Movie Review: Guns, Girls and Gambling (2012)

A Native American artifact is stolen from an Apache casino and now a quirky bunch of Elvis impersonators, crooked cops, blonde haired women, guns for hire and more are on the hunt for it.

I love a good heist movie and I even like a bad one if the story is goofy enough.  This falls into the latter.  There are actually quite a few decent actors in this film and it was cool to see them working together.  Christian Slater totally fits the role as the main character, John Smith, who gets wrapped up in all the silliness that is a movie about Elvis impersonators hunting down a Native American mask.

As in all heist movies, there are twists and turns that I won't get into here, but they do keep you entertained.  At times it looks like things start looking up for John Smith, and then something happens(usually a hit to the face).  Slater's portrayal as the main character was extremely fun and kept the movie going.  His part made me think of his roles from the late 80s/early 90s where his career was at it's peak.

The person who shares a lot of time with Slater is "The Girl Next Door," played by Megan Park.  There was excellent chemistry between the two of them on screen making her a surprise of the film.


If you can get past the first five minutes, you should be fine the rest of the way with this film.  Although I felt most people played their parts the way they were intended, I did not like Helena Mattsson's line delivery.  She's an absolutely gorgeous assassin who quotes Edgar Allen Poe poetry before she shoots people.  Problem is, she doesn't sound confident doing it.  I'm assuming she was going for sensual but there's a crack or something else off in her delivery and it just comes off poorly.

The Elvis impersonators are great with Chris Kattan as "Gay Elvis," Anthony Brandon Wong as "Asian Elvis," Tony Cox as "Midget Elvis"- I mean "Little Person Elvis," and Gary Oldman as "Elvis Elvis."

Powers Booth is "The Rancher" and has a very Boss Hog look going for him.  Dane Cook and Sam Trammell are the Sheriffs.  The film even has Jeff Fahey and Matthew Willig as hit-men with cool nicknames.

Overall, I think that Michael Winnick as writer/director put together an okay film.  It was a lot of fun with cheesy over the top action and goofy lines.  It was definitely better than I expected.

On a scale of up to 5, I'm giving "Guns, Girls and Gambling" 3 Pile Drivers.

You can read more of my reviews here on Cinema Head Cheese and also please check out my blogs, reviews and podcasts on http://maskerpiecetheatre.blogspot.com/

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Movie Review: The Package (2012, DVD/Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

“The Package” coming out February 19^th courtesy of Anchor bay is a superior action film then most. A few things to get out of the way before this review starts. Direct to DVD action films are my specialty. I live, eat and breath them. These days Hollywood is so concerned with giant explosions and huge robots that it takes away the fun. Mean while the lower budgets of DTV action films, actually help the films. They feature real tough guys kicking ass and taking names. The heroes are usually anti-hero's and do things that their Hollywood counterparts never would do. This harkens back to the hay-day of action films when real tough guys like Bronson, Lee Marvin would take out anyone who was in their way. With no fear of the consequences of their actions. This take no prisoners attitude has vanished from Hollywood action films. But that spirit is still very much alive in DTV action films. 

Movie Review: The Andy Sidaris Collection: Girls, Guns and G-Strings (2011, DVD, Mill Creek)

Mill Creek reminds us that Andy Sidaris was indeed the greatest director ever with a release of his boob/action packed tenure. Hold on to your keyboards, tits, gun and explosions up ahead!

Films:

Boobs. Bombs. Bullets. Any questions? Hope not, cause that's all you really need to know about the films from the late, great Andy Sidaris. A man who took the greatest things in life, put them into a blender and hit frappe. The result is a series of films dedicated to all things badass and entertaining. Filled with gratuitous boobage supplied by then Playboy Playmates, these women also kicked major ass, sometimes putting other 80's action commandos to shame. Add a tropical island setting, car chases, excessive gun play, anything associated with raising your testosterone level and you have the gist of the 12 films included in this release.

Buy Girls Guns & G-Strings on DVD