Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights is Paul Thomas There Will Be Blood Anderson's breakthough feature about the golden age of 70s porn, where storylines mattered, breasts were real, and everybody was part of a big happy family. Naturally, this veritable garden of eden is soon tainted by the rise of coke, video and filmmakers who just don't care about the 'craft' of adult filmmaking. The crux of the film is marked brutally by William C Macy's exit from the film as the 70s turn into the 80s.

It's actually quite funny to see this shift in the pornography biz treated with the gravitas of something like The Godfather, and, thanks to some strong central performances, the film is certainly achieves the emotional highs and lows it promises, but Anderson's confusing mix of pity for, and jokes at the expense of, his air headed protagonists makes Boogie Nights not all that it could have been.