2019s a self-starting entrepreneur cursed with debilitating social anxiety. He calls phone sex lines merely to find someone willing to engage in conversation. He spends significant sums of money on pudding cups so he can accrue airline miles \u2014\u00a0never mind the fact that he is afraid of leaving even his office, and doesn\u2019t seem to have any strong feelings towards pudding. He\u2019s internalized years of \u201cteasing\u201d and abuse, yielding emotional, often violent outbursts. This all leads him to wonder: Is something actually wrong with me? Am I broken?<\/p>\n<p>Barry goes through the wringer in \u201cPunch-Drunk Love,\u201d getting accosted by cruel sisters, brutish brothers and a vengeful mattress store salesman. Yet he also meets Lena Leonard (played wonderfully by Emily Watson), a woman who loves Barry for who he is and forgives him for who he\u2019s not. Lena isn\u2019t doing Barry\u2019s sisters a favor, or showing him pity by giving him the time of day. She doesn\u2019t like him \u201cin spite of\u201d anything, or hunt for wounded birds. There are no qualifiers for her affection towards Barry \u2014\u00a0nor do Sandler and PTA have any qualifiers for theirs. Barry grows in some ways, and primarily gains a bit of confidence. But he doesn\u2019t have to change himself to have value.<\/p>\n<p>Sandler hits every note perfectly, showing the full range of this tortured character and giving him the affection he deserves. Even when Barry trashes a bathroom or beats men with a tire iron, Sandler delivers the warmest, most compassionate performance of his career. He does not play this character as someone who\u2019s broken. The movie simply does not work without Sandler \u2014\u00a0for some, the often surreal love story\/waking nightmare may still be a bit opaque. To me, this performance helps make the film one of PTA\u2019s best.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/magnolia-tom-cruise.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7508708\"  \/>New Line Cinema<\/p>\n<p>2. Tom Cruise as Frank T.J. Mackie (\u201cMagnolia\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to imagine Tom Cruise turning in a performance like this today.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a dig. I would be hard-pressed to name a movie franchise I love more than the \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d series, and I think Cruise\u2019s current era of action icon is fascinating. But \u201cMagnolia\u201d shows the actor drop his movie star persona for a moment in a way that no other film has, allowing him to slip into a grungy, complex, often ugly character. There\u2019s nothing for him to hide behind here.<\/p>\n<p>The result is arguably the finest performance of Cruise\u2019s career. In Frank T.J. Mackie, the actor fully embodies a broken man who uses toxic masculinity to mask his pain and make it everyone else\u2019s problem. His opening scene, disgusting, darkly comic and brilliant, immediately lets you know this is Cruise like you haven\u2019t seen him before or since.<\/p>\n<p>And then he starts sharing the screen with Jason Robards, another in a long list of \u201cMagnolia\u201d performances that belong in this lineup. It\u2019s amazing the depths Cruise achieves in these scenes, a rawness the movie star arguably hasn\u2019t fully reached since. As the actor settles into being a certified brand, a bastion of Hollywood and one of the lost true symbols of movie stardom, it feels as if his \u201cMagnolia\u201d turn is a relic of the past. There\u2019s a truth here absent in even his greatest of modern performances (and many of them are great).<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/there-will-be-blood-daniel-day-lewis.jpg\" alt=\"there-will-be-blood-daniel-day-lewis\" class=\"wp-image-5697624\"  \/>Paramount\/Miramax<\/p>\n<p>1. Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview (\u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d remains the most significant achievement of Anderson\u2019s career, a massive American epic that is intellectual, probing and always exciting (it reminds me of a certain movie in theaters now). Present for nearly every scene is Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a self-made oil man whose capacity for greed outstrips his capacity for anything else.<\/p>\n<p>Day-Lewis plays Plainview as a mythological figure. There is no logic or feeling to most of his actions outside his desire for more. He accrues wealth beyond imagination for no purpose other than the satisfaction of greater riches. He is scarcely seen enjoying his money throughout the film, living most of his life in tents and makeshift shelters until he settles into an empty home with a bowling alley (though it\u2019s hard to imagine him bowling a frame). In his quietest moments, he shares that a competition lies deep within himself, an insatiable need to beat all others by any means necessary. In this sense, he is the true protagonist of American cinema \u2014\u00a0an avatar of greed and accruement who paves over existing community merely so he can sit atop the hill.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to tell what degree of love Plainview truly has for his son, alternating between an item of affection and a business prop. I believe that Day-Lewis, and Plainview himself, would be likewise hard-pressed to find a true answer. This relationship is one of the most intriguing aspects of \u201cThere Will Be Blood,\u201d and one of the most heartbreaking. Many will remember Plainview for his biggest scenes \u2014\u00a0cries of \u201cBastard in a basket!\u201d and exclamations of a stolen milkshake \u2014\u00a0but a moment where father abandons his injured son to see to an overnight oil emergency leads to some of the most lasting images in both Day-Lewis and Anderson\u2019s storied careers. Equally impactful is later in the film when Plainview proclaims to a church that he\u2019s abandoned his child. How much of this is an act and how much is genuine guilt can\u2019t be said, perhaps even by Daniel himself.<\/p>\n<p>Every element of Plainview (his voice, his gait, his stance)\u00a0feels both highly calculated and entirely thoughtless from Day-Lewis. It\u2019s hard to pinpoint any actor who has so fully embodies their characters as much as him, seemingly throwing away line readings and expressions that rattle in the heads of audiences for years. While Plainview could easily descend into a broad mockery of consumption, Day-Lewis crafts him into an endlessly interesting character who is ceaselessly engaging in his simplicity. Plainview gets nearly two and a half hours of screen time to himself, and you still leave the movie wanting to watch more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Paul Thomas Anderson season. The acclaimed writer\/director is back with yet another masterpiece \u2014\u00a0this time, the epic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[16763,212,104368,55040,88,2942,206,89051,56940,4520,5135],"class_list":{"0":"post-186067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-adam-sandler","9":"tag-bradley-cooper","10":"tag-chase-infiniti","11":"tag-daniel-day-lewis","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-leonardo-dicaprio","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-one-battle-after-another","16":"tag-paul-thomas-anderson","17":"tag-tom-cruise","18":"tag-what-to-watch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}