5 Great Casino Movies
How about we talk a little about movies? We looked back at our favorite films related to casinos and gambling and put together a list of five of the best, in our opinion. There are probably many more great films on this topic, and we’ll cover some of them in future posts, but for now, check these out.
Ocean's Eleven
Genre: Crime
Release Year: 2001
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Box Office: $450 million
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia
George Clooney’s character gets out of prison and gathers eleven old friends to rob a chain of casinos. The film is highly entertaining and dynamic, packed with stars who were at the peak of their careers at the time.
Danny Ocean wants revenge on Benedict for stealing his wife (Julia Roberts), though he doesn’t tell his crew about this motive. They think the whole plan is about money.
It’s a remake. The original Ocean's 11 came out in 1960, starring Frank Sinatra.
Casino
Genre: Crime Drama
Release Year: 1995
Director: Martin Scorsese
Box Office: $116 million
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone
A crime epic from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese, with his longtime favorite Robert De Niro in the lead. His partner is played by Joe Pesci (the little burglar from Home Alone), and Sharon Stone plays the female lead.
This three-hour epic is based on real events described in a book by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese. The main character had a real-life prototype — Frank Rosenthal, who ran Las Vegas casinos for the Chicago mob.
The film is filled with fascinating details about how Vegas casinos operated, though at its core it’s about human vice and its consequences.
21
Genre: Drama
Release Year: 2008
Director: Robert Luketic
Box Office: $157 million
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Laurence Fishburne
A compelling intellectual drama about a math professor (Kevin Spacey) assembling a team of students to beat casinos at blackjack.
His system is based on card counting, which isn’t especially relevant today, since casinos now protect themselves with frequent deck reshuffling, making counting ineffective.
Still, we recommend the film — it’s an excellent drama with a superb Kevin Spacey in the lead.
Maverick
Genre: Adventure
Release Year: 1994
Director: Richard Donner
Box Office: $183 million
Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster
Mel Gibson plays a gifted gambler who beats everyone at five-card draw poker. His partner is the charming Jodie Foster.
The final gambling scene may disappoint serious poker players — Gibson’s character draws one card to a royal flush draw (the strongest poker hand) and catches the one card he needs, the Ace of Spades. Extreme luck, showing fortune rather than player skill.
Even so, the film succeeds, and we confidently recommend it. Besides, it’s nearly impossible to find a fictional movie where poker is portrayed realistically anyway, so who cares.
Molly's Game
Genre: Biopic
Release Year: 2017
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Box Office: $59 million
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner
Another poker-related film, though the game itself doesn’t get much screen time. In essence, everything revolves around Jessica Chastain’s character.
Molly (a real person) organizes underground high-stakes poker games for celebrities and other powerful people. The film details her work in that role while also exploring the darker side of gambling. Not always perfectly. For example, the scene where a professional poker player gets bluffed once, goes on tilt and loses everything he has is quite ridiculous.
But otherwise, the film is very good — made to modern Hollywood biopic standards — and definitely worth watching once.
And if you’re not in the mood for movies right now, you can play poker or blackjack yourself in the Coins.Game live casino.
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