One Battle After Another

It's likely, from all the hype and reviews, to win the Oscar for best picture of the year. Cinephiles have been wetting their pants for Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie, One Battle After Another. I confess, I have not been his biggest fan. I have enjoyed some of his work (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) and loathed others (Punch Drunk Love and Inherent Vice). I LOVED Licorice Pizza. I thought it might be his best work to date. Next to it will stand this film, One Battle After Another. Like Eddington, it's a contemporary portrait of America in what I might classify as a Coen Brothers' style thriller-comedy. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, an explosives expert for a radical left wing revolutionary group The French 75. He raises a daughter on his own and has kept off the grid for 16 years until his nemesis, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) comes looking for Bob's daughter. Bob and Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro) go on a rescue mission to get Bob's daughter back. There is a ton to love in this film. Sean Penn's army walk, like he's had a pickle jammed up his ass, is fantastic. Benicio's "few small beers" line is great. And the best, DiCaprio trying to remember the password for the rendezvous point is one of the funniest things you will see all year (almost as good as him trying to manage the stairs in The Wolf of Wall Street). Is it the best film of the year? For me, no. I liked Eddington and Weapons more. However One Battle After Another will likely land in third place and is one of Anderson's best works. The car chase scenes are some of the best I've ever seen on film. Catch this now in theatres.