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.

Cerebral sci-fi done smart, creative (and cheap): James Ward Byrkit's reality-bending COHERENCE

Oh, dem comets! If one of 'em is expected to make an appearance in a genre film, you just know things are gonna go baaaad! Remember Night of the Comet? (Yeah: the early zombie movie.) Or Day of the Triffids? (That was just a meteorite shower, but still...) Or the wonderful Spanish film The End (Fin), in which our ensemble watches a comet blaze overhead, and suddenly every-thing goes quietly kaplooey. You can now add COHERENCE to the comet-calamity sub-genre, for this new and relatively bracing sci-fi film show us what happens at a dinner party comprised of six guests plus host and hostess when said icy, small solar system body suddenly heats up, races by and displaces -- or maybe just re-jiggers -- the known (but ever-expanding) laws of physics.

Writer/director James Ward Byrkit (shown at left), whose first full-length film this is (except for one TV movie he directed back in 2001), takes the menacing comet scenario and does something pretty different with it. He turns it into a sci-fi/man-woman relationship drama/ thriller done on what looks like an ultra-cheap budget that still proves large enough to sustain his intentions and ambitions.

The film is both interesting and challenging. It's made for genuinely adult movie-goers -- or for older kids who already have some understanding of physics and other of the sciences and who can wrestle a bit with "alternate universe" theories. In this one, you might say, "the other" finally comes home. Coherence is the kind of film in which not only do you not know what is real, neither do you know who.

The movie may remind you of another release from the ever-interesting distributor Oscilloscope, which last year gave us the terrific It's a Disaster, in which friends gather for a brunch rather than a dinner and all hell breaks loose. "Disaster" was primarily a black comedy, and a very good one, Coherence is more a drama or at least a melodrama, in which you must pay sharp attention to things like color, numbers, and especially character.

Though the movie's an ensemble piece, one character stands out from the rest: a young woman named Em, played very well by an actress who used to be known as Emily Foxler but is now going by Emily Baldoni, due, I guess, to a marriage. This is usually a career mistake (remember Robin Wright Penn and Farrah Fawcett Majors?), but in any case, Ms Foxler/Baldoni turns in a most interesting performance. If I ever watch this movie again, I'm going to concentrate on her character throughout, for it's the pivotal one.

Each member of the acting ensemble turns in a good performance (you can see them all listed here), and Mr. Byrkit's writing and direction are generally up to snuff. There is a time midway along, when his characters unbelievably begin behaving more like physicists than everyday people, but this only lasts briefly before they revert to their more human, problematic selves.

To get into the "plot" would be to give away far too much. Sci-fi buffs will need to simply get on board and stay focused during the sometimes bumpy ride that will toss you around but never quite knock you from the saddle. Byrkit's ending is especially toothsome. It's excellent in and of itself, but it also cries out for a sequel. I'll be waiting -- if and when the filmmaker wants to give it to us.

Coherence, from Oscilloscope and running 88 minutes, opens this coming Friday, June 20, in New York (at the Village East Cinema) and Los Angeles (at the Los Feliz 3), and in the weeks to come will hit another ten cities. To view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and then click on SEE THE FILM, and then keep scrolling down until the playdates appear.

Money, honey! There's some smart, fast, inspired horror in Daniel Stamm's wicked little 13 SINS

What fun is this! Fun, at least,  for horror aficionados who are growing increasingly tired of the typical and predictable stuff this genre keeps tossing at us. (Really: Enough of the "paranormal" crap.) 13 SINS, the new film co-written (with David Birke) and directed by Daniel Stamm (below, of The Last Exorcism) has a set-up and follow-through that's a notch or ten above the usual shlock. The movie grabs you from scene one -- which seems to have little to do with what follows, but of course absolutely does -- and never lets go.

Our hero, a would-be salesman named Elliot (the very empathetic Mark Webber), shown below -- about to be married and suddenly unemployed (because he doesn't have the "killer instinct" he needs order to sell folk insurance policies that they don't need) -- is very much the sweet, kind, little-bit nerdy fellow audiences will bond with immediately. Elliot is saddled with a somewhat nasty father who is failing, healthwise, and a younger brother who is mentally challenged and may soon be placed in a state-run home. Money is, as ever these days, greatly needed but instead seems to be quickly disappearing from Elliot's life -- when a surprise phone call comes in on our hero's cell.

This phone call turns the next couple of days of Elliot's life into sheer hell (or maybe it all happens within 24 hours: this movie moves fast), as our boy is promised some amazing money if he will just complete 13 tasks, beginning with "Kill that fly that's buzzing around inside your car." He does, and when he checks his bank balance, there's an additional thousand dollars at the ready.

