End-of-year catch-up: Don't let Aaron Sorkin's fast-moving frolic, MOLLY'S GAME, get by you

One would expect any movie written by that wordsmith wonder, Aaron Sorkin, to revel in and rely on dialog that's fast and fun. As first-time director, he has also come through with pretty much flying colors, giving us a movie --  MOLLY'S GAME, based on the memoir by poker queen (and so much more) Molly Bloom -- in which his directorial abilities nearly match those of his writing.

Only in a scene late in the film between a difficult dad (Kevin Costner) and his daughter (the titular Molly, played by Jessica Chastain) do both writing and direction leave a bit to be desired, but by then, so terrific has been so much else in this meaty and riveting film, that I don't think you'll mind much.

Mr. Sorkin, shown at right, has taken Molly's true-life tale and from it created a fast-moving frolic about everything from sports and poker to Hollywood, celebrity, and the Jewish mafia and made it both understandable and great fun to view.

He has also assembled a top-of-the-line cast so interestingly chosen and often playing against type in rather amusing, amazing ways that his movie grabs you from angles other that mere story-line and plot surprise and manages to hold you fast throughout.

Chief among these actors is Idris Elba (above), who plays Molly's initially recalcitrant lawyer who eventually comes aboard big-time, and Michael Cera (below), who gives us what may be the ultimate take-down of the Hollywood movie star celebrity who can go from funny and charming as hell to as nasty and vindictive as you could want.

Also on board and doing wonderful work is Chris O'Dowd (below) as one of the saddest of the gamblers that surround our heroine.

Ditto Brian D'Arcy James, below, as another odd fellow who joins the pack and is so much less and then more than what he initially seems.

Don't worry if you don't fully understand how poker is played. (TrustMovies' grandmother taught him the game, and he still retains a good deal of that knowledge.) Sorkin sees to it that his viewers can understand and keep up with the shenanigans enough to follow and enjoy. His great gift for burying exposition into his dialog, disguising it enough so that we learn while we enjoy, is on full display here.

In the lead role of Molly, Ms Chastain (above, with Mr. Costner, and at bottom) once again proves why she is among -- maybe the reigning queen of -- those very few actresses who combine glamour and talent in such huge quantity that, while watching her, you can't imagine anyone else being any better in the role. (This actress proved just as adept in last year's Miss Sloane, as well.)

Even if you already know many of the details of this fascinating tale, I still suspect Sorkin's film will entertain you royally. There's a lovely scene near the finale involving Graham Greene (below) as a judge who, thank god, is smarter than most of the prosecutors who surround him and makes a point that audiences these days will probably second with a standing ovation.

So why hasn't a movie this good -- smart, mainstream and hugely entertaining -- received more critical acclaim and awards? My take is that Sorkin is considered by some as just too damn smart for his own good. Which, so far as most of Hollywood's talent level is concerned, seems like looking that proverbial gift horse in the mouth. Once again, intelligent audiences -- which are keeping this movie playing at theaters across the country well past its supposed expiration date -- often know better than critics (and certainly know better than those movie-land arbiters) what is actually good for them.

From STX Entertainment and running a long but consistently engrossing 140 minutes, Molly's Game is very probably still playing in a theater near you. Click here to find one.

Douglas Tirola's ALL IN: THE POKER MOVIE -- history, cards and a lot of talking heads

Do you love poker? Then you're a shoo-in for ALL IN: THE POKER MOVIE, the new documentary that looks very much like a labor of love from filmmaker Douglas Tirola (An Omar Broadway Film, A Reason to Believe), who insists (maybe once too often) that poker is somehow America and America poker. Poker is a part of our history, played by everyone from Presidents to pikers, and full of that rebellious streak that so personifies our country. Or something like that. Juggling historical footage with a large array of present-day talking heads and taking us into important games and events (the rise, fall and -- maybe -- rise again of online poker), the movie would seem a "must" for poker-heads and possible viewing, too, for people like me, who may have played poker as kids but don't have much interest in it now.

Tirola, shown at left, begins with the FBI indictment of online poker (notes one player, expressing the movie's typical poker-centric universe: "Like the Kennedy assassination, everyone remembers exactly where he was when he first heard about this"), then goes back in time to gather up that history and talk with folk both classy (historian/author Doris Kearns Goodwin and social commentator Ira Glass) and crass (you choose, once you've seen the movie). We hear a lot from actor Matt Damon (below), who, along with Edward Norton, made that famous flop poker-movie Rounders -- of which and about which we see so much here that for awhile it appears that Mr. Tirola is trying to conjur some kind of revival (or maybe a remake) of that film.

We learn about and watch some old footage of poker legend Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, as well as meeting one of the newest legends, pro player Chris Moneymaker (yes, that's his real and, as we see, quite fitting name). Mr. Moneymaker, shown below with his daughter on his lap, turns out to be the most interesting thing in the movie (along with a fellow named Henry Orenstein, who invented the "hole cam," now used in all video-ed poker games), and his entry into online poker provides the film with its most suspenseful moments (unless you follow poker and already know the outcome).

How poker grows from being a player's to a spectator's sport also proves an interesting journey, and a discussion of exactly how poker has become so popular leads to the film's funniest line: "Things don't grow that don't have growabilitiness to them."

Statistics are occasionally spoken of and shown on-screen -- in 1961, most homes included a card table; in 1991, almost all casinos had closed their poker rooms; in 2001, 60 million Americans played poker weekly -- and someone tells us that poker is now more popular than the NFL games. Really?

Much is also made of the freedom that is being taken away from us Americans by the government's banning of online poker. However, as of this year, online gaming appears to be coming back, via various of our individual states, so freedom, thank god, is secure again. Even if this may be, in reality, the freedom to get fleeced. Earlier in the movie, in reference to Rounders, one person calls this, "The best movie ever!" Yes, notes another, "Thank you for bringing million of suckers into the game and making us rich!"

All In: The Poker Movie, from 4th Row Films and a little too long at 109 minutes (though I may have seen a slightly longer version on the screener sent me than the 100 minutes that will play theatri-cally), opens this Friday in New York City at the Cinema Village. Upcoming playdates all the around the country, with cities and theaters, can be found by clicking here and then scrolling down.