☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roger Ebert gave three and a half stars, saw its greatness but doubted its perfection because of its unbending characters, lack of women, ending, and relentlessness; the panel says history disproved the doubt.
In the discussion (3)
- The lack of women is acknowledged as a real feature, with screenplay material about Daniel’s impotence helping explain his separation from ordinary society.
- Peter Travers’s decade-best praise and bet on PTA are cited as a contemporary judgment that aged better.
- PTA’s slow camera movement, landscape construction, fresh lumber, and non-linear use of locations make viewers physically follow the image.
The derrick explosion wins over the wordless opening, Eli sermon, oil-soaked beating, competition confession, baptism, beach revelation, drunk lunch, H.W. rupture, Paul’s sales pitch, and milkshake murder.
In the discussion (10)
- Fourteen dialogue-free minutes show Daniel breaking his leg and dragging himself from a mine, establishing that he will endure anything for wealth.
- Eli’s first sermon lets Daniel identify the rival he must pressure.
- The practical-looking explosion combines danger, hellfire imagery, H.W.’s injury, and Daniel choosing the ocean of oil over his child; all three settle on it.
- Daniel’s oil-soaked assault on Eli is short, physical, and appears painfully real.
- The “competition in me” confession reveals his hatred and sociopathy to the false brother.
- The baptism turns genuine pain and calculated pipeline submission into simultaneous truths.
- The Pacific beach lets Daniel quietly discover Henry’s lie before murder; the drunk steak lunch shows his power and contempt in posture and line delivery.
- Adult H.W.’s departure forces Daniel to reveal the adopted child as a sales instrument, though their earlier bond remains emotionally ambiguous.
- The milkshake scene ends oil versus religion with drunken pantomime, humiliation, and a bowling-pin murder; power inevitably wins.
- Paul Sunday’s initial pitch is an understated two-actor negotiation that unlocks the entire plot.
The theme, emerging humor, visible oil-building process, score, ambiguity, PTA’s ascendancy, practical landscapes, script, trailer, young H.W., and “I’m finished” age best.
In the discussion (7)
- The first minutes methodically turn a hole into an oil enterprise and make a complex process legible.
- Oil superseding religion reads as the twentieth century replacing nineteenth-century structures of power.
- The movie’s shots range from vast fire landscapes to intimate church movement and precise match cuts.
- The bowling ball visibly striking Dano’s foot enhances the climactic physical risk.
- No opening credits, Daniel leaving H.W. on the train, Dylan Freasier’s one-film performance, and the final line are individually celebrated.
- Ambiguity about Eli’s faith, Daniel’s love, and the curse of the unblessed site changes with each viewing.
- PTA’s scale and command pushed contemporaries toward their own mature masterworks.
Jonny Greenwood’s clacking, accelerating explosion score wins; “Slow Ride” over “I’m finished” is the comic alternative.
In the discussion (1)
- Jonny Greenwood’s clacking, accelerating explosion score wins; “Slow Ride” over “I’m finished” is the comic alternative.
The oil drilling is the most convincing imitation of a real craft.
In the discussion (1)
- The oil drilling is the most convincing imitation of a real craft.
Two steaks, whiskey water, and goat’s milk lead, with final-scene steak and whiskey in H.W.’s baby bottle as alternatives.
In the discussion (1)
- Two steaks, whiskey water, and goat’s milk lead, with final-scene steak and whiskey in H.W.’s baby bottle as alternatives.
The bowling alley wins over the Pacific Ocean and opening silver mine, aided by its intentional Shining resemblance.
In the discussion (1)
- The bowling alley wins over the Pacific Ocean and opening silver mine, aided by its intentional Shining resemblance.
The beach two-shot with Henry’s face partly in sun leads a field including the dynamited well, mine fall, falling well debris, burning derrick silhouette, and vintage-lens train image.
In the discussion (3)
- The favored beach framing mirrors a famous painting and visually anticipates Daniel seeing through Henry.
- Fletcher and Daniel in shadow before the burning derrick turn destruction into triumph.
