Of course, sooner or later, things fall apart.

It’s about as simple as I can make it here. Perhaps I will make the time for another viewing of the scene, but as it stands…card counting. I thought that they might have made it simpler for the audience to follow, since I don’t actually know how to play blackjack. Their mission: to go to Vegas, and make as much money as possible (which is probably the aim of everyone who goes there, mind).īut wait, what is card counting? Wikipedia referred to it as a strategy “used to determine when a player has a probability advantage.” In the film, it struck me as a more complex way of doing things. His teacher, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), spotted his obvious mathematical talent, and invited him to join a secret group: a group of card-counters all hand-picked by Rosa himself. However, with his chances not looking, he continues to attend his classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Coming from a poor background, however, he’s pinning all of his hopes for such an education on receiving a scholarship. In ’21’, Jim Sturgess (‘Across the Universe’) plays Ben Campbell, a bright young student who wanted to go to Harvard Medical School. Of course, both are very different productions. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing that truly caught my attention. The director, Robert Luketic (who had previously directed ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Monster-in-Law’), probably had a hard time on his hands for the scenes, then, which I suspect would be aplenty.Īs the credits rolled up, it confirmed my suspicion as to that particular link. I did think find myself thinking of ‘Casino Royale’ once again, even before the movie had started. It shouldn’t be a surprise: the main premise is, after all, people gambling in casinos. I mention that because in this movie, there are plenty of cards, and there are plenty of chips. I couldn’t quite believe, but having since attempted to maintain a bigger continuity in my own film, I came to realise exactly what he had meant. Being serious in maintaining their continuity, they had tried to make sure each shot of the chips, cards. Imagine my surprise, then, when the director Martin Campbell noted that the most difficult scenes shot were the ones with Bond gambling his money.

Being interested in how that movie was made, naturally I scoured the net for information. I picked the title above because I am reminded so much of the last James Bond movie, ‘Casino Royale’.

Cast members of bond movie casino royal