I can't give enough praise.

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2008)

The first thing about 'There Will Be Blood' that hooked me was the acting. I think that Daniel Day Lewis gave the best performance of his career- with the only competition being 'My Left Foot' and 'Gangs of New York'. Everybody's talking about the stellar performance that he delivers, but the thing that shocks me is that NOBODY (at least nobody I know) has said anything about Paul Dano. In my opinion, his performance surprised the hell out of me. He didn't have much acting to do in Little Miss Sunshine, seeing as he was a mute for 3/4 of the film. His acting was really dynamic. Totally surprised me.
P.T. Anderson does an incredible job directing. The thing that really appealed to me was the symmetry involved in the majority of the shots in the film. He seemed to use a lot of symmetry in 'Punch Drunk Love', but not as much in 'Hard Eight' 'Boogie Nights' or 'Magnolia'. Lighting, contrast, and the overall tone of the film was VERY visually appealing. P.T. also did a great job with the screenplay- which I now own. And although a lot of what happens in TWBB doesn't stay true to the book 'Oil!', he definitely makes it his own- which is hard to do without ruining the film altogether.
I'm a huge Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood fan, and I loved the soundtrack. The majority of reviews that I hear say that the music was inappropriately used at times, but I think that although there was nothing tense going on on the screen, the music was used to show the darkness/depravity of the situation. Then again, I'm really biased.
I've seen every other film nominated for Best Picture, and I really think this should win. If neither this nor 'No Country For Old Men' doesn't win, then I'll be really disappointed. I don't think any other movie nominated for Best Picture even deserves to be in the same group as these two movies.
One last thing- the one thing that kept running through my head was, "... there's no way this isn't going to be considered a classic forty years from now." The dialogue is so memorable and perfect that I still remember MANY lines and how perfectly they were delivered by each actor. I can't say enough good things about this film. I've seen it twice, and I'll see it many more times.
Please see this movie... really.