Poker Face (2022)

[Noodles]

4.00 star(s) Rating: 4.00/5 1 Votes

Title: Poker Face (2022)

Genre: Thriller

Director: Russell Crowe

Cast: Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky, RZA, Jacqueline McKenzie, Lynn Gilmartin, Daniel MacPherson, Matt Nable, Steve Bastoni, Benedict Hardie, Paul Tassone, Molly Grace, Addam Bramich, Jemima Quinn, Oscar Michell

Release: 2022-11-22

Plot: Crowe plays Jake, a tech billionaire who gathers his childhood friends to his Miami estate for what turns into a high stakes game of poker. Those friends have a love hate relationship with the host, a master game-player/planner, and he has concocted an elaborate scheme designed to bring a certain justice to all of them. However, Jake finds himself re-thinking his strategy when his Miami mansion is overtaken by a dangerous home invader whose previous jobs have all ended in murder and arson.

 

[Noodles]

 

[Noodles]

 

[Lenny Nero]

Written, directed, and starring the great Russell Crowe, this is a tight, compact dramatic thriller that manages to fit in a lot - a prologue from the past, a set up, the gathering of characters, while introducing everyone, the main game with a lot of reveals, the interruption and robbery, resolution, and heartfelt conclusion, all within 82 minutes without credits!
Bigger, more famous directors have a lot to learn from Crowe here.