#5 Best Movie You Have Never Seen

There Will Be Blood

When a movie this good grosses $40 million dollars with all the Oscar buzz it had last year, I know most people have not seen it. That gross is on par with the Vin Diesel film Pitch Black, a movie nobody I know has seen, or will at least admit they have seen. So There Will Be Blood belongs on the list, and I though of putting it closer to the top.

The box-office obstacles for this tour-de-force were many:

• Length, at 2 hours 38 minutes
  
• A director known for requiring ADD to be checked at the door during the "fun" Holiday Movie Season.
  
• A plot surrounding oil, when gas prices were at record highs throughout the United States.
  

All of which does not excuse the public for not beating a path to it's (theatrical) door.

Paul Thomas Anderson, in just under three hours running time, lays out the framework for how the West was really won; through hard work, determination, unbending, unwavering faith in yourself, followed by incalculable degrees of cut-throat cunning, con-jobbing, organizing, expanding and monopolizing, followed ultimately by paranoia. 

All of these traits are not just present, but embodied in the soul of precious metals-miner, turned oil prospector Daniel Plainview. Daniel Day-Lewis is so convincing in the role, I could not imagine shaking his hand without thinking he is about to go upside my head with some nearby object. 

Anderson sets the story in turn of the century Texas, with many scenes in the first 45 minutes involving little to no dialogue. While many decried this as pompous, I think the sparse dialogue is what makes the movie work. For Paul Dano's thunderously verbose portrayal is all the more potent when released into this vacuum.

The scenes of Plainview developing his ability to manipulate those he needs over the landscape of the film is both, worth the price of admission and difficult to watch, as you can see by the glint in his eye, he knows he's on to something.

The only caveat to There Will Be Blood is, those who are more intricately aware of American history will get loads more from the film. However, there is more than enough there for everyone.

Last thing, the soundtrack stayed with me longer than any other, once I left the cinema, since Grizzly Man.

Buy it HERE.