I hope that later in PTA's career that Magnolia will finally get its proper due as his magnum opus. Boogie Nights is great, as is Punch Drunk Love but I don't think they're on the same level as Magnolia. Personally, I think TWBB was a step down for him that was only saved by DDL's typically amazing acting job. Still, it's a damned fine movie. But Magnolia has so many characters doing so many things and he didn't cop out on ANY of them. He has over 10 fully fleshed out and believable characters in the flim and manages to keep control of the entire thing... a vastly underrated ability for a director/writer to do in such a film. I remember walking out of the theatre after Magnolia and hearing my GF and good friend bitch about it... I didn't speak for like 5 minutes because I was completely baffled by how they didn't think the film was pure genius.
As for Lynch, I agree that he could probably direct anything if he put his mind to it and laid off the crazy pills for a few years. The guy has mad talent and shows glimpses of it in every film but hasn't strung together anything entirely coherent in years. The In Dreams scene in Blue Velvet is one of my all-time favorite movie scenes.
With brings me to another point... How about the resurrection of Cronenberg over the past 5-7 years? After going completely off the deep end and buying a one-way ticket to Crazyland some time in the 90s, he comes back to direct A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Hells yes.
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