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May
04

"margin call movie poster"

“You know damn well that you don’t sell anything to anybody unless you know people will come back for more” – words from the movie that perhaps resonates the quality of this film, and yes, Margin Call’s boardroom drama is a seller. Inspired by the US financial and economic collapse of 2008, the film’s writer and director J.C Chandor gives us business uproar at its best as he captures a problematic moment in a large investment bank and puts the spotlight on the people who didn’t know what hit them until it was too late.

 

Margin Call boasts an ensemble cast of characters that included Kevin Spacey (21, American Beauty), Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code, Priest), Jeremy Irons (Die Hard: With A Vengeance), Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci, and all of them are in for a very long night. The movie kicks off with most of the firm’s risk department employees being sent home for good, including Eric Dale (Tucci), the boss of risk analysts Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) and Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley), who was in the middle of working on “something big” when the doors closed in on him. He then passes on his work to Sullivan who completes it and later discovers that the firm faces a Goliath of a problem. And with that, the firm calls in the big players which turned the movie into an uptight “my boss talking to his boss, and then talks to their bosses whose bosses they should call” trend (yes, it’s a large company filled with bosses).

Okay, so let’s go to the interesting point of the movie. Margin Call illustrates the plight of companies and firms whereby lack of vigilance over minor details screws the major picture and eventually leads to an unfortunate “crash and burn” situation. Try imagining 100 people in a small boat in the middle of the ocean. Because they did not pay attention to the size of the boat and kept going for it, they are now facing a crisis – that is, either to cut off the population by getting rid of other people so the boat floats, or make everyone stay until the boat sinks with all of them. Margin Call puts us in a position to observe the reality that can hit corporate salesmen – an angry storm and the people who found no shelter against it.  It’s the silence before the big drop, and with less than 108 minutes to show it, the drama was a success.

 

 

The best thing about Margin Call is that, given the complexity of the business crisis the firm had to face, J.C Chandor did us a favor by pointing the camera not on the paper-works or computer screens that technically project the problem, but on the awe-ridden faces and conversations of the characters where the audience can effectively see what the big deal was all about. That is to say, having to just listen and look at the characters to be able to relate to the movie is way better than to go through a lot of technical terms most of us don’t even understand.

 

J.C Chandor also knows that Margin Call didn’t have a great cast for nothing. Kevin Spacey may have stood above a little bit over the rest but the fact that the acting is something no one can joke about is another great feat of the film. It’s as if there were no actors, only real corporate folks trying to solve their dilemma with a movie camera recording it. The acting is exceptionally realistic. The great depth written all over this movie is a treat no one can ignore, that’s why it is, or should be, a big hit. Wall Street drama? Do it Chandor’s way – no effects, just solid and convincing facial expressions, engaging dialogues (good script), and the profanity for the word “fuck” (that’s right, it came a lot in this movie), which makes things a lot more realistic (let’s face it).

 

Being the great movie that it is, Margin Call gives us a front door view on how money makes the world go round for a western capitalist society and what money can do at the heart of the life of everyone working to earn it.

May
04

 

 

“What’s up with this movie?” These may be the first words to come out of your mouth after watching Tower Heist, director Brett Ratner’s asinine way of portraying an unlikely band of “thieves” you wouldn’t believe in a mission to rob a Wall Street tycoon to set things right – but unlikely may just be the word if humor is incorporated in a heist theme. Written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, Tower Heist is the epitome of “I guess it is okay” entertainment.

 

Ben Stiller (Starsky and Hutch, Meet the Parents) plays the lead guy as Josh Kovacs, the out-and-out services manager of a luxurious and high-class New York apartment holding the most expensive real estate in North America named as The Tower (patterned after the Trump Tower). When the FBI arrested the amiable Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a Wall Street businessman who lives at the penthouse of the building, for committing securities fraud and malversing large amounts of money including the pension funds of the Tower’s employees, things went from “good morning” to “where is my money Josh?”

