Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

2010 in Movies: Biggest Disappointments

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1. I couldn’t see some of the Cannes and Sundance Festival favorites because they haven’t been released where I live: Poetry, Certified Copy, Uncle Boonmee, Cane Toads: The Conquest, Aurora, The Princess of Montpensier.

2. After director Niels Arden Opley’s super rockin’ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the second and third films in Stieg Larsson’s Milenium trilogy were dragged down by plodding director Daniel Alfredson.

3. The 2004 French action movie District B13 introduced us to thrilling parkour and was an original, offbeat spectacle.   But this year’s sequel District 13: Ultimatum was cartoonish and very, very dumb.

4.  Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps:  First of all, I hoped that the movie was going to be primarily about the Michael Douglas characterization of Gordon Gekko – which Douglas knocked out of the park yet again. Will someone explain to me why Shia LaBeouf seems to be a movie star? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Second, the screenplay keeps raising the issue of moral hazard (whether to bail out people from the consequences of risks that they knew they were taking).  Yet, at the end, the two flawed main characters each get exactly what they wanted at the beginning of the film despite making risky or evil choices throughout.  The movie’s payoff (things will turn out OK no matter how badly or foolishly you behave) is exactly opposite of the movie’s sermonette.

5. No one could find a better vehicle for the sublime Amy Adams than the execrable Leap Year?

6.  Pirate Radio:  Has Philip Seymour Hoffman been in a worse film?

7. From the trailer and the buzz, I thought that The Kids Are All Right was shaping up to contend for Best Picture.  It’s a good movie with a wonderful performance by Annette Bening, but  it didn’t fulfill its promise as one of the year’s best.

8. I really wanted to like Ireland’s animated The Secret of Kells, but it was a snoozer.

9. The German comedy Soul Kitchen had a fun trailer (that contained the actually funny three minutes in the entire film).

10.  Shutter Island:  Marty, what were you thinking?

This week's Movies to See Right Now

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Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg open The Social Network

 

The Social Network is still the top choice in theaters this week. The birth story of Facebook is a riveting tale of college sophomores that are brilliant, ambitious, immature, self-absorbed and disloyal – and about to become zillionaires.  It’s a triumph for actor Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland and Solitary Man), director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War).  It’s already on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

Howl has a fine performance by James Franco, but is marred by an unsuccessful animation.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a light and wry coming-of-age comedy set in a locked psychiatric facility.  It’s good-hearted fluff with a few chuckles and an unexpectedly restrained and  heartfelt performance by Zach Galifianakis.

Without strongly recommending it, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller.  You can skip Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

My DVD of the Week is The Day of the Jackal, like The American, the tale of an international master assassin – only fact-based and even better.  For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include  Mister Roberts, Repo Man and Arsenic and Old Lace, all coming up on TCM.

Another thing that ticks me off about Wall Street

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There is a modest SPOILER in this post.

After thinking so more about Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (and getting more annoyed), I have updated my first assessment of the movie.

The screenplay keeps raising the issue of moral hazard (whether to bail out people from the consequences of risks that they knew they were taking). Yet, at the end, the two flawed main characters each get exactly what they wanted at the beginning of the film despite making risky or evil choices throughout. The movie’s payoff (things turn out OK no matter how badly or foolishly you behaved) is exactly opposite of the movie’s sermonette.

Pretty lame, Oliver Stone.

This week's Movies To See

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Mademoiselle Chambon

Mademoiselle Chambon is the year’s best romance, and very worth seeking out;  The lovers are beautifully acted by Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlaine in two of the very finest performances of the year.  I’m still pushing the hardhitting documentary The Tillman Story. There’s also the George Clooney arty thriller The American. If you can still find them, there are also two excellent crime dramas –  Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Animal Kingdom.  For a date movie, there is the charming and relatively smart romantic comedy Going the Distance.

Without strongly recommending them, I can say that The Town is a satisfying Hollywood thriller and the silly A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop has its moments.  You can skip Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

My DVD of the Week is one of the year’s best so far:  The Ghost Writer.  Don’t miss another of the year’s best, The Secret in Their Eyes either.   For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include lots of good choices:  Seven Days in May, Badlands, Boxcar Bertha, Leave Her to Heaven, Twentieth Century and The Earrings of Madame de…, all coming up on TCM.

If you’re a baseball fan, there’s Ken Burns’ The Tenth Inning on PBS.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

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Again, Oliver Stone makes the movie equivalent of one of those glossy fashion editions – kinda fun to page through, but really nothing there.  But it is glossy.

Stone sets this drama at the onset of the 2008 financial collapse, but really doesn’t have anything much to say about it, other than Josh Brolin’s character is an especially bad man.

Here’s what really ticks me off (modest SPOILER in this paragraph only).  The screenplay keeps raising the issue of moral hazard (whether to bail out people from the consequences of risks that they knew they were taking).  Yet, at the end, the two flawed main characters each get exactly what they wanted at the beginning of the film despite making risky or evil choices throughout.  The movie’s payoff (things will turn out OK no matter how badly or foolishly you behave) is exactly opposite of the movie’s sermonette.

Michael Douglas is excellent in another delicious turn as Gordon Gekko, but he isn’t the main character.  The protagonist is played by Shia LaBeouf. Will someone explain to me why Shia LaBeouf seems to be a movie star?  I just can’t figure it out.

Once again, Carey Mulligan is good as the moral center of the story.  Unfortunately, the power of her performance is undermined by the improbable and inconsistent happy ending.

Another problem is Stone’s use of nuclear fusion as an example of renewable energy that would save the planet if the bad money guys would only invest.  There are very promising alternatives in renewable energy, but fusion ain’t one of them.  It’s an insult to folks who are serious about being Green.

New Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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Edward Norton corrects Edward Norton in Leaves of Grass

I’ve just updated Movies I’m Looking Forward To.  We’ve got Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Howl, The Social Network and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger all coming out in the next two weeks.  Here are some new entries:

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: Woody Allen’s latest comedy about romantic entanglements and human self-delusion. Stars Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin.  Releases October 1.

Tamara Drewe:  Steven Frears (The Queen, The Snapper, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity) brings us a sex comedy.  A writer’s colony in the English countryside is disrupted when a local woman returns with a nose job that has made her into an irresistible hottie.  She enjoys being irresistible.  Releases October 8.

Leaves of Grass:  A college professor is tricked into returning to Oklahoma by his pot-dealing identical twin brother.  Hilarity ensues.  Edward Norton plays both twins.  Strong supporting cast with Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Tim Blake Nelson.  Rolling out slowly across the country.

Tabloid: A reputedly very funny Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Death, Gates of Heaven)  documentary tracing the story of a woman who had her dead dog cloned; it turns out that, years before, she was accused of manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave.  Debuted at Telluride; wide release not yet scheduled.

For trailers, go to Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

New Trailers: Wall Street and Funny Story

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First, the big Hollywood release Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps:  I wasn’t a huge fan of Wall Street, and I’m not a fan of Shia LaBeouf, but this trailer makes the sequel look really good.  Having Carey Mulligan helps.  Michael Douglas’ fine performance in Solitary Man looks to be an excellent tuneup for another turn as Gordon Gekko. Releases September 24.

And now the indie It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It’s a dark comedy set in a locked psychiatric facility by Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar).  It’s hard for me to find humor in psych wards, but I found the trailer to be winning.  Keir Gilchrist stars with Zach Galifianakis and the very promising Emma Roberts.  Also releases September 24.