- A modified 1910 Pathé lens created the unusual train image of Daniel and infant H.W.
The category is deliberately left blank because the panel supports the film’s decisions.
In the discussion (1)
- The category is deliberately left blank because the panel supports the film’s decisions.
The real fire’s environmental damage, Miramax branding, and the oil state’s global damage are the only candidates.
In the discussion (1)
- The real fire’s environmental damage, Miramax branding, and the oil state’s global damage are the only candidates.
Either the travel to inspect Paul Sunday’s claim or the Bandy-tract pipeline survey is the suggested break.
In the discussion (1)
- Either the travel to inspect Paul Sunday’s claim or the Bandy-tract pipeline survey is the suggested break.
No additional scene is needed; deleted screenplay material already made Daniel impotent and limited him to oral sex at the brothel.
In the discussion (1)
- The removed material explains his reaction to Eli’s accusation of lust.
“I have a competition in me” wins one preference; “I drink your milkshake,” “I’ve abandoned my boy,” the economic-panic line, and Eli’s threats remain competing choices.
In the discussion (1)
- “I have a competition in me” wins one preference; “I drink your milkshake,” “I’ve abandoned my boy,” the economic-panic line, and Eli’s threats remain competing choices.
“Yes, I do” is the selected line reading, with Eli’s teeth-and-gums sermon material also praised.
In the discussion (1)
- “Yes, I do” is the selected line reading, with Eli’s teeth-and-gums sermon material also praised.
Three takes argue Daniel may be sexually attracted to Henry, the film is much better and more important than No Country, and Day-Lewis cannot be greatest without a mass-audience movie.
In the discussion (3)
- The Henry theory draws on betrayal, brothel jealousy, beach intimacy, impotence, and Daniel’s absence of women; the counterview sees a needed surrogate after H.W.’s injury.
- All three prefer There Will Be Blood to No Country despite calling the latter an exceptional Best Picture winner.
- The Day-Lewis dissent wishes he had played Nicholson’s Departed role or another broad commercial part.
Kel O’Neill’s removal after three weeks forced Paul Dano into both Sunday roles; Philip Seymour Hoffman was originally imagined for Telford.
In the discussion (3)
- The hosts avoid blaming O’Neill beyond the sourced account that PTA was not getting what he needed; he never acted again.
- Dano’s lack of preparation and immediate opposition to Day-Lewis make his eventual performance more impressive.
- PTA rejected familiar collaborators to make a new statement, removing Hoffman from Telford consideration.
Paul Dano’s exorcism wins, while Day-Lewis is declared ineligible despite the climactic pantomime.
In the discussion (1)
- Paul Dano’s exorcism wins, while Day-Lewis is declared ineligible despite the climactic pantomime.
Legendary SNL writer Jim Downey wins for his small real-estate role.
In the discussion (1)
- Legendary SNL writer Jim Downey wins for his small real-estate role.
Bandy wins for two compact, forceful scenes.
In the discussion (1)
- Bandy wins for two compact, forceful scenes.
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Henry is the favored improvement; recasting Eli ultimately returns to Dano after considering Gosling, DiCaprio, Ledger, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Hirsch, Plemons, Foster, and Grenier.
In the discussion (2)
- Hoffman as the false brother would create a different two-actor confrontation at a fitting career moment.
- Ledger is the strongest Eli alternative but perhaps too beautiful; most other candidates feel too contemporary or famous for the period world.
Research traces the milkshake metaphor to Albert Fall’s Teapot Dome testimony, the adjacent No Country fire disruption, difficult financing, Day-Lewis’s laborer letters, Greystone Mansion, and Edward Doheny parallels.
In the discussion (4)
- PTA paraphrased the milkshake metaphor from a congressional investigation of Albert Fall.
- Smoke from this production entered No Country shots nearby.
- Day-Lewis studied period laborers’ letters and photographs.
- The mansion belonged to Doheny, whose life overlaps Daniel in Wisconsin, Kansas, mining, oil, Teapot Dome, and possible family scandal.
