Seven weeks ago the poker movie "The Grand" made a great first impression on me with its trailer. See http://pokergrump.blogspot.com/2008/02/possible-non-sucky-poker-movie.html. Today, though, it has dropped precipitously in my eyes. I've had its opening day on my calendar since that first post. Tonight, however, I find no showtimes listed in Vegas theaters. What gives?
I poke around a little, and find that the March 21 date is basically a lie. It's one of those "limited release" deals--extremely limited, as in two theaters in the entirely country. See http://www.thegrandthemovie.com/showtimes.php. Worse, one of them is in New York City.
Did you catch that? New York City? They made a poker movie--a poker movie that is set in a downtown Las Vegas casino (the Golden Nugget)--and they're not opening it in Las Vegas. No. Instead, they've chosen to open it in New York City, where playing poker gets you either arrested or robbed.
Brilliant. Ingenious. Good way to spread favorable word of mouth in the poker community. They must have the finest PR firm in the nation working this case.
Morons.
18 more cities get to see the movie on April 4 and April 11. Is Las Vegas in that list? It is not. Salt Lake City is, though. Salt Lake City, capital of one of the two states in the union in which no form of gambling is legal. They get the poker movie before Las Vegas does.
The film's official web site contains no hint, as least as far as I can find, of when they might bother showing up here. Maybe sometime after the glaciers melt?
How incredibly annoying.
Friday, March 21, 2008
"The Grand" makes a bad second impression
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2 comments:
I'll use your semi-related post to ask you a question rakewell.
You've been reading some poker books in search of a good one, and with the coming release of 21 (which doesn't look very good by the previews) I'll whole heartedly recommend the book Bring Down the House.
It's not a poker book (black jack, which I hate to play), but it's a really entertaining, interesting read.
It opens April 4th in Houston!!!
here is when it's getting released and where...still no vegas though
http://www.thegrandthemovie.com/showtimes.php
It was shown at the vegas film festival so I'm guessing it may take a while before it comes back
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