The Big Short

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 23 December 2015
I watched this on 30 January 2016
Running Time: 2 Hours and 10 Minutes
Staring:  Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt
Rating? R
SPOILERS? YES, 
but it won't matter. You should see this!

REVIEWS
IMDB: 7.9 of 10
MY RATING: 9

STORYLINE

Four denizens in the world of high finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight.

MY REVIEW:

This is an amazing movie. There is nothing small about this BIG Movie at all! I really knew very little about the subprime mortgage crisis that pretty much drowned the banking industry in 2007-2008, but this helped me understand the whole thing in a most entertaining method! 

This story is told in some very unique ways that not only keep you interested but allow you to be entertained! The idea of breaking the fourth wall by allowing models in bathtubs and celebrity chefs accompanied by singers to deliver additional little pieces of data to assist in your understanding of the heftier buts was brilliant! Its filled with cuts, slow-motion, monologues, flashbacks, foreshadowing and just amazing cinematography!

The acting is stellar from the stars to the bit players. They aren't just playing a role, they embody characters during a remarkable time in history. Steve Carrell plays against character and he's perfect! His character, Mark Baum, is much like the boss from that television series. However, in "The Big Short", he plays it straight. He is a boss of a fund under the umbrella of Morgan Stanley (but it's not Morgan Stanley, and his team likes to point out), and he is on a mission to bring down banks, to show them up, and to prove he's been right about the financial warning signs. He is betting against the hand that feeds him, Morgan Stanley.

I preferred Christian Bale's performance as Michael Burry, an unselfconscious, manic math genius. I haven't seen that frightening look in Bale's eyes since "American Psycho", but this time he's only killing the mortgage backed securities market. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt, under- playing another disaffected former banker, Brad Rickert, helps two friends make millions while they bet against terrible investments, or "play short" the mortgage market. His backstory is revealed steadily and in a way that makes us wonder why he briefly got back into the investment "game." Even Ryan Gosling makes his mark in this star-studded cast playing the prescient "Jared Vennett." Remember, all the characters in the film are based on real people. And that is what makes it so remarkable.

The other major players in the film are Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, and a slew of investment houses who at best ignore the coming financial crisis or at worst, colluded in its creation. From the realtors selling the mortgages, to the banks loaning at subprime, to the banks bundling the worthless packages, they were all making too much money to want to stop. This is exactly the kind of over-exuberance that occurred in the 1920s stock market crash, but few payed attention then or in 2007.

"The Big Short" is a dramatized film of true events. And to make sure we understand, the actors break the fourth wall several times to tell us what part is true to the detail and what part is fictionalized to make it more dramatic. But if you are still incredulous, read the book. The events are all sadly true, and we are still paying for it.

On a personal note: I made a pretty awesome Happy Holidays card from the kids this year!!

The Forest

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 8 January 2016

Director: XX
Writer: XX
Running Time: 93 Minutes

Staring:  Natalie Dormer, Eoin Macken, Stephanie Vogt

Rating? PG-13

SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS

IMDB: 5 of 10

MY RATING: 5

STORYLINE

A woman goes into Japan's Suicide Forest to find her twin sister, and confronts supernatural terror.

MY REVIEW

I do want to mention first that I did go into this movie with an open mind. I have read many articles about the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known as the Suicide Forest and find the whole idea interesting and heart breaking. RTHe movie, The Forest focuses on Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer in a dual role as twins Jess and Sara. Jess has disappeared into the forest, and Sara travels to Japan to go into the forest to look for her, unaware of the demons that lurk in the forest. In the 2014 movie, As Above, So Below took an intrinsically creepy setting, the Paris catacombs, and used an unsettling atmosphere and good scares to make another tragic film. 

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• Actual Atmosphere. The score is fitting and does great assistance with the too-easy scares (I'll talk about that in a minute). I do love the way the forest was portrayed as quite nearly a character in it’s own right but it mostly squanders its promise by degrading it to a hot spot for cheap jump scares.
• The Japanese Mythos alone was enough to hold together a story that could easily have been dotted with Japanese demons and historical significance.

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• Forced Storytelling- This feels to me that the prime example where instead of the story gently letting you understand for yourself, it takes it's little devil hands and pulls your mouth open and force the story down your throat. They tried not to let you forget that THEY were telling this story and you better listen! The film has a pretty interesting premise and could have worked if executed correctly. 
• Literal Atmosphere- This movie does not use the forest setting to its advantage. Any atmosphere created by the forest is frittered away by a dull jump scare, that are really just boring. That could have been helped by a good story, but once Sara actually reaches the forest, the plot just sort of stops. 
• The Story Itself- Wow, this puppy takes a lot to get started! This goes back to the Forced storytelling mentioned above. They just spend too much time telling the story instead of letting the film tell its own story. The last half of the movie is just her running through the forest while demons pop out from behind the trees. It's not until the end that the plot decides to move forward any more, but by the time the big twist happens, you don't really care. The Forest has a committed performance from Natalie Dormer and glimmers of an interesting movie but mostly wastes them on predictable jump scares and a bland story.

On a more personal note..... First picture is what I came into the office to see laying in the window.. Dexter and Boomer. I love these two little boys! (Dex is about 6 months old and Boomer is almost 8 years old. Then, I took a selfie. And look how adorable my Isabella is!! Last but not least, Dexter sitting in the window...