The Big Short (2015) or, Something Rotten in America

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year
+ Best New York Movie of the Year

Four of the top leading men in films today are broad together for Adam McKay's The Big Short

A few individuals connected to the Wall Street stock market connect the dots of a US economy based on an unviable loaning structure and decide to go against what everyone  else thinks is common sense in predicting the financial crisis of 2007/08.

The Big Short is based on Michael Lewis' (The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (2006)) The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (2010), adapted by Charles Randolph (The Interpreter (2005)) and Philadelphian master filmmaker Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)), who has created his second masterpiece here, the first being, of course, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).
Big Short tackles the enigmatic material of housing market fraud, subprime loans, credit default swaps and 'CDOs' with unflinching determination. All the economy hardware that seems like it is made simply to throw the average person off gets digested and thrown at us from a superior point of understanding here. We might not grasp it all, but the story will at least make most if not all audiences attain a greater understanding of what the hell went so wrong just under a decade ago.
McKay manages to serve it all with an electric energy and a penchant for character and reality-based comedy that lifts the film to something refreshing and highly original. Making it all rain down on us with thunderous impact is also due to the fine ensemble put together here: Steve Carell (Despicable Me (2010)) gives what is probably his best dramatic performance to date, (and we can without pause talk of an Oscar snub in his case here), and he is partnered with an energetic Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)), eccentric, Oscar-nominated Christian Bale (American Psycho (2000)) and co-producing, starring Brad Pitt (Moneyball (2011)) in a sideline part similar to the one he played in the also Plan B-produced (his production company) masterpiece 12 Years a Slave (2013). In smaller parts, Marisa Tomei (Christmas with the Coopers (2015)), Rafe Spall (Life of Pi (2012)), Hamish Linklater (Magic in the Moonlight (2014)), Jeremy Strong (Selma (2014)), Melissa Leo (Flight (2012)) and Finn Wittrock (Unbroken (2014)) are all delightful.
Big Short is a heroic feat and unique in the way it blends infectious comedy with pulsating indignation. An exciting and unmissable film.

Related posts:

Adam McKay: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - Burgundy reigns supreme

Steve Carrell is magnificent in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Christian Bale gives a great characterization in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling face off in Adam McKay's The Big Short

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 28 mil. $
Box office: 112.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit
[Paramount acquired the rights to Lewis' book in 2013, and production lasted from March - May 2015 in New Orleans and New York. The fairly effective production was also done at an admirably low budget, making the film a hit fast. It was McKay's invention to have Margot Robbie (Focus (2015)), Anthony Bourdain (Far Cry (2008)) and Selena Gomez (Spring Breakers (2012)) do surprise cameos, describing difficult economical concepts for us audiences, something that some see as the film's main ingenuity, (- it's good, but it isn't the main thing, in my opinion.) The film opened to the third-biggest theater average of 2015 in the US, behind Steve Jobs and The Revenant. It has so far grossed 64.1 mil. $ (56.9 % if the total gross) in North America. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are the UK with 5.9 mil. $ (5.2 %) and France with 5.4 mil. $ (4.8 %). It is nominated for 5 Oscars in the end of this month: Picture, director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor (Bale) and editing. The Big Short is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Big Short?

Moneyball (2011) - Miller makes compelling baseball movie history

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+ Best Sports Movie of the Year

Brad Pitt portrays Oakland Athletics' general manager Billy Beane in Bennett Miller's Moneyball

Billy Beane is the man tasked with getting the free-falling Oakland Athetics baseball team back in winning shape without more money in a sport that has acquired ballooned monster budgets. Together with an economist, Beane finds a new way to play - and win - ball.

Even if you don't understand baseball, (which I can't profess that I do), Moneyball works. Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List (1993)) and Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing (1999-06)) wrote the Oscar-nominated script, based on Michael Lewis' (The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (2006)) non-fiction book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003), and great New York-director Bennett Miller (Capote (2005)) has made a great film out of it.
Beane's struggle and his gamble is staged with high stakes, and, of course, the core story of getting a team of outcasts to start winning, against all odds, is gripping material. Solid work marks Moneyball's production, led by a perfectly cast, Oscar-nominated Brad Pitt (Troy (2004)). The cast also includes fine turns from Oscar-nominated Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)), Chris Pratt (Jurassic World (2015)) as an unsure player, Spike Jonze (Three Kings (1999)), and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt (2008)), who is good as usual, as the team's dissatisfied coach.

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Bennett Miller: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Capote (2005) - The writing of one of the 20th century's finest non-fiction crime novels comes to life

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 110.2 mil. $
= Flop
[Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Lewis' book in 2004. Pitt committed to the film in 2007, and Steven Soderbergh was about to direct the film in 2009, when, days before shooting was scheduled to start, Sony put production on hold and got Miller in instead of Soderbergh for a summer 2010 shoot. Moneyball premiered at Toronto and was warmly reviewed, making many especially American Top 10 lists of the year and 6 Oscar nominations: For Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Sound Mixing. - It won none. The film followed its 19.5 mil. $ domestic opening weekend to a 75.6 mil. $ gross (68.6 % of the total gross.) Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan (11.4 mil. $/10.3 %) and Australia (5.3 mil. $/4.8 %). Moneyball is certified fresh at 94 % with an 8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Moneyball?