Cinema Review: 50 BEST CASINO MOVIES OF ALL TIME

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The film’s title refers to the job of a casino cooler, someone who is paid to keep gamblers from winning too much money. “Rounders” sucks viewers into the world of underground poker, where the rush of the bluff and the allure of the win reign supreme. Matt Damon gives a memorable performance as a talented poker player who, despite his attempt to turn his life around, returns to poker to help a friend pay off his debts. Take, for instance, the high-stakes poker scene in Casino Royale which you can see in the video below. The dramatic climax of the poker game hinges on a highly improbable hand of Straigth Flush, which, while thrilling for viewers, significantly stretches the bounds of typical game probabilities.

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Based on a true story and one of the MGM casino movies, “21” portrays the thrilling account of a group of MIT students who become experts in blackjack card counting and subsequently win millions in Las Vegas. Led by an unorthodox math professor, the team navigates the high-pressure environment of blackjack, dealing with the extravagant lifestyle, the excitement of big money, and the watchful eye of casino security. When the exciting world of high-stakes gaming collides with Hollywood’s cinematic magic, the result is often unforgettable. Suspenseful movies about gambling are a unique blend of excitement and drama. From the glitzy charm of Las Vegas to nerve-racking poker games, these films transport us to a universe where luck can change in the blink of an eye. Poker extraordinaire Eric Stoner has made it his mission to become the best poker player in town.

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  • The debut film by Paul Thomas Anderson, Hard Eight starts off as a free-wheeling film about a casino pro (Philip Baker Hall) and his new protege (John C. Reilly), who start winning big at the casino.
  • Sam Ace is a gambling expert who Chicago Outfit employs to run casino and hotel activities at Tangiers Casino.
  • When the protégé becomes the mentor, that’s when things get interesting.
  • The film features a high-stakes Texas Hold’em poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro, where Bond faces off against the villain Le Chiffre, played by Mads Mikkelsen.
  • The group — Eddie, Tom, Soap, and Bacon — go after every crooked opportunity they can to earn the money, running into crazy characters, getting chased by bookies, and making many mishaps along the way.
  • “Rounders” sucks viewers into the world of underground poker, where the rush of the bluff and the allure of the win reign supreme.

Rotten Tomatoes gives this cult classic, one of the best baseball movies ever created, an impressive 87% score. Sour Grapes, starring Steven Weber and Craig Bierko, is one of the most underrated and forgotten comedies from the 1990s. The iconic and hilarious Larry David of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame directed the film, which is about two relatives who feud over who deserves the money from a slot machine jackpot. Reviews of The Cooler are mostly positive and critics give it a 77% composite score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ron Livingston, Maria Bello, and Paul Sorvino play key roles but it is Macy who truly carries this movie that packs a big punch.

  • If you need proof, check out “The Professor,” a white under-sized real-life basketball player just like Billy Hoyle who has made a living hustling people on the basketball court.
  • Charlie Babbit, a selfish, debt-laden car salesman, learns his wealthy father passed, leaving millions to his autistic brother in a trust fund.
  • 2016 spy film starred Daniel Craig as James Bond, a British Secret Service agent with a license to kill.
  • These stories revolve around gamblers from different backgrounds and their personal experiences.
  • Ogunbowale had an important guest at Sunday’s game in sister Arike Ogunbowale, who plays for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.

Top Gambling Movies on Netflix Worth Watching

The episode we have in mind has to do with the story of Tim Donaghy, an NBA referee who was caught red-handed betting on his own games, and seriously putting the integrity of the game at risk. Money, Explained may not be your typical movie about gambling on Netflix, but there is a good reason why we have included it here. Gamblers are often tempted by the idea of making money and a living by just playing casino games. Money Explained though is a documentary that goes deep into the institution of money and how it works. Adam Sandler plays Howard Ratner, the owner of KMH, a jewelry store in New York, but he also has some problems on the side. For one, Ratner is a gambling addict who has raked in massive amounts of debt, and he owes money to many people – not all of whom are willing to cut Ratner a break.