Of course these "tasks" grow more difficult, spiraling out into the greater world in bizarre ways, and involving everything from a cute little girl (above) to a nativity creche and a corpse with a cup of coffee. Who are the people arranging this crazy scheme? 13 Sins plays it very close to the vest regarding the powers that are behind this game, but as my spouse pointed out early on, "This makes a good metaphor for capitalism."

If that doesn't ruin the film and its fun for a Republican audience, I'll just add that the movie does get plenty gory as it goes along, especially so when it brings together our hero with a fellow (Donny Boaz, above) who used to bully him in high school.

The game itself grows much more complicated, as does our understanding of exactly who is playing it. Family matters come to the fore with Dad (Tom Bower, above) and brother (Devon Graye, below), and by the finale, you may have to remind yourself to take a breath.

My hat is off to filmmaker Stamm, who does a sterling job of bringing it all together in the space of just 88 minutes, using the growing gravitas of Ron Perlman (below, left) in the role of the local cop and the ever-weighty Pruitt Taylor Vince (below, right), as a fellow who is building a file on these "gamesters."

Finally, the schemers even involve our boy's lovely fiancé (Rutina Wesley, below), who brings a smart, no-nonsense approach to her performance -- which carries over quite wonderfully to the film itself.

With so many movies in this genre, you're annoyed not to have certain things explained more fully and believably. I don't think that will present itself here; even if it does, you'll hardly have time to acknowledge it.

13 Sins, from Radius/TWC, arrives in theaters this Friday, April 18, and it's already playing via VOD. Click here to learn at which theaters you can see it. Just enter you zip code and then click on TICKETS AND SHOWTIMES, or click on the WATCH button under ON-DEMAND to learn where you can find the movie via VOD.

On DVD-Blu-ray: Rian Johnson's LOOPER--enormous intelligence & empty characters

You've got to hand it to writer/director Rian Johnson, shown below, who's given us Brick, The Brothers Bloom and now LOOPER -- out this week on Blu-ray and DVD. Few film-makers have been this "creative" and original with plot points and genre expan-sion, while placing all this in the hands of characters who are nothing more than constructs to carry off those terrific story surprises. Consequently, as inventive as are his tales, you may begin, as did we by the halfway point, to long for a mo-ment or two of genuine quirky humanity from the people on view.

Don't hold your breath. These are among the most robotic of suppo-sed human beings (and no, robots are not among the plot points here), despite being limned by a crew of very good actors, on whom you can usually count to provide some nice touches along the way. Instead, their every action and response seem at the mercy of a wickedly convo-luted tale of time travel amongst hit men that cherry picks its delectables by way of everything from The Terminator to Logan's Run (but with double the lifespan). This is almost the reverse of Safety Not Guaranteed, which was all quirky, wonderful characters but included little sci-fi or time-travel info.

Consequently, actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt (above right), Emily Blunt (below) and Bruce Willis (above, left) seem somehow caged. Blunt tries hardest as the put-upon mother, while the two guys remain cool as cucumbers throughout. Everyone rises to his or her cliché. Events may surprise us; characters always remain hostage to them.

Interestingly enough, it's Jeff Daniels (shown below, left, with Noah Segan) as the big boy in charge who registers most strongly. He's honest and scary and seems, overall, to be somebody real.

There are some good, if gross, special effects here and there, and even an unusual explosion involving a human being. The finale is fun, and as creative as all the rest of Johnson's oeuvre. It would even have been moving, had I, by that point, cared a fig about any of the people I was watching.

 If you missed it in theaters, where it had good success worldwide, Looper arrived yesterday, December 31, on DVD and Blu-ray -- for sale or/or rental.

Julian Farino/Ian Helfer/Jay Reiss' THE ORANGES: so good it seems European

How do you properly market a "family" film as good, intelligent and different as is THE ORANGES? Especially when neither the movie's title (which simply tells us that part of New Jersey in which the action is said to be set) nor its poster art and copy have much to recommend them. And yet this film itself is quite wonderful.

Why? Because its attitude is so, well, European. By that I mean grown-up, as though the filmmakers (who include the director, Julian Farino, shown at right, and screen-writers Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss) have been around the humanity block a few times and know whereof they speak. Their movie has to do with two sets of families -- neighbors whose kids kids have been friends since practically birth -- and the various friendships, couplings and uncouplings that take place over a certain course of time. Their movie also has to do with happiness and how this "h" word fits into the rest of our lives (and our responsibilities).

