Red Sparrow is a 2018 spy-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with Jennifer Lawrence (the star here) on a couple of the Hunger Games movies, but this is a very different beast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova (in, it has to be said, a not entirely convincing Russian accent), and Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenarts and Charlotte Rampling star as the film's secondary characters. This one is a pretty big departure from what Lawrence has done in the past, although it has to be said that she's making some pretty bold career choices. I'm not the first one to say that, and for a good reason: it's true. After last year's Mother! it appeared as if she was trying purposefully trying to appear in more "mature" films, and believe me, it doesn't get much more mature than Red Sparrow. The film plays out like one of those schlocky exploitation from the seventies, in that there's sexual violence, sex, violence, torture, and all manner o
Molly's Game is a 2017 crime-drama film starring Jessica Chastain as the titular Molly, and Idris Elba as her hard-working lawyer. It's based on the true story of Molly Bloom, the famed professional skier-turned gambler who suffered a severe injury at a very young age. However, her determination prevented her from becoming someone who doesn't work, and she ended joining the world of illegal gambling. The film is a kind of before-and-after, while simultaneously telling the story which leads to the present day, and why she became who she is.
This film was directed and written by Aaron Sorkin, who is an excellent screenwriter. He wrote The Social Network, which is one of my favourite David Fincher films, and he's also famous for other things like The West Wing and A Few Good Men. Molly's Game is his directorial debut, and I'm not entirely sure it's his strong suit. The narrative is structured in a very odd way, and that is due to the writing, but I imagine it worked on paper. After all, a very similar one worked in The Social Network. But here, the action jumps in time so often that it cancels out a lot of the steam which the script would otherwise have, and took me out of the film.
That's not to say it isn't without merit. When the film works, it works very well, and Molly Bloom's story is an interesting one. The character is performed very well by Chastain, and the script is pretty sharp and sometimes funny. The editing is fast and thrilling. But those are really the only good things I can say in its favour. Molly's Game is 140 minutes long, and definitely doesn't need to be. The reason for that is because some scenes (the ones between Bloom and her lawyer are particularly bad for it) are extended to a pretty silly length.
Molly's Game is by no means a terrible film, but it is a little disappointing. If it was a little shorter and more streamlined, it would be very engaging but as it stands this film is only worth watching once. I can't imagine myself getting the urge to watch this again in a few years, but if you're a big Aaron Sorkin fan you'll most likely find something to enjoy here.
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