Production Year: 2006 - Thriller - Director: Joe Carnahan - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Alicia Keys, Nestor Carbonell, Jason Bateman, Sharon Bruneau, Jeremy Piven, Andy Garcia, Clare Carey, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Brian Bloom more
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.... more
Smokin' Aces [DVD] [2006]
A frantic and frequently amusing cocktail of Tarantino cool and Hong Kong bullet ballet, ... more
Joe (Narc) Carnahan'sSmokin' Acesdelivers some inspired moments of action and dark comedy in its dizzying-comic book plot about a rogue's gallery of killers on the...
Smokin' Aces [DVD] [2006]
A frantic and frequently amusing cocktail of Tarantino cool and Hong Kong bullet ballet, ... more
Joe (Narc) Carnahan'sSmokin' Acesdelivers some inspired moments of action and dark comedy in its dizzying-comic book plot about a rogue's gallery of killers on the...
Smokin' Aces Movie Poster
Original One Sheet; Rolled Poster; Poster Condition: New; Size: 27 x 40 inches approx. All ... more
our items are despatched from the United Kingdom. Starring - Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Brian Bloom We offer *** WORLDWIDE *** Delivery!, Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
Smokin' Aces
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.
Smokin' Aces Movie Poster
Original One Sheet; Rolled Poster; Poster Condition: New; Size: 27 x 40 inches approx. All ... more
our items are despatched from the United Kingdom. Starring - Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Brian Bloom We offer *** WORLDWIDE *** Delivery!, Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
Smokin' Aces Movie Poster
Original UK Quad; Rolled Poster; Poster Condition: New; Size: 40 x 30 inches approx. All ... more
our items are despatched from the United Kingdom. Starring - Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Brian Bloom We offer *** WORLDWIDE *** Delivery!, Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
cells from the movie.Also included are a plaque stating the movie title and a certificate of authenticity.The presentation comes framed and ready to hang
Starring - Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Brian Bloom Brand new High Quality Aluminium snap frame, shipped seperately from poster to avoid damnage. Posters are loaded from front and have a UV filter to protect the poster. All our items are despatched from the United Kingdom. We offer *** WORLDWIDE *** Delivery!, Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
Allow up to 14 Days for delivery as item is manufactured to order. Your poster is laminated and mounted on High Quality Float Frame resulting in a fine piece of Art for your enjoyment. A modern and popular alternative to framing a poster which also makes an ideal gift. Process is irreversible please see our help information for further details., Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
Allow up to 14 Days for delivery as item is manufactured to order. Your poster is professionally mounted on a High Quality Canvas resulting in a fine piece of Art for your enjoyment. A modern and popular alternative to framing a poster which also makes an ideal gift. Process is irreversible please see our help information for further details., Manufacturer: MoviePostersDirect
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
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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
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Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Matt Dillon - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matt Dillon, James Caan, Natascha McElhone, Gerard Depardieu, Sereyvuth Kem, Stellan Skarsgard
Production Year: 1996 - Thriller - Director: Kevin Spacey - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, Gary Sinise, William Fichtner, Joe Mantegna, Viggo Mortensen, Skeet Ulrich
A review by Andy.mack on Smokin' Aces (DVD) May 10th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Good
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?
Outstanding
Advantages:
Decent Cast, Good Script, Quality Direction
Disadvantages:
A very select audience
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
As a fan of both Ben Affleck and Ray Liotta I decided that Smokin’ Aces was a film I had to see at some point. Having missed it at the cinema I finally got a chance to see it earlier today. It seemed to come and go in the cinemas within a few weeks and as I’d not really seen a lot of press about it while it was on I took this to be quite a bad sign. So upon its release on DVD this week I set about acquiring a copy with the express determination of finding out whether it was rightly pulled from the cinema or not.
A mob boss takes out a million dollar hit on a Vegas showman turned FBI snitch named Buddy ’Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven). The FBI put him into protective custody in the penthouse of a luxury hotel at Lake Tahoe. While Buddy waits for his trial he amuses himself with hookers and drugs but little does he know what’s about to happen. It seems that just about every hit man in North America has gotten word about the bounty on his head. It then becomes a race against time as all these hit men and women try to get to Buddy first and claim the million.
I was quite surprised when I seen the list of star names in this movie. The likes of Liotta, Affleck and Reynolds made me think this would be pretty good and I was soon proved right. This is very much your typical lad’s action film with a lot of explosions and gun fights and that’s why it works. It’s the genre and type of movie that explains why it was pulled from the cinema too quickly. It strikes me as more the type of film that would be much better watched in the comfort of your own home with the surround sound cranked up and a few beers. It most certainly isn’t a movie for a romantic night in.
The film is written and directed by Joe Carnahan who also brought us Clive Owen’s 2002 film Ticker. It’s the first time I’d actually come across any of his work and while I felt it was a little bit too slow getting started it really did work. The special effects are amazing with the gun fights looking incredibly realistic and adding a bit of realism to the film. It’s quite a blood thirsty movie and to actually off set this against a plot that works and make a film that looks good is quite a hard achievement. It’s one that Carnahan has stepped up to capably though.
