Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

gridoon2018 But maybe this disappointment has to do with expectations. For example, I though this movie would provide greater insight into the mind of a gambler and the way a casino operates, but it doesn't; on the contrary, it seems to be propelled by the outdated notion that all casino bosses are gangsters and killers. The trailer also makes it look relatively lighthearted, but it has some bursts of violence that are both disturbing and unnecessary. Stylistically, with one exception (the scene where Baldwin "x-rays" the hand of an unusually lucky guy), "The Cooler' plays like an R-rated TV movie. The basic idea is clever, but the plot doesn't do much with it: first Macy is unlucky, then he gets lucky, then unlucky again, then lucky, and so forth. Although Macy and Bello must be one of the most unlikely erotic pairings in recent memory, they are otherwise well-cast in their roles; Baldwin gives the film edge, and deserved his Oscar nomination and other awards for this role. ** out of 4.

Andrew Ray Director Wayne Kramer's took on quite a venture when he made his 2003 effort, "The Cooler." Why? Because it was released just eight years after Martin Scorsese's "Casino" – the greatest film ever made about mob corruption in the Las Vegas casino industry. In fact, some critics dismissed "The Cooler" as too predictable and felt it overly mined some of the same territory as "Casino." I disagree. In a comparatively weak year for Hollywood, "The Cooler" was my favorite picture of 2003. Rather than "Casino," I prefer to equate "The Cooler" with David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece, "Blue Velvet," in that a dark underworld brews beneath the surface of an otherwise innocuous setting.A cooler is apparently a term casinos used to describe someone so inherently unlucky that his mere presence at a table game would cause other gamblers to lose money. A Casino boss would send his cooler to a table where a guest was on a winning streak. The cooler would theoretically end the hot streak, thereby preventing the casino from losing a large chunk of money to one gambler. Did casinos really utilize coolers? I don't know. It seems a little far-fetched, but Kramer shows us how it works in the opening scenes. William H. Macy is at his meek, downtrodden, everyman best as Bernie Lootz, a former gambling addict now working as a cooler for casino boss Shelly Kaplow, brilliantly played by Alec Baldwin. If you recall his five minutes of hot-tempered verbal abuse from David Mamet's 1993 film, "Glengarry Glen Ross," Baldwin has basically taken that character, toned it down a shade, and set him in a Vegas gambling house. Baldwin's Kaplow operates the casino with an iron fist, and nobody tells him what to do – save for his mob connection, Nicky Fingers. (And if that isn't the greatest mafia name in cinema history, I don't know what is.) Enter Larry Sokolov, played by Ron Livingston – a recent Ivy League grad sent by the new owners to bring the casino into the 21st century. Sokolov's ideas run counter to everything Shelly Kaplow stands for – in essence, the recent effort to make Las Vegas more of a family-friendly vacation destination, complete with the beautification and ornamentation despised by the "old guard." Conflict also arises when Bernie Lootz' son and his wife show up at the casino, only to mock its stodgy vapidity. Shelly's world is crumbling around him, and he's bound and determined to make everyone else pay the price. The result is a taut, vivid yarn depicting the sometimes shockingly violent unraveling of the mid-century Las Vegas casino industry as seen through the eyes of the Alec Baldwin character. Baldwin received his only Oscar nomination for this role, and it is indeed the best work of his long, successful career. Coincidentally, Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor that year for his role in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River." Robbins is always solid, and that picture was a surefire winner, but as the years have passed, I remember Baldwin's performance as though I've just seen it for the first time; I can't say the same for Robbins.William H. Macy gives one of the three best performances of his long career as well – the other two being 1996's "Fargo" and 1999's "Magnolia." And Maria Bello scores too as Bernie's love interest. The cast is strong, the screenplay (by Wayne Kramer and Frank Hannah) is a real gem, as it laments the passing of a bygone time and place, while simultaneously bidding it good riddance. Unfortunately, Kramer's work since then (including "Running Scared" and "Crossing Over") hasn't lived up to the vast potential of "The Cooler." "The Cooler" was lost in the shuffle of Christmas releases in 2003, and it never gained the audience it deserved. It's worth seeking out "The Cooler," for the performances, as much as the script and James Whitaker cinematography – which lay bare the violent, uneasy marriage of the mob and the Vegas casino industry of the past. It's a winner, and it's this month's Buried Treasure.

daddyofduke The Cooler is the movie "Casino" with heart. Bernie Lootz, the main character in The Cooler, has such bad luck that he can make your great luck instantly go bad. All he has to do is touch a hot gaming table to make it go cold. Really cold. Lootz lives by himself at the cheap in every way Better Life motel where his cat runs away, his flowers always die, and he has to listen to the guy next door screwing a hooker. The poor guy can't even get cream for his coffee when he works.Bernie gets paid to spread his miserable luck to the gaming tables at the Shangra-LA Casino, an old school, downtown casino that is out of touch with the business plan, and profits, of the contemporary Disneyland, family vacation style of Las Vegas. Shangri-La is run by Shelly Kaplow, a ruthless, mob-linked manager whose utter lack of ethics has no bounds.Things change because Bernie is going to leave Las Vegas in a few days. Turns out Shelly and Bernie go back decades, all the way back to when Shelly broke one of Bernie's knees over a gambling debt. They have remained partners and as close to friends as either man can stand. Shelly hires Natalie, a cute cocktail waitress and once in a while hooker, to lure Bernie to continue to work at Shangri-La.The performances in this film are extraordinary. William H. Macy as Bernie offers as brilliant a performance as an actor can achieve in any role. I had never head of Maria Bello until I saw this film for the first time a few years ago. Her Natalie is stunning, absolutely stunning. It includes nuances few actresses can accomplish, plus she has that smile, that gorgeous, gorgeous smile. Alec Baldwin gives perhaps his best performance ever as the thoroughly amoral casino manager who has no qualms about breaking knees or serving fatal doses of heroin to his lounge singer. He deservedly achieved an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor. Ron Livingston, who gained fame as Capt. Nixon in Band of Brothers, plays Harvard educated Larry Solokov, a whiz kid who is going to transform the Shangri-La into a Steven Wynn type casino.The Cooler is a special film, in part, because of the themes it successfully addresses, and the manner in which it addresses them; friendship, child abandonment, the true definition of luck, and what constitutes love. The lighting, cinematography, and music all contribute significantly to the film's essence. The screen literally lights up when Bernie and Natalie feel their connection.There is a scene in which Shelly catches Bernie's appalling son, Mikey, convincingly played by Shawn Hatosy, cheating at the craps table. Shelly violently maims Mikey the same way he permanently injured Bernie. It's as brutal a scene as it is effective. But there is also a very touching love scene is which Bernie and Natalie connect in every way lovers can.

greaton58 This movie has a great soundtrack and even better acting. Still, it probably falls in the love it or hate it category. Some might criticize the film for being too formulaic, or for the improbability of the plot line. I would wager a pretty tall stack of chips that those people also identify with the new Casino management, as opposed to Baldwin's character. I mean, come on, the whole film is primarily about luck, with some true love thrown in for good measure. Not exactly topics that lend themselves to the scientific method of analysis. To me, the whole thing just works. Even better, it is one of the most uplifting movies I have seen in years, in a dark, sleazy, corny, sort of way. Don't analyze it, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Who knows, you may be feeling lucky when the the credits roll.