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Summary: Sydney (Hall) is a poker-faced professional gambler with a soft heart for a hard luck story. He plays guardian angel to unlucky John (Reilly) and a hooker, Clementine (Paltrow), whom he grows to love like family. When John's and Clementine's honeymoon night leads to a disastrous hostage situation, Sydney takes care of it, as usual. But when slick casino pro Jimmy (Jackson) threatens to reveal a secret from Sydney's past that could destroy his relationship with the newlyweds, Sydney decides to hedge his bets and not leave anything to chance. (Sony)
Very, very interesting. Philip Baker Hall is fantastic in his role as Sydney. The direction is great. But something just didn't sit right with me. I liked it, but didn't love it.
I might have a weak spot for melancholy casino-related movies. Hard Eight is a neat little character piece lifted to greater heights by the simply perfect Hall. The main disadvantage is that the whole is a little emotionally distant. Great camerawork, and some great monologues.
Caught between being a big-budget Scorsese look-a-like and a Sundance-funded indie flick, this first feature is still impressive due to it's slow storyline development, smart script/dialogue, familiar PTA camera-shots (lite versions, expectedly), and some great performances, especially from Philip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly; I could really do with a film of just those two guys talking to each other for two hours, which is almost what this film is.
Low-key, deadpan, mostly dry noirish drama that benefits enormously from the cast (though Paltrow has never been one of my favourites). Some excellent dialogue, although the narrative somewhat loses its way in the third act, coming to a rather perfunctory and ultimately disappointing conclusion. I enjoyed the overall sensibility, although there was, in spite of its overall detachment, still an element of emotional contrivance, as in PTA's later efforts such as "Punch-Drunk Love" and "Magnolia."
Perhaps Philip Baker Hall's finest performance (although my choice is his portrayal of Nixon in Altman's "Sacred Honor.") Good acting and directing from all concerned.
A strong opening feature by P.T. Anderson. Isn't Philip Baker Hall fantastic? I have read a few other people criticizing the threadbare plot, but I just found its simplicity refreshing. They can't all be like Boogie Nights or Magnolia. This focused stuff is great as well.
I can't say I ever felt like the film quite tunneled as deep as I would have liked but Sydney still makes for an interesting character not least of all due to a really great performance by Philip Baker Hall. John C. Reilly as John is a bit bland and Samuel L. Jackson, though quite good, does overdo it a bit at times though Gwyneth Paltrow as Clementine was very good. I wasn't convinced by the setup we are eventually given in the casino but it was a well put together, engaging film.
The opening scene is classic PTA in style and presentation, and is in fact probably this movies finest moment. From there it is sadly all downhill, but not too steeply! Throughout the rest of "Hard Eight" although there are flashes of that unqiue PTA style, they are relatively few and far between. Even so, despite the loss of direction in the last half there is still so much here to enjoy in terms of the script, score, photography, and performances. Baker Hall in particular is supurb.
This is a great early film by Paul Thomas Anderson. Philip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly give outstanding performances. The characters are interesting for the entire film. Definitely check this one out.
Despite a few storytelling missteps along the way, this is a fun and compelling film, with the acting covering up the weak points. An early indication of PT Anderson's directorial talent.
It doesn't quite escape its film-school trappings (the occasionally stilted dialogue, crime movie cliches, etc.), but the execution makes it worth a look - PTA's already quite adept with a camera at this point, and the performances are very solid across the board, giving archetypal characters a bit more depth than you'd expect. The leap he made from this to Boogie Nights was tremendous, but the talent is already evident.
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