Casino Roger Ebert

Political movies often play cute in drawing parallels with actual figures. They drop broad hints that a character is “really” Dick Cheney or Bill Clinton and so on. “Casino Jack” is so forthright, it is stunning. The film is “inspired by real events,” and the characters in this film have the names of the people in those real events: Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Rep. Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed, Karl Rove, George W. Bush, Rep. Bob Ney and Sen. John McCain.

This decision to name names by the director George Hickenlooper seems based on boldness, recklessness or perhaps iron-clad legal assurances. His film uses a fictional sledgehammer to attack the cozy love triangle involving lobbyists, lawmakers and money. It stars Kevin Spacey in an exact and not entirely unsympathetic performance as Abramoff, once one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington, who was convicted on charges involving the funds he stole from wealthy Indian casinos while arranging laws for their convenience on Capitol Hill. He has been released on parole and just finished a stint working in a Baltimore pizza parlor.

Casino Movie Review Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was a legend of film criticism, penning reviews for the Chicago Sun Times for 46 years. He's arguably America's most famous reviewer and made his profession into an art form. He lived the majority of his life in Illinois, attending University of Illinois as an early-entrance student, and later University of Chicago. Critics generally hated Casino Royale: Roger Ebert called it the “definitive example of what can happen when everybody working on a film goes simultaneously berserk.” Yet it proved a moderate hit with $41.7 million worldwide (a sum that becomes less impressive in light of the unexpected expenses of the chaotic production). Roger Ebert said 'This is possibly the most indulgent film ever made', Time described Casino Royale as 'an incoherent and vulgar vaudeville', and Variety declared the film to be 'a conglomeration of frenzied situations, ‘in’ gags and special effects, lacking discipline and cohesion.' Today Roger Ebert passed after a long battle with cancer, a shock to those of us who have loved and admired his work for so long. This week, he stepped down from his post as the lead film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, citing a “Leave of Presence.”. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.