Top Five Films About Gambling

Gambling movies are among some of the most popular in cinema. In fact, Sundance Film Festival is currently premiering a new one featuring Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones called Lay The Favorite. Obviously, part of the appeal is the money at stake, but there is also an air of excitement and danger associated with the world of gambling that just makes for great drama. 

Below are 5 top films about gambling.

Rounders

For those that love the game of poker, this is the quintessential movie on the game. Starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, Rounders takes a look at the underground world of poker ranging from friendly home games to the seedy underground casinos of the New York area. Read most any and it cannot help but quote many of the classic lines from the movie. This movie became a cult mega-hit after Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker and sparked the modern era poker boom.

21

Starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Laurence Fishburne, 21 is to the game of blackjack what Rounders was to poker. This film tells the story behind the rise of the MIT Blackjack Team as well as the story of Ben Campbell, the newest and brightest addition to the team. It is a tale of action, betrayal, and ultimately double-cross that will keep you glued to your seat until the end.

A Big Hand for the Little Lady

This film stars Henry Fonds as Meredith, a man who is moving with his son and his wife Mary, played by Joanne Woodward, across country to California. He gets into a high-stakes five card draw poker game and puts his family's entire life savings at risk during the game. The game is being played as bettors stakes, meaning that if someone has more money than you, they can run you out the game. When someone makes a bet too big for Meredith to cover, he tries to get money and when he can't, he suffers a heart attack. Mary then has to take over the game and try to find a way to save their savings, but she does not know how to play poker. Or does she? 

Casino Royale

The classic James Bond film was rebooted in 2006, and while the plot of the movie surrounds Bond just starting his career, everyone remembers it for the high stakes poker action. This time the game of choice was No-Limit Texas Holdem poker. While the final hand of the game was painfully predictable, it still helped to fuel the Texas Holdem craze that was already sweeping the world.

Eight Men Out

A movie you don't typically think of when talking about gambling movies, this movie focused on the story of the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" scandal where eight members of the Chicago White Sox intentionally threw the 1919 World Series in exchange for payment for fixing the game for gamblers. The Sox were favored going into the World Series and the scandal not only forced baseball to hire its first Commissioner, but forced baseball to enact a ban on betting on the game, a ban that stands for its players and coaches until this day.

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Commentary - Haywire

I read that Steven Soderbergh was looking to make a more beautiful, stylistic action film in the vein of the classic James Bond film From Russia With Love or the Michael Caine thriller Funeral in Berlin when he set about to make Haywire.

His other inspiration was professional mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano:

Soderbergh was flipping between channels late one night and stumbled onto one of Carano's fights. "I see Gina coming out. She's got the cornrows; she's got the warrior affect. I thought, 'Wow, that's interesting.' She destroyed this woman in a cage, and I just hadn't seen anything like this before," he said. "I kinda filed it away. I just thought she was a fascinating combination of elements." - moviefone.com

Carano is a bad-ass and her character Mallory is indestructible in this film.  I thought it was going to take a sci-fi turn and it would be revealed she was part Cyborg!

I'm loving this whole female action hero thing, first Angelina in Salt, then Zoe in Columbiana and now Gina in Haywire. But not one of these movies has a very smart, tight script. Salt being the best of the three.  I'm not even going to try to decipher the plot of Haywire, it's really just there as set dressing.  This movie is about butt-kicking and fun, tongue-in-cheek performances by Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas.

Despite whatever trepidation you might have about Carano's acting chops (certainly the out-of-context five-minute opening didn't assuage any fears), she more than holds her own against her lauded co-stars. Her taciturn performance (Soderbergh compared her character to a Clint Eastwood-type), the minimalist fight scenes, and the way Soderbergh uses Dave Holmes's infectious throwback score, make "Haywire" a genre exercise that you likely haven't seen before. Those expecting quick-cuts and dizzying hand-held shots should probably just Netflix a Jason Bourne movie instead. - moviephone.com

Technically, I agree with the above assessment, but it's a little too enthusiastic. All in all, Haywire does not hold a candle to Soderbergh's other films.  I don't believe he achieved his intention to make a "beautiful action film". The brief scenes of Carano with Michael Fassbender is the only time the film has a rich, Bond-like sophistication.

lft. Carla  rt. Gina

And as it's my habit to point out look-alikes: Gina Carano very much resembles Carla Gugino. 

