Bloody Great

Just like the way the oil flows from the oil wells in There Will Be Blood, so flows my enthusiasm for this movie. Wow. It is so good. This is why I should have waited to write my top 10 list.

The latest from P.T. Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) tells the epic story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a greedy sumbitch oil man at the turn of the century who will stop at nothing to lease land and drain it of all its oil. Plainview and his son travel from town to town convincing the residents they live on valuable real estate and that they can all share in the wealth. (Ha!) It's all pretty easy until he meets Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), whose evangelism and greed when it comes to his church rivals Plainview's financial greed.

Central to the film's excellence is Daniel Day-Lewis, who gives a performance that is so captivating, so badass, so powerful, so riveting, so excellent that it surely rivals any of his best and certainly puts him in the top two Oscar contenders for the year. Also worth mentioning is the score by Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead), which is so ominous and note-perfect. The screenplay by Anderson contains such great dialogue and an awesome last line — "I'm finished." Really, I can't say enough about how much I like this movie ...

... But I'll go on; there's so much more to rave about. There Will Be Blood takes its time. It's two-hours-and-forty-minutes–long, so don't expect a fast-paced tale. That said, not a single minute drags or feels like it should have been cut. When the oil bursts from the well in Little Boston, it's one of the most exciting scenes in the movies all year. And there are some fantastic wide tracking shots that follow the action and just linger. It's all so so cool.

You must see this movie. You must see this movie on the big screen. You must see this movie now. Go. Stop reading my review and see it as soon as possible. I'm giving There Will Be Blood an A.