One of the best films of the year.

Impressive for its lean and unblemished storytelling, but even more so for its performances.

Movies like Hard Eight remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us.

The role of Jimmy is one of Mr. Jackson's scarier characters, and this brilliant actor inhabits all four corners of his jittery, avaricious personality. When he and Sydney finally clash, the movie makes its darkest, cleverest turn into film-noir nightmare.

Paul Thomas Anderson shows off the same sort of quirky smarts that Joel and Ethan Coen did in "Blood Simple."