It’s Vegas, Baby

It's nothing to do with opium dens, nor is it the kind of maritime activity that cost Captain Ahab an arm and a leg, rather Chasing The Whale is a decidedly landlocked drama from writer/director John Stockwell. Still lost? Well, allow us to explain. In the high-stakes world of gambling, casinos and showgirls with feathered headwear (a world in which Empire is very much at home, naturally) a 'whale' is a term used to describe those high-rollers who are so ridiculously flush with cash that they can afford to lose stacks of it on any given night. Chasing said whales is a practice undertaken by casino hosts to entice the big spenders into their establishment, rather then the similar one across the street. But of course you all know that from watching James Caan and Josh Duhamel in Sky One's Las Vegas. It may not sound like the stuff classics are made of, but the gaudy charms of Vegas are always an appealing canvas upon which to tell a story - just look at The Cooler. Still not convinced? Bear in mind that Stockwell is the man who brought us Blue Crush, a film propelled to success by one simple premise: chicks in bikinis are good. This of course led to the extrapolation that, if that was so, then a film about Kate Bosworth and some sexy friends spending an entire film in bikinis would be the greatest movie ever conceived. This turned out not to be the case but as far as conceptual filmmaking goes, it was bloody genius.