Haywire was screened courtesy of The Philadelphia Film Society's Sneak Previews.

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Hightlighting Films at Sundance 2012

 

Sundance Film Festival is in full swing as of Thursday night (1/19) and runs til next Thursday (1/29).

Here's some Sundance screening I'll be watching out for:

The Words starring Zoe Saldana & Bradley Cooper. I just recently found out they were dating in real life.

Spike Lee has a new film Red Hook Summer about a kid from Atlanta moving to Brooklyn to live with a grandfather he's never met.

One half of the Director of The Puffy Chair, Cyrus and Jeff Who Lives at Home, Mark Duplass is in two films: Safety Not Guranteed and Your Sister's Sister.

Red Light is about paranormal activity and a world-renowned psychic. It's from the director of  Buried, Rodrigo Cortés and stars Robert Deniro and Elizabeth Olsen from Martha Marcy May Marlene who is also in two films, the other being Liberal Arts.

Robot and Frank has a good, kooky sci-fi premise: an offbeat buddy movie, set in the near future, about an elderly ex-jewel thief and his new caretaker robot.

About Face looks like a doc that would interest me: Shot in Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' intimate portrait style, participants include Isabella Rossellini, Christie Brinkley, Marisa Berenson, China Machado, Beverly Johnson, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Paulina Porizkova, Jerry Hall, and Christy Turlington among others. They discuss the fashion industry, their careers, aging, plastic surgery, botox, and how they have reassessed and redefined their own sense of beauty.

Just a few that caught my eye.  Here's the full list of all 110 features.

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69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Round Up 2012

Where do I begin?  A quandary due to lack of inspirational material, not a matter of  brimming over with too much excitement over last night's NBC broadcast of the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards - aka The Hollywood Foreign Press Association shindig. Not that it was boring, it was just...fine.

Host Ricky Gervais began with saying that his antics of last year - offending just about everyone in the room, the network and the HFPA themselves, earned him an invitation back! He was given a list of "Don'ts" that included not being able to mention anything having to do with Mel Gibson, including Jodie Foster's Beaver. To which Jodie laughed and gave two thumbs up.

He had a couple of other clever quips and barbs, but basically toned it way down this year.  Although it was rather cheeky of him to boldly inquire of Johnny Depp, while standing face to face, if he'd ever actually seen The Tourist. To which Depp admitted - No.

Red Carpet

I was IM chatting with my sister on facebook during the red carpet segment, which by the way, is sorely lacking if you're not watching it with Giuliana and Ryan on E.

I tweeted: Awards season is the only time I wish I was paying Comcast their ridiculous tariff!

Now that I think about it, why can't we Pay Per View for Red Carpet Coverage, the way men do for boxing events?  hmmm.... I digress...

My sister's red carpet assessment - too many celebs went with the mermaid look this year.

Here's a mermaid slide show (for all slide shows - double click for larger images)

Tinsel & Tine picks for Best Dressed 

(Best Dresed slide show)

Nicole Kidman - her Versace gown fit to perfection! I love the beading, not over done or too heavy, the color of the dress may be a little pale for her very pale skin, but she's pulling it off.

Angelina Jolie - was also wearing Versace. The red accent across the cream satin, was just eye candy stunning.  The accessories (including Brad) all wonderful. The only things needed to make it perfection, would be to eliminate all those tattoos and put some meat on her boney chicken wing arms. (said with love & affection).

Julie Bowen - whose show Modern Family won for Best TV show - Comedy - looked like confection in this Reem Acra gown. It may be a little too young for her, but I can't judge, cause I know she's younger than I am, and if I got a chance to wear this stunning gown, I'd still go for it too!

Runners up: Jane Fonda who looked very sexy (even George Clooney gave her props during his post award press conference).  

Evan Rachel Wood had the most original gown, (Gucci) made out of real feathers - guess we can assume Evan's not a member of PETA ;)

Tinsel & Tine picks for Not Best Dressed 

(NOT Best Dresed slide show) 

Jessica Biel - looked like she was wearing that Betty White wedding dress Sandra Bullock couldn't fill out in the movie The Proposal.

