Aside from great performances, you never quite know what you're going to get with a new Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

Sometimes it's a twisted romance, or a loose coming-of-age tale, or even a sprawling epic with biblical implications.

His latest feature is one battle after another, and this time he's in action thriller mode.

Once again, he's in fine form.

Somehow this is Anderson's first time working with Leonardo DiCaprio, who's playing a stoned-out dad,

searching for his missing daughter while raging against the machine.

The film just earned 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Elite Actor nomination for DiCaprio.

So we thought it was the perfect time to revisit our conversation, which first aired in September.

I'm Glenn Weldon.

And I'm Aisha Harris.

And in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're talking about one battle after another.

Joining us today is freelance film critic and programmer Monica Castillo.

Welcome back, Monica.

So glad to be back for this one.

Lovely to have you.

So one battle after another stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, a washed-up ex-revolutionary

living quietly with his teen daughter, Willa.

She's played by Chase Infinity.

One day, his past comes back to haunt him,

Colonel Lockjaw, that is his actual name, he is the officer who effectively dismantled Bob's

crew of militant activists some 16 years earlier, and he's tracked him down and is after Willa now.

He's played by a very colorful and very sinister Sean Penn. Bob seeks help from what's left

...