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A grotesque mountain of cash with a suit-wearing man atop, fingers crossed eerily on his back, surrounded by praise, makes up this poster for Charles Ferguson's Inside Job
In five chapters, the film explores and explains the systemic flaws and corruption that led to the 2008 financial crisis in the US, and also how the ailments were subsequently (mis)treated.
Inside Job is written by co-writer/co-editor Chad Beck (Time to Choose (2015)), co-writer/co-editor Adam Bolt (Human Nature (2019)) and Californian master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Charles Ferguson (No End in Sight (2007, documentary)), whose second feature it is.
It is the silver-lined film on the financial crisis to watch, in which Ferguson and Co. coolly and educationally lays bare what happened in the years prior to the debacle, what its results were, and why the guilty parties still roam free. Inside Job holds a strict focus on the main perpetrators and achieves an impressive amount of statements, some of which makes the rotten villains stand out with clarity in their sinful natures.
Inside Job is a role-model documentary, rage-inducing and a must watch.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 7.8 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.9 times its cost)
[Inside Job premiered 2 February (Belgium) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place in Iceland, France, England, China, Singapore, Florida, New York and Washington DC. The film opened #50 to a 39k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and in 250 theaters, grossing 4.3 mil. $ (55.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 862k $ (11.1 %) and France with 669k $ (8.6 %). The film won the Best Documentary Oscar and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Ferguson returned with Time to Choose (2015, documentary). Inside Job is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Enlarged to the traditional size of Kaiju movie monsters, the three stars threaten to wreak havoc on New York City on this fine poster for Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice
The son of American businessman Fred Trump, Donald Jr. is hellbent on making himself stand out in a way that his perceived let-down pilot brother has neglected, and to boost himself into a New York tycoon and world-famous business leader, he enrolls under the mentorship of ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn.
The Apprentice is written by Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)) and directed by Iranian-born Danish master filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Shelley (2016)), whose 4th feature it is.
A biopic about the arguably most talked-about and controversial figure worldwide in the last few decades, and releasing it during his third presidential campaign, is bound to be divisive. The filmmakers have 'attacked' their subject from a critical, leftist position to be sure but to their credit have attempted to tell the story of the 1970s and 1980s arrival of Donald Trump in business without their sentiments and politics sneaking in. Global opinion on Trump is still very much in determination, and will be for his second period as US President 2025-29. This makes for an obstacle for the film, because in essence many audiences will be still too much involved in the ongoing 'Trump reality' to have the reserve and interest to look into a fictional retelling of his past. In any case he is such a behemoth that the film is likely to keep attracting new audiences for the years to come.
This is of course also based on the fact that The Apprentice is fueled by a strong script and great performances: Sebastian Stan (Ghosted (2023)) arrives in force and is very authentic as Trump; Jeremy Strong (Succession (2018-23)) is intense and highly persuasive as the chameleon-like, powerful Cohn, whose AIDS disease renders him an outcast before his death; and Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)) as Donald's first wife Ivana, who is portrayed brilliantly as a flawed but mostly sympathetic woman. Martin Donovan (Tenet (2020)) is a great choice and very good as Fred Trump. The production design and locations are never lacking, but what is lacking in the life of Donald Trump, it seems, is love and sincere affection. A shark-like pursuit of money and power instead rules supreme. This makes his story a fairly dark watch, but the pacing keeps it moving well, SPOILER and a darkly humorous, directorially rich flourish in the end is that Abbasi provides a gruelingly visual account of Donald's liposuction and bald spot plastic surgery, cross cut with Cohn's demise. Appropriately devoid of sentimentality, The Apprentice has an admirable punk rock energy, serious performances and may well stand the test of time.
[The Apprentice premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 123 minutes. Announced in 2018, the film only really came underway when the cast and Abbasi were announced in 2022 and 2023. 15 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from November 2023 - January 2024 in Ontario, including in Toronto. SPOILER The rape scene was based on Ivana Trump's divorce deposition (under oath) in which she alleged it. She backed away from the allegation 30 years later, during Trump's third presidential campaign. Trump's amphetamine use was detailed in Harry Hurt's biography. The film was attacked by Dan Snyder, one of its financial backers, who had thought it would be a positive account of its subject. His stake was bought by James Shani and Rich Spirit, already stakeholders in the film. Trump's team unsuccessfully tried to stop the film from coming out, and Abbasi invited Trump to see it for himself, getting no response. Trump called the film a "disgusting hatchet job" and the filmmakers "human scum". The film's release was made difficult by Trump's looming power, but it was eventually released, just weeks prior to the November 2024 election. The film opened #10 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 1,740 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it has so far grossed 3.9 mil. $. The film's BoxOfficeMojo site is missing its Danish gross, where it has so far grossed at least 640k $. The film has to announced markets left to release in; Russia and Japan. It lost the Palme d'Or to Anora. Abbasi does not have his next film announced yet. Stan returns in Thunderbolts (2025); Strong in Deliver Me from Nowhere; and Bakalova in Triumph (2024). The Apprentice is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Two boys in an urban landscape with looming, oversized adults hovering around make up this poster for George Tillman Jr.'s The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
Mister has to take the 8th grade again, but he gets a larger problem this summer, when his mother, who is a heroin-addicted prostitute, is removed from his life, and he does his best to survive, along with his friend from the hood, Pete.
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is written by Michael Starrbury (When They See Us (2019, miniseries)) and co-produced and directed by Wisconsinite master filmmaker George Tillman Jr. (Scenes for the Soul (1995)), whose 6th feature it is.
The film is a kind of modern Oliver Twist, though without a Fagin (the Dickens' novel's iconic villain.) Instead the fault for the childhood misery laid out here, - at least as grueling as in that 19th century, London-set novel, - is shared by many characters and a society at large, which despite incredible wealth allows itself to abandon children in dire circumstances. Another obvious comparison would be to Lee Daniels' Precious (2009), but unlike that great drama, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete has no escapist insert montages but rather remains at all times in the present predicament of its two boy protagonists. When they meet hunger, addiction and rows of disappointments, it could have made the film unbearable, - and it is completely engulfing to be sure, - but the charisma and drive of the Mister character, and the way he manages so bravely keep himself above water ultimately makes the journey bearable and ultimately deeply moving. Skylan Brooks (Empire (2018-20)) is tremendous in the role, while the precocious Ethan Dizon (Avengers: Infinity War (2018)) as Pete gives one of those kinds of child performances, which is in no way faultless or seamless but is nevertheless priceless, because Dizon puts all of his wonderful being so forcefully into the work. The two are supported by Jennifer Hudson (Sing (2016)), outstanding as Mister's mother, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Wetlands (2017)) as the tough cop, who shares the film's golden nugget lines in a teary scene, and The Wire's Julito McCullum (Will You Marry Me (2024)) as a mean kid from the block.
This is an angry film about the failures of the projects, - both internally and as they relate to the surrounding urban centers and the country. The score (by Mark Isham (Blacklight (2022)) and Alicia Keys (The Secret Life of Bees (2008, actress))) is engaged and well-made, and the direction is a role-model. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is a humbling film.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.16 times its cost)
[The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2012 in New York. The film opened #24 to a 254k $ first weekend in 147 theaters in North America, its peak in the market, where it grossed 496k $ (98 % of the total gross). Its only other recorded market was South Africa. The-Numbers.com estimates that the film also made 330k $ on the domestic home video market. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit award. Tillman Jr. returned with The Longest Ride (2015). Brooks returned in Oliver, Stoned. (2014); Dizon in Sullivan & Son (2013, TV-series) and theatrically in Bad Words (2013). The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete is fresh at 84 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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