Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel is Vegas’ top showman, five times winner of the award in the neon lit city he is as much an entertainer as a magician, but he also has a darker side… he is in heavy with the mob, the mafia, the cosa nostra, whatever name you would like to call them by. At first he just sidled ... Read review
An incedendiary array of stars - including Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Jeremy ... more
Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys and Common - make Smokin' Aces the most explosive action DVD of the year, from Joe Carnahan, the acclaimed director of Narc. When a Mob boss takes out a million dollar hit on Buddy 'Aces' Israel - a sleazy Vegas showman turned FBI snitch - the Feds place Buddy in protective custody at a penthouse hide-out. While Buddy kills time with hookers, booze and drugs, an outrageous rogue's gallery of ultra-violent mobsters, smoking hot assassins and ruthless hit men are bring chainsaws, grenades, shotguns, knives and more to the hunt to rub out Aces and collect that cool million bucks.
Fresh from his success with ENTOURAGE, Jeremy Piven gives his career a further boost by ... more
taking the lead role in director Joe Carnahan's (NARC) fast-paced thriller, SMOKING ACES. Piven plays Buddy 'Aces' Israel, a former Vegas performer who has holed up in the penthouse suite of a Lake Tahoe casino after what seems like half the planet decides they want him dead. The reason for this bloodlust stems from Israel's dalliances with the mob, who have put a $1 million price tag on his head after discovering he is about to tell all to the feds. The only people who don't want to put a premature end to Israel's life are two FBI agents, played by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta, and their boss, Andy Garcia. As various assassins attempt to put an end to Israel's pitiful existence, a parade of celebrity cameos ensues, including Alicia Keys, Common, Ben Affleck, and Jason Bateman. Carnahan soaks the screen with vivid primary colours, lots of flashy set pieces, and plenty of guns and violence as his movie thunders from one explosive scene to the next. The shooting style, script, and acting are all highly indebted to Quentin Tarantino's early works, and the impressive ensemble cast will ensure plenty of PULP FICTION comparisons. Standout performances come courtesy of Piven and Liotta, with the former revelling in a character surrounded by burly bodyguards, cheap hookers, and a blizzard of cocaine as he sweats and paces around his penthouse hideout, ultimately awaiting either freedom or death as the movie nears its spectacular finale.
Buddy 'Aces' Israel is a former Vegas performer who has holed up in the penthouse suite of ... more
a Lake Tahoe casino after what seems like half the planet decides they want him dead. The reason for this bloodlust stems from Israel's dalliances with the mob, who have put a $1 million price tag on his head after discovering he is about to tell all to the feds.
Slick Las Vegas illusionist Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven)isn't playing nice. Turns ... more
out, he's telling mob secrets to the FBI.After a $1 million contract is put out on him, Aces tries to pullhis greatest disappearing act before a rogues' gallery of ex-cons,hit men and smokin' hot assassins tries to rub him out in this darkaction comedy from director Joe Carnahan ( Narc). Witty and action-packed, Smokin' Aces is a thrill ride rompthrough the underbelly of the US crime world, featuring a host ofquirky and absurd characters from a talented ensemble castincluding Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Alisha Keyes,Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia. Special Features: Audio commentary with writer/director Joe Carnahan and editorRobert Frazen Deleted and extended scenes Outtakes Cowboy ending The Line-Up - Character featurettes The Big Gun - Making of documentary
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Advantages: Fun, great dialogue, great characters Disadvantages: Slows down towards the end.
Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel is Vegas’ top showman, five times winner of the award in the neon lit city he is as much an entertainer as a magician, but he also has a darker side… he is in heavy with the mob, the mafia, the cosa nostra, whatever name you would like to call them by. At first he just sidled up to them and became friends with them, just for the prestige, for the image it propelled in his direction. Soon though the allure of criminal enterprises ... ...than just by association. He started to use the massive amounts of money he made to bankroll crime, building himself up to be a known ‘player’ in the game. Then it all went wrong!
