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Post by Allenism on Nov 17, 2017 1:46:07 GMT
A bulletpoint review:
*Chastain is gonna have to fight her way into the Academy's lineup this year, and sadly, I think she'll miss. It's a very solid performance with one or two great money (heh) scenes, but the film itself feels a bit slight/inconsequential compared to some other Best Actress vehicles in contention this year. *Elba is good, Costner is fine albeit a bit wasted. Michael Cera is appropriately slimy. * Aaron Sorkin shoehorns yet another baity scene between a parent and child into the film's final reel, and yet again, it feels out of place. I don't know whether he's trying to work through his own familial issues, but he needs to stop sublimating them into his scripts. *Said misstep aside, the script is smart and snappy and Sorkin is fairly confident in his storytelling techniques. Much like his writing, the film from a directorial perspective is slickly made and goes by fast, but the downside is that there's a bit of a "factory-made" quality to it (think Fincher when he phones it in). Scenes can feel rehearsed and dialogue over-intellectualized when examined in the harsh light of day.
A solid B+ overall.
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Post by cheesecake on Nov 17, 2017 2:24:30 GMT
Trailer made it look generic and forgettable, but I'm glad to hear Elba is good (he's having such a weak year). Don't think Chastain will make the cut at the Oscars, but I'm curious to see her performance. It looks exactly like a directorial debut from Sorkin. Haha.
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Post by Allenism on Nov 17, 2017 3:02:50 GMT
Trailer made it look generic and forgettable, but I'm glad to hear Elba is good (he's having such a weak year). Don't think Chastain will make the cut at the Oscars, but I'm curious to see her performance. It looks exactly like a directorial debut from Sorkin. Haha. It's Chastain's Erin Brockovich moment. She even looks startlingly similar to Roberts from certain angles with that dark hair.
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Post by cheesecake on Nov 17, 2017 3:28:11 GMT
Trailer made it look generic and forgettable, but I'm glad to hear Elba is good (he's having such a weak year). Don't think Chastain will make the cut at the Oscars, but I'm curious to see her performance. It looks exactly like a directorial debut from Sorkin. Haha. It's Chastain's Erin Brockovich moment. She even looks startlingly similar to Roberts from certain angles with that dark hair. Oh nice. One of her best performances?
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Post by Allenism on Nov 18, 2017 2:13:49 GMT
It's Chastain's Erin Brockovich moment. She even looks startlingly similar to Roberts from certain angles with that dark hair. Oh nice. One of her best performances? One of her better ones, but I still prefer her in Take Shelter and Tree of Life. I do like how it's somewhat less "actress-y" than a lot of her other performances--feels more casual and relaxed in a way that makes sense with the film.
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Post by Ryan_MYeah on Jan 9, 2018 19:40:10 GMT
Sorkin is like the living embodiment of Gustave M, making non-sequitors out of literature and poetry. Nothing wrong with that, though. Especially when he’s this good.
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Post by ibbi on Jan 9, 2018 20:30:32 GMT
You will struggle to find a bigger Sorkin fanatic than me, I even loved The Newsroom, but I really did not care for this. More amazing than that for me was that it was with his writing that I took issue more than his directing. The mile a minute, condensing 500 pages of dialogue into 120 odd minutes of screen time is still there, but considering most of it is Chastain's narration (Straight up cheating. Being able to nail Sorkinese is a badge of honour, but if it's all voiceover who cares) AND as opposed to the usual flows like a river, has the rhythm of music type of dialogue he writes this just felt to me like it was all clunky as hell exposition. Like you said, it was very slickly produced, and he is for sure good with his actors, but I just found the whole thing kind of laborious. Also, his take on Molly Bloom is far, far, far less interesting than his Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs were. His female characters are with very few exceptions the worst/most simplistic in everything that he writes, which most of the time can be gotten around... But not when she's the lead!
Also, I found this final reel parent-child scene faaaaaaaaar better than that almost movie ruining one in Steve Jobs. Maybe that's just because I'm a die hard Kevin Costner fanboy, and it was good to finally see him get something to do, but I felt the two of them in that scene made all the exposition work far better than it did anywhere else in the movie.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Jan 13, 2018 18:12:55 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 2:55:41 GMT
The "three years of therapy in three minutes" scene was simply awful.