While I thought the film was a little slow in getting going it actually turned out to be for a good reason. Once the story reaches the hotel your actually glad of the build up that slowed the plot down a little bit. The pace of the film is unreal and for Carnahan to have created something this addictive is quite an achievement. There are a few moments in the plot that are a bit far fetched but with the amount of blood and bullets flying around you hardly get time to notice.
With an all star cast it can work out pretty hard for a director to get the most out of them but it seems that Carnahan really has done a brilliant job with this as well. In particular Ryan Reynolds performance as FBI agent Richard Messner is really outstanding. I’ve been quite impressed with Reynolds in other films but this seems to take his performances to a whole new level. He seems to really make the film his own and if I were to pick one lead character it would certainly be his.
The rest of the cast are hardly slouches too. For instance Ray Liotta and Ben Affleck both put in great performances. The characters seem to have been written for each actor who assumes the part. It’s that aspect that gives this film a feeling of a plot rather than one huge gun fight. Had that been missing I think the film would have lost a lot of the edge and appeal it actually has. It isn’t going to be the sort of film that will win any of the actors any awards but it is a decent 104 minutes of entertainment that will hold most guys attention.
Overall this is a pretty good film. It took me a little bit to get into but it does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a load and brash action movie with lots of guns and blood spill. It is a film for the boys and of course the girls who like a particularly violent movie. If you want to sit around with a bunch of your mates and watch something big on action then this is a film I’d recommend. It may not have stuck around for too long in the cinemas but this is certainly a film that works well on DVD.
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 ... ...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 a disappearance agreement with the Witness Protection Act he agrees to testify against his former teacher ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Looking at the plot description and cast list I was expecting an amazing film from 'Smoking Aces', a film starring Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta and Alicia Keys should be great. This wasn't. It was, unfortunately, far from great. The idea behind this film is a good one; Buddy 'Aces' Isreal is a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant who has a million dollar price put on his head by mob boss Primo Sparazza whose ... ...once he has been killed. This attracts all manner of psychos and hitmen (and women) who all descend upon Las Vegas in order to find Aces and claim their prize. The film never really lives up to its potential and sometimes seems to complex. Some of the plot twists (and there are a few) are difficult to keep on top of, especially considering that they all seem to take place at the same time. What should have been a fun black-comedy/action film has ...
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Advantages: parallel narratives, actor talent Disadvantages: sloppy direction, camara techniques
This movie isn't about refined filming techniques, or fancy computer generated special effects. It's about envolving narrative and compelling character development. I really didn't expect it to "wow" me in technical aspects, and expectations are everything when viewing any sort of entertainment, I just sat back for the show, which I highly recommend.
Joe Carnahan directs the movie in a way that reminds me of the style of Guy Ritchie in Snatch and ... ...parallel plotlines, as there are no less than six plotlines going on at any one time. Quick camera cuts are almost Spun -like in quality. The fast-paced exploration of each character is also gratifying in that the spectator receives efficient input on the behavior of each.
In short, the plot is a race to the the wanted man (Buddy Isreal), and the subsequent ensuing chaos. The movie makes a great entrance, and never lets go of the spectators' attention. ...
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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 ... ...pretty much saves the DVD and all thoughs who have seen Hot Fuzz know what i am talking about.
********* Last Thoughts ***********
So, my last thoughts on this are not to buy Smokin' Aces but to save your money and buy Hot Fuzz in a couple months. ...
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Advantages: Alicia Keyes is a surprisingly good actress Disadvantages: A waste of some of the best people in films.
...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 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'm expecting. I was wrong it's worse. ...
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Advantages: Fun, great dialogue, great characters Disadvantages: Slows down towards the end.
...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...
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Advantages: A good cameo from Jason Bateman. Disadvantages: Pathetic writng, dreadful direction, lame performances and a dearth of originality.
...ambulance chaser.
The supposedly original music by Clint Mansell harks back to the funk-laden 70s for its inspiration. It relies heavily on wock-a-chocking electric guitar and flute arrangements to try to bring some sense of uniformity to the film. There's also plenty of jangly Hammond organ and slap bass backed by insistent rhythms. However, it feels like he's aping David Arnold. And then he has the temerity to try to make you feel with low register piano and strings or faux-western humming chorals and guitar motifs. The rest of the soundtrack is somewhat eclectic, using old-fashioned soul for the lady-killers, hardcore techno and metal for the loony Tremors and bland rock for just about everyone else.
"Smokin' Aces" is a dreadfully derivative pile of post-Tarantino tosh. I wouldn't have been surprised if it came out ten years ago...
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Advantages: Some action, passes the time Disadvantages: Poor plot and confusing story.
...Being a fan of Ryan Reynolds, I was expecting a great action movie with some witty one liners, what I got was a very confusing story, with a bad plot. It's another gangster/mob movie, which are getting very tired these days.
The acting was pretty rigid, although I think alot of this was down to the poor script. The characters were stero typical mobsters and federal agents and no one really sttod out,
There are no real stars to this movie, just a few big names who let down by the writers and producers.
I managed to stick it out to the end, but felt hughly let down and gutted I'd paid for the dvd, definitely not woth buying. You may need a few beers to watch it all!!...
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Plot: 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.
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK; UNIVERSAL MUSIC OPERATIONS
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.
Technical information
Special Features: 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)
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