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Before “Ocean’s Eleven” came “Bob le Flambeur” from the French master of noir, Jean-Pierre Melville. Roger Duchesne plays the eponymous high roller, a middle-aged gambler and ex-con whose elegance is so apparent that he has even won the respect of the town’s cops. For Bob, gambling is not a mere addiction but an essential state of existence. When it is revealed that the Deauville casino will hold 800 million francs on a given night, Bob, who’s on a bad streak of luck, assembles a crack team of cons to carry out the heist.

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Jake Green, a gambler, seeks revenge against a crime boss who sent him to prison unjustly. A famous casino movie quote is, ‘Change the rules on what controls you, and you will change the rules on what you can control.’ Its IMDb rating is 6.3/10, but it has 15% Rotten Tomatoes. Another pool-based good gambling film about casinos is The Color of Money.

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Clive Owen plays Jack, a writer-turned-croupier who gets caught up in the underbelly of the gambling world. Between infidelity and deceit, his aspirations as a writer and his involvement in a robbery, his life as a croupier is way more complicated than he’d anticipated. With is faithful representation of the casino vibe and neo-noir style; “Croupier” paints an accurate picture of life on both sides of the table. This is a drama film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, and Karl Malden. The film is about a young poker player who challenges an established pro to a high-stakes match. The Cincinnati Kid was Jewison’s third film and was released in the United States on October 8, 1965.

Best Gambling Movies Worth Placing A Bet On

In fact, Alec Baldwin and Maria Bello were nominated at several respectable award associations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. The project follows the aftermath of a robbery that took place within a Mafia poker game. Kicking things off with a bit of an anomaly, The Hangover (2009) is the only clear-cut comedy movie on the entire list. That said, this modern hit is in the end definitely a film of actual quality, with positive ratings from critics and even a win at the Golden Globes for Best Musical or Comedy. It’s considered one of the best poker films of all time and is credited with helping to popularize Texas Hold’em during the early 2000s poker boom. With new strict regulations on social distancing, Polish people shifted to working and playing from home.

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  • Kakegurui is Netflix’s highly acclaimed series about a girl who gets admitted to a school that teaches pupils how to gamble and cheat.
  • “The Sting” is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a con artist and a rookie grifter who seek revenge on a crime lord who murdered one of their partners.
  • Sandler portrays a frenzied jewelry store owner whose gambling addiction puts him in a financially difficult situation.
  • With new strict regulations on social distancing, Polish people shifted to working and playing from home.
  • Matt Damon gives a memorable performance as a talented poker player who, despite his attempt to turn his life around, returns to poker to help a friend pay off his debts.
  • There’s the Man, unloved and unfriended and maybe past his prime, who knows that it always comes to character in the end.

These movies go into the lives of various gamblers, their struggles, and their obsession with gambling. Based on a true story, “Molly’s Game” has a fantastic cast and a captivating script. Jessica Chastain plays Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who runs an exclusive poker game for the wealthy and famous. One night, she gets arrested by the FBI and wrapped up in a high-stakes investigation into her players, some of whom are members of the Russian mob. Directed by Jeff Probst, the movie has an interesting if somewhat unlikely plot. Tepper, the protagonist, finds a lost wallet on the street and he calls the owner to come and pick it up.

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  • Catacombe is a Dutch movie directed by Victor D. Ponten and one of the grittiest movies about gambling you will find on Netflix.
  • And one could argue that the bulk of its admiration from fans and critics alike stemmed from the chemistry of its cast.
  • The girl is ignored and put down by her peers but that quickly ends when everyone realizes that she is the best gambler they have seen.
  • As with the best gambling movies, the poker table is only one arena where the stakes are high in Molly’s Game.
  • But it’s a still a movie that I can guarantee you I would never ever go past if skipping channels and lucking into a classic rerun on TMC, as I’ve done many times.

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. He eventually succumbs to his dark desires and ends up in a situation far worse than he could have ever imagined. It’s always a rare case when the remake of a film ends up surpassing the original.

For anyone who’s into movies or casinos, this list is a solid gold find. 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 https://true-fortune.us/bonus/ before the city is completely destroyed. For blackjack fans, the classing gambling movie 21 should be right up your alley. 21 is based on the story of the MIT Blackjack Team, a group of students from top US universities, including MIT, who learned how to count cards in blackjack and attempted to take over casinos in Las Vegas.

