Molly just so happened to be running an exclusive poker game ring for an entire decade that welcomed celebrities, business tycoons, and even mobsters. After being arrested during a massive FBI sting, Molly comes into contact with a criminal defense lawyer and relays more of her enthralling life story to the viewing audience. But his role in Uncut Gems reminded everyone that he’s a force to be reckoned with when he’s given incredible material to work with.
‘High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story’
Because she was confident in betting on her preparation and smarts because it was a dream of hers. The charm of the 1950 crime noir film Dark City is how quickly a movie about gambling can turn into a murder mystery revenge flick. Somehow director William Dieterle fits a romantic ending into a gambling film where lives are lost just as easily as money is. Trying to keep up with all of the twists in Lucky Number Slevin is almost as difficult as picking a winner in a horse race but just as entertaining.
Casino Royale
Shade tells a story of a group of professional card cheats who are planning to pull off a major con in Los Angeles by outsmarting a gangster. On their path of high-stakes poker playing, they experience various twists and unexpected obstacles. Shade received some mixed reviews and feedback from critics and the public, but it is a good movie with style and intricate card tricks. In its essence, Army of the Dead is a classic heist movie; a billionaire seeks to retrieve $200 million locked in a casino vault in Las Vegas, which is inhabited by zombies. He enlists mercenary Scott Ward, played by Dave Bautista, and his team to get back the money before the city is completely destroyed.
High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (
A film cynical in nature, the beguiling use of the spiraling roulette wheel is meant to represent the randomness and transience of life. “Win It All” is a Netflix original comedy about a small-time gambler who gets in over his head when he’s entrusted with a bag full of cash. It’s a heartfelt and humorous look at the struggles of addiction and the quest for redemption. Directed by Martin Scorsese, “Casino” is a grandiose depiction of the glitz, glamour, and corruption that defined Las Vegas in the 1970s and 80s. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone deliver stellar performances in this epic story of a gambling empire’s rise and fall.
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Jeweler Howard Ratner, played immaculately by Adam Sandler, will gamble anything away to crawl out of a never-ending debt spiral, including Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett’s 2008 NBA Championship and mobster money. The film is an uncompromising look into how much gambling is truly a disease that can destroy a gambler’s life and the lives of nearly anyone who touches him. The lasting phrase from the film may be a delusionally confident Howard exclaiming, “This is how I win,” but the tragic irony of it all, gambling is ultimately how he loses everything. Today, the legalization of gambling has become a Hail Mary last-ditch effort for many financially eroding urban areas like Detroit, St. Louis, and others — but Atlantic City did this first.
Even Money (
- It won two of its nine nominations at the 34th Academy Awards, and has since been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.
- The movie describes the seductive hidden side of the casino industry, the charm of chance and fate, and the adrenaline of risk-taking.
- After her career was derailed by a life-changing injury to her spine, Molly was then put in charge of an underground poker game within the Viper Room in Los Angeles.
- Loosely based on a true story, the movie tells of a married pair who exploited a fascinating flaw in a national lottery and reinvested the money they drifted off the system into their small Michigan town.
- His fortunes take an unexpected turn when he meets and falls in love with a cocktail waitress and his luck begins to change.
- After agreeing to keep an eye on a duffel bag full of money for a friend that’s heading to prison, Eddie gives in to his gambling demons and ends up using the money to indulge his addiction.
- He now has to care for his two brothers, one who suffers from compulsive gambling and is in massive debt and another with Down syndrome.
With a weakness for betting on sports, no gamble is too big for the larger-than-life Howard, played gamely by Adam Sandler. The audience is along for the ride as they watch Howard succeed in his risks when they pay off and his failures when his gambling addiction overtakes him. Based on a true story, “Molly’s Game” stars Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, who runs the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game. The film follows Hall’s character Sydney as he takes Reilly’s character John under his wing and shows him the ropes of professional gambling in Las Vegas.
Poolhall Junkies
The movie follows two fellow conmen that decide to get revenge on a crime boss who’s responsible for the death of their mutual acquaintance. The two men concoct a fail-proof plan that starts out easy enough but soon gets harder and harder to maintain as unexpected elements enter the picture. A whole lot of big bets, plus plenty of surprising twists and turns come to pass in this film that’s all about pulling one over on an unsuspecting victim. The simple definition of a croupier is an individual who’s in charge of running a gaming table. The movie named after that important position follows an aspiring writer who takes on that role in order to support his ambitions. During his time spent as a croupier, he tries his hardest not to get sucked up in the dark world of gambling and fall for a more “attractive” temptation.
- And those accolades are more indicative of the film’s actual quality than its acclaim from critics or number of tickets sold in theaters.
- “California Split” explores the highs and lows of their gambling adventures as they travel from one casino to another in California.
- This is pretty much a gambling epic, like a sprawling western directed by Sergio Leone or Howard Hawks with Robert De Niro playing the gunslinging head of the titular location in Casino (1995).
- Robert Altman exposes the grim underbelly of the Vegas scene, where cocaine, violence, and prostitution tangle with roulette tables and betting booths to destroy lives.
- Alongside his protege Michael Scanlon, Abramoff fails terribly after his attempt to influence turns into murder and corruption.
- The push-and-pull between the couple continues until Lester (a friend of McDermott’s) comes out of the slammer and is required to pay off an old debt owed to the KGB.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in “Owning Mahowny” as a bank manager embezzling funds to feed his gambling addiction.
- From the Safdie Brothers, Uncut Gems follows fast-talking jeweler Howard as he tries to juggle family obligations, his mistress, angry collectors, and mounting debts on top of his insatiable thirst for gambling.
