There Will Be Blood (2007)

Beginning in 1898 New Mexico, a rather misanthropic oilman (Daniel Day Lewis) begins building an empire through out the West by using, deceiving and manipulating people until as the film ends in 1927, he has become a wealthy oil baron. Based on Upton Sinclair's novel OIL, Paul Thomas Anderson's powerhouse film is a dynamic treatise on greed, religion, family and the American dream all anchored by an astonishing Oscar winning performance by Daniel Day Lewis. Day Lewis's monstrous Daniel Plainview is one of the great, original movie characters in recent memory. Channeling John Huston, Day Lewis creates an aberrant, emotionally isolated individual who is lacking the most basic of human needs. The film's insane finale takes the film's title to the most literal definition. While Day Lewis dominates, the film is fortunate to be aided by Robert Elswit's Oscar winning wide screen cinematography and a unique score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. Fine supporting performances by Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor and Ciaran Hinds.