It's almost odd to call Daniel Plainview a 'villain,' but he certainly earns the title. There's some essential piece of Plainview missing in Paul Thomas Anderson's film, and while he might be brilliant about business and almost supernatural about finding oil, he's barely human. He is like one of the replicants from 'Blade Runner,' unable to feel basic human empathy, and even when he does try to reach out and do something human, he ruins it. He is raw ambition, unchecked and voracious, and the darkest reflection ever of Orson Welles's 'Citizen Kane.' Besides, anyone who will drink your milkshake is not to be trusted.

-Drew McWeeny