Charlize Theron -  must have been channeling her character from Young Adult, it's the only way to make sense of this headband that could have been purchased in the mall at Claires.

Michelle Williams - again, no headbands at The Golden Globes please.  Besides, if you're going to sport a short do, which I don't find this style to be particularly good for her, than you just dress it up with bigger earrings and more make up.  I also think the dress would be fine at the SAG awards, but not dressy enough for this night.  That being said, congrats to Michelle on winning Best Performance Actress - Comedy Or Musical for My Week with Marilyn.

And it was just wrong to make Melissa McCarthy present next to Paula Patton, come on, give a plus-sized girl a break!

Winners

Best Performance Actress – Drama: Meryl Streep – Iron Lady.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film. (very disappointed The Film Society didn't offer a preview screening). I'm certain as always, Streep's performance will be award worthy; however, since this film hasn't even hit theaters yet, how about giving the Globe to Viola Davis and letting Meryl win the Oscar.

Best Performance Actor – Drama: George Clooney - The Descendants

Clooney coming out on stage with Brad Pitt's cane was a funny bit. And the highlight of my night was when he commended Michael Fassbender on being able to play golf with his hands behind his back. (If you'll recall, my commentary on Shame starts out with a similar reference).  All great, except his performance in The Descendants does not deserve a Golden Globe.

And yes, that also means I didn't agree with The Descendants winning Best Motion Picture Drama.  This film's got good bones, and I'm a fan of writer/director Alexander Payne; but the movie is not as involving as Moneyball or The Help. And although I've yet to see it, I imagine it's not as smart as The Ides Of March. 

At first I was disappointed with The Artist winning Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy, then in thinking over its competition: 50/50, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris and My Week with Marilyn, all films I enjoyed about equally. 50/50 perhaps a step below the others, but basically, this category was up for grabs.

On a side note: there was an audible gasp from the audience when the producer of The Artist, Ludovic Bource called his Golden Globe an Oscar - talk about a faux pas!

For a complete listing of all the Winners TV and Film click HERE

African American's in the House

Morgan Freeman adds a certain weight and credibility to all the many films to which he plays a part. It's obvious he's really earned respect among his peers. Congratulation to Morgan Freeman on being the 2012 Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient.

He was given the award by former DeMille Award recipient Sidney Poitier, who received a standing ovation. When Kurt Douglas comes out on stage and gets a standing O, it's because of his past work and the fact he's still alive.  For Poitier, it's about those things; but it's mostly a sign of deference to the sheer determination he must have possessed to have gotten as far as he did, playing leading roles in Hollywood. Something that's still only available to a very select few black actors.

Congrats go out as well to Octavia Spencer for winning Best Performance- Supporting Role for The Help.  She really is the heart of that movie.

Social Media

For previous awards shows, I had a desktop pc and a regular cell phone. This year, I'm so blessed to have both a laptop and smartphone, so I tweeted all throughout the show @tinseltine and posted stuff like the menu courses served at the ceremony to Tinsel & Tine's facebook fan page.

So be sure to follow and like
Tinsel & Tine before the 

Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26th!

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Commentary - Joyful Noise

Last week before the screening of Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey, there was a speaker from an international women's advocacy group warning us that what we were about to see was a graphic depiction of horrid abuse against women - the film made a powerful statement, but was hard to watch. So imagine my delight to being greeted at this week's screening with the uplifting voices of the Sharon Baptist Church Choir, performing several rousing numbers before the start of Joyful Noise.

Joyful Noise stars Queen Latifah as Vi Rose, a strong, upstanding, church-going, choir singing mother of two. Her beautiful daughter Olivia (Keke Palmer of Akeelah and the Bee)is 16 and although she still enjoys singing in the church choir, she's also at that age where blind parental obedience has gone out the stained glass window.

Her son Walter (Dexter Darten) suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a kind of autism involving social awkwardness, and often an all-absorbing interest in specific topics; in Walter's case, pop songs from one hit wonders.

