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Hard Eight Review: Filling the gap between the violent chic of Quentin Tarantino and the clever obtrusiveness of the Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson was one of the most critically lauded filmmakers to emerge in the late 1990s. Before the stylistic explosions of his breakthrough Boogie Nights (1997) and its follow-up, Magnolia (1999), however, he made the equally skillful Hard Eight (originally titled Sydney). Barely released in theaters, the film was rediscovered on video following the success of Boogie Nights. In this first outing, Anderson asserted his strength at working with actors: at the heart of the film is the assured performance of Philip Baker Hall as a melancholic Las Vegas father figure. Gwyneth Paltrow successfully plays against her nice-girl image as the film's none-too-bright prostitute, and John C. Reilly and Samuel L. Jackson round out the intimate cast. Prior to Hard Eight, Hall's best-known big-screen performance was his stunning interpretation of Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's Secret Honor (1984); he and Reilly would continue to appear in Anderson's films. Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

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