It stars Matt Damon and Edward Norton as two smalltime players, bouncing between boroughs searching for an easy buck - bars, diners, coffee shops, cigar clubs, and casinos, both famous and underground. More than a movie about card players, Rounders exposed the underworld gambling scene in New York. That was around the time Brian Koppelman and David Levien, best known now for the TV show Billions, decided to make a movie about gamers, only cool. James Bond still played baccarat, Dungeons & Dragons was exclusively for nerds, and young men around the country were using their dot matrix printers to show a copy of Matt Damon’s haircut to their barbers. 6 American viewing public would have been just the crowd to eat it up. Just one more reason that, were the film have been made today (while still somehow retaining that guilty pleasure Verhoeven charm), it might have performed better with a more racially diverse cast. Hearing sentient chin Casper Van Dien as Rico chatting with Denise Richards’ Carmen speak in their perfect American accents is a bit of cognitive dissonance for anyone who’s ever traveled, say, outside of Beverly Hills. The main character in the book is a cultural Filipino raised in Buenos Aires named Rico. The film’s biggest flaw is its tone-deaf racial casting. There’s even commercials touting the accomplishments of the Federation that have all the subtlety of a Nazi propaganda poster. Verhoeven grew up in The Hague, Netherlands, during World War II, and it’s easy to draw a line from fascist Germany's media manipulation to the so-on-the-nose-it’s-difficult-to-tell satire of the film. It’s also a poignant, self-effacing commentary on a future where the jingoistic Terran Federation (Earth’s human government) are the galactic hegemon, where military service is compulsory for citizenship and the enemy is sub-human. On the surface, it’s a meat market melodrama of teen relationships gone sour and dated 90s visual effects, which were no doubt a huge drain on the budget. ![]() ![]() Hammy, over the top, and dripping with gore, Paul Verhoeven’s adaptation of acclaimed sci-fi author Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers still holds a measly fifty-two among professional reviews on Metacritic. In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Peter Kobel laid out Ferrara’s dilemma: What went wrong? The admittedly grotesque and horrifying take on the violence, both by cops and criminals in the film, was initially so offensive to audiences that it was booed at the New York Film Festival. ![]() The film also features early, star-making turns from Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Caruso. Only one year later, his turn as Cuba Gooding Jr.’s straight and narrow father in Boyz N the Hood would showcase the kind of range between good and evil as Ben Kingsley did in Gandhi and Sexy Beast, but in a fraction of the time. The cast prominently features Laurence Fishburne as a delightfully scenery-chewing psycho Jimmy Jump, who is as convincingly lethal holding a paper cup of root beer as when he is murdering people. Walken’s portrayal of the ice-cold, ambitious White so moved rapper Biggie Smalls that he referenced the character in the lyrics of his song The What, and even adopted the moniker “The Black Frank White.” Those are the actors we’re here to talk about today- the good actors who step into the world of gaming and, for whatever reason, decide to leave their talent at the door.Abel Ferrara’s King of New York is about Frank White, played by Christopher Walken, who is released from prison at the beginning of the film and sets in motion his vision for taking over the criminal underworld in New York City. ![]() In fact, there are plenty of times where otherwise great actors just don’t seem to give a damn, dragging down the entire project with listless, weird performances. Quantum Break’s cast does a great job instilling the sci-fi thriller story with a real sense of legitimacy, but Hollywood actors don’t always do such a good job in video games. Quantum Break brought in strong, memorable actors such as Game of Thrones Aiden Gillen, Lost’s Dominic Monaghan, and Lance Reddick, the spookyman from many cult classic shows. Quantum Break is the newest title to combine Hollywood and the gaming world, creating an interesting hybrid of gaming and episodic storytelling. Game makers have long tried to bridge the gap between Hollywood and gaming, hiring A-list (and sometimes not-so-A-list) talent to bring extra sales and legitimacy via their star power.
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