10 Best Paul Thomas Anderson Movies

'I drink your milkshake!' Daniel Day-Lewis won his second Oscar for his peerless performance as ruthless oilman Daniel Plainview. His battle with fundamentalist preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), set to Jonny Greenwood's searing strings, is a monumental tragedy about the destructive foundations of American capitalism.

At just 27, PTA blew Hollywood away with this energetic ensemble epic about the golden age of the adult film industry in the late '70s. Inspired by Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese, it follows the rise and tragic fall of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) and his surrogate family around director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds).

A three-hour emotional rollercoaster in which nine storylines in the San Fernando Valley intertwine around guilt, chance and forgiveness. Tom Cruise gave the performance of his life as misogynistic self-help guru Frank T.J. Mackey. The legendary rain of frogs in the finale remains one of the most daring film climaxes ever.

Shot on breathtaking 70mm. A searing psychological duel between traumatized, animalistic WWII sailor Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) and the charismatic leader of a philosophical movement (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The famous 'processing' interrogation scene, in which Freddie must answer without blinking, is pure acting magic.

In postwar London's fashion world, couturier Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) rules his atelier like a dictator. When young waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps) becomes his muse, a twisted, delicate power struggle unfolds, involving poisonous wild mushrooms and sumptuous satin gowns.

PTA did the impossible by transforming comedian Adam Sandler into a convincing tragicomic romantic. As Barry Egan, a man prone to angry outbursts in a bright blue suit who buys thousands of puddings for frequent flyer miles, he finds redemption in his love for Lena (Emily Watson). It won Best Director at Cannes.

A sun-drenched, nostalgic stroll through the San Fernando Valley of 1973. The unconventional bond between 15-year-old child actor Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) and 25-year-old, searching Alana Kane (Alana Haim) brims with playfulness, waterbeds and a hair-raising truck ride down the hills.

The first film adaptation of the elusive author Thomas Pynchon. Joaquin Phoenix drifts as permanently stoned private eye Doc Sportello through a hazy, paranoid Los Angeles at the end of the hippie era, searching for his missing ex-girlfriend.

PTA's understated feature debut (also known as Sydney). A seasoned older gambler (Philip Baker Hall) takes a homeless young man (John C. Reilly) under his wing in the casinos of Reno. A stylish neo-noir that immediately showed the young filmmaker's thematic maturity.

PTA's biggest and most ambitious film to date, loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a burned-out former revolutionary who is forced back into action when his daughter is threatened, with Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor in a dream cast. An explosive, darkly funny action drama.