Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottom Line: Not Sorkin’s best work, but still fast paced dialogue and a great story with some great acting.

Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) was competitive mogul skier whose career ended after a tragic accident when a pine branch in the snow clipped her bindings knocking her ski off while hurtling down a mountain. She decides to take some time off before heading to law school and heads to Los Angeles where she eventually gets involved in managing an underground poker game. She eventually starts her own game in both LA and New York. This is all true.

Those of you who are familiar with Aaron Sorkin’s work, will know what you’re getting into when you go to see “Molly’s Game”. Those of you who don’t, beware of fast paced dialogue and witty repartee and people that are way too smart for their own good. They are Sorkin’s signature and Sorkin has found a perfect muse in Jessica Chastain. She is wonderfully suited for Sorkin’s writing style and keeps the pace of the movie flowing well. She is helped by Michael Cera who plays Player X, who, after some digging, I found out in real life was Tobey Maguire. Tobey Maguire is apparently a massive dick in real life. Who Knew? Also rounding out Sorkin’s always eclectic cast is Idris Elba as Charlie Jaffey, Molly’s lawyer.

“Molly’s Game” also marks Sorkin’s directorial debut with mixed results. All in all, it’s pretty solid, but there are some really weird choices made in places. For instance, there are a few really weird roaming body shots that don’t quite make any sense. Two that spring to mind are one of Elba’s arms and hands and another of Chastain’s body. I highly approve of the latter and the former ain’t half bad either, but both times it seemed highly unnecessary and gratuitous. Like the camera person had a fetish or something and we were voyeurs.

I suspect that people who are not as much of a fanboy of Aaron Sorkin as I am might not like this movie as much. I still think most people will like it, but maybe my man-crush has tainted my review some.

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 3/5 stars

Bottom Line: An interesting movie only because it’s based on a true story proving once again that reality is indeed often stranger than fiction.

Jean Paul Getty was once the richest man in the world. He amassed this fortune in the usual way, buy being the son of millionaires and using that privilege to take advantage of once in a lifetime opportunities to almost single-handedly cement a destabilized Middle East and by being a generally horrible person to just about everyone that didn’t provide him with something that he needed. So he was basically Donald Trump only with actual business sense and actual taste in art and architecture.

John Paul Getty III, from now on just Paul Getty (Charlie Plummer), was the son of John Paul Getty Jr. (Andrew Buchan) who was J. Paul Getty’s (Christopher Plummer) son because if there’s one thing rich people like more than money, it’s naming their children after themselves. That’s a little unfair. Rich people like nothing more than money. In 1973, Paul Getty was kidnapped and held for ransom by a whole slew of shady individuals in what may be the weirdest real life kidnapping story ever told. “All the Money in the World” retells that story.

This is one of those movies that are good because it’s based on reality. The storytelling itself as a standalone movie is kind of lackluster. It is a bit unevenly paced and at least a half hour too long. There are some wonderful performances, especially Michelle Williams as Gail Harris, Paul Getty’s mother. Christopher Plummer is also good, but I don’t quite understand the accolades that he’s getting for his role besides the fact that he did a pretty good job for completely re-shooting all of Kevin Spacey’s scenes with only a couple of weeks to go before the release of the movie.

There are definitely better movies out there right now than this, but it’s still an interesting look into the strange lives of the uber-wealthy. They definitely do have a lifestyle so far removed from our every day lives as to almost appear alien.