‘One Battle After Another’ Is a Modern Masterpiece, With Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson!

'One Battle After Another'Full spoilers · with Chris Ryan

One Battle After Another 2025

PTA's 10th feature, loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon's 'Vineland' but moved to the present day and shot on VistaVision. Leo plays Bob Ferguson, a burnt-out ex-revolutionary raising his daughter Willa (Chase Infinity) off-grid until his old nemesis Lockjaw (Sean Penn) resurfaces. A 40-minute prologue follows Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and the French 75, then jumps 16 years to a chase across California: the Bactan Cross siege, the rooftop skate escape, the Borrego Springs highway. The three panelists rate it the movie of the year and possibly the decade; Amanda calls it prescient, Chris says it lived up to impossible hype. Also with Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro as Sensei Sergio, and Johnny Greenwood's score.

Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprioThe last great things they've seen

Paul Thomas Anderson on

Vertigo 1958

PTA rewatched it as a reference for a film he's working on, after talking it through with Scorsese; it's also a VistaVision movie, and they shot a since-cut sequence in San Juan Bautista where Hitchcock filmed.

Paul Thomas Anderson on

Tom Horn 1980

Steve McQueen's second-to-last film, about the real Pinkerton detective, shot by John Alonzo. PTA had never seen it and calls it terrific.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Paul Thomas Anderson's filmography Boogie NightsMagnoliaPunch-Drunk LoveThere Will Be BloodThe MasterPhantom ThreadLicorice Pizza

Cited as influences and touchstones The SearchersRunning on EmptyThe Battle of AlgiersMidnight RunThe French ConnectionDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombUptightThe InformerMedium CoolZabriskie PointSomething WildThe Big LebowskiCasablancaAll the President's MenSorcererDuelDunkirkNashvilleMad Max 2Raging BullHow to Blow Up a PipelineFrownlandThe Last of the MohicansNorth by Northwest

Leo: prep and recent roles Dog Day AfternoonThe Lion in WinterThe RevenantRevolutionary RoadInceptionThe Wolf of Wall StreetOnce Upon a Time in HollywoodDon't Look UpKillers of the Flower MoonThis Boy's LifeWhat's Eating Gilbert GrapeFast Times at Ridgemont HighCarlito's Way

Box office and awards season OppenheimerThe Social NetworkParasiteGravitySinnersWeaponsDune: Part TwoBarbieDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity CastleThe Smashing MachineStrange DarlingNapoleonHamnetSentimental ValueJay KellySpringsteen: Deliver Me from NowhereFrankensteinSaving Private RyanShakespeare in LoveHeaven's Gate

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Presumed InnocentThe Lowdown

Podcasts Good HangNew Heights

Books Vineland

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