- Matt Damon plays Mike McDermott, a reformed gambler who finds himself drawn back into the game to help a friend pay off dangerous debts.
Molly’s Game
This is a classic American film noir crime drama about a cynical gambler who becomes involved with a corrupt casino owner and then meets a woman and falls in love with her. As the plot unfolds, the protagonist has to solve his problems trying to protect himself and those he cares about.”Dark City” is known for its dark and moody atmosphere with its shadowy visuals and morally ambiguous characters. The story of “5 Card Stud” begins with a poker game where one of the players is caught cheating. Years later, in a remote town, the players mysteriously start getting murdered one by one. The movie combines elements of the classic Western genre with a murder mystery plotline.
The 50 Best Casino Movies of All Time
The payoffs to the mafia, the politicized wranglings with the Nevada Gaming Board, the berated Blackjack dealers, and the showgirls are explored like parts of the blueprints of the Vegas gambling world. Casino is one of Scorcese’s epic American tragedies exposing the human core of the gambling illusion to unparalleled effect in terms of scope and story. Rothstein comparing running a casino to “selling people dreams for cash” is one of the most concise ways of encapsulating all that gambling is to the world. Hard Eight is a polished, expertly paced crime flick that began life as a 1993 short film called Cigarettes & Coffee. Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Samuel L. Jackson comprise the impressive cast for this debut indie movie.
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The main character of Axel’s weakness for gambling ranges from betting on basketball to hot shot casino games, showing that the protagonist is entrenched too deep in his addiction to think logically. Caan manages to make his character, who steals from his own mother to pay his gambling debts, one that the audience can still root for. Oscar Isaac delivers a compelling performance in “The Card Counter,” portraying a gambler with a troubled past seeking redemption through a series of high-stakes poker games.
Honeymoon in Vegas (
He gets robbed at gunpoint, loses friends, and has very little to show for it besides a cool story. Watching the smartest people do the dumbest things could be enough to scare anyone away from gambling because winning is always enough until you want more. This British crime comedy was the directorial debut of Guy Ritchie, who also wrote the screenplay. A group of four friends finds themselves in a desperate situation after one of them loses a high-stakes card game against a powerful crime lord. “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” is known for its fast-paced narrative and colorful characters.
- Redford plays Johnny Hooker, a small-time con man whose partner gets killed by the dastardly Doyle Lonnegan, played by Robert Shaw.
- One of the most underrated movies of the 90s, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, directed by Guy Ritchie, is one of the finest comedies I’ve ever seen.
- The movie received commercial success and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
- Bugsy is less about gambling — although Siegel surely takes some big chances — than it is about Sin City’s messy birth, which proves fascinating, even if the movie’s glitzy, prestige-picture trappings are a bit limiting.
- If you’re looking for thrillers, these underrated features on Netflix are guaranteed to deliver the tension you seek.
- As far as true gambling addiction goes, James Caan’s titular character in The Gambler (1974) portrays the mental illness better than perhaps anyone in the history of the silver screen.
- After losing it all at the casino due to a lifelong addiction, Bob decides he’s going to get the old gang back together and rob the joint—if he can only keep himself away from the tables.
The 30 Best Gambling Movies of All Time
And a large part of that was due to its cast — aside from Newman, it also featured the likes of Tom Cruise, John Turturro, and Forest Whitaker. But it also had an intriguing premise, with Newman’s character now a retired pool hustler who takes a new gambler (Tom Cruise’s character, Vincent Lauria) under his wing. Based on a true story of a crippling gambling addiction, screenwriter James Toback wrote The Gambler about his own problematic behavior, anger, and feelings of general desperation. The conflict makes for a great drama, as long as you’re watching the original ’70s film with James Caan and not the hated 2014 Mark Wahlberg remake. Billy makes a living lulling people into a false sense of confidence on the court because of him being an unassuming white man before turning into Larry Bird and snatching the money he can. What makes White Men Can’t Jump is how it displays the almost imperceptible difference between betting on yourself and betting for yourself.
The push-and-pull between the couple continues until Lester (a friend of McDermott’s) comes out of the slammer and is required to pay off an old debt owed to the KGB. The showdown unfolds right before your eyes, with lots of table banter and poker bluffing strategies. After suffering a severe injury, Ko Chun loses his memory and most of his mental faculties. Little Knife is responsible for the accident and takes it upon himself to help Ko Chun, who can no longer care for himself.
What Scorsese Film Ranks Highest on IMDb?
‘Mississippi Grind’ must be watched for its honest approach and the simple but universal message that it tries to convey. It’s a film that has good intentions, but unfortunately that alone doesn’t guarantee the quality of the film. ‘Even Money’ focuses on several seemingly unrelated people whose lives are ruined by gambling addiction. It’s one of those movies where you understand what the filmmaker is trying to convey or express right from the first scene.
This fun, gentle comedy focuses mainly on themes like integrity, giving back, and the importance of family. “Bugsy” is a biographical crime drama that tells the story of a real-life mobster’s rise to power, his involvement in organized crime, and his obsession with building the Hotel and Casino in the desert. The movie offers a mix of crime, romance, and historical drama, capturing the atmosphere of the era, and in fact, it got multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. “Let It Ride” is a lighthearted comedy that explores themes of luck, risk-taking, and the charms of gambling.
Bullsh*t The Gameshow
“Casino Royale” tells the story of Bond gaining his 007 status, earning his license to kill, and of his romance with Vesper Lynd. Also in the mix is one of the franchise’s finest villains in Le Chiffre, https://crazystar-casino.com/bonus/ who is played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Not only does Louis Cropa run a successful restaurant alongside his star chef son, but he also handles part-time bookmaker duties on the side.