LISA'S BESTS
1. There Will Be Blood
In an extraordinarily strong year for ambitious movies in general and serious American movies in particular, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood stands out, as unique in the ferocity of the storyteller's filmmaking vision as it is in the story he tells. Here is the epic, essential American saga of silver miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview, living embodiment of historically admirable capitalist impulse run to rampant, bitter greed. No one works harder or with more focus than Plainview for the oil-rich California land he gobbles up at the start of the 20th century — and, for that matter, no actor digs more deeply in the service of character than Daniel Day-Lewis, who, even silently chipping at earth as the movie begins, stakes his ongoing claim to thespian greatness.

This is an online-only excerpt. To read Lisa Schwarzbaum's full appreciation of There Will Be Blood, check out EW's special Best & Worst 2007 issue, on stands Dec. 21.