Rounders

Rating:
Summary: For lovers of gambling and gangster movies
Review: Starring Matt Damon, as a poker player this movie is about his inner struggle with the game. He is studying to be a lawyer, but takes his entire fortune of $25,000 and loses it in a sleazy backroom game to a Russian Mafioso played by John Malkovich. His girlfriend, a fellow law student played by Gretchen Mol hates his gambling, and he promises to stop. However, an old pal of his, Edward Norton, nicknamed The Worm, gets released from prison and the two friends get together. Despite warnings from John Turturro, cast as a gambler who doesn't take chances, they start to play poker again. The Worm has no scruples and cheats constantly. Matt Damon, however, uses his wits to win. He says it is not the cards he plays, but the men. He studies his opponents by reading their unconscious gestures. Not surprisingly, The Worm keeps getting Matt Damon in more and more trouble. The debt keeps getting bigger, the stakes higher. Tension mounts. The story was good even though it was predictable. I'm one of those people who love the gangster/gambler genre and so I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, questionable DVD
Review: To start, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. Easily a Top Ten for me. Matt Damon does a great job as the straight laced poker player who plays by the rules, while Ed Norton, in the role of "Worm" does a spectacular job of bring to life Damon's snakish long time friend. I'm sure at this point you are familiar with the movie so I won't go into much detail regarding the story line. Basically Damon is trying to pull his friend Worm out of a jam. A great Poker movie. [But there is a horrendous attempt of a love story sub plot within it, ignore it and watch on]

Here is my complaint, This movie is outstanding; why is the DVD so bad. The sound is half as good as it should be and there are no special features to be found. What makes a quality DVD is not just the movie(we know thats great) but the extras you get with it. You expect great sound, picture and addtional information about the movie when you pick up the DVD. This one falls far short of doing any of those things. It's a shame such a great and brilliant movie was botched in DVD form.

Rating:
Summary: Flopped a Nut Straight
Review: I watched this movie over and over all weekend. Then I went and played poker on Monday and won over twice my buy in. See the movie. 'Nuff said.

Rating:
Summary: Rounders is brilliant..
Review: Let's put this first:Rounders is a movie about poker..But it doesn't mean that those who are not into this game,won't understand it or like it...

Mike (Damon)is a young law student who is also a master poker player..When he loses all of his savings in a game against the poker expert Russian KGB (Malkovich),he thinks he has played his final hand and promises his girlfriend that he will never sit on a game again.Then his long time friend "Worm" (Edward Norton) gets out of prison and Worm is in big trouble with many guys waiting for his release,because he owes a serious amount to them and the creditors' list goes all the way up to KGB..From then on,it's the dilemma of Mike between his promise to his girlfriend,his education as a law student vs. his loyalty to his friend and his great passion for the game of poker.

I should begin by saying that all of the actors involved (maybe except Gretchen Mol who plays Mike's girlfriend) did a wonderful job.Matt Damon is great as the young poker whiz,we can really feel the state of mind he is in during the whole movie,and is also the narrator.His narration is the best bit of the movie in my opinion.Although it seems that it is always about poker,from the first moment you sense that poker is chosen as a metaphor to tell us about life and how we approoach it.

The script is brilliantly written.Altough I didn't know a thing about poker (and especially about Texas Hold'em),there hasn't been a thing I missed thanks to the narration of Mike and the perfection of the storytelling.

Many people have criticized Malkovich's portayal of the Russian card shark but I think that the final re-match between him and Mike was one of the funniest parts among all the movies I have seen.And Edward Norton should also be mentioned because I think he does a great job as the Worm.He made me hate him for all the problems he put Mike in,and that is the sign of an actor doing his job at best.

The DVD lacks extras and that is my biggest complaint..The deleted scenes I have seen from the trailer should have been added.

This is not a blockbuster and it doesn't have any action scenes.It's all about poker but poker is about life in Rounders.I strongly recommend it even if you don't know anything about this card game who is not about luck.

Caveat Emptor...

Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought
Review: Upon seeing the preview for this the first time, I assumed it was destined to be your typical mediocre redemption dramas with so-and-so saving so-and-so from this-or-that big bad guy. Ok, so that's basically it but it is deeper.

Matt Damon does a fine job as the law student who swore off the game he loved as a promise to his girlfriend. Then upon the release of his buddy, Worm, from jail, all that gradually changes.

Woe are those gambling addicts who take their snake-in-grass pals to poker joints and expect to make it out in one piece.

Not much can be said about this film except that it tends to be a wee bit underrated. If I were you I would see it. It really is worth the watch. Luckily the ending is believable. I severely dislike unbelievable endings... this one was very good and very fitting.

