1. Everything you need to know about SMOKIN’ ACES
Visual Review
Everything you need to know about SMOKIN’ ACES
…and how it relates to you and the world around you.
Includes info on the actors, director, with news, reviews, and photos.
visual review by david bruce visualhollywood.com

2. Movies Contain the Essence of Being Human
SHORT SYNOPSIS
In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy "Aces" Israel --a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents dispatched to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout.

3. Andy Garcia (Stanley Locke)
The Cinematic Arts Have the Power to Transform
KEY ACTORS
Ben Affleck (Jack Dupree) starred in Good Will Hunting, which he co-wrote with Matt Damon. They won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Andy Garcia (Stanley Locke)
Recognized as a talented and versatile actor. He has also established himself as a director, producer, composer and musician.
Alicia Keys
(Georgia Sykes)
A Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum recording artist with two feature films slated for release in 2007.

4. (Writter and Director)
Our Artists Are Our Liberators
KEY TALENT
Joe Carnahan
(Writter and Director)
Directed the critically acclaimed cop drama Narc, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 and earned him a Best Director Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Liza Chasin
(Executive Producer)
is president of US production at Working Title Films. Chasin served as executive producer on Nanny McPhee, Pride and Prejudice, United 93, and Catch a Fire.
Mauro Fiore ASC
(Director of Photography)
He guided the camera work on The Island. He has also collaborated with director Antoine Fuqua on two feature projects Training Day and Tears of the Sun.

5. Ray Liotta' (Agent Donald Carruthers)
Actors are Liberators in Masquerade
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
Ray Liotta' (Agent Donald Carruthers)
H e played Joey Perrini on the daytime program Another World. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work in Something Wild (1986)
In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas, one of his most famous roles to date.
In 2005, Liotta had a memorable guest appearance on the television drama ER playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode Time of Death. The role earned him an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series."
He married actress Michelle Grace in February They met on the set of the television movie The Rat Pack, in which Liotta played Frank Sinatra

6. Common (Sir Ivy) ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
Actors help us: laugh, be happy, cry, get angry, and even think. Can there be any better gifts?
Common (Sir Ivy)
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
In 2006, this Grammy Award-winning artist made his big-screen debut as a musical performer in Dave Chappelle's Block Party.
In 2007, he makes his acting debut in Smokin' Aces. Later in the year, Common will co-star opposite Denzel Washington in American Gangster, directed by Ridley Scott.
Prior to acting, Common rose to prominence as one of hip-hop's most poetic and respected lyricists, having recorded six albums including "Can I Borrow a Dollar?," "Resurrection," "One Day It'll All Make Sense," "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Electric Circus."

7. Joe Carnahan (Writer and Director)
Filmmakers are Revolutionaries Posing as Entertainers
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
Joe Carnahan (Writer and Director)
He began producing short films in the mid-1990s before winning critical acclaim for his film Blood, Guts, Bullets.
He directed the 2002, Detroit set thriller Narc. At one point he was solicited to direct Mission: Impossible III, produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner (who also executive produced Narc), however he subsequently left the production due to conflicting views on the tone of the film.
He also co-wrote the screenplay to Pride And Glory.

8. Stories are Transforming
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
(L to R) FBI Agent Richard Messner (RYAN REYNOLDS) and his partner, Agent Donald Carruthers (RAY LIOTTA), hold surveillance
FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) has just dispatched his top agent, Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds), and Messner's veteran partner, Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta), to Buddy "Aces" Israel's (Jeremy Piven) not-so-secret hiding spot in Lake Tahoe. Their mission: protect the sleazy Vegas magician from mob boss Primo Sparazza - said to have performed over 130 contract murders - upon whom Aces has agreed to turn state's evidence to save his own skin.

9. EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
All Kids are Born Artistic
What is Natural is Essential
(L to R) Bounty hunters "Pistol" Pete Deeks (PETER BERG), Jack Dupree (BEN AFFLECK) and Hollis Elmore (MARTIN HENDERSON) discuss their quarry
As the mob learns of his betrayal, they put a million-dollar bounty on Aces' head. They don't care who does him, just as long as he gets dead quick. Now, a wild menagerie of mercenaries, mass murderers and gorgeous guns-for-hire descend on Tahoe to locate Aces and collect that money... no matter who gets in their way.

10. EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Stories Embody the Essence of Being Human
(L to R) Assassin Sharice Watters (TARAJI HENSON) and her partner, Georgia Sykes (ALICIA KEYS), discuss business
Thugs from Sparazza's tight inner circle have bought their own insurance policy in the form of ghetto-fab-glam assassins Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys) and her partner, sniper Sharice Watters (Taraji Henson). A psychopathic trio neo-Nazi inbreeds known as the Tremor brothers sniff cash like bloodhounds and have made haste to Tahoe as well.

