Casinos and heists have been popular movie themes for decades. They’ve gone down in history. Some of the absolute best scenes out there have taken place in plush, velvet-lined, card-shuffling gambling houses, or in hushed museum corridors with someone dangling from a rope up above. Think Bond, Casablanca, and a ton of other cinematic treats. You’ll soon see what we mean here. There’s a lot of overlap between these two options, and they definitely tick the same satisfaction boxes for many of us.
But what’s changed? Well, for starters, casinos themselves have. We definitely still have those brick-and-mortar gems to fall in love with and to step into in all our finery, but also… for most of us, a casino experience is now had online. It’s digitized, pocket-sized, convenient. It’s also a whole lot more “ordinary” than it used to be, and while that’s definitely a benefit for most of us, there’s also a potential drawback. Do casinos have the same shine, the same appeal, the same magnetism as before? Have they still got a grip on our screens in the same way?
Well, interestingly, there haven’t been tons of cracking gambling movies in recent years – just a handful of noteworthy ones in the last decade, and nothing particularly stand-out in the last few years! Even so, we doubt the filmmaking industry is ending its long-term love affair with the glamor of gambling; there’s likely to be a shift pretty soon. In the meantime, let’s see what movies with a casino tilt have come out in the not-so-distant past.
7 Days to Vegas (2019)
An enigmatic title, 7 Days to Vegas, but the gambling theme is pretty clear. This comedy had lots of great names, including Aron Eisenberg – who sadly died just a day after the film got released! Still, it’s well worth watching! We’ve got a great poker game going on with a big variety of characters, and as many amusing side bets as you can imagine… because one of the characters in this will bet on pretty much anything. You’d have no problem getting him to try getting jacks or better. We’re not going to give away the bizarre and entertaining things he bets on – you’ll have to watch it and see!
If you fancy some light-hearted fun with some great actors and a good handful of awards thrown in, this could be the option for you. Well-written, highly entertaining, and not too long, this is a definite favorite for many and shows that we’re still holding Vegas firmly in our hearts (and on our screens).
Ocean’s Eight (2018)
Onto the heists! Move over, Eleven. It’s time for Eight. And if you love seeing the girls, take center stage, this could be a gem for you. We’ve got stars aplenty here, plus a smattering of fun cameo from folks like Olivia Munn, Kim Kardashian West, and Rainey Qualley, bringing an extra dash of spice to this already entertaining mix.
And the film’s message? The invisibility of women! That’s one a lot of us are interested in learning more about and getting better at spotting, so it takes this from “just another” heist or gambling movie into something better, more exciting, and more engaging. It’s got something to say, after all!
Molly’s Game (2017)
Another one that celebrates the existence of women and showcases them at their finest in the gambling space! Olympic hopeful Molly ends her athletic career with a serious injury, and after a couple of twists, winds up in LA. There, she meets Dean, a real estate developer who also just happens to run poker games, which Molly soon gets involved with. Brushing shoulders with the creme-de-la-creme of society, she tries to turn the world to her advantage and gets herself fired… leading to her starting her own version of Dean’s game – Molly’s Game!
We won’t give anything more away, since there’s not much point watching it if you already know the plot, but we think Molly’s Game succinctly proves that gambling is alive and well at the heart of our film world, and poker is a never-dying facet of this world we’ll always carry a torch for.
Conclusion
Are gambling and heist movies dead? No! There might be slightly fewer of these hitting the screens right now than we’ve seen in years gone past, but this is still a general theme that is alive and kicking. Yes, we have casinos in our pockets now, but that wonderful world is still full of allure to many of us – we’re drawn in by the glitz, the glamor, the beautiful outfits, and the whisper of shuffling cards. And as we see from the return of Nolan’s famous Interstellar, there’s always scope for the best movies to make a return to the screens; they don’t get forgotten just because a few years have passed!
