If you like games of chance, casino games for Windows 10 can be a fun way to pass the time. These games may not match the excitement a trip to Vegas might have, but they do offer a nice range of casino challenges ranging from card games to slots.

Then there was that Observation Deck scene in which tongues were set wagging. What went on behind the scenes, though? Golding, Wu, Michelle Yeoh and Awkwafina offer their two cents on what makes the film shine, apart from its opulence and the sometimes dangerous world of crazy rich Asians. 10 Greatest Gambling Scenes in Movies. Lola needs some really quick cash, and in an attempt to get it she enters a casino and drops down all that she has on a roulette table, ultimately putting it all on 20 black. Sure the odds are 1,296-to-1, but when you're in a movie, odds don't mean a thing. Join Crazy Slots with the fantastic welcome bonus which gives you $12500 in deposit bonuses over 15 deposits. Get free coupons for any of the fantastic range of online tournaments that are offered.There are endless games to choose from which range from fantastic table games to specialty games, poker games to video poker and slots including classic 3 reel slots, bonus video slots.

Many of these games focus on a single casino game, often with online components where you play against other gamers. A few offer multiple gaming options, much like you would find in a brick and mortar casino. Colorful graphics and challenging gameplay are also characteristic of these Windows 10 games, plus you avoid the risk of losing real money.

We have searched the Windows Store high and low for the best casino games available. Let's take a look at what we have found!

AE Blackjack Online, just as the Windows 10 title suggests, is an online game of blackjack. The game has support for Facebook accounts or you can play as a guest. Facebook accounts receive bonus chips and game progress follows you is you need to switch out devices.

Available for Windows 10 Mobile, AE Blackjack Online starts you out with $1,300 in chips with additional chips available through in-app purchase and as daily bonuses. Gameplay follows suit with your traditional game of blackjack with options to join the first available game, walk around the tables to find a game or create a game.

There is a chat feature and the ability to send novelty gifts to other players (hamburger, drink, etc.). If there are no other gamers around, AE Blackjack Online allows you to play single player games. While there was an occasional hiccup in connecting to AE's server, overall this free casino game presents itself as a simple and enjoyable card game.

Crazy Casino

Crazy Casino is a collection of casino games laid out in slot machine fashion. Available for Windows 10 Mobile, this free casino game offers blackjack and poker games, as well as a traditional game of slots.

Altogether, Crazy Casino offers you ten video gambling machines that include five slot machines, two blackjack games and two poker games. Each machine is progressively unlocked as your winnings grow and the betting limits increase with each machine.

There are also mini-games available and a daily lucky ticket where you can earn bonus coins. Crazy Casino starts you out with 100 coins with the option to buy additional coins through in-app purchases. Crazy Casino isn't a very complicated casino game, but does offer an easy way to spend a little time in front of an assortment of video gambling games.

Simons Slots

If slots is your cup of tea, Simon's Slot is your Windows 10 game. The free casino game is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile and delivers a huge variety of slot machines from cat themed machines to vampire themed machines. All together there are 30 one-armed bandits to choose from.

Each machine has a different bet minimum and you only download the slot machines you want. You earn experience with each spin and some of the machines do require you to reach a certain experience level before they become available.

Bets can be self-regulated, with the higher bets opening additional payout lines on the machines. If you are in the mood to sit back, relax and let the machine to all the work you can set the game to automatically spin. Simon's Slots tracks your statistics to see how lucky or unfortunate you are with the casino game.

If you are looking for a slightly unconventional game of slots, Simon's Slots includes two additional modes that are memory games where you must remember highlighted squares after they spin. If you tap on all the correct squares, you earn your winnings.

Additional features for Simon's Slots includes free credit bonuses every 15 minutes, Facebook support and daily/consecutive login bonuses for free credits. Graphics are bright and colorful, the machine selection respectable and overall Simon's Slots offers a fun casino game for Windows 10 PC and Mobile. The only thing missing is the bucket of quarters and the free drinks.

Zynga Poker – Texas Hold 'em

How to play bingo slot machines. Zynga Poker – Texas Hold 'em is a free, online game of poker that is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile. This Windows 10 casino game offers casual poker games, as well as competitive tournaments. Support is in place for Facebook login, logging in with a Zynga account or playing as a guest. Account login does allow you to synchronize gameplay between devices, as well as with online play.

