Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson enters the Oscar race with his pulse-pounding action-driven character comedy One Battle After Another, a mixed bag that manages to be greater than the sum of its parts. Forbes Review - 'Inherent Vice' Can't Overcome FlawsOne Battle After Another ReviewOne Battle After Another is loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland. Anderson adapted Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice to film (you can read my review of that one here), but luckily this new attempt is far better. This is Anderson’s first attempt at action and at such scale, and this is probably his most mainstream project to date. One Battle After Another is a statement about redemption and condemnation, and how those things can and do still exist within complicated and contradictory situations.