Peter Travers' Best and Worst Movies of 2007

"Gargantuan" is a puny word to describe the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis in this movie equivalent of hellfire. Try "electrifying" or "volcanic" or anything else that sounds dangerous if you get too close. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson borrows a bit of Upton Sinclair's Oil to tell the story of Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), a turn-of-the-century prospector who strikes it oil-rich and learns hard how the ignorant armies of greed and bogus religion clash in America. Paul Dano also scores a knockout as a young preacher who gets under Plainview's skin. Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) is the kind of artful renegade who restores your faith in the harsh power of cinema. His filmmaking is raw, risky and built to leave bruises. This is his bloody and brilliant Citizen Kane. Don't even think of missing it.

Watch the trailer for There Will Be Blood here