@Squiggly, I'll have to rewatch his films with an eye for your scene analogy.

For me, his films are just such treats to get lost in. The Master and IV especially could've been four hours and I would've gladly sat there in the theatre drinking it all in. The performances, the cinematography, the dynamism of the camera are all so commanding of your attention. And he's excellent at constructing tone too, and then inverting that tone for a gut punch.

It's funny, the endings may be something I consider a weakness of his. Not always, to be sure, but the endings of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood kept the former from being five stars and the latter from four and a half for me.