Playing Molly's Game

Good day my friends! Yay! It's Wednesday, you know what that means? Yup! You guessed it! It is time for another weekly movie review from one of the latest movies to hit theatres this past week. You know I have to say this it is great to see so many people still out there at the theatres catching some of the latest releases. Myself I am there every week like clock work on Tuesday nights watching a movie or sometimes two! And than there are times when I do happen to go to the theatre more than once a week. Don't know if I am going to that this week, but hey who knows there are still some movies out there that I haven't seen yet that I would like to! Ahh the movies! They have always been to me like a good friend ready to tell me a great story. I have always loved a great story! I guess that's why I have been writing more and more these past few years on some movie ideas of my own. It was Alfred Hitchcock who I believe said to make a great movie you need a great script. And these days with all the content out there are some great writers in the business and some waiting to still be discovered with great potential! One screenwriter in general has always seemed to deliver time and time again on some great movies that he has written. With some screen credits to his name like A Few Good Men, The American President, The Social Network for which he won an Oscar and Moneyball to name a few. The person I am talking about is Aaron Sorkin and the latest movie he has written is also his the first one he directed. The movie I am talking about is biographical drama Molly's Game based on the book by Molly Bloom. This movie stars Jessica Chastain(The Zookeepers Wife) as Molly Bloom, Idris Elba( Thor) Kevin Costner(Dances With Wolves) as Larry Bloom and Michael Cera( Superbad) as Player X. So if you have seen the trailers and are curious to what this movie is about than sit back and I will tell you and if you have seen it than you can have your memory refreshed!

Molly Bloom a beautiful Olympic class skier, the daughter of psychologist Larry Bloom(Costner) who after a freak accident where her ski came off in qualifiers for the 2002 Salt Lake City injuring her and causing her to not make the team is much more than just a pretty face, she is smart, determined and resilient. But after her Olympic dreams were crushed she decided to take a year off before going to University against her fathers wishes and moves to Los Angeles where with the 1800 dollars she saved from babysitting, the clothes she took with her and help from a friend who let her stay at her place in L.A. She takes a job as a cocktail

waitress where she realizes won't make her enough to get her own place and finds a second job. A second job she found through networking while waitressing and becomes the personal assistant to a real estate developer. One of her jobs was to organize his weekly poker game at The Viper Room. What she noticed though that the names on the list weren't just some ordinary joe blows but some big names in sports, entertainment superstars and business. She quickly learns the game and after being fired by her boss takes and starts to run her own high stakes poker game with the same big names and a few new ones. The games being very exclusive and the players vetted by Molly to check their backrounds had become the most wanted game to get into by the rich and famous. Molly too had also become the desire of some of her clients and had on several occasions had to tell those clients that she was not interested and that she was only there to run the game. Eventually after the Player X (Cera) breaks a major rule and makes an advance at her that she turns down. He admits that the only reason her game was so popular was because of him and that he will take the players with him because she didn't wish to date him. This happens and at first she is upset and depressed but she quickly picks herself up and moves to New York City and starts up her game again at The Plaza Hotel where her exclusive high stakes poker game really grew attracting some big names in business, Hollywood, sports and unbeknownst to her, the Russian Mob. Eventually running this game took its toll on her leading to a drug and alcohol addiction and breaking some federal laws. But when she gets beat up by the mob who want a piece of her game she decides to get out after one last game. Before that game starts and she gets there, the game is raided by the FBI. She goes back home and has her assets seized by the government. Penniless she writes a book and than one night she is arrested by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Facing federal charges and the tabloids writing less than factual stuff on her, Molly finds an ally in her defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey(Elba). Jaffey hearing Molly's story personally learns there is much more to Molly than what was in the tabloids and does his best to keep her out of prison.

Well? What do you think? Sounds really good doesn’t it? And you wouldn’t be wrong if you said yes! This movie from start to finish was fantastic! It kept your interest throughout the entire movie and didn’t lag at all. It flowed nicely along with a smartly written script by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin who also directed this

movie and I have to say that for his directorial debut he did a fantastic job! If this movie is an indication of just how any future movies he directs, then we are all going to be in for some great movies. This movie also had some spectacular performances put in here by Jessica Chastain as she has proven time and time again and by Idris Elba and a great supporting cast in Kevin Costner. I really don’t have too much to say here that is negative. I found this movie both fascinating and intriguing giving you a nice mix of drama with some light humor thrown in. By the end of this movie I was speechless and really felt you got to know Molly Bloom and what she went through. This movie gets a 7.9 on The Justin scale Of Movies giving it a place on the Pick-It list of movies to see at the theatre right now! Well time to call it a wrap my friends! So until next time, keep that popcorn freshly popped and save me a good seat because I will be seeing you at the movies!