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: Wakefield Poole's Bijou

As a long time admirer of classic adult features I've come to really respect the work of the folks at Vinegar Syndrome for their ability to put forth an increasingly versatile catalog. There are some interesting adult oriented gems from filmmakers itching for re-discovery and it's important that there are some companies that can take charge in releasing these films in quality presentations. Directors like Carter Steven, Phil Prince, Henry Paris and Armand Weston are a handful of quality golden age directors that I've become fond of over the years - all who need their films brought back to the DVD and Blu-ray format. I'm going to add a new one to the mix in Wakefield Poole (Wakefield Poole's Bible). Wakefield Poole’s hardcore gay feature Bijou has just been released by the Vinegar Syndrome and, well…let’s just say it’s a unique experience.

Bijou opens innocently enough with an interesting mix of three different perspectives – a man driving his car, a mustachioed construction worker walking home from work and a woman crossing a street. The three all come together in not so fortunate circumstances with the driver striking the woman with his car. Our construction worker witnesses this event and promptly takes the injured and possibly dead woman’s purse.

Movie Review: Into The Lion's Den (2011)

Screeners from Breaking Glass Pictures generally have a genre printed across them. The screener for Into The Lion's Den said "gay suspense." I wasn't sure what that would mean, but I had expectations. Indie films that focus on gay characters tend to be about the characters dealing with their sexuality or dating and there will be a penis every twenty-seven minutes. It's just the way it is. Like most indie dramas, they are brimming with pretentiousness and usually try to force some ham-fisted point down your throat. This movie starts that way, but takes a turn you don't expect.

Buy Into The Lion's Den on DVD