Author: Loyd Pelto
Casinos have been a long-loved subject and setting for movies for a considerable length of time. The excitement of turning reels and tumbling dice gives the ideal backdrop to any film, and Hollywood has flirted with Las Vegas and casinos in general for many decades.
Take a look at a rundown of some of the casino online nz movies and you’ll discover blockbuster hits like Martin Scorsese’s Casino and Steven Soderbergh’s set of three of Danny Ocean movies, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, and Ocean’s Thirteen.
So for why do casino movies constantly move producers? Why are filmmakers constantly looking to the gaming world for inclusion in their movies?
The Las Vegas setting is glamourous
There are hundreds, if not thousands of movies set in the gambling capital of the world – Las Vegas. Whether it be the aforementioned Soderbergh ‘Oceans’ movies or the hijinks of Todd Phillips’ ‘Hangover’ movies, the backdrop of America’s adult playground is perfect for the lens of Hollywood filmmakers. The city has even attracted other comedies, including the Michael Douglas-led Last Vegas, which brought Robert De Niro back to Sin City following his work in Scorsese’s Casino a couple of decades earlier, or even the 1989 Oscar-winning Rain Man starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Pretty much every genre of film has had at least one movie set or filmed there.
The Lion King and The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau kicked off his career in Las Vegas with the superb comedy Swingers, which he co-wrote with fellow actor Vince Vaughn. There have also been the extremely dark comedy Very Bad Things with Christian Slater and Jeremy Piven, and the Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker comedy Honeymoon in Vegas, both set in and around Vegas.
Cage would also return to the city a few years later for his Oscar-winning turn in Mike Figgis’ brilliant Leaving Las Vegas, where Cage played the role of an alcoholic on a one-way mission to end his life by drinking himself to death.
Action movies have also been shot and set there, Cage again headlining the high-octane Con Air in the mid-’90s, and then Matt Damon’s super-spy Jason Bourne seen tearing up the strip nearly two decades later in the superb Jason Bourne.
Of course, the gambling world isn’t just restricted to the bright lights of Nevada. An online gambling syndicate indicates that there are many locations used all over the world. Check out the likes of Rounders, again starring Damon, which is largely set in the underground poker clubs of New York City, or even the likes of The Gambler or Molly’s Game, two gambling-themed movies that are set in Los Angeles.
The deep south of the United States is used for the drama Mississippi Grind, a very under-rated movie starring Ryan Reynolds and a stand-out Ben Mendelson, and then also the Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster-starring film version of the TV series Maverick, again made in the mid-1990s though set in the old west.
The UK is also a favourite setting for gambling-themed movies. Clive Owen is superb in the London casino movie Croupier, and Guy Ritchie also leaned on gambling themes in his stunning debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smokin’ Barrels. Ritchie again visits the genre in his 2005 film Revolver reteaming him with Jason Statham.
Whether you agree with gambling or not, there seems to be a constant flirting with the genre over the years, particularly in recent times. Whether it be because of the glitz and glamour, or the thrill of the win, Hollywood’s fixation on the subject will long continue as long as there are viewers willing to watch, win or lose.
