Breaking Vegas (History Channel)
Product ID: 2679488
Details
- FormatColor Dolby
- LanguageEnglish
- Number Of Discs1
- Runtime1 hour and 30
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Product Description The true story of six M.I.T. students who went to Las Vegas with a little more than just luck on their side-they were armed with complex mathematical schemes to beat the house-and succeeded in taking the casinos for millions of dollars-until the IRS caught up with them. 2003/color/75 min/NR/fullscreen. desertcart.com Creating a foolproof plan to beat Las Vegas has been a goal for gamblers and grifters since the city was established, but only one group has come closest to making such a system pay off--a collection of math whizzes from M.I.T. The unique rise and fall of their blackjack team is the focus of this intriguing 2004 History Channel documentary. For two years in the early '90s, the team reaped millions from casinos around the world with their scheme, until conflict within the group and a diligent security company brought the group's winnings to a crashing halt. Interviews with team members and author Ben Mezrich, whose 2003 book Bringing Down the House focuses on a later M.I.T. team, provide the most interesting moments; however, the pulpy narration, hyperactive direction, and awkward dramatic re-creations cheapen the doc's efforts to effectively relay this engaging story. More straightforward and successful attempts to address the world of gambling are featured in the DVD's supplemental features, which offer two additional History Channel documentaries, High Rollers: A History of Gambling and "How To Win in Las Vegas," an episode from their Conquest series. --Paul Gaita Review: Breaking Vegas - Like the movie quite a bit. I will use this in my Statistics class this spring. Hope the kids get as much pleasure out of the book that I did. Review: Love it! - I've showed this movie to my AP Statistics class for 3 years in a row and the students love it. They totally get into it. It's informative and entertaining.
| ASIN | B0001ZDLPU |
| Actors | Ben Mezrich, Jon Hirschtick, Max Rubin, Mr. M, Semyon Dukach |
| Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #73,288 in Movies & TV ( See Top 100 in Movies & TV ) #1,641 in Documentary (Movies & TV) #11,560 in Drama DVDs |
| Customer Reviews | 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (15) |
| Director | Bruce David Klein |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Item model number | AAE-71298 |
| Language | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) |
| MPAA rating | NR (Not Rated) |
| Media Format | Color, Dolby, Full Screen, Multiple Formats, NTSC |
| Number of discs | 1 |
| Producers | Bruce David Klein, Carl H. Lindahl, Cheryl Miller Houser, David Mettler, Emily Dillon Berry |
| Product Dimensions | 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 2.88 ounces |
| Release date | June 29, 2004 |
| Run time | 1 hour and 30 minutes |
| Studio | A&E Home Video |
| Writers | Bruce David Klein |
G**I
Breaking Vegas
Like the movie quite a bit. I will use this in my Statistics class this spring. Hope the kids get as much pleasure out of the book that I did.
S**W
Love it!
I've showed this movie to my AP Statistics class for 3 years in a row and the students love it. They totally get into it. It's informative and entertaining.
K**N
Wrong choice
Unfortunately I chose the wrong DVD, I wanted the actual movie. Needless to sy that I am disappointed. This DVD is like a documentary I have already seen on the history channel.
J**A
Possibly enthralling story marred by uninteresting storytell
How could you possibly mess up a story about Las Vegas and a group of kids who took casinos for millions? Well, you can't...almost. Some of the acting in the recreations here are almost laughably bad...a "Rain Man"-esque professor with annoyingly overplayed mannerisms, random stares into the camera for (what I thought was supposed to be) dramatic pauses, other annoyances like that. The writing is bland and the voice over is done by someone who sounds as young as Ryan Seacrest (read: no dramatic undertones). But don't get me wrong, the story is still interesting, and it's just interesting enough to make you forget about the annoyances above.
M**N
A lot more accurate than "21"
Similar to another card counting movie called "21" which had a lot of inaccuracies, such as an added a romance, and card counters getting beat up by casino thugs, which never happened. This is a combination documentary with interviews, and story with actors reenacting the events. It makes it seem MIT was the originator, but there were many card counters and card counting teams using the MIT teams strategy long before they started.
D**R
Creating a business to outsmart the casino business
I heard about this story sometime ago and while I wanted to learn more, I didn't think it justified spending the time to read the book. Pleasantly surprised, I found that a DVD version of the book was available. I originally thought it was just a few students getting together and using their brainpower to outsmart the casinos. I was surprised to find out that it was actually a business, complete with financial statements, training program, recruiting, and investors. The video does a fine job of recreating the circumstances on the initial formation of the company/team and onward to its later incarnations where apparently substantial lasting success was achieved after learning from some early mistakes in the initial formation. Interviews with the security company that casinos use worldwide to work the system in their favor are also shown. The video gives you an idea of just how sophisticated the casinos are in stopping card counters and the like. The gambling isn't just confined to the US but also various locations around the world. These are also shown in snippets. If anything, you learn that it is possible to outwit the system, but a substantial effort must be put in to do it. For the regular folk who don't have the brainpower/time it is heartwarming to see that it can be done.
C**A
mais attention, tout en anglais, pas de traduction. Sinon, c'est le documentaire de "LAS VEGAS 21" avec les vrais auteurs.
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