the cool man

This movie is actually quite surprising. Made for a meagre $75,000, technically, there is no major flaw. For only his second attempt, the directing is not only competent but quite accomplished, note the crane shot as Gloria crosses the street, Davy's negatively shot dream or the boxing match - as well directed as 'Raging Bull' or 'Rocky'.

Again, the same goes for the other areas of the movie. Kubrick, who wrote, directed, edited, produced and photographed the movie, did a great job on all fronts. The soft under or side lighting of whenever the movie reaches a sad or dangerous point was very noir for what essentially is a B-movie.

This movie is a B-movie. It's the kind of film that you turn on the TV to on a Sunday afternoon, and it seems to be proud of it. Kubrick later said that he was ashamed of his first couple of attempts at feature-film directing. That's too bad, he had a damn fine film on his hands.

OK, I don't know how many people are gonna read this, but even if only one person does, I have got to say that SHARABI is the great Indian movie.

If I had to give one standout facet of the movie, it would be Amitabh Bachan's performance. Voted Actor of the Millennium by the BBC, this movie would have to be his pinnacle, the crowning glory on a career most American actors would never see.

But it isn't just the acting. The two most important features of a movie - writing/directing - are here in a great style. All right, the editing is a bit dodgy, but that doesn't matter. If it makes sense, the rough edges don't matter one iota in a film this good.

If you don't watch Indian films, then that's you're decision, but you would be missing one of the greatest movies made if you didn't see this.

OK, I gotta admit, although I heard about his movie on it's first release, I did not get around to watching it until after I saw PT Anderson's magnificent 'Magnolia', but I have to say that had I seen it previously to Anderson's later two movies, I would have enjoyed it more. The story begins with Sydney, the fabulous Phillip Baker Hall, 'saving' John's (John C. Reilly) life. He teaches him how to scam in casino's and, after a two year jump in the story, we see the former treating the latter like a son. We soon meet Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson) who are integral to the development of the film. If you see this movie then you will notice that Anderson does not use his camera to it's full extent, as proved in 'Boogie Nights', but the visual flair has the marks of a cinematic genius in the making. The acting is sublime, with Baker Hall on form only seen in Anderson movies, Reilly proves his rep with a performance that is both naive and telling, even Paltrow-who ordinarily makes me retch-is very good. Jackson, post-'Pulp Fiction', is no Jules Winnfield, but he rarely will be. Making cameos are even Anderson stalwarts Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters and the late Robert Ridgely. So, to recap, 'Hard Eight' is no 'Magnolia', but is still a damn fine movie all the same.