Zynga Poker starts you out with $10,000 in poker chips with additional chips available through in-app purchase and daily bonuses. Gameplay follows the traditional Texas Hold 'em style of poker. You can join poker tables at random or create your own game.

The game is paced quicky, with each turn timed to avoid players taking a break from the action and stalling the game's progress. Animations and graphics are sharp with plenty of casino color. While the challenge of gameplay is dependent on part on the player's abilities, you still have the challenging of managing your bets and predicting the next cards to go in play.

Overall, Zynga Poker - Texas Hold -em is a solid poker game for Windows 10 and arguably the best casino game for Windows 10. It is a great option when you have a few minutes to spare and it holds up nicely when you want to spend more time gaming.

If you have tried your luck with any of these Windows 10 casino games, let us know what you think of things in the comments. There are plenty more options available in the Windows Store and if we have missed your favorite casino game, feel free to share your recommendation in the comments as well.

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The first two Snapdragon 7c PCs are here, and they start at $299 with LTE

Along with a slew of announcements for the education market this week, Microsoft debuted the first two PCs to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7c platform. Both are targeted at the education market, and they bring LTE for as little as $299.

Crazy Heart is a 2009 American drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper, in his directorial debut. Based on the 1987 novel^[2] of the same name by Thomas Cobb, the film centers around a down-and-out country musicsinger-songwriter (Jeff Bridges) who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Other supporting roles are played by Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, and child actor Jack Nation. Bridges, Farrell, and Duvall also sing in the film.

The novel on which the film was based was inspired by country singer Hank Thompson.^[3] Bridges earned the 2009 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.

Filming took place during 2008 in New Mexico (Albuquerque, Española, Galisteo, Santa Fe), in Houston, Texas, and in Los Angeles, California. Original music for the film was composed by T Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton, Ryan Bingham and others. Bingham and Burnett received the 2009 Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing 'The Weary Kind', which Bingham also performed.

The film was produced for $7 million by Country Music Television, and was originally acquired by Paramount Vantage for a direct-to-video release,^[4][5] but was later purchased for theatrical distribution by Fox Searchlight Pictures.^[6] It opened in limited release in the U.S. on December 16, 2009.^[7] From its meager budget it amassed domestic earnings of $39.5 million plus $7.9 international for worldwide total of $47.4 million.^[8] The film ends with a dedication to musician Stephen Bruton, who died the same year the film was made.

• 3Production
• 4Reception

Plot[edit]

Otis 'Bad' Blake is a 57-year-old alcoholic singer-songwriter who was once a country music star. He now earns a modest living by singing and playing his guitar in small town bars across the southwestern United States. Having a history of failed marriages (four that he admits to, although a reference is made to a fifth he does not discuss) Blake is without a family. He has a son, aged 28, with whom he has not had contact in 24 years. He is mostly on the road performing, staying in cheap motels and travelling alone in his 1977 Chevrolet Suburban. The film opens with his arrival at a bowling alley for a show.

In Santa Fe he meets Jean Craddock, a young journalist after a story, divorced and with a four-year-old son, Buddy. She interviews Blake one evening after his gig, and then as they become close, Jean visits again ostensibly to gather more material, and the two enter into a relationship. Jean and her son become a catalyst for Blake beginning to get his life back on track. In doing so, he lets himself be pushed into renewing a professional relationship with Tommy Sweet, a popular and successful country music star he once mentored, and plays as the opening act at one of Tommy's concerts, despite his initial balking and wounded pride at being the opening act to his former student. He asks Tommy to record an album with him, but Tommy says his record company insists on a couple more solo albums before a duet project can be recorded. He instead suggests that Blake concentrate on writing new songs that Tommy can record solo, telling him he writes better songs than anyone else.

Blake's drinking soon gets out of control and he ends up running off the road while driving drunk. In the hospital, the doctor informs him that although he only sustained a broken ankle from the crash, he is slowly killing himself, and must stop drinking and smoking and lose 25 pounds if he wants to live more than a few more years. Blake's relationship with Jean makes him start to rethink his life. While in Houston, he calls up his son to make amends, only to have his son tell him that his mother, Bad's ex-wife, has died. His relationship with Jean starts to look up, with her visiting him with her son Buddy. After a situation where Blake loses Buddy briefly at a shopping mall while drinking at a bar, Jean breaks up with him.

