Forgotten Film Friday: The Cooler

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

This is one of those films I just can't believe isn't more well known. It is one of the best modern films about Las Vegas and also one of the best Neo-noirs. The early 2000s was a weird time for film and during that transition from the '90s a lot of indie films like this popped up. The Cooler is one of my favorites form around that time, not only for it's take on Neo-noir but for it's subversion of the Vegas/gambling genre.

William H. Macy plays a man named Bernie, a professional cooler whose bad luck is used to stop the winning streak of someone on a heater at one of the tables. He cools the table as it is. When he falls in love with a waitress, played by Maria Bello, his luck begins to change and he loses his ability to cool tables, putting him in the crosshairs of his shady bossy, a chilling Alec Baldwin.

Macy is one of our best actors and I feel he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. He should have won an Oscar for his performance in Fargo and he should have been nominated for this film. The only Academy Award nomination this film got was for Alec Baldwin, who is good in this, and any accolades for acting for The Cooler went to Baldwin or Bello. Awards of course aren't everything but ignoring Macy's performance on any level just seems wrong. He is so good at playing a hapless schmuck and Bernie seems to be a role he was born to play.

Director Wayne Kramer, who wrote the film with Frank Hannah, paints a picture of a bleak Vegas that is pushing its away towards the future. The old school Vegas is on it's way out, being replaced by modern ways of making the casinos wins. This isn't glamorous Vegas like in Ocean's Eleven. This is the scummy and dark side of Vegas, populated by reprobates and the people they control. Baldwin is an old school Vegas bad guy, suave yet cruel, who is friends with his employees only if they are making him money.

The Cooler is streaming on Hulu and Amazon right now. Check it out.

Comments

John Travolta month: Saturday Night Fever

A retrospective by Brooks Rich So this was not the big start of John Travolta's career. That would be the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But this did elevate Travolta to another level. For any of you going oh come on. This silly movie with a disco soundtrack? Come on, Brooks. Just wait. Have you ever actually seen this? This isn't about disco. Disco just happens to be the music of choice. This about the kind of people who are kings at the dance clubs and then losers the rest of the time. There is a lot of darkness and truth in this film. So if you've never seen it please. Do yourself a flavor and check it out. Just watch it and then come back to read this. This is a movie about the different types of people we become between our real lives and our weekend lives. Tony Manero is a regular working class guy in a Brooklyn neighborhood, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with his loving but at times overbearing family. He lives in the shadow of his priest brother. ...

Forgotten Film Friday: Melinda and Melinda

A retrospective by Brooks Rich I know Woody Allen is a complicated figure. He is a creep in a lot of ways and some people find his sexual weirdness to be too much. I get that. But on the blog I sometimes like to separate the art from artist. Not always to be sure. Jeepers Creepers will never be covered here because Victor Salva is a useless piece of human garbage. What he did I can't ignore. Allen I can push aside him being weird to cover him now and then. It's hard to write a film blog and not mention a Woody Allen film now and then. The man has some bangers. And I've always wanted to cover this film. The concept is so interesting and Allen post 2000 is fertile ground for Forgotten Film Friday. So let's look at the film and not Allen himself. Melinda and Melinda is a dual narrative about a woman named Melinda, an underrated and brilliant Radha Mitchell, who shows up unexpectedly at a dinner party in New York. The film questions if life is inherently tragic or comic a...

Ranking every Tintin comic

A ranking by Brooks Rich In order to expand the blog a little, we'll sometimes cover other media besides films. Film will still be our bread and butter but the blog will also cover tv, music, comics, books, and other forms of media. To start it off I will be ranking all 21 main comics in a beloved series of books form my childhood, The Adventures of Tintin. Created by Belgian cartoonist Herge, Tintin, who has literature's greatest cowlick, is a reporter who travels the world with his faithful dog Snowy, the best fictional dog of all time, chasing bad guys and sticking his nose in other's affairs. Tintin is often joined on his quests by Captain Haddock, his most trust human sidekick. I credit Tintin and the Hardy Boys for my current love of mystery novels. Ranking the 21 main Tintin comics is far more doable than ranking the original Hardy Boys runs. As a quick note I will not be counting the unfinished Tintin and Alph Art or Tintin in the Land of the Soviets or Tint...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog