Paul Thomas Anderson excels at coaxing brilliant work out of his collaborators -- which, on his last two features, specifically means not only his leading men but also composer Jonny Greenwood and cinematographers Robert Elswit and Mihai Malaimare Jr. -- and directing them so expertly that he distracts us from the fact that what seems revelatory in the moment is often obvious in retrospect. He beats around the bush for upwards of two hours and manages to get people not to care too much because the pictures themselves are so pretty (and, in 70mm, massive). Maybe it's no accident that his latest protagonist is a drifter.
...For all his doom and gloom, Batman isn't exactly an antihero--a point that's worth bringing up right now because another, less tortured hero can currently be found on IMAX screens across Los Angeles: Indiana Jones.
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