After losing Jean and her son, who were becoming his only family, Blake resolves to quit drinking. After going through a treatment program at a rehab center, and with support from his Alcoholics Anonymous group and his old friend Wayne, Blake finally manages to get sober. Having cleaned up his act, he tries to reunite with Jean, but she tells him that the best thing he can do for her and Buddy is to leave them alone. After losing Jean, Blake finishes writing a song that he thinks is his best ever, 'The Weary Kind', and sells it to Tommy.

Sixteen months later, Tommy plays 'The Weary Kind' to an appreciative audience while Blake watches backstage, as his manager presents him with another of the large royalty checks for the song. As Blake is leaving, Jean approaches him, saying she has come to the show as writer for a large music publication. As they catch up, Blake sees an engagement ring on Jean's finger and tells her that she deserves a good man. He offers her the money from the royalty check for Buddy to have on his 18th birthday, which Jean initially refuses but eventually accepts after Blake says the song would not exist without her, and states that 'it isn't money.' Jean asks if Blake would like to see Buddy again, but Blake declines saying it might be too unsettling for the boy. The film ends with Jean asking Blake for another interview, after which they walk away happily, chatting with each other with the Santa Fe hilltops in the background.

Cast[edit]

• Jeff Bridges as Otis 'Bad' Blake
• Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jean Craddock
• Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet
• Robert Duvall as Wayne Kramer
• Paul Herman as Jack Greene
• Jack Nation as Buddy, Jean's son
• Ryan Bingham as Tony of Tony and the Renegades, backup group at bowling alley
• Rick Dial as Wesley Barnes, Jean's uncle, Santa Fe piano player

Production[edit]

Development of original novel[edit]

The New York Times said the novel, written by Thomas Cobb, 'also functions as a shrewd and funny running critique of contemporary country music.'^[9] Cobb based the character 'Bad' Blake on country music entertainer Hank Thompson, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Cobb's doctoral advisor in graduate school, Donald Barthelme;^[10] Cobb studied with Barthelme in a creative writing class in the University of Houston in the 1980s. When Cobb struggled between using an 'upbeat' ending and a 'downbeat' ending, Barthelme suggested that Cobb use the 'downbeat' ending.^[9] The nickname 'Bad' came from a sentence that popped into Cobb's mind, 'Bad's got the sweats again.' The name 'Blake' came from W. Glenn Blake, a friend from graduate school who is now a senior editor at Boulevard magazine,^[11] and some people Cobb knew in Tucson, Arizona.^[12] The book, which was out of print since its original publication, went into print again when the film was released.^[9]

Pre-production[edit]

The process of creating a film adaptation took many years because the concept was optioned, but was never produced into an actual adaptation until director Scott Cooper produced the film.^[12] Cobb assumed that the film would use a more upbeat ending, because the Hollywood film industry often prefers 'things that are generally positive'.^[9] According to Cobb, he had nothing to do with the making of the film.^[10] The shooting of a sequence depicting the novel's ending - in which Bad falls off the wagon and dies of a heart attack - occurred; Cooper wanted to use it as the ending, but he did not get final authority to do so. A sequence of Bad Blake visiting his son in Los Angeles was also cut from the final film.^[12]

Bridges initially passed on the role when he was first offered it. He explained to Vanity Fair that although he liked the script, he realized that the songs would make or break it and at the time the film had no musical attachments.^[13] A year later he talked with T Bone Burnett, who was approached to work on the film's soundtrack; together they both agreed to work on the film, and Bridges joined the project.^[13]

Music[edit]

The album entitled Crazy Heart: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released in 2009 to accompany the film. The 23-track album contains many songs written by Burnett, Bruton, and Bingham, but also some by John Goodwin, Bob Neuwirth, Sam Hopkins, Gary Nicholson, Townes Van Zandt, Sam Philips, Greg Brown, Billy Joe Shaver, and Eddy Shaver

The songs are performed by various artists including actors Bridges, Farrell, and Duvall, as well as singers Bingham (who sings the theme song 'The Weary Kind' and plays Tony in the film), Buck Owens, The Louvin Brothers, Lightnin' Hopkins, Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt, and Sam Philips.

At the 82nd Grammy Awards, the theme song 'The Weary Kind' by Ryan Bingham won for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media and the soundtrack also won for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.

