The Big Short may not light the world on fire the way it seems like it wants to, nor will it likely be widely remembered past awards season, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a really good movie. It achieves about 80% of what it sets out to do, and that’s pretty successful for a picture of this kind. McKay’s boldness to make the picture is certainly rewarded with the final product and it serves as a valuable resource for people to get at least a semblance of a handle on what happened in 2008. That’s not to say the film should be taken as gospel, it’s still a movie after all, but it may at least spark an interest in finding out how the big banks really caused the near-destruction of the world’s economy and that’s at least a start.
Read moreThe Revenant (2015) ***1/2
The Revenant is a long film that if you are not immediately engaged in, it will not hold your attention. It is demanding and nuanced and never spells out what it’s doing or where it’s going. Iñárritu and co-writer Mark L. Smith leave out a lot of overt exposition and trust the audience enough to let them piece everything together. This isn’t a film that one watches easily and it’s also one that demands multiple viewings. This film may prove to hold DiCaprio’s finest performance, which is saying quite a lot considering the great roles he’s played over the last fourteen years. The Revenant is tough, engaging and downright fascinating to watch.
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