R | 2h 13min | Drama, Comedy | 26 November 2021 (USA) After a relatively unremarkable debut (“Hard Eight”), writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson delivered the mighty one-two punch of “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia.” In the wake of these two acknowledged masterpieces, (rightful) comparisons of Anderson to Welles, Bergman, Scorsese, Altman, and Kubrick led to him being labeled as a “wunderkind,” “auteur,” and “the finest filmmaker of his generation.” While bearing little to no resemblance in style to Woody Allen, Anderson also became a similar “prestige” talent to the studios. Distributors were aware of his limited commercial appeal yet knew his films would garner huge critical accolades and industry award attention. They were right on both counts. Of his eight previous feature efforts (from seven different studios), only half have cleared a profit with the highest grossing of these (“There Will Be Blood”) raking in just $76 million globally. On the flip side, six of his …