User:Swimmerk16/sandbox

Critical Responses
A user known as "The Editor" on Hollywood North Magazine said that the film is engaging and can appeal to a variety of viewers. Many users on IMDb ranked the film a 10/10, commenting that it was "exceptional" and how "Canada is catch[ing] up". A couple users on IMBd had opposite reviews on The Last Casino, commenting that the film was "total nonsense" because the plot was not realistic.

english Queen

(Mulcahy, 2008)

The Last Casino is a 2004 Canadian film on the subject of card counting. This film is also in French, titled La Mise Finale. The film was produced by Greg Dummett, Lorraine Richard and Madeleine Henri, directed by Pierre Gill and written by Steven Westren. The Last Casino stars Charles Martin Smith as Barnes, Katharine Isabelle as Elyse, Kris Lemche as Scott, Julian Richings as Orr and Albert Chung as George.

The Last Casino draws heavily from the story of the MIT Blackjack Team. The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were trained by Bill Kaplan. Kaplan delayed his entrance to Harvard University because he believed he could create a mathematics model that would assist him in being successful at blackjack. In 1977, Kaplan turned $1000 into $35000 within a nine month period.

Premise
Mathematics professor Doug Barnes plays a game of blackjack at a casino using a tactic known as card counting to move the odds in his favor. Wilson, a casino security manager, captures Barnes' face, and effectively blacklists him from several casinos. Barnes' usurer, Orr, meets with Barnes to discuss how he will get his money back after Barnes' ban from the casinos. Barnes suggests the idea of creating a team of card counters from the students at the university where Barnes teaches. Orr snips off one of Barnes' fingertips as punishment for losing his money, and asks for his $40,000 to be paid back. Barnes starts to create a team of university students to count cards.

After searching around the university, Barnes recruits three students: George, who has memorized pi 70 units past the decimal; Scott, who aces a complex memorization test; and Elyse, a waitress who successfully memorizes a complicated order Barnes makes for a pizza in a short period of time. After convincing them that his plan has little risk to them, Barnes proceeds to teach the students to count cards. The group goes to their first casino and each of the students receive $1,000, an amount earlier promised by Barnes.

The group continues to hone their skills at the casino, and start to make money on a large scale.