Casino (1995)

From the book written by Larry Shandling and Nicholas Pileggi, directed by Martin Scorsese, this gambling movie was released in 1995. It stars Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, The character was based on Frank Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust Casino for the mafia in the 70′s. Rothstein secretly runs the casino while the mafia is backing him up. He must do what the mafia asked him to do because of his gambling charges back east. Nicky Santoro, played by Joe Pesci, was sent by the mob to look over Rothstein and protect him but instead of doing his job, he eventually runs his own operations. Sharon Stone acts as Ginger Mckenna, a former whore and she’s the love interest of Rothstein, who remains in love with her pimp, Lester Diamond, portrayed by James Woods.

Croupier (1998)

An inspired writer Clive Owen played by Jack Manfred works as a croupier in a casino only to find out that his life would make a great novel. Tension begin to emerge between him and his girlfriend, Marion, played by Gina Mckee, when he finds himself in the temptations of the gambling world. Jack started to realize that he is becoming the hero of his novel, the immoral Jake, giving in to these temptations to provide him with subject matter that will make for a memorable work of fiction.

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003)

Michael Imperioli has portrayed one of the most prominent poker players of all time, Stu Ungar, Who has won 3 WSOP and Super Bowl poker tournaments titles. Ungar was the only player ever to win 3 WSOP tournaments. He won millions of prizes by playing poker but lost everything due to horse races and his drug addiction that also led to his death in 1998. The focus of the movie is in the relationship of Ungar with his wife and those who know him well and portrays his life from the start, on Manhattan’s lower east side, from being a prodigy, turning poker pro in Las Vegas, after escaping from Las Vegas because of the debts brought on by his addiction to horse races and finally, his unforgettable poker playing days, legendary WSOP wins, drug addiction and his untimely death in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The Cooler (2003)

This is considered as the most unique gambling movie ever. This is a story of a man who is not a gambler, but a man who always bring bad luck to other gamblers. Bernie Lootz played by William H. Macy a man with such incredible bad luck that he always make it impossible to win when he’s around. This is the reason why Las Vegas casino hired him, for the purpose of minimizing the winnings of the gamblers at the tables. When he fell in love with a waitress named Natalie, played by Maria Bello, it suddenly turns his luck upside down. When people start winning big because he stands next to them, the casino owner starts to intervene to make lootz’s life miserable.

Casino Royale (2006)

Le Chiffre, played by Mads Mikkelsen, a bank man with connection to terrorists and also an outstanding poker player, is making ways to win a high-stakes poker tournament for him to be able to pay the money that he owes from the terrorists. But at the poker table, Mr. Bond, played by Daniel Craig, is doing everything in his power to stop this from happening. Bond learns the lesson not to trust anyone, specially when they are sitting at the poker table. This movie is Bond’s first mission as a 00 agent, and he has not yet earned his license to kill in the service of her majesty the Queen.

]]> http://www.alltopmovies.net/underworld-awakening/feed/ 0 http://www.alltopmovies.net/action-movies-dying-genre/ http://www.alltopmovies.net/action-movies-dying-genre/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:54:34 +0000 admin http://www.alltopmovies.net/?p=2031 Are movie fans growing tired of fast pace action movies? My answers would be maybe. Judging from the 2010-2011, some recent fare didn’t do so well at box office and a recent summer blockbuster “The A-Team” didn’t fare much better and now comes “The Expendables” is coming and I am wondering will this be a hit. “The Losers” and “The A-Team” had the safe PG-13 rating ,but “The Expendables” has got the dreaded rated R, so kids who wanted to go can’t or won’t.

“Salt”, starring kick-butt queen Angelina Jolie did fairly good, but not great for the genre, and one can scan Cardiff cinema listings and not find much better box office outcomes. With the ”Twilight” movies, at least the first two were as boring as hell, and when they threw in a few fighting sequences guys actually went! The great movie “Inception” had plenty of action scenes and was a runaway hit. “Predators” and “Kick Ass“ were rated R and didn’t do a thing at the box office. Why are action flicks not selling? I really don’t know. I am happy that chick flicks are on the rise and becoming very successful, but for action hounds like myself and others what gives?

My theories are:

1- Male action stars are getting old: Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are all over fifty! The hottest macho men right now is Jason Statham (Transporter). He is in his late 30’s.

2- Rated R movies ain’t what they use to be. Remember in the 80’s and 90’s there was nothing like seeing evil guys with guns killed by macho good guys with bigger guns? Family movies are taking over which is a good thing, but a little kick ass action doesn’t hurt.

3- Action overkill—maybe before the summer there was a glut of manly movies and that audience was tired.

4- Film goers want more than just mindlessly repetitive violence. This is a good trend. “Inception” makes you think while seeing spectacular action.

This is all I can think of. Can you think of any reasons? I think I will like more movies like “The Expendables” and “Machete” but I doubt these movies will make any money.

]]> http://www.alltopmovies.net/action-movies-dying-genre/feed/ 0 http://www.alltopmovies.net/annual-poster-designing-competition/ http://www.alltopmovies.net/annual-poster-designing-competition/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:58:55 +0000 admin http://www.alltopmovies.net/?p=2025 Art Institutes and Americans for the Arts, is one of the biggest non profit organization.  They are majorly in art education and believe in advancing the arts. Today, the Arts Institutes and Americans for the Arts announce ninth annual Poster Design Competition. They have further announced that the entries for this poster completion will be accepted only till the 3^rd of February 2012. All the children who are interested in participating should actually send in their applications before the specified date. This is a great opportunity for all the students as the winners will be entitled for a complete scholarship of the tuition fee for studying in any of the 45 Art schools.

This completion is conducted every year and this is the ninth consecutive year that this is being held. Besides this the completion that is scheduled this year has an added advantage. It is also open for high school graduates as well as seniors from Puerto Rico, Canada and US. They have to go ahead and design a poster expressing the new theme of the competition, and that is, You can create tomorrow. The contestants for this will be competing in two categories, the first is the high school graduates or adult and the second one is the high school seniors.