Day-Lewis and PTA both have strong apex cases; oil, modern outdoor epics, oil-covered faces, private bowling alleys, well explosions, and feeding liquor to a baby receive playful subcases.
In the discussion (1)
- Day-Lewis and PTA both have strong apex cases; oil, modern outdoor epics, oil-covered faces, private bowling alleys, well explosions, and feeding liquor to a baby receive playful subcases.
This is Day-Lewis’s plaque movie; for PTA the panel splits between There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.
In the discussion (1)
- This is Day-Lewis’s plaque movie; for PTA the panel splits between There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.
Third Revelation wins over Get Out Ghost, Bandy Tract, My Son and My Partner H.W., Milkshake, Plainview, and Peach Tree Dance.
In the discussion (1)
- Third Revelation wins over Get Out Ghost, Bandy Tract, My Son and My Partner H.W., Milkshake, Plainview, and Peach Tree Dance.
The unexplained mine escape, orphan’s mother, Daniel’s late discovery of Henry, Eli’s agelessness, and Paul’s cheaply sold family fortune generate the nits.
In the discussion (2)
- Eli appears unchanged across roughly sixteen years.
- Daniel should have tested Henry’s Fond du Lac knowledge immediately.
The movie is untouchable, though an all-Black version is briefly enjoyed as a thought experiment.
In the discussion (1)
- The movie is untouchable, though an all-Black version is briefly enjoyed as a thought experiment.
Wayne Jenkins is the comic default, while Philip Baker Hall and Buscemi fit naturally and Bernthal could replace Ciarán Hinds.
In the discussion (1)
- Wayne Jenkins is the comic default, while Philip Baker Hall and Buscemi fit naturally and Bernthal could replace Ciarán Hinds.
Daniel Day-Lewis gets the single Oscar.
In the discussion (1)
- Daniel Day-Lewis gets the single Oscar.
Questions ask whether Day-Lewis is cinema’s greatest facial-hair actor and why Daniel hates Standard Oil so intensely.
In the discussion (2)
- Mustaches, Bill the Butcher hair, and Lincoln’s chin strap demonstrate Day-Lewis’s range.
- The Standard executive’s mild advice about H.W. seems insufficient to explain Daniel’s throat-cutting threat, implying missing backstory.
No Country for Old Men, Citizen Kane, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Chinatown, The Karate Kid Part III, and Top Gun: Maverick are distinct choices.
In the discussion (1)
- No Country for Old Men, Citizen Kane, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Chinatown, The Karate Kid Part III, and Top Gun: Maverick are distinct choices.
The butler discovers another bowling-alley corpse and may treat it as routine; the discussion then asks whether Paul profited ethically by destroying his family.
In the discussion (1)
- The butler discovers another bowling-alley corpse and may treat it as routine; the discussion then asks whether Paul profited ethically by destroying his family.
The bloody bowling pin leads Daniel’s flask, hat, Henry’s diary, long swimming trunks, and Eli’s final cross.
In the discussion (1)
- The bloody bowling pin leads Daniel’s flask, hat, Henry’s diary, long swimming trunks, and Eli’s final cross.
Oil defeats religion and unchecked competition can poison the self and the world.
In the discussion (1)
- Oil defeats religion and unchecked competition can poison the self and the world.
Daniel Day-Lewis wins the two-to-one host vote over Paul Thomas Anderson after an extended dispute; Craig finds Sean’s PTA case more compelling but does not cast a candidate ballot.
In the discussion (3)
- Sean selects PTA as writer, director, producer, conceiver, and career-transforming author of the whole work.
- The other two hosts choose Day-Lewis because no substitute could reproduce the singular performance or the movie’s rewatchability.
- Craig evaluates the arguments without declaring his own candidate, and the panel acknowledges that PTA may own the film’s longer historical legacy.
Podcast choices
- Speaker not identified
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Speaker not identified
- Daniel Day-Lewis
- Speaker not identified
- Daniel Day-Lewis
Roger Ebert's review
