Casino Vs. Rounders (Ep. 0030)

The Movie Wars crew takes a gamble on episode 0030 where we compare Casino and Rounders. These films show gambling and high-stakes poker from different perspectives. Scorsese described Casino as a grandiose, indirect sequel to his Masterpiece Good Fellas. Rounders shows the seedy underground of high-stakes poker with a 90's flare. Roll the dice and enjoy Casino Vs. Rounders. Click here to become an executive producer on Movie Wars by supporting us on Patreon! A measly $7 gets you access to Kyle’s new 15-minute show “Filmosophy”, interviews with legendary filmmakers, Host Q and A, and bonus content.

Film Summaries (info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes)

Casino

In early-1970s Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with his loose-cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), her con-artist ex Lester Diamond (James Woods) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi's book.

• Rating:
• R
• Genre:
• Crime, Drama
• Original Language:
• English
• Director:
• Martin Scorsese
• Producer:
• Barbara De Fina
• Writer:
• Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese
• Release Date (Theaters):
• Nov 22, 1995  Original
• Release Date (Streaming):
• Feb 26, 2002
• Box Office (Gross USA):
• $42.4M
• Runtime:
• 2h 57m
• Distributor:
• MCA/Universal Pictures [us]

Rounders

Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) loses his money in a poker game against Russian gangster Teddy "KGB" (John Malkovich). Under pressure from his girlfriend, Jo (Gretchen Mol), he promises to quit gambling. This lasts until his friend, Lester "Worm" Murphy (Edward Norton), gets out of prison and needs to pay off an old debt. The pair come close to earning the money back but are caught cheating. Then Mike finds out the debt is owed to Teddy and makes one last-ditch effort to beat the Russian.

• Rating:
• R
• Genre:
• Drama
• Original Language:
• English
• Director:
• John Dahl
• Producer:
• Joel Stillerman, Ted Demme
• Writer:
• David Levien, Brian Koppelman
• Release Date (Theaters):
• Sep 8, 1998  Original
• Release Date (Streaming):
• Mar 10, 2009
• Box Office (Gross USA):
• $22.9M
• Runtime:
• 2h 0m
• Distributor:
• Miramax Films