"Lucky You" with Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall (2007)

Eric Bana plays Huck Cheever, the son of a great poker player named L.C. Cheever in this father and son drama set in Las Vegas amid the world of high stakes poker. Huck has inherited his father’s gift for cards. He can compute the other player’s hands in his head and make sharp bets. He also has a reckless side which keeps him from ever really being the big winner his father was, and still is. Huck wants to show him up and become the big winner himself.

In the weeks leading up to the big Las Vegas Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Series Chuck must find a way to raise the entry fee of $10,000 in order to play. He will do anything to play in this game, if only to show his Dad that he can do it. He embarks on a week- long spree in which he begs, borrows, gambles and even “steals” in order to come up with the money.

When Huck meets up with his Dad, L.C., played by Robert Duvall, he is a bit shaken, the man is a legend. But with a new love in his life, Billie, played by Drew Barrymore, he is more determined than ever to be a winner. He gets his chance to show his famous Dad up by winning the series in which the old man plays against him, but will he be able to do it? L.C. claims that Huck lets his emotions get in the way, preventing him from winning. Is he right?

This is a much nuanced film with an ending that will make you smile to yourself when you realize that winning takes many different forms.

"Barrymore" with Christopher Plummer (2012)

Christopher Plummer, in one of the finest roles of his storied career, portrays the classic actor John Barrymore; brother to Lionel and Ethel; and the slave of alcohol. The movie is very simply set, with most of the monologue; which the movie is, with the exception of the unseen “prompter” who feeds him his lines when he strays off course; taking place in a vacant theater which the aging actor has rented in order to stage a comeback that would never take place.

In a brilliant screenplay, Mr. Plummer is allowed to float seamlessly between the stage where the rehearsal takes place; and the dressing room; to flights of fancy borne of the aging masters past experiences. Sometimes you are not certain who he is, or where he is supposed to be performing; but so did he. He was a man lost to himself, and Mr. Plummer does such an excellent job of portraying him that I often found myself thinking that I was watching the real John Barrymore in all his eccentric glory. He has that ability to evoke the madness which raged within Mr. Barrymore, making him the one of the most talented actors of our time.

Capturing all of the demons which haunted Mr. Barrymore; the excesses and regrets; the writer has given all the room the actor needs in which to rant and rave his way through this remarkable film. If you are a fan of Mr. Plummer’s work, and a fan of Mr. Barrymore as well, then this will be a double delight for you. And if you are unfamiliar with the contradictions which were the man, then this film will have you wishing to know even more.