11. Cinematic Story Telling is a Profoundly Humanizing endeavor.
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Darwin (Chris Pine), Jeeves (Kevin Durand) and Lestor Tremor (Maury Serling) have nothing resembling a conscience, and they use their limited brainpower to murder anyone who stands in the way of a big payday. Additionally, international hit men - including ruthless torture specialist Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) and master of disguise Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan) - are bringing their uniquely twisted blend of skills to Tahoe.
(L to R) Assassins Lester Tremor (MAURY STERLING), Jeeves Tremor (KEVIN DURAND) and Darwin Tremor (CHRIS PINE) smile for the camera

12. Film making is a Community Event.
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
(L to R) Hollis Elmore (MARTIN HENDERSON), Jack Dupree (BEN AFFLECK), attorney Rupert "Rip" Reed (JASON BATEMAN) and "Pistol" Pete Deeks (PETER BERG)
To complicate matters, bottom-of-the-barrel Vegas bail bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) accepts a $50,000 retainer from attorney Rupert "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman) to find the bail-jumping Aces before he gets handed over to the FBI... and the quarry is gone for good. Dupree recruits disillusioned ex-vice cop "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and his former partner, Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson), to help wrangle Aces. The good news is they're only a short, three-hour drive from Tahoe.

13. LIFE CONNECTIONS: on murder and mayhem
Art is a Liberating Force
LIFE CONNECTIONS: on murder and mayhem
On Smokin’ Aces: "I've always wanted to make a film like this," states Eric Fellner, producer and co-chairman of Working Title Films. "One that has murder and mayhem... for want of better words."
In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
Alfred Hitchcock ( )
Seeing a murder on television... can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
Alfred Hitchcock ( )
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire ( )
Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.
Jean Rostand ( )
As created beings we bear the hallmark of the creative character of god. To neglect ‘hearing’ the creative artistic voice is deafness to god.

14. CRITICS ARE 30% POSITIVE CRITICAL OPINION
The Free Speech Discussion of the Arts is a Mark of a Free Society
CRITICAL OPINION
CRITICS ARE 30% POSITIVE
One question hovers over the carnage, though: Whom the hell are we supposed to root for? The closest the movie comes to sympathetic assassins are its hit ladies, yet the payoff to their subplot is the weakest of the bunch.
-- Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter
It's all a mad, mad, mad, mad whirl of bullets, bloodshed, the occasional breast and agonizingly lame jokes aimed at males who don't get out much.
--Eleanor Ringel Gillespie Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can't take it seriously, but the movie is as lively as it is debased.
--Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly

15. FILM REVIEW SMOKIN’ ACES FROM VISUAL HOLLYWOOD
Art is the Language of Liberation
FILM REVIEW
SMOKIN’ ACES
FROM VISUAL HOLLYWOOD
This is one of those films that enables the viewer to vent some of the darker passions we all share as fellow humans. Stories of murder and mayhem has always been a part of all human culture from the Sumerians, to Hebrew Bible writers, to Shakespeare, to Alfred Hitchcock. Because this theme has always existed – it must be important in fulfilling certain inner psychological need.
What modern novelists and cinematic story tellers have been able to do is add a touches of humor into murder and mayhem. This group has done well. Enjoy!
--David Bruce

16. FINDING TRUTH IN SMOKIN’ GUNS The amazing value of illusion
"What do you see right now? You see exactly, and only, what I choose to show you. That's illusion, Ivy. That's the lie I tell your eyes." - Buddy "Aces" Israel
The amazing value of illusion
Men decide far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion, or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute.
--Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Oscar Wilde ( )
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein ( ),
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain ( )
Society is only as free as its arts. Art is the voice of human freedom.

17. Movie Making is the Convergence of Many Talents and Art Forms
TRIVIA AND NEWS
Smokin' Aces is an action film written and directed by Joe Carnahan set in Lake Tahoe and primarily shot at MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa (though renamed the "Nomad Casino").
It marks Carnahan's sophmore feature, following Narc. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven as the leads, with Piven (Entourage) as a Las Vegas magician turned Mafia informant and Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. It is the feature film debut of Alicia Keys and hip hop artist Common.
Reception
The film received a mixed reaction. Many critics compared it to the works of Quentin Tarantino, with some providing flattering (and unflattering) comparisons to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Some praised it for its humor and wit, as well as its highly-stylized cinematography. It profited $14.3 million in its first week.

18. WHY MOVIES ARE SO IMPORTANT
To Restrict Creativity is to Restrict the very Nature of the Creator
WHY MOVIES ARE SO IMPORTANT
"The meaning of life is the most urgent of questions" --Albert Camus (Existentialist thinker).
In “Movies and the Meaning of Life” author Kimberly Blessing points out that movies can help us reflect on five of life’s most important questions:
1) What is reality and how can I know it?
2) How can I find my true identity?
3) What the significance of my interactions with others?
4) What’s the point of my life?
5) How ought I to live my life?
The idea behind Visual Hollywood is that Movies can and must play an essential role helping us explore the meaning of our existence and our life together. No other quest is more necessary or important. Movies are powerful. Movies bring personal meaning, and can contribute to a peaceful world. Cinematic story telling can be a transforming event.
Visual Hollywood takes an existential approach to life. We celebrate with human freedom. We use movies and the arts as a means of understanding the human condition and our collective relation to the world around us.
Our basic quest is:
1. To know what it means to be human in the world.
2. The pursuit of human freedom.

19. visual review by visualhollywood.com
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