Hard Eight Reviews
Hard Eight review
Posted : 4 years, 3 months ago on 27 January 2020 04:060 comments, Reply to this entry
Hard Eight review
Posted : 6 years, 1 month ago on 13 March 2018 05:410 comments, Reply to this entry
Hard Eight
Posted : 10 years ago on 15 April 2014 09:35Hard Eight is a fairly intimate story about a not too bright man, John (John C. Reilly), who gets stranded in Las Vegas. Sydney (Hall) finds him, takes pity upon him, and teaches him a few card counting tricks in order to grift large sums of money from the casinos. Flash forward a few years; John is now Sydneyās partner, but their friendship gets tested once a dim-bulb waitress (Gwyneth Paltrow) who moonlights as a hooker gets them involved in a heap of trouble. Throw in Samuel L. Jackson as a lurking threat to the trioās precarious friendships and safety, and youāve got a bang up crime thriller. And for the most part, it wildly succeeds.
Reilly is believable as a half-bright loser drifting across Nevada looking for a sense of purpose and a father figure. Thereās a certain empathy that Reilly brings to his roles, a likeability that makes us want to root for him to get his head straight and stop making dumb choices. And Jackson can play a man who goes from friendly to menacing in his sleep. Itās really only Paltrow who slightly falters. On the surface level, she does a fine job. But Paltrow isnāt very believable as a low-class girl lacking in street smarts, her features are too elegant, her eyes project an intelligence that belies the characterās motivations. But she does do a great job playing against her good girl image here, even if the effort doesnāt add up to a completely realized performance.
Yet itās Hall that keeps you entranced throughout. Hard Eight doesnāt have the sweeping ambition to create filmic monuments to towering egos and watch them fall, instead it wants to quietly observe a sad, compelling man go about fixing a messy situation. And Hall nails every single moment and facet of his character. Itās great to see a long-working character actor like him be given a chance to shine in the spotlight. When Hard Eight zeroes in Hallās work and ignores trying to craft a conventional plot (which is really unnecessary as the film has crafted interesting characters saying great dialog), it plays out like a melancholic torch ballad, one that we could easily imagine Sydney listening to while smoking his cigarettes and sipping his drinks, thinking about the mistakes of the past, and wondering if thereās any way he can atone. Anderson is a great observer of human behavior, and hereās where his legend begins.
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A good movie
Posted : 12 years, 9 months ago on 9 August 2011 11:21Since Iām huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson, of course, I had to watch this movie at some point. Apparently, this directing debut was not exactly a pleasant experience for Anderson as he had not much control over it (something that would change from his next movie) and he had to fight really hard to make sure that it wasnāt completely butchered before it was released. Anyway, even if it wasnāt one of his best movies, I still turned out to be a pretty decent watch. Indeed, in spite of a very limited budget, the whole thing was visually pretty neat and there were still some really neat shots which was quite impressive since it was a directing debut. Instead of the usual big stars, the cast was composed of some very good character actors and they all delivered some really strong performances. I must say I was a little bit underwhelmed by the plot or the lack of it but the version I saw was rather short (about 95 minutes) and a longer director's cut might be a better watch. Anyway, to conclude, Ā even though it is a rather obscure feature, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in PT Andersonās work.Ā
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Hard Eight review
Posted : 16 years, 11 months ago on 20 May 2007 07:56It's captivating though. The opening sequence piqued my curorsity and I could tell exactly how the movie would end from the point the four main characters met up...but not *why* the characters did what they did...that was worth watching to find out.
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