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Post by Allenism on Jan 15, 2018 20:07:31 GMT
The "three years of therapy in three minutes" scene was simply awful. Yeah it was a miscalculation for sure. Chest Stain is really good throughout it, though.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jan 15, 2018 20:12:55 GMT
Steve Jobs is my most recent all-timer, so I'm very much looking forward to this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 20:15:53 GMT
Steve Jobs is my most recent all-timer, so I'm very much looking forward to this. You're going to be disappointed. Jess' cleavage is MVP.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jan 15, 2018 20:18:23 GMT
Steve Jobs is my most recent all-timer, so I'm very much looking forward to this. You're going to be disappointed. Jess' cleavage is MVP. Well, then I guess it won't be a waste then.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 20:19:53 GMT
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Post by idioticbunny on Jan 16, 2018 14:39:05 GMT
Just caught up with this one last night and I was very pleasantly surprised. I had heard so much flack about the film that I figured it would be a total misfire, but maybe the low expectations paved way for me to find the good in it. Putting aside the acting (Chastain doing her thing, which is commendable, and Elba, Costner, and surprisingly Michael Cera putting in some strong supporting work), this is very much Sorkin's film. That's both a good and a bad thing.
I will have to disagree with most here and say I really enjoyed the writing. It's incredibly smart, sleek, sexy, and fun - like a Sorkin goodie bag of a script. Not all the characters are super well-rounded and there's not too much back story given despite the length, but simply through dialogue he adds a shit-ton of intensity to a pretty dull game. It's dumb to compare it yet again when I, Tonya exists in the same year, but the poker scenes harkened back to that Goodfellas in a great way. I typically don't like voice-over anymore than the next person, but when it's Sorkin's dialogue guiding the story, I can pretty much forgive it. Same goes for the, apparently, much-talked about father-daughter scene toward the end. I do think the abrupt changes to something emotional was more the fault of the direction than the script which might be why it's getting so much hate, but I didn't mind it as a scene. It follows the usual trope, but Sorkin breezes through it in his particular style that makes it slightly entertaining and memorable with respect to the characters and without crossing over into schmaltzy territory.
But as I said, it being a Sorkin film is both good and bad. The writing is where it's good, the direction is where it's bad. Not truly bad, but disappointingly basic. From the guy who has had the privilege of working with David Fincher, Mike Nichols, Danny Boyle, and Bennett Miller, the best he could muster was the type of direction any average Joe in Hollywood could do? Especially when it's a script that great? Aside from the handling of the poker scenes, most everything else was incredibly dull with a lot of the literal Intro to Directing shot-list guide to boot (shot-reverse-shot, over-the-shoulder, etc.). Nothing of note there, which gives me little hope for Sorkin in the director's chair, especially if it's with his own script. I would have rather seen someone like Martin Scorsese or Steven Soderbergh handle this film, someone with a lot of energy while able to keep things within a realm of realism.
Overall, though, this was still a pleasant surprise and one of the better films of 2017. Some missteps, sure, but this is one I wouldn't mind revisiting down the road. Despite the seriousness of the plot, it's thoroughly entertaining from end to end.
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Post by harlequinade on Jan 17, 2018 17:55:06 GMT
I recently saw Miss Sloane and I found it to be superior in every way to this one. Jesus, that script here! not only is it Sorkin's kind of dialogue, but then the story - in Stefon's voice - it has everything!: Russian mob, Italian mob, drugs, movie stars, sports, courtroom scenes, poker clues/tutorial for the audience, cliche dad/daughter relationship....you name it. It's just exhausting and honestly all of it lacks any sort of elegance or grace. The actors do elevate it though and even when the writing is not very good Elba's big scene is amazing and a reason alone to see this film. Chastain was very good, far from her best efforts, but she was very good. 7/10, tops
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Post by bob-coppola on Jan 18, 2018 0:59:07 GMT
This movie wishes it was I, Tonya, and it becomes so opaque when compared to the Margot Robbie movie. It tries to be I, Tonya, Miss Sloane and Ocean's Eleven, fails and is a lesse one than the three combined. Surprisingly weak screenplay, with some very good moments, but others that felt thrown out there and some emotional moments that just didn't click. When her father simply shows up at the end like he's some sort of ghost? C'mon, give me a break. It's energetic (sometimes), but it's all over the place, over-written, to the point any kind of human emotion feels fake and the so-called Oscar clips feel so generic. Also, there's nothing special in Sorkin's directing, I wish someone like Soderbergh would've directed it. Chastain is good and could get an Oscar nod, but it won't be deserved. It's not as sincere as Zero Dark Thirty nor as fun as Miss Sloane. She needs to go back to doing other types of roles.
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speeders
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Post by speeders on Jan 18, 2018 1:11:06 GMT
A pleasant treat from award's season. Chastain's the best she's been in years (top 5 performance from her) and Idris Elba is very good too, Michael Cera is surprisingly effective in limited screentime. It's thoroughly entertaining and well written, it's a fairly impressive debut but I think it could've been even more effective and strong in more capable hands (visually it's quite mundane, the score is poor) because occasionally it's flat and lacks spark. Could've used a slight trim too. Unfortunately it hasn't stayed with me much since the last two hours I've seen it but I'm somewhere between 7.5/10 - 8/10 for this. For those curious, do check it out!
