I have to admit I am a sucker for true stories because they are so much more interesting to me than fiction. This is likely why I prefer non-fiction books as well. I broke from my week of shocking Korean movies because needed something a bit less traumatising. The nightmares were just getting to be too much.
Molly's Game centers around the life of a quite talented woman who just happened to be good at everything. She graduated top of her class in undergraduate studies (I don't remember what it was in) and was a clear choice to be accepted to really any law school that she chose. She also was a world-class freestyle skier and was attempting to qualify for the 2002 Olympics where a one-in-a-million chance with equipment malfunction resulted in her having a nasty crash and of course eliminated her from the competition.
After the fall in the Olympic qualifiers she decided to instead move to Los Angeles to just whatever. By chance she ends up being an assistant to some Hollywood big-shot (he's a real jerk) who also happens to run underground poker games. She didn't know much about poker when she started and was basically just a bookkeeper and bartender who worked almost entirely for tips.
She finds out really quickly that she has a real knack for this as well and starts to organize her own private games and since her boss (the organizer of the games) is such a dick. She is soon running one of the most sought after poker games in L.A. Her clients included movie stars, producers, professional athletes, and other very wealthy people.
Some twist and turns occur and she ends up moving her operation to New York where she does the same thing. I was unaware of this, or even if it still true, but what she was doing isn't actually illegal. However, she accidentally gets mixed up with the wrong people, gathers the attention of the Russian mob and things start turning bad for her.
By her accidental association with the mob she also ends up getting indicted in connection to a RICO case. If you are not familiar with what this means it basically is something that was set up to fight mafias in the USA and it is not the kind of lawsuit you want to get wrapped up in because a lot of rights that a person would normally have when facing trial are eliminated. It's actually a pretty interesting topic and I am not doing it justice (no pun intended) in the description I have just provided.
Molly's game kind of drags in the middle, as though they were trying to come up with a way to make the film an hour and a half long. But stick with it, because it is actually a great story.
Kevin Costner is in it (and am I alone in saying I really like Kevin Costner?) but i think they are actually a little deceptive in putting his name so high up on the movie poster because he is only in the movie for about 8 minutes.
Here's the trailer
The film did reasonably well gathering just over 50 million bucks. The critical response was mostly good and overall I would say that my review is going to be a little biassed since I prefer true stories. Overall, i give this one a 7.5 / 10.
I saw it last night and I thought it was excellent. Full disclosure, I'm a big fan of Sorkin. There really hasn't been much he's done that I haven't liked on some level. And Molly Bloom (I haven't read the book yet, so I don't what changes were made) seems tailor-made to be a Sorkin protagonist. Exceptionally smart, and talented person who does unsavory (but not too unsavory) things, but is ultimately a very moral person and when the cards are down (no pun intended) does the right thing. And as much as Sorkin gets criticised for his writing of woman (some of which I totally agree with BTW), I thought he did a good job making Molly an interesting, well-rounded character without falling into his usual pitfalls when writing woman.
ps. I also like Kevin Costner :)
fantastic response. You are a great writer pal!
Thanks for the kind words :)
Kevin Costner‘s name is up there to draw attention and the minutes is probably all they could afford! LOL. You’re not alone I like Kevin Costner. Probably my favorite movie of his was Waterworld.
As for Molly’s Game.. They sure do cover a lot of ground. Sounds like something that actually could happen. This will be a good one to watch tomorrow and it’s raining here.
waterworld. haha. Are you being serious?
Okay. You got me. Lol. I imagine if I had to pick I would say The Untouchables or The Gunrunners or maybe Wyatt Earp.
I don't think Molly Bloom could have been cast any better than with Jessica Chastain... she nailed her role. Oddly enough, she looks similar to the actual Molly Bloom.
Great film, love the fact this is based on a true story, and what a great story it was. The rest of the cast were great and the directing was decent, although too much back and forth between many timelines.
I read the book and it was really amazing, i love it when the main character is a female and she happens to be a badass.. I sometimes compare her to Tracy Whitney in If tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon...
yes. I may have to read the book as well. Seems very interesting. I don't know how i managed to not ever hear about any of this until this movie was released. Actually I didn't even hear about the movie being released but I doubt it ever made it to the Asian market.
Okay buddy, please do. I think most movies don't make it to the korean market except blockbusters. If i get back from work early today i might review the book and you see if its worth your time. After If tomorrow Comes, he wrote Chasing Tomorrow and then Reckless. Though i haven't read Reckless
Well, getting to read fiction is my choice since it involves various approach to life and deal with imagination of people. The story you shared is awesome , perfect experience which really depict true life story, has your choice prevailed.
I've been putting this movie into a must-watch movie list, but I have not watched it until today. After reading your review, I'm interested again to watch it soon.
By the way, if you have time, maybe you want to give support to my post about motivation for new steemian. Thank you very much @gooddream
Hey, @gooddream this is wanderful book.thanks for share wanderful story.
this videos is amazing, the FBI targeted Molly Bloom while they let Hillary Clinton run a scam international "charity" with impunity for decades. Thanks, guys! Good job.
Molly's Game Movie is will be really interesting, i can understand when i watching this Trailer..
wow, its awesome movie trailer (Molly's game) thanks for share ..
by the way sir I'm tag your name my another article....You have some time then you can visit my blog. thank you.
Thanks for this review, you've inspired me to watch it!
the story is really interesting , hope to find some time to watch it.
Theres something about true stories that we can all relate to. I haven't watched Molly's game, but am pretty certain I'll enjoy it from your narration
The story look so cool and interesting, I wonder how she will win the war against the mafias.. Lol
Their are some people you can't just fight and win... Lol
Rating it 7.5 out of 10 look great too...
Hi gooddream. I also enjoy true stories. It wasn't great in my eyes. I thought it was an average movie that I probably won't watch again.
I'm fan of sorkin, this is Sorkin's debut film, sorkin has a great way, and it takes a lot of skill to make the audience interested in his story, sorkin telling it non-linearly, in a fairly stylish visual presentation, smart dialogue, and barrage is one of the hallmarks of sorkin, lol, from the beginning of the movie walking the audience had been "beaten" with a monologue of Molly's own character and it went on for the first minute of the movie prologue running to the end, in the poker segment alone Sorkin creative enough to enliven the screen with Head-Up Display like a video the game to explain the flow of poker game, Despite the weight of monologue and narration, Molly's Game never feels boring because these sequences are so well directed by sorkin, these scenes are tense, engaging, and make the audience feel as though they are in molly's position that observes the poker game in this movie, even slowly learning poker terms and tricks well apart from some flaws towards the end, molly's game's 140 minutes run so smoothly and never boring, thanks to the good looks of the performers, the catchy music, and the unique sorkin story style , making this film more than just biography, but also solid adult entertainment.
Tremenda película, la recomiendo.
Great review! After reading it I was desperate to watch the film, sadly I can't rent it in my country. Finally though, I found a way to see it and it was 100 percent worth the effort. Really interesting story. It could be a new classic in poker films imo. I would love to get hold the book aswell.