This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown round #2”. Read more about that here.
Hard Eight
P.T. Anderson's Magnolia and a Punch-Drunk Love are two of my favorite movies. I also think Boogie Nights is a very good movie, although it doesn't affect me as profoundly as those other two. I just watched Hard Eight, and have yet to see There Will Be Blood.
So far my feeling is that each of Anderson's movies have been subsequently better. Hard Eight is a solid movie with good characters and good use of a style that would come to be perfected. Boogie Nights may just not appeal to me as much because I can't get entirely invested into the world of the pornography industry. But it is still well done. Magnolia is simply perfect, and Punch-Drunk Love is somehow even better in it's own way. Due to this trend in my personal enjoyment of his movies and the unbelievable amount of praise I've heard from both the general public, critics, and close friends, There Will Be Blood is certain to be amazing. And because of that I'm kind of putting it off to watching it until a day I feel like I need to see something I know will be great.
Anyways, as for Hard Eight there is no reason to gripe. Some of Anderson's techniques are in more primitive stages, but it has wonderful moments (see a pack of matches spontaneously combust in John C. Reilly's pocket) and I like that he started out with a more simple story before moving into the more epic quality of his next two movies.
Rating: 8/10