Now he is under federal protection and is set to rat on the last remaining big moss boss. Unsurprisingly the said boss, one Primo Spazzera, doesn’t like this and puts a $1 million bounty on ‘Aces’ head, leading to all the major players in the hitman world ... more
Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel is Vegas’ top showman, five times winner of the award in the neon lit city he is as much an entertainer as a magician, but he also has a darker side… he is in heavy with the mob, the mafia, the cosa nostra, whatever name you would like to call them by. At first he just sidled up to them and became friends with them, just for the prestige, for the image it propelled in his direction. Soon though the allure of criminal enterprises became too much for him and his involvement was more than just by association. He started to use the massive amounts of money he made to bankroll crime, building himself up to be a known ‘player’ in the game. Then it all went wrong!
Now he is under federal protection and is set to rat on the last remaining big moss boss. Unsurprisingly the said boss, one Primo Spazzera, doesn’t like this and puts a $1 million bounty on ‘Aces’ head, leading to all the major players in the hitman world heading towards Lake Tahoe where ‘Aces’ is supposedly hiding out.
Smokin’ Aces owes an awful lot to Pulp Fiction and Killing Zoe (both scripted, in part at least, by Roger Avery) and while it is a lot of fun it comes nowhere close to emulating the films is so obviously admires. That said could anything in this kind of genre really ever match Pulp Fiction? That said it is an enjoyable blast of a film, it moves at 150 miles per hour from start to finish and is chock full of famous faces. In fact most of the main cast will be recognised by viewers.
Let’s see we have Ben Affleck as a fast talking bail bonds man (probably his best role for ages), Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds as the two FBI agents who are trying to keep Buddy alive, Alicia Keys as a female hit woman, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman and Jeremy Piven as the eponymous hero.
The whole cast is superb and Jeremy Piven, in what is I think his first really big role is fantastic as ‘Aces’. You see, and feel, where his life choices have taken him. Aces could have had the world in his hands as a magician but that just wasn’t exciting enough for him, the adrenaline of crime took him just too far and he crossed that invisible line that you can never come back from. The fact that you can surmise all this just from brief background and the way Piven plays him is a testament to the actor. You should really dislike this guy, he isn’t really a nice person, but you do kind of feel for him, as his world collapses around him.
Smokin’ Aces could have been a cracking little crime based action film but the brilliance of The Departed, released in cinemas around the same time, meant it had a lot to compete against. Maybe now on DVD it can come into its own and not have to be compared to its illustrious predecessor. Aces does smash its way into your chest, trying to rip your heart out with its fast talking hip characters, its quick snappy editing and its often quirky dialogue. It makes you admire it cheek and its brashness, pulling you into its story and holding your attention for quite a while. When it starts to pull all the diverging characters together into the main story, bringing the threads together it then starts to fall apart a bit. It also suffers from the great American failing, that of heavy handed hinting. It doesn’t like to surprise you too much so belabours certain points so that it can lay the seeds for future plot twists/surprises. I find it annoying when a writer feels the need to do that, just in case some people don’t follow what is going on.
So while ‘Smokin’ Aces’ doesn’t fulfil its brazen promises it does come out as a hugely enjoyable movie to watch. It sits on that fine line, balancing between OK and good. It is certainly worth seeing if you like Pulp Fiction, Miami Vice and those kind of films but not if you like to watch a bit of intelligence in your movie watching. For me it was something that was a lot of fun and I would probably watch again, although would never actually think about buying it to do so!
Advantages: good action scenes Disadvantages: ending
It's been a few weeks since I have had time to watch any films but since it is the Easter holidays for me I have had a bit more time to watch some films. My friends are always giving me DVD's when they are finished with them that they will no longer watch so among this pile was the film 'Smokin' Aces'. I had heard of this being advertised a year ago and I remember hearing that Ben Affleck was in it but at the time I didn't remember it really getting that great reviews which is why I never saw it at the cinema. However, having been given the DVD I decided this was no excuse to not watch it so I took a chance and put it on.
