This is topic 21 (2008) in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-29-2008, 11:48 PM:
 
Search bait: Twenty-One, Twenty One

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #8, 35mm, KlipschSurround®. Very creative running that letterboxed flat trailer for Crystal Skull in scope. And whose idea is it to program a windowboxed trailer first, while the side masking is opening to scope? Image very soft but I think it was mostly the print. Bah.

This movie isn't near as good as it should be. Let me tick off a few reasons.

So ok, I'm giving this 2.5 out of 5 because it was moderately entertaining and the ending was at least somewhat satisfying. But this should have been a lot better.
 
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-30-2008, 01:06 AM:
 
It sounds like the projectionist at the above theater needs to crank out the lens cleaner and go to town on the lenses and port glass, then the tech needs to get in there and throw the Klipschits in the dumpster and put in a good sound system because the print I screened was plenty sharp and the sound was very good. I had no technical complaints with this movie. (I screened it with Schneider lenses, Christie 35mm projection, Harkness screens and QSC sound top to bottom.)

Yes the plot is predictable, yes the dialogue isn't all that great, and yes it is painfully obvious within the first few minutes what the final scene will be and what will be said, but still I enjoyed this. As far as the hand signals are concerned, I think they dumbed it down so that the typical moviegoing audience would pick up on it. [Razz]

3.5 out of 5 for me. Agreed though it could have been better.
 
Posted by Mike Perju (Member # 1482) on 04-03-2008, 09:07 AM:
 
Brad, you're right on the -throw the Klipsch speakers in the dumpster- part but the one where the -theater's lenses should be cleaned-, you're wrong. David notice the movie to be "soft" I would call it "muddy"... you should remember that the soft, dull, and muddy portions all were shot with the Genesis. In contrast, the opening tracking shot over the bridge was tack sharp (the result of an Pan-Arri 435EX). The whole show was shot with Panavision Primo lens, which are not to blame.
 
Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 04-07-2008, 05:15 AM:
 
I really liked this one, I love Vegas and really liked the way they shot Vegas. The books much better but the film was good. Its worth the two hours in the theatre.

4/5 [thumbsup]
 
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-27-2008, 11:28 AM:
 
I liked the movie a lot. I thought the sound was very good in it, but the "pop songs" had sort of a weird sound to me...I'm not sure why, but the comment about them sounding like bad MP3s sort of makes sense. Maybe it was just the way those songs are supposed to sound (who knows these days?). All the other music sounded good, and I agree about the way Las Vegas was filmed. The movie had a great look.

One thing missing from this film, that frequently shows up on movies of this type, is a summary of the characters' "where they are now" status via title cards at the end.

I wonder, if you get caught counting cards, do they really beat the crap out of you like depicted in the movie? Or do they just kick you out of the casino?

4 out of 5 for me.
 
Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-27-2008, 01:03 PM:
 
In the good ol' days when "the boys" ran things, yeah you could get the crap kicked out of you for doing things like counting. Get caught again at the same property and you could end up in one of those holes in the desert that Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro talks about so famously in the movie Casino (I love that little speech).

These days you get escorted out and off the property. For repeated offenses you could get a letter barring you from setting foot on the property again. Civil and criminal charges can also be applied. It is possible to do some serious jail time and pay some hefty fines and collection and lawyer fees.

The worst that can happen would be to have your name placed on the List of Excluded Persons a.k.a. the "Black Book", a list of people maintained by the State of Nevada Gaming Commission and the Gaming Control Board. No one on that list is permitted to enter any part of any live gaming establishment in Nevada. All gaming operators and their security staffs are trained to recognize the faces in the Black Book on sight.

Over the years different properties had different views about card counters. My uncle used to be in casino management for Circus Circus and was very good at spotting counters, having worked his way up from keno writer and blackjack dealer to casino shift manager. They sent him to Reno to train the pit staff there after Circus opened that property in 1976. That first year the Reno Circus suffered unacceptable revenue losses due to counters coming up from San Francisco. Word on the street was the Reno Circus was an easy mark. Transplanted 'Vegas pit management quickly changed that reputation.

Bill Bennett and Bill Pennington at Circus had no tolerance for counters and would have them thrown out immediately. Other casinos felt that a counter could draw more play to that table. But even those joints would toss counters if there were too many (i.e. more than one) on the floor.

The corporate owners of today's casinos universally take a dim view of counters and have them removed upon detection.
 




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