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Nick’s Flix

Visiting the city of cinema sins

 

 

By the time you’re able to get this edition of Nick’s Flix in your hands, I’ll be enjoying the sunny, 75-degree weather of Las Vegas. I’ll be checking out that big wet wall they call the Hoover Dam, and I’ll be peeking over the edge of the abyss that is the Grand Canyon.

I’m not telling you all this to make you feel jealous. I’m just setting the stage for what is potentially the most self-absorbed Nick’s Flix to date, in which we discuss the best and worst movies set in Las Vegas.

That glittery den of iniquity situated in the middle of the desert is the setting for dozens of movies throughout the years (and one very good video game), and a stroll down the Strip is a veritable film tour when it comes to recognizable landmarks.

First off, we’ll start with the good movies set in Vegas, beginning with the best.

Casino (1995) – When looking at the pantheon of American organized crime movies, the top of that list is dominated by Martin Scorsese. But in a fit of blasphemy, I will commit to print right here that Casino is his best. Sure, the guy made Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Departed, Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman, but there’s something special – and quintessentially Vegas – about Casino. For one, it’s based on the true story of the meddling in Vegas by the Chicago mob, and for two, it’s got one of the most memorably brutal endings you’ll see in a crime movie. If I wander my way into Resorts World Las Vegas, I’ll be keen to note that the location was formerly home to the Stardust, the central casino in Casino, in the movie referred to as Tangiers.

 

 

Leaving Las Vegas (1995) – The mid-90s were evidently a big time for Vegas-based dramas, as Leaving Las Vegas shared a calendar year with Casino. I’ve made no attempts to obfuscate the fact that I’m a huge fan of Nicolas Cage, regardless of how inane his lesser works can get, and Leaving Las Vegas is one of those movies I can always point to as evidence that Cage is in fact a National Treasure. Leaving Las Vegas isn’t exactly a guide for how one should spend one’s time in Vegas, of course, and as someone who rarely if ever imbibes, Cage’s character isn’t exactly a person I’d enjoy trolling around the Strip with – but in the end, he certainly gets what he pays for. And if I happen upon Excalibur today, I’ll remember this cautionary tale.

 

 

 

 

Ocean’s Eleven (2001) – It’s likely that among the more wizened of readers there’ll be a contingent upset that for this selection I went with the 2001 version, instead of the 1960 original. There are two reasons for that – one, I’m 35 years old, and two, the remake is better. Filmed mostly in the Bellagio, which I’ll surely visit at one point, Ocean’s Eleven set the standard for heist movies that is still being followed today, two decades later. Sure, it owes a lot of that influence to its own influences, but Ocean’s Eleven took that blueprint and built a palace – more maybe a Mirage (and also MGM Grand, but I don’t have a pun for that one).

Honorable Mentions: The Hangover (2009), Diamonds are Forever (1971), Viva Las Vegas (1964)

So that’s three great Vegas movies. What about a couple terrible ones? We learn to better appreciate the positives when we weigh them against the negatives, after all.

Army of the Dead (2021) – I’ve already covered this movie in a previous edition of Nick’s Flix, way back on May 27, 2021. I was not kind in that review. Time has a way of softening us, so I won’t be as harsh here, but don’t take that as some sort of implicit approval of what is still a very bad and boring movie. It was also not actually filmed in Las Vegas – the desert-y landscapes are actually Albuquerque, and casino interiors were supplied by that other gambling mecca, Atlantic City. That didn’t stop them from splicing in the façade of MGM Grand, though.

What Happens in Vegas (2008) – Building an entire movie out of a marketing slogan, What Happens in Vegas presents to us the premise that an uptight, business-oriented woman will impulsively marry a languishing party bro, as long as booze is involved. Sure, it could (and probably does) happen. But even less believable is the pair winning millions on a slot machine in Planet Hollywood. Dishonorable Mentions: Vegas Vacation (1997), 3,000 Miles to Graceland (2001), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)