Thanks for the memories!

A different way of telling a story

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

With such a great title and the premise while a little far-fetched being also brilliant, Four Dogs Playing could have been a very good film. Instead for me it had its fair share of good things but fell short, being a moderately entertaining film at most.Four Dogs Playing Poker is stylishly made, looking every bit the brooding thriller type of film, complete with atmospheric and not too dim lighting and settings that suit the film well. It's competently directed, the music does have intensity and the story while less than perfect is a lot of time diverting and not too dull. Another thing Four Dogs Playing Poker does well is that it has a fun cast, with the high points being Tim Curry, who's excellent(if very underused) in a more serious role than usual, and an intimidating Forrest Whittaker. Olivia Williams brings a variety of emotions to her role and Balthazar Getty is very charismatic in his.Sadly, Four Dogs Playing Poker does come up short in other areas. The script is quite weak, being rather underdeveloped and sometimes confused, leaving more questions than answers with some "comedy" parts instead feeling flat and misplaced. Despite the cast giving their all the film does a not particularly good job making their characters interesting, with almost all of them being one-dimensional and clichéd and the most experienced cast members(i.e. Curry) not being in long enough). Four Dogs Playing Poker is hurt by the predictability of the second half, weakening the fun and suspense that the film started off with, which also becomes increasingly preposterous, in want of more explanation and lacking in momentum. By the time the twist came I found myself not caring very much for who the perpetrator was.Overall, great title and premise but doesn't quite deliver as much as it could have done. Disappointing, but hardly a time-waster. 5/10 Bethany Cox

What's the concept behind the painting "Four Dogs Playing Poker"? Poker is a game of luck, but winning involves bluffing, lying, and aggressiveness. Dogs think they can handle these human traits, but they're just dogs. Predictable. Emotional. Easy tells.This movie is about four childhood friends who are all in danger of dying. To save themselves, they concoct a scheme to sacrifice one of them for the sake of the others. But they want to keep things anonymous to alleviate guilt, and that's where they stop trusting each other. Like four dogs playing poker, trying to figure out the other dogs' motives, not knowing who to trust...The details sometimes fall by the wayside in order to set up this very interesting idea, but I found the story itself to be gripping. I had to watch the whole thing to see what happened.Can you trust YOUR childhood friends if all your lives were on the line?

I don't know much about movies in general, and I don't understand what "film noir" is. The only thing I can say about this film is that the first scenes in Argentina were very poorly done, it was obvious that they didn't film it here. I was really upset when I saw those people speaking mexican in the Buenos Aires port. The rest of the film was too predictable for me.I give it a 3 out of 10.

This movie is burdened by a screenplay that is so atrocious, that no other element of the film could rescue it. The first five minutes of this film are very promising; we are shown an apparently savvy group of heisters in an exotic location in the middle of an operation. It is interestingly photographed, the actors appear competent and appealing, it is nicely directed, and well edited. After this the problems with the script came so fast, that I no longer paid attention to the other elements of the film, however my impression is that everything fell apart at once. I knew that the movie was in trouble as soon as the actors started goofing around on their radios in the middle of the serious and dangerous operation they were performing. When the object of the heist was cavalierly turned over to some nameless ship's purser, who I wouldn't have trusted with five cents, I resigned myself to the fact that I had wasted my money. When surprise, surprise, the object is apparently lost and the thieves have to figure out a way to make it right, the savvy heisters transform into a group of whimpering morons whose only solution is to kill one of the group for an insurance fraud. This was the end of `Four Dogs Playing Poker` for me. I rarely stop watching a film in the middle, but I couldn't justify wasting anymore of my time on this ridiculous movie. This film requires more than a suspension of disbelief, it requires a suspension of the fact that you possess a brain. If you are looking for a small, yet very worthwhile crime movie try `Thick As Thieves' with Alec Baldwin or `Jerry And Tom' with Joe Mantegna. Something more quirky but equally worthwhile is `Coldblooded' with Jason Priestly.