It also stars Dolly Parton as Gigi, church benefactress and wife of the choir director, Bernard (Kris Kristofferson). When Bernard unexpectedly dies, Gigi assumes she'll be appointed choir director in his place; instead the Pastor chooses Vi to head up the choir and lead them into regionals in the Joyful Noise Choir Competition.

Although it's hard to picture the ever buxom and lively Parton as a grandma, Gigi does get an unexpected visit from her wayward and gorgeous grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan) who's either been kicked out or run away from home. He of course has immediate eyes for Olivia, causing even more tension in the already tenuous relationship between Vi and Gigi.

Then there's singing! Lots and lots of enjoyable numbers, both spiritual and secular and secular done spiritually. Basically, I feel the writer/director Todd Graff thought to himself: What would happen if I took some of Tyler Perry's down home drama and mixed it with Ryan Murphy's teen angst/songfest Glee to create a movie amalgamation?

And he was smart to do so. Okay, the book is not great; there's some hokey lines like - "There's always free cheese in a mouse trap, but the mice there aren't happy". On top of which, the other storylines weaved into the main plot, meant to add texture and a sense of place, including constant shots of boarded up stores and out of business signs, alluding to our present ill-fated economy, just manage to create a very uneven script.

But so what, it's not really important, because the movie for the most part is fun! Particularly the film's climax at the choir competition, where we as an audience felt as if we were part of the show audience; clapping and moving in our seats. Of course, it didn't hurt to see this movie with a primarily African American audience, made up partly of choir people. This really did add to my feeling of elation upon leaving the theater. Still, even without that ambiance, there's something joyous to behold in Joyful Noise.

The screening of Joyful Noise was seen courtesy of and written for Cinedelphia.

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Philly Restaurant - City Tavern

For any regular readers who read my New Year's Eve post I exclaimed about finding $140 in the movie theater on NYE, which I felt was a good omen for me and Tinsel & Tine for 2012.  And I felt the best thing to do with the money was spend it on dining out, thus completing the circle of film and food.

My Aunt watches Chef Walter Staib's show on PBS "a Taste of History" , where each week Chef Staib prepares cuisine from the 18th Century. So with the windfall, I decided to treat her to the historic dining experience of his establishment City Tavern Restaurant  (138 South 2nd Street at Walnut St).

Before I go into what we ate, here's a little excerpt of history taken from "The Tavern Guide:

The tavern was built "for the convenience and credit of the city" by a group of eminent Philadelphians who felt that their hometown deserved a fine tavern which reflected its status as the largest, most cosmopolitan city in British North America. When the tavern was completed in 1773, it was one of the most elegant buildings in the city. Situated where it resides today on Second Street, then a main thoroughfare.

Inside, it "boasted" several club or dining rooms, (some large enough for ballrooms) lodging rooms, two large kitchens, a bar,  a coffee room and attic for servants quarters.

In 1774 the tavern was thrust center stage in the dispute with England.  From that time until the close of the century the City Tavern knew the patronage of the great and near-great of the American Revolution.

After the war, City Tavern settled into a more sedate existence which was not interrupted until the opening of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when once again, these leaders enjoyed the hospitality of the City Tavern. However, by 1834 it began to lose its place of prominence and in 1854 was demolished to make way for new brownstone stores.

In 1975, after painstaking research, the National Park Service rebuilt the City Tavern. Today, the tavern appears essentially as it did two hundred years ago, even down to the front awning which shielded the tavern from the summer sun. Both the National Park Service and Concepts by Staib Ltd, the tavern's operator, have made every effort to faithfully recreate the tavern and the culinary experience to the way it operated during the American Revolution.

I decided if I was going to splurge I'd might as well go all the way, so I ordered:

Rack of Lamb -  Roasted with Dijon mustard & walnuts, rosemary infused au jus, mashed potatoes, asparagus & Sauce Béarnaise.  $32.95  rating: 4 Tines

My Aunt immediately zoomed in on the: Colonial Turkey Pot Pie -
Tender chunks of turkey, mushrooms, early peas, red potatoes, sherry cream sauce & flaky pastry crust baked in a pewter casserole. Come with  a side of egg noodles in a heavenly brown gravy.  $21.95 rating: 4 Tines

I also suggested we start with an appetizer of : Mallard Duck Sausage - Broiled duck & pork sausage, sweet & sour cabbage $9.25 rating: 2 Tines - It was good, just not exclamation good. Actually enjoyed the cabbage more than the sausage.

