Smokin’ Aces

Smokin' Aces  Smokin’ Aces is a dark comedy action thriller movie written and directed by Joe Carnahan. It revolves around a Las Vegas magician who has turned mafia informant and has decided to rat out one of his mob on whom there is a million-dollar bounty.

Released in 2007 it has an all-star cast which includes Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Alicia Keys and Jeremy Piven. It’s an action-packed film filmed at the Montbleu Resort Casino & Spa called the Nomad Casino.

Main Story

The film sees Buddy Aces Israel ( Jeremy Piven ) hiding out in a Lake Tahoe hotel where he discusses a potential immunity deal with the FBI Deputy Director and other agents.

They learn that the mob boss Sparazza has put a hit out on Israel and the assassin known only as the Swede has been tasked with killing him. Furthermore, he has to take his heart back to Sparazza as proof he has eliminated the informant that could put him away for years.

Messner ( Ryan Reynolds ) is an FBI agent tasked with protecting Israel in turn for his testimony. However, the FBI double-crosses him, resulting in the deaths of many innocent people.

The Ending

Messner is furious over the unnecessary deaths and protests. His boss tells him he is off the case and orders him back to Washington.

Realizing that the FBI will never admit what they did, he walks into the emergency room where Israel and Sparazza are lying injured. He locks the door and pulls the plug on both of them, killing them instantly.

He then lays his gun and badge on the floor, apparently resigning from the FBI.

There is tons of mayhem and adrenalin rushing moments, and these all occur due to Buddy Aces wanting to go to the casino for one last good time, thereby drawing a crowd of assassins.

Once again it portrays the need for that one last gambling rush even if it could cost you everything.

Indecent Proposal

Indecent Proposal  Indecent Proposal is a 1993 American movie directed by Adrian Lyne and stars Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson. It is based on the book with the same name written by Jack Engelhard.

The movie is about how a couple’s marriage is turned upside down when a stranger offers 1 million dollars for the wife Diana to spend the night with him.

The Main Story

David ( Woody Harrelson ) and Diana Murphy ( Demi Moore ) are a young married couple who buy a property and start building their dream home. The recession hits and money becomes scarce.

They desperately need $50,000 to stop their land from being repossessed, so they travel to Las Vegas in the hopes of winning the money.

David wins $25,000 at the craps table, and the pair of them are over the moon. However, the next day, they lose everything at the roulette table.

Diana catches the eye of Johan Gage ( Robert Redford ) , a billionaire who asks Diana to join him at the craps table for good luck. She does a winning dice roll on his $1 million bets, and the 3 spend the rest of the evening together at the casino.

At the end of the evening, Gage offers the couple $1 million to allow him to spend one night alone with Diana. The couple refuse his offer.

After a sleepless night, the Murphys finally agree to Gage’s proposal, and Diana spends the night with him.

The Murphys return home and find their land has already been foreclosed and sold. They start arguing about Gage and eventually reach breaking point, and they separate.

Gage and Diana get romantically involved, and Diana serves David with divorce papers. One day David attends a zoo benefit, and he sees his wife there with Gage. David donates the entire $1 million in a charity auction bid, makes his peace with Diana and signs the divorce papers.

The Ending

Diana ends the relationship with Gage and goes to the pier where David originally proposed to her. He is sitting there, and they walk off together hand in hand.

Eight Men Out Movie

Eight Men Out Movie

Eight Men Out is a movie telling how the celebrities of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team took gains from bettors to throw the World Series; if you haven’t already familiarised yourself with the story, chances are you will understand it after watching this film. The movie is based on Major League Baseball’s Black Sox Scandal, where eight team members conspired with gamblers to lose the famous 1919 World Series.

In 1919 the Chicago White Sox was viewed by the world as the best baseball team ever brought together. However, Charles Comiskey, the stingy team’s owner, gives a slight predisposition to reward the players for a splendid season. Today, blackjack NetBet offers a complete gaming solution for sports fans.

Bill Burns and fellow gambler Billy Maharg smell blood and are notified of the players’ dissatisfactions. They take this chance to ask Chick Gandil to convince his teammates that they could earn more by playing poorly and losing the 1919 series to Cincinnati Reds than actually going ahead and winning the series, including Eddie Cicotte, the star knuckleball pitcher. Eddie had been promised $10000 should he win 30 games for that season. However, Comiskey ordered the team manager to bench Eddie for two weeks to excuse that the star’s arm needed rest before the World Series. This motivated Eddie to join the conspiracy of the Eight.

Gandil, Swede Risberg, Lefty Williams, and several other players also join the scheme. In addition, Joe Jackson was invited though he is depicted as not so bright to fathom what is going on. Buck weaver, however, feels he was destined to win and thus pulls himself out of the scheme. As soon as the best of nine series commence, Cicotte, who is pitching in game one, intentionally hits Cincinnati Morrie Rath with his second pitch, signaling gangster Arnold Rothstein that the fix has been launched. He goes ahead to pitch poorly, giving up five runs in four innings. Gleason finally subs him, and the Sox lose the first game 9 to 1. Williams also pitched severely in the second game as Swede, Gandil, and Hap Flesch made conspicuous and unbelievable mistakes on the pitch. Despite this, the involved gamblers fail to pay what they promised, upsetting several players.

Journalists Ring Lardner and Hugh Fullerton smell a rat, but on the other side, the head coach is still convinced that his team will see it through the series. However, a third rookie pitcher Dickie makes both the gamblers and his teammates in distress as he wins game number 3 for the Sox. In the meantime, other players such as Weaver and Jackson are not ready to dive into the plot. Weaver goes ahead to deny being part of the fix. InRamessess number 4 and 5, Eddie Cicotte loses again, and the Six are now one game away from losing the World Series. With the title race in danger, the Sox win game 6 in extra innings. The team manager wants to bench Eddie for the next match but hurting in guilt, he pleads for a chance, and the coach awards him the opportunity though not wholeheartedly. The Sox managed to win game seven easily. Since the gamblers were still unpaid, Williams also wants to win, but his wife’s life is threatened and thus has to pitch poorly. On the other hand, Jackson hits a home run in the 3rd inning, but the Sox still lose the finals.

Cincinnati reds win the World Series by five games to 3. Fullerton, one of the Chicago journalists, wrote Raymonds an article to criticize the White Sox. Due to the nature of the competition, an investigation is launched to find out whether the World Series was a fix. Eddie Cicotte and Jackson admit that it was a fix in 1920. These findings led to the trial of Cicotte, Williams, Gandil, Flesch, Risberg, McMullin, Jackson, and Weaver. Even though the eight men are acquitted of any wrongdoing, they receive a lifetime ban from the new commissioner Kennesaw Mountain.

In 1925, Weaver watched Jackson play a semi-pro league game in New Jersey as “Brown” overhears other fans suspecting Brown to be indeed Jackson. He goes ahead to tell them that Jackson was the best player he had ever seen. When asked if Brown was Jackson, he denies it, saying, “those guys are gone now,” seriously pondering the famous 1919 World Series. It is later revealed by a title card that the eight were banned and never returned to Major League Baseball. Weaver, who had numerous futile tries to overturn his burn, died in 1956 still trying.

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