andrewfleming-57891 Hard Eight is a very good film. The films draws you in from the excellent opening scene right to the end, which returns to the location of the first scene. The characters are all very interesting, particularly Sydney. The actors are good, Samuel L Jackson manages to give his character a prescene in almost every scene of the film. The script is humerous and also very interesting. The 'cigarette matches' stands out. All in all, its a very good film and well worth a watch. 8/10

gavin6942 Professional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.Paul Thomas Anderson consistently makes good movies. And, as this film reveals, he always has. This is a debut feature film that comes across like the work of a seasoned professional. Great casting, great plot, and perfect pacing that keeps everything moving forward. It is not a crime story so much as a love story, but hides it so well in the world of crime that you never even notice.Credit must really go to John C. Reilly. Although his role (John) was not necessarily the strongest character in the film, Reilly does a great job with him. Although he is mostly known these days for his comedy work, this is proof that he is far more than just a comedian.

imdb-45 I didn't expect much from this film, hoping to find something on cable - and this surprised by standing out. Philip Baker Hall is the main character here and he's a great and often overlooked actor that shines as a former gambler gone right, trying to straighten out the seemingly go nowhere life of a young man. Hall takes him in, teaches him the right path, but unfortunately the young man isn't too bright and his limitations and insecurities get the best of him, leaving Hall to make some difficult choices as his unexplained protector.This takes you through the life of making small but decent money by smartly playing up the casinos. It always keeps you interested, even if Gwyneth Paltrow is the weaker link in this film. Samuel L. Jackson does his usual character and he's good with it.A fantastic sleeper film. I enjoyed it.

chaos-rampant I'm a bit ambivalent here. Like young Tarantino, it moves the story by gaps away from story, small talk around a table over coffee or drinks, omitting and jumping ahead. Like Jarmusch, it has a languid air and characters shown to be hurt but still retain their kindness. He may have known Kaurismaki or not. Scorsese definitely.Reservoir Dogs was upending the ordinary heist movie by wandering around the main piece, this one is upending the casino movie by setting us up to imagine some cunning scheme that will maybe backfire, but what really backfires is that these people aren't cunning, aren't in calculating control of their emotions. The only 'scheme' is that the old fox was trying to set up a happy life for him, subtly guiding the narrative, to make up for what he took away. Like all these filmmakers, PT knows all the different bits from movies, as movies, and leverages a tentative control over both camera and narrative. He would later leverage more and more of that control in his art, size, strident ambition, first via Scorsese, then Altman, then Kubrick. In fact, as a matter of forces that move the world, I prefer this to some of his later projects. It's all very well prepared and he's good with actors but, unlike Altman, it doesn't break away from that control, it stays in my eyes as a certain kind of film that he's trying to make. It was early but you can tell even here, he wants a music that is tentative, flows and surrounds but tries to construct it by plucking each note carefully instead of allowing his hands to dance along the keys. It's the most talented guy in his film school showing that he has skill.(It's also mentioned as modern noir by some and that's how I came to it, more apt to simply call it about messed up lives and it has something to do with a crime. Noir is a different thing altogether.)