If ever there was a film that typifies the last 10 years, it's The Big Short. It's filmmaking in its quickest form. And much credit goes to director Adam McKay, who has made a film so rapid fire that it even makes Vince Vaughn stop to catch his breath. It mirrors what goes on in today's multi-tasking society. But also what Wall Street has been doing for decades.
Connecting three stories without much crossover, The Big Short deals with what led to the financial crash of 2008 and the radical few who had the wisdom and the gall to see it coming and act upon it.
It starts with Christian Bales' character, Dr. Michael Burry, a Silicon Valley hedge fund manager who spots an instability in the United States housing market, predicting that the market will collapse in a few years. Much to his investors' dismay, he goes out and bets against the housing market--something that apparently you just don't do--by purchasing $500 million in credit default swaps. Many others catch wind of this, but only several are keen enough to spot the method to Burry's madness.
The film tries and succeeds at making a dry topic appeal to the audience it wants. There's a lot of technical jargon, but McKay makes it easy for us to stay in the loop by doing unusual things like have "Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explain it to you". These celebrities explaining things happens a few times throughout the film for our enjoyment. McKay has such an unorthodox way of filmmaking, but it works here. Characters break the fourth wall about a dozen times, and he enjoys flooding the screen with intercut stills. It's actually very highbrow, but never makes us realize it.
It has a mockumentary feel to it at times, which explains why Steve Carell makes sense here. He plays Mark Baum, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who gets approached by Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) to invest in this whole credit default swap thing.
A third story revolves around these two young investors who happen to get wind of Gosling's plan. They contact Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), their financial advisor, who helps back the idea.
Each sub story is just as entertaining as the others, so you're never sitting there waiting for so-and-so to come back on screen. You never think about the fact that they're gone, but realize you missed them when they come back.
It's a powerful film, even though it might not seem like it is. It never strays from its point just to get a laugh. Each laugh feels deserved and the humor organic. And with a killer soundtrack (especially if you were a teenager during those years), it's definitely one of the best films of the year.
Twizard Rating: 98
The 4th chapter in the Terminator series, Terminator Salvation, might lose the character of the franchise a bit, but it doesn't lose the spirit, and is a necessary piece in order to continue and expand the film universe.
Here we get a weird hybrid of an origin story set in the future. John Connor (Christian Bale) is faced with Skynet's first attempt at a cyborg with human features, Marcus (Sam Worthington). Now Connor must abandon all he knows in order to see past what Marcus actually is--a weapon constructed by his enemy.
It's completely predictable and cliche, but it's not without its positives. The main theme of second chances looms over our heads the whole film, but it's an important one to say the least.
Salvation is definitely one of the more intriguing films in the series simply because it's the first time we really get to see the future. We already sort of know what's going to happen, but it's that anticipation that makes is more enjoyable and we can finally see the events come to fruition that had only been talked about up until then. Without tiring out the concept, it's necessary to see the Terminator universe in this way.
It's safe to say that the series loses its character quality a little bit in this film. John Connor is much more serious, and so is our terminator protagonist. There's less of the fish-out-of-water humor, as the levity is very few and far between.
But what doesn't work more than anything is the "relationship" between Marcus and Blair (Moon Bloodgood). They share a meet-cute and are supposed to be fond of each other, but we don't actually see any of this. Their initial connection to each other consists of scenes wasted on lusty glances in place of actually building chemistry that would have rationalized a connection between the two characters. Therefore, their relationship doesn't make any sense, nor does it live up to its potential of really being a driving force in this film.
While I actually enjoyed Terminator Salvation, I just wish that it took some slightly different approaches.
Twizard Rating: 74
When a movie starts, especially an epic like this, you want an opening that will draw you in. Peter Jackson has mastered that with his Lord of the Rings film series. And although Ridley Scott is capable of doing that with his films, he provides us with a somewhat dry opening sequence. At the start of this movie you see a long dialogue between Moses, Ramses, and the Pharaoh. Then there's a battle scene immediately after, which is great for fans of shaky cam, but otherwise feels like a shameful way of making a boring first act "more entertaining".
Although this new take on the Passover story is pretty secular, it keeps itself respectful. However, I would have liked to see it have stronger religious themes. Without them, the point of the story is lost. And aside from reading the story in the Bible, there is no evidence that Ridley Scott actually understands the significance. In fact, the tone and style are unestablished altogether.
The film may have been more effective and less confusing if it had actually opened with Moses being found in the water as an infant. The tone would have felt more complete and we would have known right away what this film is about. Instead, we're torn between a story about the relationship between Moses and Ramses, and a story about freedom--with no commitment to either.
The film is somewhat saved by the time the 3rd act hits, when we get to see the plagues, along with a fun chase out of town and across the Red Sea.
The biggest problem with this film is the reliance of the audience already knowing the story. Little is explained and significant events become downgraded to superfluous as they feel like they're just thrown in there without any reason other than the fact that they're written in the original text. But while we are treated like we already know the story, the filmmakers take certain liberties with the original story as if they think we don't know the story at all.
The visuals are breathtaking and the acting is superb, but with a dumbed down script and a slow and confusing first act, this film loses some credibility.
Twizard Rating: 72