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You can check out sites like comeon.com for some fun casino games to enjoy in your free time. “Uncut Gems,” a film released in 2019, became a sensation on Netflix. The movie features Adam Sandler, typically known for his comedic roles, playing a character named Howard Ratner, a compulsive gambler who owns a jewelry store. To pay off his debts, Howard must get his hands on a rare and costly gem, all the while attempting to prevent his addiction from harming his relationships and personal life. Gambling is unpredictable, and high stakes make it a popular movie subject. Netflix has a plethora of gambling movies that are not only entertaining but also educational.

Despite only coming out a few years ago, Uncut Gems is already seen as one of the best movies about gambling thanks to its incredible pace and stressful soundtrack. This thrilling excitement is what makes Casino one of the best movies about gambling ever made. Like many other Martin Scorsese films, Casino is based on true events that occurred when the Mob dominated Las Vegas during the 1970s. He’s brutal, flamboyant, and absolutely mesmerizing in Casino, particularly in the Blackjack scene where Nicky (Pesci) proves himself to be not just a tough-talking gangster but a vicious, unpredictable crook. The Jewish jeweler suffers from severe financial hardship, trying to get out of it and pay off the debts accumulated on him by selling a rare and precious gem that he bought from Ethiopian miners.

We get to see the glitz and glam, as well as a cruel, seedy underside that’s packed with mobsters. Based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi, “Casino” offers a thrilling crime drama that’s sure to draw you in. We’ll kick things off with “Croupier,” an intriguing movie starring Clive Owen as Jack Manfred, an aspiring, down-on-his-luck writer.

‘The Cincinnati Kid’

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And all the performers delivered Sorkin’s world-famous dialogue to a critically acclaimed degree. It’s an endlessly intelligent film that will likely satisfy any gambling addicts looking for a realistic movie about poker — that’s almost entirely due to the wit of Sorkin’s script. The Netflix show you’re likely referring to is “Molly’s Game” (2017), although it’s a movie rather than a series. It’s a biographical drama based on the true story of Molly Bloom, a former Olympic-class skier who ran one of the most exclusive high-stakes poker games in Hollywood. Movies about gambling have an inherent drama because, by definition, they’re about risk. They usually don’t end up with a calm home life upstate, counting their winnings.

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Ratner tries a few ways to secure the money he owes – mostly by gambling more, going deeper into debt, and ultimately relying on his wife, with whom they are about to get a divorce. The movie runs the gamut of things a viewer would expect to find in any great movie on gambling; greed, deception, money, power, and even murder. The film’s main point revolves around the involvement of the mob in the Vegas casinos of the ’70s and ’80s. The film goes from casino to casino when the World Series of Poker becomes a beacon for the main characters, making poker the poison of the protagonist’s choice. From director Paul Schrader, the writer behind Taxi Driver, The Card Counter is a dark and intense ride through the ideas of redemption and the tight grip of the past.

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According to Henry Hill, whose life inspired Ray Liotta’s Goodfellas character, Spider’s fate in the movie happened just as it did in real life – and it was equally as shocking. Film students have analyzed the legendary poker scene in Casino Royale from every angle, bluff, and tell. It’s an edge-of-your seat drama that sees Bond at a $10m Texas hold ’em tournament at Montenegro’s Casino Royale playing his villainous rival Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). It is must-watch movie magic that rebooted the entire franchise and guaranteed Craig’s 15-year reign as 007.

Bond travels to exotic places, like Uganda, Madagascar, and of course Montenegro, where the big game is held. In a tense series of moments, Bond discovers his opponent’s tell, has to find the antidote to save his poisoned lover, and then comes back to finish the game. The movie is based on the real story of the MIT blackjack team and their card-counting drama. Starring Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, and Kate Bosworth, 21 makes blackjack as exciting as hitting it big. Choose the best movie to watch for yourself and have a good time after the game. If you like to play roulette online real money, you can choose an interesting movie for yourself.

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. In Australia, losing all your money gambling leads to drinking binges and fighting kangaroos, or at least it does in the eccentric psychological thriller Wake In Fright. By adhering to the guidelines outlined in this article, you can enjoy the thrill of gambling while minimizing the potential risks.