The Cooler

The Cooler  Introduction

The cooler is a film directed by Wayne Kramer in 2003 and stars Alec Baldwin, William H Macy and Maria Bello. It’s an American romantic drama film based on the ageing Las Vegas casino world where a casino “cooler” is an unlucky individual; usually, a casino employee whose mere presence at any table results in players experiencing streaks of bad luck.

The Main Story

Unlucky Bernie (William H Macy) is an employee at the Shangri-La casino as a “cooler”. He is smitten with a cocktail waitress named Natalie who barely even notices him. Added to the mix is the casino manager, Shelley (Alec Baldwin) who prides himself on running classy Vegas Casinos and detests the newer places that attract a lower calibre of clientele. I wonder what he’s think of today’s top online casino sites..

Bernie decides he is leaving town, but before he does, he saves Natalie from an aggressive customer, and suddenly she starts taking an interest in him and they begin dating. Bernie is apprehensive due to his bad luck and tells Natalie he used to be a gambling addict in massive debt to several casinos. He was saved by Shelley, who broke his kneecaps and paid off his debts in exchange for Bernie’s work as a cooler for six years.

Over time his cooling abilities fade much to Shelley’s dismay, and they run into Mikey, Bernie’s estranged son with his pregnant wife. Bernie fails to effectively cool a hot table being cheated by Mikey, which leads to dire consequences. Shelley beats Mikey and Charlotte and to try and save them Bernie offers to pay the $150 000 back.

The Plot thickens, Natalie is reminded by Shelley that she was hired to date Bernie to stop him from leaving Vegas not to fall in love with him and forces her to leave town immediately. It devastates Bernie and ruins his luck. As she truly loves Bernie, Natalie returns, restoring his luck not before telling him that Shelley initially hired her to keep him in Vegas.

The Ending

Bernie decides to confront Shelley, and Shelley lets him go on the condition he pays back his son’s debt which Bernie tries to win back at craps. The two of them leave Vegas, where he reveals the fact that he has won a lot of money. They are approached by a cop who is sent to kill them, but its evident Bernie’s luck has changed as a drunk driver kills the cop and Shelley is killed for letting Bernie go. It’s a happy ending that sees Bernie and Natalie drive off free from all the chains that previously bound them.

Molly’s Game

Molly’s Game  Introduction

Molly’s Game is a 2017 biographical movie directed by Aaron Sorkin and based on the real-life Poker princess Molly Bloom, a 26-year-old woman behind the most exclusive underground Poker Game globally. Molly was arrested with 30 other players as part of a gambling and money Laundering operation and was sentenced to jail time. This is largely set in pre online casinos days, and during the Winter Olympics (very pertient to these times, as the event is currently again taking place).

The Main Story

Molly’s Game follows the story of Bloom, who becomes the target of an FBI investigation when her underground Poker empire she runs for Athletes, Hollywood celebrities, business moguls and the Russian mob is exposed.

Bloom is a world-class skier with Olympic aspirations, however, in a qualifying event for the 2002 winter Olympics, she is severely injured ending her career. Molly then decides to put her law career on hold for a year and moves to LA. This is where her exposure to the underground Poker world begins. Dean employs her as his office manager where she is exposed to the games and is soon running the show which does not sit well with Dean, leading him to fire her.

Molly moves to New York and starts her own underground poker games successfully; however, she becomes addicted to drugs as a way to cope with the increasing toll the games are taking on her. She is attacked in her home after she declines an offer from the Italian Mafia to extort money and as she is about to return to her Poker games the FBI conduct a raid on a tip-off by one of her players who is an FBI informant. All her assets are seized, and she moves back in with her mother.

The Ending

Two years later Molly publishes a book and names a few of her players leading to her arrest in illegal gambling with the Mafia. She enlists the help of Charlie Jaffey who negotiates a deal for Molly whereby she receives no sentence, and her money be returned in exchange for all her digital evidence on the gambling ring. Molly declines the deal and pleads guilty receiving only 200 hours community service, one-year probation and a $200,000 fine. The movie is generally well received, with high ratings on the Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB movie review sites.

The Big Town

The Big Town  Introduction

The Big Town is a 1987 American neo-noir thriller movie based on the novel “The Arm”. It is about a country boy that turns crapshooter in Chicago in the 1950s. It was directed by Ben Bolt and starred Matt Dillon as JC Cullen, Diane Lane as Lorry Dane. Other cast members are Tommy Lee Jones, George Cole, and a mighty strip joint owner with some shady connections.

The Main Story

Cullen, a farm boy from Iowa, arrives in Chicago with a talent for winning at craps and becomes a constant winner at the craps tables because he knows the odds and has lady luck on his side. Many playing on the best australia online casino no doubt feel the same way.  In the movie, Cullen breaks the bank at a private craps game at the Gem Club owned by George Cole. As time passes, he becomes the pawn of two high rolling professional gamblers Mr. & Mrs Edwards. Added to this, he also becomes involved in two torrid relationships. One with Lorry Dane the embittered stripper wife of Cole and the other with the nice girl Aggie Donaldson. Cullen nearly loses his life at one point in this gambling film when he lands up in the middle of a feud between Edwards, Cole and Carpenter, the man suspected of blinding Edwards.

The Ending

The Big Town is somewhat ‘by numbers’. The bad girl is rejected, the good girl is embraced, the villain is defeated, and Cullen wins back his independence. It’s a great-looking, stylish movie, and the cast never put a foot wrong wrong in bringing this era to life on the big screen. Although the storyline is predictable, the style will have viewers on their edge of their seats waiting for outcomes at the craps table and more. A brilliant gambling movie and a definite must-watch.

The movie was ironically something of a box office flop and earned less than $2 million. This can often be the case with movies though, especially when they are niche, and certainly doesn’t mean that they aren’t much appreciated in the years following.