❝You know, what are--what are ya gonna do? You know, things happen. This happens. That happens. Shit just happens, you know? You just deal with it.❞
· · ──────⊹⊱ ✦ ⊰⊹────── · ·
For a debut film, Hard Eight is pretty good. The opening scene hooked me and I was invested for a while, but unfortunately the plot lost steam a little, and despite the relatively short run-time it felt like the film was dragging in the second act. Thankfully it picked up again afterwards, and I liked the ending.
Philip Baker Hall was excellent, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's brief cameo was so good. John C. Reilly did a good job as well, but alongside Gwyneth Paltrow he wasn't the best performance of the film.
Though I haven't watched all of Paul Thomas Anderson's work, there's definitely a difference between his early and later films; Hard Eight to me seems a little less restrained and confident than Punch-Drunk Love and Phantom Thread, and it's a bit derivative, whereas the latter two feel more original. I won't be able to really tell until I watch more of his films, though.
❝You know, what are--what are ya gonna do? You know, things happen. This happens. That happens. Shit just happens, you know? You just deal with it.❞
· · ──────⊹⊱ ✦ ⊰⊹────── · ·
For a debut film, Hard Eight is pretty good. The opening scene hooked me and I was invested for a while, but unfortunately the plot lost steam a little, and despite the relatively short run-time it felt like the film was dragging in the second act. Thankfully it picked up again afterwards, and I liked the ending.
Philip Baker Hall was excellent, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's brief cameo was so good. John C. Reilly did a good job as well, but alongside Gwyneth Paltrow he wasn't the best performance of the film.
Though I haven't watched all of Paul Thomas Anderson's work, there's definitely a difference between his early and later films; Hard Eight to me seems a little less restrained and confident than Punch-Drunk Love and Phantom Thread, and it's a bit derivative, whereas the latter two feel more original. I won't be able to really tell until I watch more of his films, though.
