109: There Will Be Blood (2007) "...

109: There Will Be Blood (2007) "David vs Eli-ath"

Explicit
Why the Flick? by Why the Flick?
S6 · E109
Jul 7, 2026
02:06:42

Episode notes

Sometimes we have fun watching a film. And sometimes we have more fun thinking about a film after the fact which ended up being the case with our latest pick There Will Be Blood (2007). Semi-based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil, this flick is the ultimate boy movie that pits two men in an age-old battle of capitalism vs religion, all in the pursuit of power. Despite its bleak themes and slow burn runtime, Paul Thomas Anderson’s period drama is serving low-key horror along with peak moments of milkshake entertainment and more open-hand slaps than we can count. On this episode of Why the Flick?, we’re drilling into all those biblical references, twin trickery, and the enigma that is Daniel Day-Lewis.

Resources

https://noellembrooks.com/2009/10/08/there-will-be-holy-ironic-blood/amp/

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/there-will-be-blood-kel-oneill-eli-sunday-fired-paul-thomas-anderson-1201905353/

https://www.chicagomoviemagazine.com/post/daniel-day-lewis

https://gabrielleulubay.medium.com/in-defense-of-a-sociopath-my-thoughts-on-daniel-plainview-in-there-will-be-blood-933395b2b9e4

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/books/review/Essay-t.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/timestopics/topics_uptonsinclair_oil.html

Keywords

movie podcast
why the flick
there will be blood
paul thomas anderson
daniel day-lewis
paul dano