Enough already. Just buy it and watch it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent poker movie with great cast
Review: Rounders is a very good movie that has a great cast throughout. Mike McDermott is a law student who pays his tuition by his winnings at the poker table. When a Russian kingpin cleans him out during a high stakes game, Mike decides to quit playing cards and focus on his studies to become a lawyer. Problems arise when his old friend, Les "Worm" Murphy, is released from jail and almost instantly gets him into trouble with a gambling debt. Seeing his friend in trouble, Mike comes out of his retirement to try and help him out. This is a very enjoyable movie that benefits from its great cast. What is best about this movie is how it plunges the viewer into the world of high stakes poker. The movie fully immerses you into this world as Mike narrates his story.

Matt Damon is excellent as Mike McDermott, the law student who must return to the game to get his friend out of trouble. His performance is very believable as he explains much of the logic behind the game. Edward Norton stars as "Worm" Murphy, Mike's slimy friend who continues to get him into trouble. John Malkovich is also great as Teddy KGB, the Russian kingpin who is also a great card player. The movie also stars Martin Landau in a very good role, John Turturro, Gretchen Mol, Famke Janssen, and Michael Rispoli. The DVD offers theatrical trailers and the widescreen presentation of the movie. At times, Rounders reminded me of The Cincinnati Kid starring Steve McQueen with the young upstart taking on the established veteran. For a great movie that throws you into the world of high stakes poker, check out Rounders!

Rating:
Summary: This is the movie that will make you want to play poker
Review: This is the movie that will make you want to play poker

Ive been playing for about 5 years now and love the game. Ive read many poker books and found this one to be very good. So I would suggest you buy this book and maybe a couple others and get to playing. There's really no excuse anymore - since anyone can access the internet.

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Rating:
Summary: Damon at his best
Review: Matt Damon has quickly established himself as a A-list celebrity. This is one of his first lead role movies and he shines.

Mike McDermott(Damon) is a rounder. He plays poker for a living and he's doing it to earn his way through high school. After he loses all of his money to Teddy KGB(Malkovich) in a high stakes game of poker he calls it quits. He's doing it becuase of his girlfriend Jo(Mol). He gets a job with another friend rounder Knish(Turturro) and it looks like Mikes done.

After Mike's best friend Lester "Worm"(Norton) gets out of jail he wants to get Mike back into poker. He can't believe he reformed for a girl or that he's working for Knish. Worm is a con artist who is skilled at pokere but takes to many chances. Mike has his back and nobody says anythig. He gets Mike back into the game and it starts to threaten his relationship with Jo. Mike gets some advice from Judge Petrovsky(Landua) who urges Mike to get back into the game because it's who he is.

Mike gets back into rounding and gets right back to his old winning ways. What he didn't know is that since Worm had been out he'd been running up debts and using Mike as a fall back. They now owe a huge debt to the one man they can't run from and the man who beat Mike..Teddy KGB. Mike must now win back the money to pay KGB or it could be the end of him.

Matt Damon is awesome in this movie. This guy makes slik moives. Oceans 11 and The Bourne Identity were slike movies. This moive is just at slik as those two. Damon is believable and you just love watching this guy act. He puts out the best performance in the movie and this is one of his better movies.

I like Edward Norton in the movie. This guy plays the con-weasal character to perfection. You love to hate his characters and the attributes to his acting caliber. Once again this is one of the better performances of his carear.

Rounders is a good movie. I wish they would have cleaned the language up so it could have been PG-13, but then it wouldn't have been authentic saying it takes place in an underground world. This is a fun movie with a great surprise ending that will leave you happy and content wanting to watch it again.

Rating:
Summary: Love this movie!
Review: It's one of my favorite movies in the last ten years (another is "Suicide Kings"). Great acting by all. Well cast.

Mostly wanted to comment about Malkovich as a few commented on his "poor" Russian accent while another said, "Malkovich invents his own odd version of the Russian accent . . ."

Having spent months in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, one of the things I like BEST about this movie is Malkovich' *exceptional* portrayal of a Russian immigrant "connected all the way to the top". I've never seen it done better.

Russians don't say "okay"; they say "ahkyey". It's not "to the bettor"; it's "to the byettor". Etc.

To those who don't buy Malkovich in this role, I'll simply quote what he said: "Yeb tvaiu mat!".

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: I don't know the first thing about playing poker other than playing meaningless games with family after Thanksgiving dinner.

This movie is mesmerizing in that you want to head to Atlantic City after watching it and put what you just learned in 2 hours watching this to good use. Incredible performance from Edward Norton and the dread shown by Matt Damon as he is sucked further into the lifestyle he tried to get out of previously is amazing.

Also underlooked is a nice performance from John Turturro as the seasoned old pro grinding out a living.

Quite good!!!!