Monday, January 04, 2016

The Big Short & Spotlight in 150 Words or Less

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The Big Short -- A movie made by Douchebros about Douchebros for Douchebros -- The Big Short is what we would've seen if Brett Ratner had directed American Psycho instead of Mary Harron. There's some feint towards douchebro culpability but really it's just more of a noogie amongst friends - "Hey it's not cool that you took a dump in my sink at the kegger, man, but I was fucking your girlfriend while you did so s'allllll good."

Spotlight -- I was several minutes into this movie's end credits before I'd realized it was over - I wasn't in a daze from its profundity or anything, it was more just that I think I had gone into one of those vegetative states that Buddhist monks have been known to ohm themselves into where their hearts only beat once a month or whatever. Spotlight? More like Flatline!
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Spotlight isn't the next All the President's Men?

Jason Adams said...

More like it's the next All the King's Men

sissyinhwd said...

I liked THE BIG SHORT more than you but I hated every scene with Christian Bale. That drumming, that music, that eye stuff. UGH. I loved Jeremy Strong and his gum chewing.

I totally agree with you re SPOTLIGHT which I call LIGHTS OUT. I was bored and thought the whole thing flat. Not sure why it's getting all the attention it is. And what was with Mark Ruffalo? I usually like him but he was so annoying in this.

Anonymous said...

I hated that the filmmakers felt they had to make the guys who bet against the housing market some kind of heroes. They weren't. The were vultures.

ht said...

Spotlight lost me with the slowed down version of 'Dear God' in the trailer. 'Cause the film's about the church? and the song says 'god'? And it's kinda mournful? YES, I GET IT!

Rob K. said...

Big Short: Haven't seen it. Christian Bale looks looks ultra-douchey in that photo. My prior crush on him is now very ancient.

Spotlight: lacks any filmmaking excitement whatsoever. And my prior crush on Mark Ruffalo is now mostly dead. What's was his deal here, what was he taking?

MinDC said...

I liked Spotlight...not loved but liked. Mark Rufallo drove me nuts, Michael Keaton was solid and Liev Schreiber is hot.

MMinDC

Anonymous said...

Regarding "Spotlight", I found it a relief to see a movie that had some substance, with understated performances and no need for melodrama or much histrionics because the subject matter is troubling enough. I felt a similar sense of relief watching "Ex Machina", a quietly ominous film with shots held longer than ten seconds. I am weary of movies like "Krampus" which resort to editing so frenetic that you can't even follow the action...which of course is the whole idea, lest they lose their precious PG-13 rating.

Rob K. said...

I hear you, Anonymous. I appreciate a slow, careful pace as much as anyone (Ex machina was fab), but Spotlight had some real pacing issues. They managed to take a fascinating subject and......not do all that much with it cinematically. But that breed of hyperactive, ADHD-addled directors–Spaz Luhrmann, Danny Boyle, and Ryan Murphy immediately come to mind–drive me nuts.