Molly's Game - Gambling, poker, drugs, alcohol, FBI, Russian mafia (may contain spoilers)

By
This is a drama and true story of Molly Bloom. She was a former Olympic worthy freestyle skier, who while competing suffered a terrible career ending fall.

During the opening sequence we see the FBI arresting her for connections with a Russian money laundering operation. Also during an early flashback sequence we see that Molly had massive issues with her overbearing father, who was also her ski coach. This tense relationship ultimately translated into her later desire to control men.

She moves to LA and becomes both a waitress and also PA to a real pillock of a guy. She starts by helping him to run illegal high stakes poker games before branching out on her own to become the leader of the most exclusive underground poker games in the world, entirely played by powerful men.

This is a long film, full of heavy dialogue and narration, with excellent award worthy performances from Jessica Chastain, as Molly. Idris Elba, as her lawyer and Kevin Costner, as her pushy father. Look out for the emotional 'therapy' scene between father and daughter on a bench scene towards the end.

Recommended viewing.

8/10.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Legend – a paranoid schizophrenic walks into a bar!

By
Image
True story - Set in 1960’s London. Legend is a classic British gangster thriller, tells the rise and fall of London's most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ronnie Kray.  Both roles were very convincingly portrayed by Tom Hardy, I frequently forgot that both roles were the same actor. There are loads of graphically violent scenes, look out for the bar fight where the brothers are facing off a rival gang. Ronnie, the paranoid schizophrenic, walks out and immediately returns with two hammers and all hell breaks loose! Very highly recommended. 10/10
Read more

THOR Ragnarok – the best of the 3 standalone's (may contain spoilers)

By
Image
This is the third standalone Marvel 'Thor' film, a swashbuckling superhero fantasy that continues directly after where 'The Dark World' ends. The premise is that Asgard is in peril, Thor's objective is to prevent the destruction of his home planet. This film introduces the villain 'Hela', she is the Goddess of Death, she is also Thor's sister, who has been in exile for many years and appears to be a very powerful character, possibly more powerful than Thor! During a particularly colourful action sequence, Thor is transported to a remote 'dump' of a world, on the other side of the Universe, this planet is full of rubbish and discarded people and is ruled by the weirdo 'Grandmaster' outstandingly played by Jeff Goldblum. In order for Thor to get back, he first needs to beat the champion gladiator, who happens to be the 'HULK'. This is also the point where we're introduced to another excellent show stealing character, 'Korg&#
Read more

Hereditary - tragic family drama

By
Image
Psychological horror drama about a recently deceased grandmother and the strange connection she had with her daughter and granddaughter, and the equally strange dynamic the mother has with her husband and son.  These characters seem to be possessed at different points by a spirit with horrific consequences. Though I'm not a horror fan, the rave reviews made me curious. This is a well-made film with some great acting, though the ending is weird. Several scenes with lots of naked elderly people without knowing why they were there was unnecessary, and drug taking scenes never sit well with me either, but that might just be me. 6/10
Read more