Really hoping Chastain makes the BA line-up instead of Streep. Keep dreaming, right?
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Drish
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Post by Drish on Jan 19, 2018 15:08:09 GMT
I recently saw Miss Sloane and I found it to be superior in every way to this one. Jesus, that script here! not only is it Sorkin's kind of dialogue, but then the story - in Stefon's voice - it has everything!: Russian mob, Italian mob, drugs, movie stars, sports, courtroom scenes, poker clues/tutorial for the audience, cliche dad/daughter relationship....you name it. It's just exhausting and honestly all of it lacks any sort of elegance or grace. The actors do elevate it though and even when the writing is not very good Elba's big scene is amazing and a reason alone to see this film. Chastain was very good, far from her best efforts, but she was very good. 7/10, tops Just saw it and felt the same way. I found Miss Sloane far more superior. Chastain was really good but this is far from her best performance.
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Post by harlequinade on Jan 19, 2018 18:34:03 GMT
I recently saw Miss Sloane and I found it to be superior in every way to this one. Jesus, that script here! not only is it Sorkin's kind of dialogue, but then the story - in Stefon's voice - it has everything!: Russian mob, Italian mob, drugs, movie stars, sports, courtroom scenes, poker clues/tutorial for the audience, cliche dad/daughter relationship....you name it. It's just exhausting and honestly all of it lacks any sort of elegance or grace. The actors do elevate it though and even when the writing is not very good Elba's big scene is amazing and a reason alone to see this film. Chastain was very good, far from her best efforts, but she was very good. 7/10, tops Just saw it and felt the same way. I found Miss Sloane far more superior. Chastain was really good but this is far from her best performance. Yeah she was so much better in The Help, A Most Violent Year, Miss Sloane....it's a shame the biggest, most memorable scene here is not hers but Elba's, she is the protagonist and he totally steals the movie
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speeders
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Post by speeders on Jan 20, 2018 12:25:03 GMT
A pleasant treat from award's season. Chastain's the best she's been in years (top 5 performance from her) and Idris Elba is very good too, Michael Cera is surprisingly effective in limited screentime. It's thoroughly entertaining and well written, it's a fairly impressive debut but I think it could've been even more effective and strong in more capable hands (visually it's quite mundane, the score is poor) because occasionally it's flat and lacks spark. Could've used a slight trim too. Unfortunately it hasn't stayed with me much since the last two hours I've seen it but I'm somewhere between 7.5/10 - 8/10 for this. For those curious, do check it out! Really hoping Chastain makes the BA line-up instead of Streep. Keep dreaming, right? Do you nom Elba?. As of right now, I don't, but he's close. He's still better than most of the guys in contention for BSA though.
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Post by harlequinade on Jan 20, 2018 13:29:00 GMT
I nominate Elba, he is on my 5th place.
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Post by alexanderblanchett on Feb 21, 2018 11:32:49 GMT
It was a good film thanks to a great screenplay but Aaron Sorkin and solid performances. This marks also Sorkin's directional debut and you can see that he learned a lot from his pal David Fincher. The style is similar but often comes across as a poorer copy. Still for a first time direction effort it was fine enough. Jessica Chastain is very good in the role of Molly Bloom and delivers one of her best performances of the last years. Very solid, condoled and to the point. A character that fits her usual choice of role quite well. but because of that comes up less inspired. Idris Elba was good as well, he had a couple of really great scenes and played his character very appealing and sympathic. I really loved Kevin Costner and wish he had had more scenes, a great performance, one of his finest for sure. The score was good and the film had a nice cinematography. The editing was often a bit too quick for my taste, it really didn't fit the rest of the film and it could have been a little shorter, but that is really complaining on a high level as the film in general was very good, especially if you like Poker but not only because of that as it is also an interesting character story and biopic in general.
Current Nominations:
Best Adapted Screenplay
Rating: 8/10
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Post by alexanderblanchett on Feb 21, 2018 12:58:40 GMT
Thoughts on Michael Cera? To be honest, he was not bad. Better than usual. He should play more brick characters like that.
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Post by Viced on May 13, 2018 3:19:07 GMT
Finally watched it... really wish Sorkin didn't direct it himself. It's a great story and his script was solid enough, but he didn't bring much else to the table. It was still entertaining enough and Chastain elevates it to a generous 7/10. Could have been much better though...
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