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Paul Thomas Anderson has been quoted as saying that he was having a case of writer’s block when devising his follow-up to PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. Finding inspiration in Upton Sinclair’s novel OIL!, Anderson has crafted THERE WILL BE BLOOD, a film in a style that departs a great deal from his other work like BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA. Equal parts epic historical drama and character portrait, this cynical study of the dark side of human nature tells a tale of ambition, religion and family ties, dripping in black gold and blood — the later both physically and metaphorically.

Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis, MY LEFT FOOT) has bled and sweat his way into a successful oil business. After one of his workers dies, he takes the man’s son as his own. Even at a young age, H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier, film debut) is being groomed as Daniel’s partner. One evening, a young man (Paul Dano, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) comes to Daniel with a hot lead on property where oil is just bubbling to the surface. Untrustworthy by nature, Daniel heads out to the land where he meets the family of the young man, who calls himself Eli and makes it out like it’s the first time he has met Daniel. During a quail hunt, Daniel and H.W. confirm that this might just be their biggest strike. When Daniel goes to negotiate with the owner, Abel Sunday (David Willis, THE GOOD GERMAN), Eli makes sure the deal includes a good deal of money for his fledgling church.

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Every time I review a Sidney Lumet film, I comment on how he isn’t a household name and that his resume is one that any director would be envious of. At 83, he adds another film to his resume that any director would be envious of. If he were a twenty-something making his film debut with this crime drama, he would be hailed as the next big thing. The twisting script, written by Kelly Masterson, is innovative and Lumet brings a captivating style to the production that makes the film about its characters not its action.

Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE) is an overweight, cocky businessman with a trophy wife named Gina (Marisa Tomei, MY COUSIN VINNY). He has a nasty drug habit and is stealing money from his company right as an audit is set to take place. His brother Hank (Ethan Hawke, TAPE) works at his firm in a much lower position. He is months behind on his child support payments for which his ex-wife Martha (Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE) berates him about any chance she gets. Andy devises a plan to rob their parents’ jewelry store. But when Hank enlists busboy/crook named Bobby (Brain F. O’Byrne, MILLION DOLLAR BABY) to help in the crime, things go horribly wrong, spurring Andy and Hank’s father Charles (Albert Finney, TOM JONES) to make it a personal mission to find out who shot his wife Nanette (Rosemary Harris, SPIDER-MAN).

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Charlie Wilson was a Congressman who was better known for womanizing and partying than his legislative accomplishments. Then, pushed by the sixth richest woman in Texas Joanne Herring, he found his calling. Through committees he helped raise the CIA’s budget to arm the rebels in Afghanistan fighting the soviets from $5 million to $1 billion. He may not be the most ethical politician, but he was very well connected. Based on facts, Mike Nichols new comedy could also be called “Strange Bedfellows” for Wilson will have to unite Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Christian and Muslims and Israel with various Islamic states to get his secret war off the ground.

Tom Hanks, a seemingly unlikely actor to play a Representative who gets wrapped up in a cocaine scandal, adds the right dose of charm to Wilson, making us believe that he might just be the best person in government to pull off this scheme. He teams with the hotheaded and blunt CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman, OWNING MAHONEY), who is working on the Afghan problem with three other guys when they first start. While Wilson works on his war, his chief assistant Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams, JUNEBUG) leads a team of beautiful young assistants on fighting the Congressman’s publicity war. Because the whole deal rests on so many strange bedfellows getting along, Wilson has to warn Joanne (Julia Roberts, ERIN BROCKOVICH) not to frame the fight as a holy war. But the well-connected Herring does know when religion helps answer prayers.

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