 

While Detective Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) figures out where the money is hidden, Josh suspects that Shaw stashed a great deal of it inside one of the walls of his penthouse apartment. In order to retrieve the money, Josh plans a heist by assembling a group out of the employees of the Tower including the concierge Charlie Gibbs (Casey Affleck), elevator man Enrique Dev’Reaux (Michael Peña), a broke accountant Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) and Jamaican maid Odessa Montero (Gabourey Sidibe) with the Tower’s doorman Lester (Stephen Henderson), and Slide (Eddie Murphy), a loudmouth thief to do the job.

About 30 to 40 minutes into the movie, you get nothing but blue-collar clichés. Let’s have it upfront, the movie offers nothing new or big other than a story which is not that bad for action-comedy, and a fresh re-introduction of Eddie Murphy who apparently stole the show (no pun intended). It’s like that Ocean’s Eleven movie you are watching, except with a very simple robbery plan and a bunch of incompetent wannabe thieves. The portrayal of the story itself is not that great. There were hints to subplots that were abandoned i.e. the seemingly growing romantic interest of Josh on Claire, and the fact that Josh and Arthur, including Slide, grew up in one neighborhood.

Keeping a keen eye on the events that came about in Tower Heist, there were things that don’t really happen in real life. For one is that a car made out of gold is not that easy to pull or to dangle at the top of a very tall tower. Another is that a court hearing cannot be rescheduled on the command of a character like that of Josh Kovacs, although Brett Ratner did not show us exactly how the court date was moved. Want another one? How about the FBI believing that the court is open on Thanksgiving? They’re the FBI for goodness’ sakes. Or the fact that an FBI agent can be bribed that easily by a fresh lawyer? It sure as hell isn’t that easy. If you plan on jumping in front of a speeding subway train, but before you can even jump a cop pulls you off the rail, will you really end up in the hospital as if you got hurt or injured like what happened to Lester in this movie?

 

I wish Brett Ratner wasn’t that selfish in giving details to the heist process. The ending seemed rushed. A heist movie with the five W’s is trash if the “how” is missing. The audience is left guessing as to how the car ended up in the swimming pool, or, again, how the court date was moved, or how the car was dismembered into pieces and taken out of the building without anyone noticing. And what the heck happened to Simon?!

 

There were many holes, yes, but that doesn’t mean Tower Heist is a terrible waste of 85 million dollars. The humor worked. Eddie Murphy was finally set free from his trend of characters that didn’t really suit him, like that in Dr. Dolittle, or in Meet Dave. His ragtag, villainous, and blabber master character in this movie is hilarious and is way better than any role he played for the last ten years. Although Eddie Murphy’s character Slide was not meant to be the main focus of the film, being a non-essential role as it is, it is still great to see a flash of the old time comedy Murphy used to bring to the table.

 

Ben Stiller is still the Ben Stiller we know, and it goes without saying, he never slacks off in any character he plays – he deserves the lead role. A fresh light was shone upon Michael Peña as the dimwit member of the gang (that “ski caps instead of ski masks” crack was outrageous!), but the rest of the cast wasn’t that great in the supporting charter, except maybe for Matthew Broderick whose minimal peck on his Fitzhugh character paid off .

 

With a sloppy storyline that borders absurdity and a poor presentation for details, a lot of things went wide off the mark for Tower Heist, but with ridiculous humor that can make anyone laugh, a lot of things also went right – Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy really saved the day. Give it your opinion, but Tower Heist is exactly in the middle of five stars.

 

Feb
27

Here are the 84th Academy Awards winners.

Winners are highlighted.

