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Top casino films available to watch on Netflix now

Netflix makes watching movies cheaper and more convenient than any other method that existed before it, with a small monthly fee for unlimited access to its entire library on just about any device you want. While that’s great, it has another, often overlooked advantage too.

Its collection of content is so vast that there is a selection of movies and TV shows for each genre and topic. This is partly down to the company spending a lot to acquire content from other studios and it investing heavily to create its own local content.

There are few cinemas or stores that show/sell such an extensive library due to the logistics and economics of doing so being nearly impossible.

So if you want to binge-watch some great casino films, Netflix is going to be your best bet. Especially with these great titles ready to stream.

21

Released in 2008, 21 is based on the true story of the MIT Blackjack team. A group of mostly students were taught to count cards in teams to gain an advantage over the house. After rigorous training, the team made regular trips to Las Vegas in an attempt to win big.

Card counting is a genuine technique used in blackjack. While it can improve your odds, it’s still not a guarantee of success, particularly since some casinos use additional decks to make card counting more difficult. Many online casinos like 888 Casino have even offered guides to their customers on blackjack rules and strategy. It’s only possible to count cards live, so there’s nothing to lose for online companies.

Everything goes great for the MIT team, who see a lot of success from their regular weekend trips to Las Vegas, that is, until the money creates rifts between them and they begin to betray each other.

It’s a gripping film that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Ocean’s Eleven

It’s almost 20 years old, but Ocean’s Eleven still holds up as a great casino movie. Set in Las Vegas, you get to see plenty of casino shots as Danny Ocean’s team of 11 people prepare and enact a daring heist to steal $160 million from three casinos.

The film, which has an impressive ensemble cast of many of the biggest names in Hollywood, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon, was a huge box office hit. While it received two sequels, the first in the trilogy is by far the best.

It’s a well-balanced mix of brains and brawn, with the team using clever deception techniques to break into the vault of the casinos and get the money back out again. If you’re watching it for the first time, you’ll be surprised by some of the twists and turns in the heist as the group manage to recover from what appear to be metaphorical dead-ends.

Even if you’ve seen it before (which you probably have), Ocean’s Eleven is a great watch.

You’ll see many famous Las Vegas landmarks in Ocean’s Eleven

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Guy Ritchie is famous for creating gangster films and one of his first was Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This 1998 comedy movie helped to kickstart the career of both Ritchie and former diver Jason Statham.

Like Ocean’s Eleven, the film is a heist movie with an ensemble cast that included Vinnie Jones, Sting, Steven Mackintosh and Nick Moran, each with classic British gangster nicknames like “Bacon,” “Soap,” and “the Baptist.”

Instead of the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is set in London, being filmed mostly in the city’s East End. The story revolves around a skilled card player who loses £500,000 while playing in a rigged three-card brag game (which is similar to poker) against a high-ranking criminal.

While he and his friends try to recover the money, they’re caught up in more and more ridiculous scenarios, involving a traffic warden, a van loaded with contraband, and some antique shotguns.

Mississippi Grind

Mississippi Grind is one of the newest casino films available on Netflix, having first been released in 2015. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn and Sienna Miller, it’s a comedy film about Gerry, a poker player who travels along the Mississippi River to play in casinos and bet on horses.

Gerry is joined by Curtis, who he has invited along as his “lucky charm”. They go through ups and downs as Gerry wins and loses in different games and the pair run into people from their pasts.

After some disagreements, the two rejoin at a blackjack table where they manage to win more than a quarter of a million dollars. Before calling it quits, they head to the craps table to bet it all.

Mississippi Grind is a film with many ups and downs but will keep you engrossed throughout.

Casino Royale

Bond is one of the most famous characters from books and film, with a franchise that spans more than half a century. The 2006 Casino Royale release was the first to feature Daniel Craig as 007. The film also resets the chronology of the films, being as it is set at the start of Bond’s career with MI-6.

Bond remains as sophisticated as ever though, heading to the Casino Royale in Montenegro dressed in a tuxedo and driving his Ashton Martin. Everything goes downhill for him when he loses and he gets poisoned, and Bond has to try to use a defibrillator on himself in his car.

He’s not playing poker for fun though. Bond’s there to catch an international terrorist known as Le Chiffre, who had organised the game to recoup funds lost in a bad investment. As you’d expect from a Bond film, there’s plenty of action, including shooting and car chases.

Casino Royale is probably Daniel Craig’s best outing as 007, and it’s definitely worth a watch.

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Murdoch Mysteries flies high with spies

James Pendrick and Terrence Meyers are two galvanizing characters in my household. Simply put? My family doesn’t like them. I’ve never been able to nail down exactly why they have an aversion to the duo, but I suspect it’s because Pendrick is a bit on the arrogant side and Meyers never really answers a question or comes clean when he screws up.

The two, along with Allen Clegg, returned for a rollicking good story written by Paul Aitken. The timing of the episode couldn’t have been better. With Spectre in theatres, Murdoch Mysteries’ take on spy capers involved a devious plan, a 1903 angle on the Cold War, a massive $4 million ransom delivered before a 24-hour deadline ran out and … superheroes. In what may very well have been Aitken’s twist on Thunderball, there was a plot not to drop an atomic bomb on Miami, but a missile loaded with TNT aimed at New York City. The missile was based on Pendrick’s own rocket design, something he’s been planning to use to, eventually, become the first man on the moon. (By episode’s end, it appeared Meyers may in fact claim that title or crash-land in Borneo instead.)

If Murdoch is ever interested in another career, spy would be a fantastic option. After all, he did flit around the sky alongside Pendrick in those pressurized suits and dismantled the doomsday device. My favourite MM episodes are the ones involving scientific devices, so I was positively giddy at the contraptions and tongue-in-cheekiness of that scene where Pendrick spun the wardrobe around to reveal the pressure suits hanging like Batman’s cowl and cape.

Notes and quotes

  • “I flew!!!” That might be the quote of the year from Murdoch Mysteries.
  • “Is that a bird? Some kind of airplane?” Second-best quote of the year.
  • Who else was cackling when Murdoch complained A Trip to the Moon (Le voyage dans la lune) wasn’t scientifically accurate? William may be loosening up, but … baby steps.
  • Rebecca, it was revealed after she helped solve the case, attended medical school in the U.S. until her patron died and is Julia’s new assistant. I’m looking forward to she and Julia working together on cases.

Murdoch Mysteries airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

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