![The Late Work of Sam Shepard](/uploads/profile_image/c70/6a549648-b808-4eb1-89e8-7c9f97e8bc70.jpg?m=1522326044)
The Late Work of Sam Shepard
Book
Hailed by critics during the 1980s as the decade's 'Great American Playwright', Sam Shepard has...
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Jean-Pierre Gorin recommended The Honeymoon Killers (1970) in Movies (curated)
![Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive](/uploads/profile_image/d4c/d837d835-697d-471f-92e8-3218127ddd4c.jpg?m=1622208502)
Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
Book
Learn how small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasion with this New York...
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Laundromat (2019) in Movies
Aug 1, 2021
Well…Director Steven Soderbergh (ERIN BROCKOVICH) has taken that recipe and attached it to another dry subject (this time money laundering through off-shore “Shell Companies”) and has turned in a very good and interesting (though not quite as intense) film that got lost in the shuffle in 2019.
Starring Meryl Streep as a widow who is trying to get her Insurance Company to pay off after the death of her husband, THE LAUNDROMAT follows the trail through shell company after shell company as the money is Laundered by 2 unscrupulous Bankers (Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas) in a series of vignettes.
While THE LAUNDROMAT doesn’t pack the punch of THE BIG SHORT (where the real life consequences of what happened impacted many, many people throughout the world), THE LAUNDROMAT falls just short in that only Meryl Streep’s character really suffers the consequences (though many unscrupulous players do get theirs in the end).
Soderbergh is a Director who’s work I have really, really liked throughout his career as he has a tendency to focus on the people, rather than spectacle, when telling a story, and it works well in this film. He gets the audience to care about the victims of the scheming money men and root like crazy for the “bad guys” to get theirs.
As for the acting, Meryl Streep (of course) is marvelous as Ellen Martin, the widow who’s tragic experience (the death of her husband - played by the great James Cromwell) sets off the course of events in this film.
Oldman and Banderas are equally as good as the narrators and antagonists of this piece. They play their roles with a slight wink in their eyes and a “devil-may-care” attitude which makes them charming, but does take a notch (or so) off of the drama of the piece.
Soderbergh, as he is want to do, fills this film with many memorable actors/characters in what amounts to extended cameos - Jeffrey Wright, Robert Patrick, David Schwimmer, Will Forte, Chris Parnell, Larry Wilmore and even Sharon Stone stop by for a moment to bring other characters into play and they all work well.
To be fair, some of the vignettes work better than the others, but all-in-all Soderbergh has crafted an interesting, fun and IMPORTANT film that will teach it’s audience about the inner workings of a system that most of us have heard about but never really looked into.
Check out THE LAUNDROMAT the next time you are scrolling through Netflix looking for something good to watch.
Letter Grade A-
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
![Healthy Running Step by Step: Self-Guided Methods for Injury-Free Running: Training - Technique - Nutrition - Rehab](/uploads/profile_image/311/f9853ad9-ed40-4393-a515-2cf131e3b311.jpg?m=1522324310)
Healthy Running Step by Step: Self-Guided Methods for Injury-Free Running: Training - Technique - Nutrition - Rehab
Robert Forster and Roy M. Wallack
Book
Healthy Running Step by Step will help runners of all ages and abilities understand why running...
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Mortal Engines (2018) in Movies
Dec 17, 2018
The visuals and CGI are very good, the traction cities and towns look fantastic and they're impressively done. Shouldn't be a surprise considering these have been done by Weta. The plot itself is intriguing and fairly unique as far as apocalyptic futures go, although there are a few plot points that are a bit cliched and reminiscent of other sci-fi/fantasy films - the whole final act/ending being the main example.
Hester Shaw is a very strong heroine and a good lead character, although i think she suffers from some bad scripting. Hugo Weaving is doing his Agent Smith best as the villainous Thaddeus Valentine, he really does know how to play a good bad guy. I'm most impressed however with Robert Sheehan. He's a very underrated actor yet seems to have such range and versatility, from his start in the series Misfits to the creepy Vladek in Fortitude, and then his turn as the dashing hero in this, he really made this film worth watching even if the script wasn't always in his favour. The romance aspect of this film too is also a little too forced and not very subtle, and a little bit predictable.
In short this is an interesting story with a great cast and special effects, that is let down by a patchy script and a few cliches. The next book I have to read is this one, so I'm interested to see how the two compare.
![Peterhead: The Inside Story of Scotland's Toughest Prison](/uploads/profile_image/bb3/b0d507e1-79c3-4410-b1ed-c907bc6efbb3.jpg?m=1522337050)
Peterhead: The Inside Story of Scotland's Toughest Prison
Book
Robert Jeffrey, author of the bestselling "Barlinnie Story" and other true crime books, now tells...
![Between Here and Knitwear](/uploads/profile_image/18a/ae4c8571-09c3-4eaf-a02a-c4454246718a.jpg?m=1522333819)
Between Here and Knitwear
Book
Beginning in Lancashire in the '60s and '70s, they follow a young girl as she becomes aware of what...
Movies of the 70s
Book
The Birth of the Blockbuster How the prodigies of the 1970s revolutionized cinema The 1970s: that...
![The Lost Prince: The Life & Death of Henry Stuart](/uploads/profile_image/63c/cac7642f-a698-47f3-b79d-000527bbc63c.jpg?m=1522328432)
The Lost Prince: The Life & Death of Henry Stuart
Catharine MacLeod, Malcolm Smuts and Timothy Wilks
Book
This exploration of Henry's life and image, and the extraordinary reaction to his death, transforms...