Illustration by Layer Ø This column was conceived not so much as an assignment but as a desperate cry for help to my editors. Please. I'm begging you. Don't make me write a think piece on One Battle After Another. Actually, forget the Battle. I'm waging a war. This time of year - and this year in particular - we are getting film think pieces. Binders and binders full of film think pieces. They tell us whether Paul Thomas Anderson may or may not adhere to a particular sociopolitical agenda. (I swear we had these same conversations about James Gunn and Superman a few months ago.