The question of the day is do you want to be educated about something you probably didn’t know anything about? If that is the case and you have Netflix, then you need to check out today’s film The Big Short. The Big Short is a film that chronicles the crash of the mortgage industry on Wall Street back in 2008/2009. The film follows four different denizens in the industry Michael Burry (Christian Bale), Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), Mark Baum (Steve Carell), and the team of Charlie Geller (John Magaro), Jamey Shipley (Finn Wittrock), and Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) as they decide to bet against the housing market and it’s loans which was simply unheard of at the time. They were betting against the economy which was considered ballsy. The film also stars Tracy Letts (Killer Joe) as Lawrence Fields, Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) as Cynthia Baum, Adepero Oduye (12 Years A Slave) as Kathy Tao, Rafe Spall (Life Of Pi) as Danny Moses, Hamish Linklater (Battleship) as Porter Collins, Jeremy Strong (Zero Dark Thirty) as Vinnie Daniel, Melissa Leo (Red State) as Georgia Hale, Karen Gillan (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Evie, and the film features cameos from Anthony Bourdain, Margot Robbie, Selena Gomez, and the film was directed by Adam McKay (The Other Guys).
If you do not know anything about trading stocks, bonds, and the housing market then you better pay full attention to the film cause you could get absolutely lost. They have Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain, and Selena Gomez appear on screen to help break down some of the terms into dummy form. Even then, I would still advise people not to leave at any point or you will be confused. If you want to see how crooked and stupid the US Government and the banks were with the average working persons money then you need to watch this movie because it’s all about how they screwed you with no lube. It’s hard to choose an MVP for this film because they all really did a terrific job in the film, but some of my favorite moments belonged to Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell especially when they were together. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when Gosling is trying to explain why he is betting against the market to Steve Carell using the Jenga format to represent all the loans. The interactions between the two during this scene are just awesome and worth seeing. After you have seen the film, you are going to be astonished about how so many things just slipped through the cracks during this whole ordeal especially with the mortgage market in the early to mid-2000’s where so many people were defaulting and foreclosures were happening. This film sheds the best light on the reason for the collapse of the economy so be prepared. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade because it’s smart, thought provoking, and intuitive. Check it out on Netflix right now as we speak.
I have been wondering to myself if Netflix is going to be the it thing in the entertainment business (if they’re already not). They produce everything from original series, comedy specials, and films like today’s The Fundamentals Of Caring. The film stars Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man) as Ben Benjamin, a former writer who is kind of down and out in life who decides to become a caregiver. He becomes the caregiver of Trevor (Craig Roberts), a teen with muscular dystrophy whose just cruising through life himself. Despite his mother Elsa’s (Jennifer Ehle)concerns, Ben takes Trevor on a road trip to see some of the United States roadside attractions. Together, the two will bond and they’ll discover themselves on this journey that changes their perspectives on life. The film also stars Selena Gomez (Spring Breakers) as Dot, Julia Denton (Devil’s Due) as Janet, Ashley White (The Conjuring) as Cute Travel Channel Girl, Megan Ferguson (Bad Moms) as Peaches, Samantha Huskey as Kaitlin, Bobby Cannavale (The Bone Collector) as Cash, Frederick Weller (The Business Of Strangers) as Bob, Bill Murphey (The Fat Boy Chronicles) as Mike, Matt Mercurio (Miracles From Heaven) as EMT, and the film was directed by Rob Burnett (Ed).
I have to be honest in saying that at first I thought the film was going to be bad i just the way it started. You see Paul Rudd’s name attache to it and you immediately think comedy, but the film starts off kind of slow and a little dark. He’s a guy that has absolutely nothing going for him because he wife wants a divorce, he no longer writes, and Trevor’s kind of a dick to him. That however is when things start to get good and it just gets better as the film goes along. Rudd and Roberts make a great team and you can see it as the film goes along and it gets better when Gomez joins the duo on the road. The film may have some moments of drama, but there is plenty of subtle comedy in the film. I will however say that the comedy in the film isn’t stupid comedy or slapstick comedy, but rather a little dark with some smart comedy thrown in there. I really have to say though that I really loved Selena Gomez and her character in the film which was mysterious yet bad ass. Some of my favorite moments in the film were the pranks they pulled on each other (well Trevor gets the best of him most of the time) cause those were the fun moments of the film. This is definitely a fun film to watch and if you’re a fan of Paul Rudd, then I say check it out. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.
Spring Break is supposed to be a time when college kids absolutely let go of their inhibitions and they let it all loose. No matter what it is, they just let go and have fun, but there are four girls who are about to have a different kind of spring break. In the film Spring Breakers, four college girlfriends Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson), and Cotty (Rachel Korine) head down to Florida for a spring break that they will never forget. The girls want to get away from school for once, but they have no money to do so. So, they hold up a restaurant in order to fund their trip, but once they get there things get out of control especially when they run into a drug dealing gangster named Alien (James Franco). The film also stars Gucci Mane (Confessions of a Thug) as Archie, Heather Morris (Fired Up!) as Bess, Ash Lendzion (Ex In The City) as Forest, Former WWE/TNA wrestler Jeff Jarrett as Youth Pastor, Emma Holzer (What Maisie Knew) as Heather, Russell Stuart (The Good Wife) as DJ, Thurman and Sidney Sewell (DGK: Parental Advisory) as The ATL Twins, and the film was directed by Harmony Korine (Kids).
This is definitely a very interesting film and I certainly mean interesting. The film goes from being an MTV special on Spring Break (like the kind we got in the 90’s) to a gangster story for the rest of the film. It was kind of a weird story to say the least because if you left for five or ten minutes, you would be left confused as to where the story went. The beginning of the film is like straight out of girls gone wild meets MTV Spring break like I said before and then it transforms into Scarface, but the girls are absolutely bad ass. The true highlight of the film though is James Franco only because he plays a bad ass gangster/rapper and it’s really convincing. When I saw that the director of the movie Harmony Korine was involved with the film Kids, I could see it right away with the look and feel of this film. It’s hard to describe the style, but the tones are very dark while also being very bright as certain colors are emphasized more than others. It’s a documentary style kind of look to the film and I love it cause it’s different. I’m still trying to figure out what robbing people and being gangster has to do with Spring Break, but I guess it’s that anything can happen in what Korine calls a beach noir film. I am going to give the film a grade somewhere between C+/B-. I think more towards the C+ range than the other.
For today I chose a film from Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore) because the first film in the Hotel Transylvania series was very good despite what people may be saying about his career. When I saw that Netflix had Hotel Transylvania 2 available to watch, I took the shot and it’s todays’ film. The film starts off with Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) getting married and that follows with them having their first child Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). Dracula (Sandler) is having a hard time with the idea that his new grandson could be a human and not a monster. It’s gotten to the point that Mavis and Johnny are thinking about moving away to give Dennis a normal upbringing. Not liking the idea of that, Dracula has Johnny take Mavis on vacation in an attempt to see if he can bring the monster out of Johnny. The film also stars Kevin James (King Of Queens) as Frank, Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs) as Wayne, David Spade (Tommy Boy) as Griffin, Keegan-Michael Key (Let’s Be Cops) as Murray, Fran Drescher (The Nanny) as Eunice, Molly Shannon (Superstar) as Wanda, Nick Offerman (Parks & Recreation) as Grandpa Mike, Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) as Grandma Linda, Mel Brooks (Spaceballs) as Vlad, and the film was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 