Tilt v. Rounders

Spaceman Spiff · #1 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 03:56 PM

There seems to be such a dichotomy (ooooh, big word!) between these two and I'm just curious about it. Mostly because I have to write a review of the Tilt DVD and I'm just trying to get some more opinions. Both are from the same writers, so did they just do a good job with Rounders and screwed it all up with Tilt? There really is a lot of hostility toward Tilt from people that I guess I just don't get, especially when the same people generally praise Rounders.
FWIW, I caught most of the Tilt run. It was decent, but far from "appointment TV" for me. But I just don't have this wild hatred of it that I've seen from others. I love Rounders and think it is superior to Tilt, I just don't think Tilt was completely worthless. It was a nice piece of fluff with a poker theme. Perfect, turn-the-brain-off, type of TV. And you just have to love Michael Madsen. Actually, I think without him, I might not be as willing to defend the series.

Wylecoyo · #2 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 04:13 PM

I haven't seen Tilt and only recently saw Rounders for the first time. I am hoping to find Tilt as a rental because most reviews I have read are pretty negative. If I were you, I wouldn't risk skewing my review by asking for opinions prior to publishing. Watch the DVD's and give us your unbiased opinion and then others can comment on your thoughts after they read your review. That way those of us who have not seen the show will benefit from a fresh opinion rather than a pre-disposed point of view.

ky70 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

There seems to be such a dichotomy (ooooh, big word!) between these two and I'm just curious about it. Mostly because I have to write a review of the Tilt DVD and I'm just trying to get some more opinions. Both are from the same writers, so did they just do a good job with Rounders and screwed it all up with Tilt? There really is a lot of hostility toward Tilt from people that I guess I just don't get, especially when the same people generally praise Rounders.
FWIW, I caught most of the Tilt run. It was decent, but far from "appointment TV" for me. But I just don't have this wild hatred of it that I've seen from others. I love Rounders and think it is superior to Tilt, I just don't think Tilt was completely worthless. It was a nice piece of fluff with a poker theme. Perfect, turn-the-brain-off, type of TV. And you just have to love Michael Madsen. Actually, I think without him, I might not be as willing to defend the series.

I wish I could add something here but your post perfectly describes my feelings of about two.

VARoadstter · #4 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 04:38 PM

Well, since you asked.

Rounders was fantastic as it really did try to bring the viewer into the "world of poker". There are probably millions of people who watched that movie who had never even thought about playing poker and are now flooding online sites, local B&Ms, etc. The movie was about people, yes, but it was more about trying to give a glimpse to people about what playing poker at a high level (or any level for that matter) can be like.

Contrast this with Tilt. Tilt was a glorified action soap opera with barely even a passing reference to poker. Tilt was all about the characters - and pretty shady ones at that. I had a difficult time rooting for any of them, frankly. The only "moral" participant was Fast Eddie and he wasn't someone you wanted to root for as much as he was someone you watched stumble from situation to situation, never really in control of himself or the things going on around him.

There were plenty of clichés in Rounders, certainly. In Tilt, that's all it was. It was insulting. The bad guy's daughter falls in love with the hero. The cop will do anything to see that "justice is served". The hero must always be morally upright (ok, he did have a slight edge to him) but ultimately he is going to play it straight in the face of rampant cheating and angle shooting. etc. etc. etc.

The poker in Tilt was fairly uneventful and uninteresting (with the small exception of the World Championship parts - those were fair if you discount all the bad beats and suckouts that got thrown in there). Without poker, there would be no Rounders. What did poker have to do with the plot of Tilt, really? It was just a mechanism for the passage of time and to provide a common thread to hang a bunch of really unappealing people from.

I could go on but I think I'll just let it go.

Hope that helps.

Pkrcp · #5 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 05:54 PM

Diito there, I had never seen Tilt but picked up the DVD's when I found out it was done by the rounders crew. Definitely a soap opera, not much substance. I'm a big fan of Micahel Madsen though (resevoir dogs), and you can only watch repeats of poker on TV so many times.

Rounders is one of my all time favorite movies. I can watch it repeatedly and always pick up on something new. I've probbaly seen it 30 times. I don't think Tilt is gonna do it. One thing I can say though is that they put one hell of a visually stunning DVD together. On a High def TV the shot's of Vegas are amazing.

For me it's still better than watching prime time.

dad604 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 06:20 PM

Same feelings, I really like Rounders but Tilt is just soap opera.

gramma · #7 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 09:25 PM

Rounders hands down. It's not even close.

NanaBanana · #8 (**permalink**) 06-20-2005, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

There seems to be such a dichotomy (ooooh, big word!) between these two and I'm just curious about it. Mostly because I have to write a review of the Tilt DVD and I'm just trying to get some more opinions. Both are from the same writers, so did they just do a good job with Rounders and screwed it all up with Tilt? There really is a lot of hostility toward Tilt from people that I guess I just don't get, especially when the same people generally praise Rounders.
FWIW, I caught most of the Tilt run. It was decent, but far from "appointment TV" for me. But I just don't have this wild hatred of it that I've seen from others. I love Rounders and think it is superior to Tilt, I just don't think Tilt was completely worthless. It was a nice piece of fluff with a poker theme. Perfect, turn-the-brain-off, type of TV. And you just have to love Michael Madsen. Actually, I think without him, I might not be as willing to defend the series.

Spaceman - considering all the negativity about TILT - I'm going out on a limb here and say that I agree, totally, with your second paragraph! It was a nice piece of "fluff", but hardly a show to really "rave" about. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It was mildly entertaining - and that's it!!! Just my opinion......

BaNaNa

Spaceman Spiff · #9 (**permalink**) 06-21-2005, 10:34 AM

Thanks for the comments everyone. I guess soap opera sums it up pretty well. I don't think that necessarily has to be a negative thing. There are plenty of other shows that I watch that could be considered soaps, I suppose

My review is more about the DVD, the extras, all that good stuff. Not an episode by episode review. So I'm not too worried about contaminating my point of view for the review. I saw enough of the episodes to already have my feelings pretty well set.

Once I'm done I'll post a link or I'll see if I'm allowed to also have a copy here. Especially if I can get me some more chips!

EDIT[ Mods, I got the debug error with this post ]