Gambling is often the centerpiece of both outstanding literary works and scripts for brilliant movies. Throughout the history of cinema, hundreds of casino movies have been filmed, and in many of them, you can see the scenes with casinos or gambling.
Starting from the banal crime in the Ocean’s Friends trilogy, gambling has become a symbol in the world of cinema. This review will focus on the top 5 movies that have changed the lives of many players of a $5 minimum deposit casino in Canada and other people who love gambling movies with elements of action.
The Gambler (2014)
- Genre: Drama;
- Director: Rupert Wyatt;
- Country: USA.
The Gambler is a remake of the movie of the same name from 1974, popular in gambling circles. Written by James Toback, it clearly explained that gambling addiction is something more than a mental diagnosis.
The fresh version of “The Gambler” can not be compared with the original movie, concentrating on how the director of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Wyatt diligently builds a strong rhythmic thriller with a swing to a large audience. Thus, instead of hackneyed criminal showdowns, he monitors the dynamics of relations. In his turn, Mark Wahlberg diligently hysterics, swears dirty, and takes dashing risks. Like the wise John Goodman, the edgy Michael Kenneth Williams, the touching Jessica Lange, and the pretty Brie Larson consistently complicate the image of the goofy writer.
“The Gambler” of 2014 pretends to have figured out the nature of excitement although Jim Bennett’s actions are more like an ego trip, clouded by worries about his own genius. In his lectures on literature, Wahlberg’s hero rests on Camus. And in 1974, Dostoevsky was in his place. There is just existential boredom instead of spiritual experience, pride instead of self-destruction, faith in the future instead of repentance. It doesn’t make the film bad, but it doesn’t add insight to it either. The mystical experience of failure here gives way to the desire to find a way out of an unpleasant situation. The stakes are less, and that’s what modern Hollywood is all about.
Molly’s Game (2017)
- Genre: Drama, biography;
- Director: Aaron Sorkin;
- Country: USA.
Biopic poker princess with Joyce’s name Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) built an underground casino empire in Hollywood. But it is also the directorial debut of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”, “The Man Who Changed Everything”). All the dialogues bouncing off the teeth and an easily recognizable rhythm were only possible thanks to the vigorous editing by Aaron. Sorkin’s talent turns out to be more than enough to make these two-odd hours fly by quickly. But the really tense, complex, dramatically interesting scenes in the film can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So, at the end of the movie, you have a logical question whether this is a well-told bad story or a badly told good one.
21 (2008)
- Genre: Drama;
- Director: Robert Luketic;
- Country: USA.
Despite his rather cute appearance, Polytechnic student Ben (Sturgess) drags out the unsightly life of a “nerd.” Working in a clothing store, he saves up for a prestigious graduate school, drinks beer with his bespectacled friends, and designs with them some rubbish for a competition, drooling on a beautiful blonde from the course (Bosworth).
However, one day Ben gets the jackpot. A probabilistic professor (Spacey), impressed by his abilities, invites him to join the fighting cell of students who go to Las Vegas to bomb casinos for the weekend. Since the blonde is also a great mathematician and money is very much needed, Ben soon finds himself going over the combinations at the blackjack table in his mind. This is one of the best casino movies based on real events.
The Cooler (2003)
- Genre: Drama, love film, neo-noir, comedy;
- Director: Wayne Kramer;
- Country: USA.
The name of a movie is a designation of an unlucky person who works in a casino, and simply by his presence makes other players lose. In this film, the main character did not play against the casino but for it. Having owed a large sum of money to one of the mafia clans, which owns a casino in Las Vegas, “The Cooler” Bernie Lutz slowly begins to leave the role of a loser and tries to get out of the casino.
Runner, Runner (2013)
- Genre: Drama, crime, thriller;
- Director: Brad Furman;
- Country: USA.
This is one of the best poker movies, at the head of the plot of which are online casinos and online poker. Student Richie Furst is forced to pay for his studies at Princeton University, and for this, he decides to put all his money into playing online poker. When losing, Furst notices that something is wrong with the online casino and the statistics of the game of his opponent to whom he lost.
The student goes in search of the owner of this casino – Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), hoping to get the money back. As a result, Richie Furst becomes an accomplice of the bloc and helps him to commit a number of illegal money frauds. It all ends with Ivan and Richie substituting for each other, but the viewer does not understand until the very end who will come out of the game as the winner.