Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'All In: The Poker Movie'


Posted July 9, 2012 by Dennis King Comment on this article Leave a comment

This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is:

“All In: The Poker Movie”

The disreputable, outlaw aura of card sharps and riverboat gamblers hangs over director Douglas Tirola’s rambling, sympathetic documentary “All In: The Poker Movie” (due out on DVD Tuesday).

The documentary is a kind of freewheeling celebration of shady poker history, not always smoothly meshed with an examination of recent technological innovations (online poker sites and big-money televised poker tournaments) that have changed the game from a dubious diversion practiced in smoky back rooms and sin-filled saloons to a national obsession overseen by a big-brother government.

On one hand, Tirola evokes the romantic rebel airs of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” with its “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” shrewdness. But it never plays a straight hand. The film darts from on topic to another with little sense of a clear purpose.

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King spent 31 years as an ink-stained wretch working for newspapers in Seminole, Ada, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He holds a B.A. degree in English...

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