The movie is never judgmental but it also never lets its characters off the hook. They get away with nothing and pay for everything. Actions have consequences here. The characters learn this, and we watch them do it. Best of all, the unfolding never becomes phony or full of unduly cheap laughs. Instead it is graceful and honest, alternately funny and sad, and sometimes surprising, too.

You could not ask for a better cast, with each performer used wisely and well. Beginning with Alia Shawkat (above) who plays the angriest family member, a girl just beyond her teens who has never been quite as pretty or popular...

...as her ex-best-friend from across the street (Leighton Meester, above, as a young lady who is having big trouble finding herself).

As for the two sets of parents, Meester's are played by Oliver Platt and Allison Janney (above, with Ms Janney on the right),

while Ms. Shawkat's progenitors are essayed by Hugh Laurie (at right) and Catherine Keener (below, left). Three of the above actors are always expert (not being a TV watcher, I know much less about Mr. Laurie's nine-year career on House), and they are as good here as they've ever been. (Laurie's fine, too, in a particularly tricky role.)  Mr. Platt, who last year played opposite Keener in Please Give, is wonderfully funny and always real, and Ms Janney gives us what is fast becoming her special schtick -- officious and brittle with a heart long buried -- about as well as it can be done.

Ms Keener has maybe the best role here, and she is dazzling, never more so than when she finally takes her sudden revenge. This actress has the ability to register all kinds of feelings, almost, it seems, at the same moment. In doing this, she keeps us beautifully off-balance, while giving herself quite the acting workout. And yet the work never shows. It's all part of this quite under-sung and delightful actress' repertoire.

Shawkat has a sibling, too (played by Adam Brody, below), who has a wonderful scene with Meester, early on. Brody is such a good actor (see Death in Love and Damsels in Distress for two more examples) that my one disappointment with this movie is that he was not used a bit more.

That's a minor quibble. The Oranges is finally so smart but unshowy and so much fun that I can recommend it wholeheartedly. From ATO Pictures -- this film is my favorite of everything this new distribution company has so far released -- the movie opens this Friday, October 5,  in major cities (often at several theaters in each) all across the country. To see a complete listing of cities and theaters, simply click here.

Julio DePietro's THE GOOD GUY opens; Bledel/Porter/Greenberg star

Can a movie with absolutely nothing new to show and tell still entertain us properly?  On the basis of Julio DePietro's THE GOOD GUY: Yes, it can.  Telling the oldest of old stories about a gal who must choose the right guy (between two who look awfully good), the movie perks along on maybe four cylinders (it is an independent film), with DePietro (shown pointing, below) handling hackneyed material as though it were fresh and new.  For the 90-minute running time, it is.

The Good Guy is an object lesson in how to take used material and come up with a small winner -- via swift, smart direction; clever, amusing, up-to-the-minute vernacular dialog; and a bevy of young performers who "get it" and are more than happy to give it back.  That this is Mr. DePietro's first film is shocking enough; that he does not go for the big stuff or the singular, never-seen-it-before moment is even better.  He seems happy to remain within the confines of romantic comedy, while serving up a sophisticated film for our still-new, Oh-Oh decade.

Perhaps it's DiPietro's familiarity with other areas of filmmaking that have helped bring him to this point:  He was executive producer of Disgrace (TrustMovies' choice for last year's best film) and Manda Bala (Send a Bullet: one of 2007's better documentaries).  Whatever -- he and his cast have pulled off something good.  Further, the filmmaker's choice of a generally-sleazy Wall Street and its crowd as his milieu is, shall we say, timely.

That cast, by the way, includes Alexis Bledel, shown at right, two photos up (of Gilmore Girls fame, who's made a bunch of interesting movies, beginning with the under-appreciated Tuck Everlasting and including I'm Reed Fish) as the heroine.  Competing for the title role are Bryan Greenberg (shown above, who was so good in Prime) and Scott Porter (shown at left, two photos up). In the strong supporting cast are Anna Chlumsky, Aaron Woo and Jessalyn Wanlim, and -- for the older generation -- Andrew McCarthy (below), Eric Thal and Trini Alvarado!

No need to oversell this little movie: one that is certainly worth seeing, particularly if you've an affinity for romantic comedy and any of those cast members.  Opening via Roadside Attractions, The Good Guy is -- surprisingly -- getting a better-than-average independent film release: opening on Friday, February 19, in New York City at four -- count 'em -- theaters, and four more in Los Angeles.  Chicago and Boston follow on March 5.  You can find cities, theaters and dates here.