 

Best Picture

 

 

  • The Artist – Thomas Langmann
  • The Descendants – Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, and Alexander Payne
  • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin
  • The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, and Michael Barnathan
  • Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese
  • Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum
  • Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Brad Pitt
  • The Tree of Life – Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, and Bill Pohlad
  • War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy

Best Director

 

 

  • Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
  • Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
  • Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
  • Alexander Payne – The Descendants
  • Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Best Actor

 

 

  • Demián Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo
  • George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King
  • Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
  • Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley
  • Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane

Best Actress

 

 

  • Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs
  • Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark
  • Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander
  • Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
  • Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

Best Supporting Actor

 

 

  • Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier
  • Jonah Hill – Moneyball as Peter Brand
  • Nick Nolte – Warrior as Paddy Conlon
  • Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields
  • Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as The Renter

Best Supporting Actress

 

 

  • Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson
  • Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller
  • Jessica Chastain – The Help as Celia Foote
  • Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids as Megan Price
  • Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs as Hubert Page

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

 

 

  • The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
  • Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
  • Margin Call – J.C. Chandor
  • Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
  • A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

 

 

  • The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash from The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
  • Hugo – John Logan from The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
  • The Ides of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon from Farragut North by Beau Willimon
  • Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin from Moneyball by Michael Lewis
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

Best Animated Feature

 

 

  • Rango – Gore Verbinski
  • A Cat in Paris – Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
  • Chico and Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
  • Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson
  • Puss in Boots – Chris Miller

Best Foreign Language Film

  • A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi
  • Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French – Michaël R. Roskam
  • Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew – Joseph Cedar
  • In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland
  • Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French – Philippe Falardeau

Best Documentary – Feature

  • Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, and Richard Middlemas
  • Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
  • If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
  • Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
  • Pina – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

Best Documentary – Short Subject

  • The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
  • God Is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
  • Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
  • Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
  • The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Best Live Action Short Film

  • Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
  • Raju – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
  • The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George
  • Time Freak – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
  • Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø

Best Animated Short Film

  • Dimanche – Patrick Doyon
  • The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
  • La Luna – Enrico Casarosa
  • A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
  • Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Best Original Score

 

 

  • The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams
  • The Artist – Ludovic Bource
  • Hugo – Howard Shore
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
  • War Horse – John Williams

Best Original Song

 

 

  • “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
  • “Real in Rio” from Rio – Sérgio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett

Best Sound Editing

 

 

  • Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
  • Drive – Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
  • War Horse – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Best Sound Mixing

 

 

  • Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson
  • Moneyball – Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, and Ed Novick
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin
  • War Horse – Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson

Best Art Direction

 

 

  • Hugo – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
  • The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan
  • Midnight in Paris – Anne Seibel and Hélène Dubreuil
  • War Horse – Rick Carter and Lee Sandales

Best Cinematography

 

 

  • Hugo – Robert Richardson
  • The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
  • The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
  • War Horse – Janusz Kamiński

Best Makeup

 

 

  • The Iron Lady – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
  • Albert Nobbs – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson, and Matthew W. Mungle
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, and Lisa Tomblin

Best Costume Design

 

 

  • The Artist – Mark Bridges
  • Anonymous – Lisy Christl
  • Hugo – Sandy Powell
  • Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
  • W.E. – Arianne Phillips

Best Film Editing

 

 

  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
  • The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
  • The Descendants – Kevin Tent
  • Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
  • Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

Best Visual Effects

 

 

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson
  • Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning
  • Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, and Swen Gillberg
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, and John Frazier

Haven’t watched all the movies yet? The DVDs are on sale at Amazon.com.

Feb
12

Whitney Houston has died, according to msnbc.com. She was 48.

 

Publicist Kristen Foster said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard.”

Rest In Peace Whitney.

Aug
30

Spoilers:

Other season:

Jun
24

Jun
08

Jun
08

May
18

Last night’s The Voice features the continuation of the so-called battle rounds. So how did it go?

TV Fanatic: Having selected their “teams,” each coach must pick two teammates and challenge them to a duet.

At the end of the song, a winner is picked and the loser goes home.

This format, which featured one battle from each coach’s team last night, will continue for several weeks until each team is left with only four members.

At THAT point, the remaining 16 singers will duke it out American Idol style. Last week, four singers advanced, with four more moving on last night.

To check the episode review for The Voice last week, you can visit this site!

You can check other The Voice Season 1 Reviews & Spoilers HERE.

May
11