In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win.In low games, like razz, the lowest-ranking hands win. Texas holdem rules ace low straight. Straight Flush: A straight flush (five consecutive cards all of the same suit) beats four of a kind. Aces can be high or low. An ace-high straight flush is called a royal flush, the best possible hand in poker. ♣ Betting Variations. Texas Hold'em can be played in three basic variations. Aces may indeed be used as low in a straight in holdem. A2345 is the lowest possible straight, also sometimes called a 'wheel.' In any other context, aces will be ranked higher than other cards. A2345 is the lowest possible straight, also sometimes called a 'wheel.'

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Casino Movie Scenes

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 199 reviews, with an average score of 7.4/10.^[14]

Critics mainly praised the performance of Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake, with many claiming he elevated the film above its seemingly conventional story and languid pace. Tom Long from Detroit News writes, 'It's a bit too easy, a bit too familiar, and maybe even a bit too much fun. But the easy magic Bridges brings to the screen makes it all work.'^[15] The Toronto Star 's Linda Barnard attests that 'some goodwill evaporates in the final reel, when a few false endings lead to a choice that's not the best one for Crazy Heart, but the generosity of Bridges' performance puts us in a forgiving mood.'^[16]

Jeff Bridges' performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as Best Actor prizes from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the Independent Spirit Awards. Bridges also received nominations from the Chicago Film Critics Association, London Critics Circle, Online Film Critics Society and the Satellite Awards. Gyllenhaal was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The song 'The Weary Kind' earned Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett the 2009 Academy Award for Best Original Song^[17] and a Golden Globe.^[18]

Accolades[edit]

Home media[edit]

Casino Opening Scene

The film was released on April 20, 2010, on DVD and Blu-ray. The single-disc DVDs special features included six deleted scenes, while the Blu-ray 2-disc set contained eight deleted scenes (including one in which Bad reunites with his son), plus two alternative music cuts and a short documentary in which the stars discuss 'What Brought Them to Crazy Heart'.^[19]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abc'Crazy Heart'. Box Office Mojo. IMdB.com, Inc. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
2. ^Cobb, Thomas (1987). Crazy Heart. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN0-06-015803-4.
3. ^Lewis, Randy (2009-12-28). 'Hank Thompson: 'Crazy Heart's' real-life Bad Blake'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
4. ^Cieply, Michael (2009-11-18). 'A Surprise Gets Buzz for Oscars'. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
5. ^Honeycutt, Kirk (2009-11-29). 'Crazy Heart -- Film Review'. The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
6. ^'Fox Searchlight Pictures Acquires 'Crazy Heart''. Content.FoxSearchlight.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
7. ^'Oscar Watch: 'Crazy Hearts Bridges Joins Actors Fray'. Anne Thompson/Blogs.IndieWire.com. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
8. ^'Crazy Heart (2009) - Box Office Mojo'. Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
9. ^ ^abcd'The Reading Life: Jeff Bridges and ‘Crazy Heart’: Channeling Donald Barthelme?' The New York Times. January 29, 2010. Retrieved on July 31, 2010.
10. ^ ^abRourke, Bryan (2009-11-22). 'Foster author's 'Crazy Heart' gets reprint now that movie is on the way'. projo.com. The Providence Journal Co. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
11. ^Johns Hopkins University Press website. Glenn Blake author biography for short story collection The Old and the Lost.
12. ^ ^abcHoinski, Michael. 'Q&A: Crazy Heart Author Thomas Cobb on His Character Bad Blake, Deer Tick, and Why Chet Atkins Killed CountryArchived 2010-03-07 at the Wayback Machine.' The Village Voice. Thursday March 4, 2010. Retrieved on July 31, 2010.
13. ^ ^abSmith, Krista. 'Jeff Bridges: The Vanity Fair Interview'. Vanity Fair. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
14. ^'Crazy Heart (2009)'. Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
15. ^'Review: Jeff Bridges and memorable music elevate 'Crazy Heart''. Detroit News. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
16. ^Barnard, Linda. 'Crazy Heart: Hurts so good'. Toronto Star. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
17. ^'Oscar nominations announced'. ew.com. 2010. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
18. ^'Nominations and Winners 2009'. Official Website of the Annual Golden Globe Awards. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
19. ^'Buy now.'Archived 2010-04-04 at the Wayback Machine by Thomas Dodson, Fox Searchlite movie Web site, March 29th, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-20.

External links[edit]

• Crazy Heart on IMDb
• Crazy Heart at AllMovie
• Crazy Heart at Rotten Tomatoes
• Crazy Heart at Metacritic
• Crazy Heart at Box Office Mojo
• Crazy Heart script