The plot is based around a plot to kill Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven) who is a Las Vegas showman and former gangster member of La Cosa Nostra, a large America criminal organization. In exchange for him getting ...
Advantages: Has Ryan Reynolds Disadvantages: Has Ben Affleck
I had been waiting for Smokin' Aces for about a month to come out on DVD as i had missed it in the cinema and couldn't wait to see it. I went to my nearest HMV and spent £13.99 which i thought was a pretty good price and then rushed home to insert and play.
Personnaly, my pre-watched view on it was that it was going to be one of the best action movies of the year with a great cast. Well i got one thing right, it had a great cast...
If it wasn't for Ryan Reynolds (Van WIlder, Blade: Trinity) and Ray Liottas (Goodfellas, Blow) acting i would have given up on it after about 30 minutes. I felt this because it took about an hour to get into the predictable and surprisingly dull story. After a good hour and 20 mintues had slowly passed we, the viewer, were finnaly allowed to see some action.
Yay...............
And it was good, it ...
Advantages: Alicia Keyes is a surprisingly good actress Disadvantages: A waste of some of the best people in films.
I was looking forward to this, my wife was out, the kids were in bed, and I settled down to watch the unfettered violence that Smokin' Aces seemed to offer.
Oh. Dear.
The basic plot is that Jeremy Pivens has a contract on his head, and a whole bunch of wacky assassins, bouny hunters and FBI men head to bring him in or kill him.
The first big problem is that most of these characters never meet, what should have culminated in a huge hotel-filled brawl is cut short by most of the cast being bumped off prior to the main kill.
And then several have a change of heart, and those that appear to have died pop up again with minor flesh wounds.
And it ends with quite the most nonsensical twist ever written, which is worse as it's sign-posted from the start, and I spent the majority of the film hoping that it won't be as daft as I ...
Buddy 'Aces' Israel is a former Vegas performer who has holed up in the penthouse suite of a Lake Tahoe casino after what seems like half the planet decides they want him dead. The reason for this bloodlust stems from Israel's dalliances with the mob, who have put a $1 million price tag on his head after discovering he is about to tell all to the feds.
Commentary with Joe Carnahan and Robert Frazer, Shoot 'em Up - Stunts and effects featurette, Deleted and extended scenes, The Line Up featurette, Outtakes, The Big Gun featurette, Cowboy Ending, Hot Fuzz international trailer
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Professional reviews
Review
Full respect to Carnahan for making the tired crime genre feel fresh (Empire, 02/04/2007)
A slick barrage of blood, bullets and brain-wrenching plot twists (Nuts, 04/04/2007)
DVD Description
Fresh from his success with ENTOURAGE, Jeremy Piven gives his career a further boost by taking the lead role in director Joe Carnahan's (NARC) fast-paced thriller, SMOKING ACES. Piven plays Buddy 'Aces' Israel, a former Vegas performer who has holed up in the penthouse suite of a Lake Tahoe casino after what seems like half the planet decides they want him dead. The reason for this bloodlust stems from Israel's dalliances with the mob, who have put a $1 million price tag on his head after discovering he is about to tell all to the feds. The only people who don't want to put a premature end to Israel's life are two FBI agents, played by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta, and their boss, Andy Garcia. As various assassins attempt to put an end to Israel's pitiful existence, a parade of celebrity cameos ensues, including Alicia Keys, Common, Ben Affleck, and Jason Bateman. Carnahan soaks the screen with vivid primary colours, lots of flashy set pieces, and plenty of guns and violence as his movie thunders from one explosive scene to the next. The shooting style, script, and acting are all highly indebted to Quentin Tarantino's early works, and the impressive ensemble cast will ensure plenty of PULP FICTION comparisons. Standout performances come courtesy of Piven and Liotta, with the former revelling in a character surrounded by burly bodyguards, cheap hookers, and a blizzard of cocaine as he sweats and paces around his penthouse hideout, ultimately awaiting either freedom or death as the movie nears its spectacular finale.
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