What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

January 27th, 2020 at 3:31:03 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
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I'm going to be lazy and copy and paste my Uncut Gems review from WoV here...

Quote: jmills
Uncut Gems was fantastic. Best depiction of a degenerate gambler since Owning Mahoney.


Quote: TigerWu
I can't stand Adam Sandler. He's one of my most hated actors. The godawful comedy schtick he did back in the 90's just totally ruined him for me.


I just saw Uncut Gems yesterday.

Let me start by saying that the movie isn't for everybody. It's dark, uses the F word hundreds of times, at times violent, does not have a strong plot, and does not have anything positive to say about anybody or anything. One might comparisons to Joker in that respect.

However, I also thought it was fantastic. I like dark movies like Taxi Driver and Scarface -- don't ask me why.

Like Owning Mahoney, the movie is about a compulsive gambler who is deep in debt, yet continues to movie money around, robbing Peter to pay Paul, in hopes of a big score. In this case, the movie centers around a small-time jeweler, Howard Ratner, in New York who gets a hold of a opal-laden rock from Ethiopia, shows it to an NBA player, Kevin Garnett, who is attracted to it like Gollum to the Ring of Mordor. Given it's perceived power, Garnett plays better basketball, which Ratner bets into. Meanwhile, Ratner is trying to maintain a somewhat normal life with his wife, kids, and mistress. That is about as far as I'll take it.

Dislike of Adam Sandler or his movies should not be a reason not to see it. I didn't care for Adam Sandler either before this movie either. The only movie of his I could make it through previously was 100 First Dates and even that I could go without seeing twice. However, this movie shows a completely different side of him. This will likely be the movie he is remembered by. Somebody else compared this role to John Travolta's in Pulp Fiction, which is a good way to put it.

I have to take issue with some of the unrealistic gambling scenes. The movie shows the main character making incredibly correlated parlay bets, like the winner of the first half to winner of the entire game, in the NBA. At the risk of a spoiler, the movie shows the Mohegan Sun taking an over-the-counter all-cash 3-leg parlay bet for about $120,000 that was extremely correlated. That aspect was just ridiculous, but did fit into the characters needs to get roughly 10 to 1 odds on a bet.

In conclusion, despite the unrealistic bets that were being accepted, I recommend Uncut Gems. I'll give it an 8+ on the 0 to 10 scale.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
January 27th, 2020 at 7:02:55 PM permalink
ams288
Member since: Apr 21, 2016
Threads: 29
Posts: 12422
Uncut Gems was so LOUD and CHAOTIC in certain scenes. I could barely take it. But that’s what it was going for. I think it is a good movie, but I’m not sure how much I could tolerate it on repeat viewings. And Adam Sandler is fantastic, should have been nominated for best actor.
“A straight man will not go for kids.” - AZDuffman
January 28th, 2020 at 9:06:21 AM permalink
gamerfreak
Member since: Feb 19, 2018
Threads: 4
Posts: 527
Quote: Wizard
I have to take issue with some of the unrealistic gambling scenes. The movie shows the main character making incredibly correlated parlay bets, like the winner of the first half to winner of the entire game, in the NBA. At the risk of a spoiler, the movie shows the Mohegan Sun taking an over-the-counter all-cash 3-leg parlay bet for about $120,000 that was extremely correlated. That aspect was just ridiculous, but did fit into the characters needs to get roughly 10 to 1 odds on a bet.

In conclusion, despite the unrealistic bets that were being accepted, I recommend Uncut Gems. I'll give it an 8+ on the 0 to 10 scale.

I loved the movie and agree with your review and 8+ rating.

One thing to consider that may make the unrealistic bets more tolerable, is that they based the writing off and used footage from actual late 2000’s Celtics game. So the writers may not have had a lot of options in what bets fit the parameters of the specific game featured in the movie, and the odds the character needed.

Hopefully a studio consults you one day to accurately portray this type of thing.
January 28th, 2020 at 10:14:52 AM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
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Quote: gamerfreak
One thing to consider that may make the unrealistic bets more tolerable, is that they based the writing off and used footage from actual late 2000’s Celtics game. So the writers may not have had a lot of options in what bets fit the parameters of the specific game featured in the movie, and the odds the character needed.


I liked how they weaved actual basketball footage into the movie. I don't dispute the bets he made actually won in those games. However, I still say nobody in his right mind would have accepted such correlated parlays for so much money.

Quote:
Hopefully a studio consults you one day to accurately portray this type of thing.


I'm not allowed to say much, but I may be doing just that for a major studio movie. I think development got put on the back burner, but I'm hoping it gets back to the front of the stove.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
January 29th, 2020 at 8:49:27 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Wizard
I'm not allowed to say much, but I may be doing just that for a major studio movie.


I was under the impression that movies did not want to see actual betting, as fantasy betting is so much more visual.

January 30th, 2020 at 2:59:07 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18631
Chuck Norris had an acting school. Right around the time before he did Walker Texas Ranger.
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
January 31st, 2020 at 1:05:10 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: rxwine
Chuck Norris had an acting school. Right around the time before he did Walker Texas Ranger.


Chuck Norris could act? Why didn't
he do it in his movies.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
February 4th, 2020 at 8:06:42 PM permalink
Mosca
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 22
Posts: 730
We saw Ford vs. Ferrari today. It was a stone cold blast. It’s not even close to being a great movie. What it is, is a great visual thrill ride.

Plus: real cars, not CGI. And you can tell. (MOSTLY real cars. There are some CGI cars filling in race spots. But the producers said that at one point they had over $200 million worth of cars on the screen.)

Minus: gear shifting that acts like an injection of nitrous. I hate that.

Cardboard characters, rote plot, great visuals. A great way to spend 2 1/2 hours.
February 4th, 2020 at 9:03:51 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Mosca
Minus: gear shifting that acts like an injection of nitrous. I hate that.
.


The movies always have them
shifting every 5 seconds. If
you've ever had a sports car
you know it's not quite like
that.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
February 5th, 2020 at 9:11:19 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Wizard
I like dark movies like Taxi Driver and Scarface -- don't ask me why.


You are mentioning high-quality dark movies. I can think of a lot of dark movies that were just cynical and violent with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. For some reason, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, comes to mind.


Quote: THE LAST BOY SCOUT (1991)
Producer Joel Silver, director Tony Scott, and screenwriters Shane Black and Greg Hicks team up for this gridiron-set action thriller. Bruce Willis stars as Joe Hallenbeck, who was once a top-of-the-line Secret Service agent but has since become an alcoholic, flea-bag detective. While performing the chores of a two-bit shamus, he discovers his wife Sarah (Chelsea Field) is having an affair with his best friend. Joe is hired to protect Cory (Halle Berry), a stripper who has been getting death threats; Joe begins to sober up when Cory is blown to smithereens. Cory's boyfriend, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans), was at one time a NFL football quarterback, but was thrown out of the game for gambling and addiction to Demerol. Smelling something fishy, Joe and Jimmy begin to investigate further and discover layers of corruption in professional football circles, leading up to Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham), a corrupt team owner who wants to pay off legislators to legalize gambling on pro football games.