12 Times A Director Went On An INSANE Streak Of Great Movies

11. Paul Thomas Anderson: Five Films From 1997-2012

Daniel Plainview There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage

The Streak: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master

Paul Thomas Anderson is arguably the best filmmaker of his generation, and he’s almost had a totally flawless run.

His debut Hard Eight almost made it on here, but it's admittedly rougher around the edges than his following movies, and is mostly overshadowed by Boogie Nights. It was the three-hour epic, Magnolia, that really put him on the map, though, thanks to its weird and wonderful tapestry of characters and a completely oddball performance by Tom Cruise.

From there, PTA jumped to the rather low-key romantic comedy Punch Drunk Love, and did the unthinkable: actually pulled a seriously good performance out of Adam Sandler.

A known quantity by now, 2007's There Will Be Blood proved he deserved a seat at the table next to the all-time greats. The Daniel-Day Lewis-led masterpiece was instantly viewed as one of the best American films of the 2000s, leaving everyone wondering what the director would do next. Rather than buckle under the pressure, his next film, The Master, was a worthy successor, and arguably just as good.

But, then, Inherent Vice came along and totally f***ed the flawless streak up completely. The meandering stoner epic was purposefully abstract and incoherent, leaving audiences wondering what the hell they’d just seen. It’s not a total write off, but it was the most indulgent the director has ever been - and its biggest crime was that it wasn’t anywhere near as funny as it thought it was.

At least Phantom Thread brought things back into alignment.

[Josh Brown]

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.