Having All The Money In The World

Good day my friends and Happy New Year to each and everyone! Hope you all had a New years Eve and that 2018 is good to you, making it your best year yet! I know I had a great end to 2017 spending it with some great friends. That's what I love about the start of a new year. It is the chance to end the previous year on a high note remembering the good stuff that happened. And learning from the bad stuff! While everyday is always a chance to start our loves anew and change what we don't like about ourselves. It is the start of a new year that makes it all that much more special. A clean slate if you will, a chance to start at the beginning and say that when that year is over that they were able to change and see the results we wanted. With the start of a new year also means the first fresh movie review of the year too! And to start the new year we are looking at movie that has been getting some critical acclaim and could be one of the movie we see nominated at Oscar time. This week we look at the new movie from director Ridley Scott( Gladiator) All The Money In The World which stars Michelle Williams(Brokeback Mountain) as Gail Harris, Mark Wahlberg ( Boogie Nights) as Fletcher Chase and Oscar winner Christopher Plummer ( A Beautiful Mind) as J.Paul Getty. So lets take a seat and find out what this movie is all about!

In the 1970's there was no one more rich and powerful than J.Paul Getty(Plummer) the founder of Getty Oil, the man who brokered the deal with the Saudi's for their oil making him the richest man alive and the creator of the super tanker for oil transport. To him business was always number one! He used his fortune to buy art work which was one of the largest personal collections around. He was never really close with his children and had become estranged from his son John Paul Getty Jr. Never really meeting his sons wife Gail(Williams) and his grandchildren. That all changes one day when in need of a job John Paul Getty Jr contacts his father and is asked to come to Rome for job. The family goes to Rome and are reunited. J.Paul Getty instantly becomes close with his eldest grandson John Paul Getty III or Paul as he is known. But what seems like a happy reunion with the family dynasty Getty Sr. invisions crumbles with son becoming a drug addict and Gail divorcing him taking custody of the children not wanting any money from him nut just child support. Than one evening on the streets of Rome Paul is kidnapped with the kidnappers wanting 17 Million dollars from the Getty's for Paul's safe return. Gail flies to England to see Getty Sr to ask him to pay the ransom which he won't. Instead he sends his top security expert and negotiator Fletcher Chase(Wahlberg) a former CIA agent to get his grandson back. While in captivity young Paul bonds with one of his captors while waiting for his family to pay his ransom. With some evidence that the kidnapping might have been staged by Paul, the search for him stops with no ransom even thought of being paid in hopes that Paul will resurface. When a body emerges in the morgue thought to be Paul but isn't reignites the search for the young boy. The kidnappers sell the boy to local criminals and to show the Getty's that they are serious about wanting their ransom money cut off of a piece of the boys ear. This eventually leads to Getty Sr agreeing to pay the ransom after some negotiating between him and Fletcher Chase. With the money in hand Gail and Fletcher follow the kidnappers instructions in hopes of getting Paul back home safe before they change their minds and kill him.

Well that is quite the story isn't it? And the thing that makes it even more interesting is that this is based on true events with some parts of the story of course fictionalized. Movies based on real life fascinate me. Because while I know that there are parts that have been fictionalized they are still based on true events. This was a particularly good story and while most of todays generation and even mine never heard of this event. I knew who the Getty's were but again later generations probably didn't. This movie was well written with an intriguing story with twists and turns. Ridley Scott did a great job in recreating this event in history and taking us back to a different time and place. Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg and Christopher Plummer put in fantastic performances here! Even with the recasting of Spacey with Plummer after the Spacey scandal worked so much better with Christopher Plummer in the role and couldn't see anyone else playing the role of J.Paul Getty. All in all a fantastic movie from start to finish. I really enjoyed it! That is why I am giving All The Money In The World a 7.5 on The Justin Scale Of Movies giving it a spot on the Pick-It List of movies to see at the theatre. Well that's about all I have to say on this movie. It is officially a wrap on this latest movie review! Until next time, keep that popcorn freshly popped and I will see you next time at the movies!