I check into Foursquare upon arrival and discovered an offer of a free dessert for my efforts. We choose the Apple Crumble  rating: 2 Tines - When I order this dessert, I always want the apples to be a compote, not hard slices. I'm sure traditionally the apples are supposed to be intact, but for me, that just means I eat the crumble and ice cream and leave the apples.  By the way, the a la mode was Cinnamon Ice Cream, which I adore. Always a flavor hard to find.

Two additional treats of the evening 1) Benjamin Franklin was sitting two tables away from us.

 Ok, it's the guy who does the historic tours in Olde City; still it was cool to see him in the Tavern. When I went over to ask him for a picture. He spoke to me in character.  I never knew he introduced soybeans into the country.  Franklin sent the beans and recipe for Tofu (smuggled out of China) back to John Bartram (Bartram's Gardens - where my sister got married). I would have thought this country didn't start eating tofu until the mid-1970's not 1770's.

2) The service was excellent 4 Tines!  All the waiters were friendly and informative, not just Lachlan who was our stellar server. 

Rating System:
* Excellent - 4 Tines / * Great - 3 Tines / * Good - 2 Tines / * Fair - 1 Tine / * Poor - Tarnished

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Commentary - In The Land of Blood & Honey (Angelina Jolie Interview)

I saw the Philadelphia Film Society screening of In the Land of Blood and Honey more than a week ago, yet I kept putting off writing my commentary. Why? Because I have a hard and fast rule when it comes to movie/film genres - I don't see war movies!  I've never seen Bridge Over River Kwai, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker etc... The senselessness of men (and women) in battle is just something I don't care to watch.

However, I made an exception with this film because, I like most who follow Hollywood, am fascinated with Angelina Jolie - as a mother, an actress, an activist, a "wife" to Brad, and now as a writer/director.

For anyone unfamiliar with what the film is about here's a snip-it synopsis:

Set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War that tore the Balkan region apart in the 1990s, In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the story of Danijel (Goran Kostić) and Ajla (Zana Marjanović), two Bosnians from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. Danijel, a Bosnian Serb police officer, and Ajla, a Bosnian Muslim artist, are together before the war, but their relationship is changed as violence engulfs the country.

We are able to digest the conflict through the love story, however, Angelina's main objective in making the film was to bring light to the brutality and unthinkable crimes against women that so often goes on without intercession. And also her love for this part of the world (Bosnia/Sarajevo).

Genocide is such an evil threat that can take hold more readily than would seem possible. This was a country where Serbs, Croatians and Muslims all lived peaceably, inter-married and thought of themselves as one nation. Then in the blink of an eye,  politics can change people's hearts and heads. Before you know it, rape and massacre replaces kindness and trust. It's not dissimilar to another recent  film - Kinyarwanda (guess I did make another war movie exception) where Tutsi and Hutu's destroyed one another out of what seemed like just a notion that they were different and enemies.

In terms of Angelina's directing style, I'm glad that she just shot it straight, it's clean and authentic. She didn't try to be an auteur, no gimmicks, nothing vague or highbrow.  And as a side note: each scene was shot twice; once in English and another in the language of the region, creating two versions of the film.

Coincidentally, right before I sat down to write this post, I check my emails and found an invitation from PartnersHubLive who were about to host a live chat with Angelina Jolie and one of the actresses from the film, Vanessa Glodjo.  It's excellent! Angelina is so open and articulate. They discuss so much, from her writing/directing process, to her breakdown and insecurity in taking on the task of telling a story that is not her own. Even her son Maddox surprises her by tweeting a question.

You can watch the taped version on facebook - Angelina Q&A

In the Land of Blood and Honey has been nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign language film.  Be sure to watch The Hollywood Foreign Press Association Awards on Sunday January 15th and come back to Tinsel & Tine for my annual Golden Globe recap post on Monday!

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