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Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' is a 1998 neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Guy Ritchie. It follows a heist involving a confident young card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of three-card brag, prompting him to pay off his debts by enlisting his friends to help him rob a small-time gang operating out of the apartment next door. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Steven Mackintosh, Vinnie Jones, and Sting. The film brought Ritchie international acclaim and introduced Statham (a former diver) and Jones (a former footballer) to worldwide audiences in their feature film debuts. It was also a commercial success, grossing over $28 million at the box office against a $1.35 million budget. A television spin-off called '' Lock, Stock...'' followed in 2000, running for seven episodes. Plot Long-time friends and small-time London criminals Eddie, Tom, Soa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in entry-level jobs in the film industry before going on to direct television commercials. In 1995, he directed a short film, ''The Hard Case'', followed by the crime comedy ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' (1998), his feature-length List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. He gained recognition with his second film, ''Snatch (film), Snatch'' (2000), which found critical and commercial success. Following ''Snatch'', Ritchie directed ''Swept Away (2002 film), Swept Away'' (2002), a critically panned box-office bomb starring Madonna, to whom Ritchie was married between 2000 and 2008. He went on to direct ''Revolver (2005 film), Revolver'' (2005) and ''RocknRolla'' (2008), which were less successful and received mixed reviews. In 2009 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the film industry, motion-picture industry. ''Variety'' website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. History Founding ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville, with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched ''Variety'' as publisher and editor. In additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Numbers (website)
The Numbers is a film industry data website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way, a publication of Nash Information Services LLC. The company also conducts research services and forecasts incomes of film projects. History The site was launched in 1997 by Bruce Nash. On March 21, 2020, the Numbers released a statement that because of movie theater closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "We don't expect much box office reporting in the short term" and did not report the usual daily box office estimates due to lack of box office data from film studios. See also * Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray ... * Lumiere References External links * ''The Numbers'' Bankability Index 1997 establishments in California Comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three-card Brag
Brag is an 18th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games. It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings. It has been described as the "longest-standing British representative of the Poker family." History The rules of Brag first appear in 1721 in '' The Compleat Gamester'' where it is referred to as ''"The Ingenious and Pleasant Game of Bragg"'', but in fact, it originates in an almost identical game called Post and Pair which is recorded as far back as 1528 (as ''Post'') and which, in turn, was descended from Primero. However, Brag introduced a key innovation over Post and Pair: the concept of wild cards known as 'braggers'. Initially there was just one, the Knave of Clubs; later the Nine of Diamonds was added. In parallel with this early three-stake game, in 1751 Hoyle describes a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crime Boss
A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, mafia don, mob boss, kingpin, or godfather is the leader of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss has absolute or nearly absolute control over the other members of the organization and is often greatly feared or respected for being willing to use criminal means to exert their influence and gain profits from the criminal endeavors in which the organization engages.Manning, George A. ''iarchive:financialinvesti0002mann, Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting.'' Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2005. Some groups may only have as little as two ranks (a crime boss and their soldiers). Other groups have a more complex, structured organization with many ranks, and structure may vary with cultural background. Organized crime enterprises originating in Sicily differ in structure from those in mainland Italy. American groups may be structured differently from their European counterparts and Latino and African American gangs oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Card Sharp
A card sharp (also card shark, sometimes hyphenated or spelled as a single word) is a person who uses skill or deception to win at card games (such as poker). "Sharp" and "shark" spellings have varied over time and by region. The label is not always intended as pejorative, and is sometimes used to refer to practitioners of Card manipulation, card tricks for entertainment purposes. In general usage, principally in American English and more commonly with the "shark" spelling, the term has also taken on the meaning of an expert card gambler who takes advantage of less-skilled players, also called an "advantage player", without any implication of actual Cheating in poker, cheating at cards, in much the same way that "" or Hustling , "pool hustler" can (especially when used by non-players) be intended to refer to a skilled player rather than a cheater or swindler. The synonym to "card sharp", "", when used with reference to card-playing and swindlers, has pejorative connotations. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crime Film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), drama or gangster film, but also include Comedy film, comedy, and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as Mystery film, mystery, suspense or Film noir, noir. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identified crime film as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy, claiming that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, slice of life, sports, thriller, war and western. Williams identifies drama in a broader category called "film type", mystery and suspense as "macro-genres", and film noir as a "screenwriter's pathway" explaining that these categories are additive rather than exclusionary. ''China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss, aiming to provoke discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction, for example, the term ''black comedy'' can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Black comedy differs from ribaldry#Blue comedy, blue comedy—which focuses more on topics such as nudity, Human sexual activity, sex, and body fluids—and from obscenity. Additionally, whereas the term ''black comedy'' is a relatively broad term covering humor relating to many serious subjects, ''gallows humor'' tends to be used more specifically in relation to death, or situations that are reminiscent of dying. Black humor can occasionally be related to the grotesque genre. Literary critics h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term "neo-noir" surged in popularity, fueled by movies such as Sydney Pollack's '' Absence of Malice'', Brian De Palma's '' Blow Out'', and Martin Scorsese's '' After Hours''. The French term ''film noir'' translates literally to English as "black film", indicating sinister stories often presented in a shadowy cinematographic style. Neo-noir has a similar style but with updated themes, content, style, and visual elements. Definition The neologism neo-noir, using the Greek prefix for the word ''new'', is defined by Mark Conard as "any film coming after the classic noir period that contains noir themes and noir sensibility". Another definition describes it as later noir that often synthesizes diverse genres while foregrounding the scaffolding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Dollar
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish dollar, Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cent (currency), cents, and authorized the Mint (facility), minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color. The U.S. dollar was originally defined under a bimetallism, bimetallic standard of (0.7734375 troy ounces) fine silver or, from Coinage Act of 1834, 1834, fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $35 per troy ounce. In 1971 all links to gold were repealed. The U.S. dollar became an important intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pound Sterling
Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. Sterling is the world's oldest currency in continuous use since its inception. In 2022, it was the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Together with those three currencies and the renminbi, it forms the basket of currencies that calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. As of late 2022, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The Bank of England is the central bank for sterling, issuing its own banknotes and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling banknotes issu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh language in Argentina); encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and educational cooperation with the United Kingdom. The organisation has been called a soft power extension of UK foreign policy, as well as a tool for propaganda. The British Council is governed by a Royal charter#United Kingdom, royal charter. It is also a Government-owned corporation, public corporation and an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Its headquarters are in Stratford, London, Stratford, London. Its chair is Paul Thompson (administrator), Paul Thompson and its chief executive is Scott McDonald. History 1930s-40s In 1934, the British Foreign Office officials created the "British Committee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
