The Big Short

Adam McKay whose previous work I would never watch – Anchorman, Step Brothers truly hit it out of the park with the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book on the 2008 financial crash, The Big Short. How do you make something depressing, confusing and downright boring (numbers) entertaining? With a really smart script with clipped pacing including breaking the fourth wall several times to explain overwhelming financial concepts. Add a stellar cast including Steve Carrell, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Jeremy Strong, Rafe Spall, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Melissa Leo, Marisa Tomei, and even Selena Gomez. I can feel the Oscar buzz already – Best Picture, Director, Editing nominations at least. I know a movie’s great when the subject matter doesn’t interest me yet I am wow-ed by the picture. Truly outstanding indictment on the greed, fraud, corruption and deceit from Wall Street and the banking industry. 5 out of 5 for The Big Short. A must-see.

Carol

I can’t imagine anyone else directing the Patricia Highsmith adaptation of her novel, The Price of Salt. Todd Haynes was born to create Carol. Every moment in Carol quietly tells the simple story of two people falling in love. Problem is it’s the 1950’s and the characters are women. It’s not just that Carol is married with a child and Therese has a boyfriend. What they are doing is considered a mental illness and worse – illegal. If found, their lives could be ruined and they could face jail time. Let the melodrama ensue. Yet Haynes steers clear of classic melodrama preferring to paint Carol with subtler strokes allowing the complications of their love story to contain the drama. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are luscious as the opposites-attract couple. Cate’s Carol is older and sophisticated. Rooney’s Therese is fresh and awkward. Carol’s best friend and ex-lover Sarah Paulson’s Abby adds a depth and sophistication to the secondary characters unfortunately missing in Carol’s in-laws and the men at the Times. In the end, Carol is gorgeous, heart-breaking, and dreamily paced. Carol is the antithesis of big budget Hollywood romcoms where every moment has to jolt you, make you LOL. Carol is studied, provocative, and delicious. I want to watch it again on the small screen when the Blu-ray gets released. It’s great seeing a lesbian love story given the full Hollywood treatment. 4.5 out of 5 for this instant classic.

12/26/2018: Finally did watch the Blu-ray of Carol and it’s better and more beautiful the second time around. Featuring breathtaking collaboration in Carter Burwell’s music, Edward Lachman’s cinematography, Jesse Rosenthal’s art direction, Heather Loeffler’s set decoration, and Sandy Powell’s costumes. Carol is director Todd Haynes at his finest. Add Phyllis Nagy’s outstanding script making Carol an easy upgrade to a 5 out of 5. What was I thinking?

Transparent Contempt for Dyke Culture (Liberation Collective)

Great commentary from Karen Thompson – a real eye-opener on the flaws of the Transparent episode, Man on the Land where Maura and her daughters attend the women’s music festival. From my vantage point, I focused on the positive aspects mentioned at the end of the article as well as the fact I felt the writers were placing an important iconic lesbian event in fictional television history. I also thought this episode managed to prove no matter where she falls on the gender spectrum, Maura continues to be self-absorbed and never let’s go of her white male privilege. I pride myself on feeling like I am sensitive to dyke culture and to the double invisibility factor that often comes with being female and queer. The article reminded me I always have more to learn. So read on Reel Charlie followers. From Liberation Collective,

Which was one of central liberatory aspects of Festival for me.

(2) The sheer scale of the place. We were thousands. We were legion. This wasn’t a handful of whatevs. We are a city. We are a people. We are a culture.

And yes, I get it. TV. Budgets. There is only so much. But DAMN. Undermining our decades.

(3) The yelling “MAN ON THE LAND” which, as we all know, no one fucking does like a chain but as a beep beep of vehicles.

So once again, no one is fucking seeing the WHERE and WHY and HISTORY of why that had to be done. And no one is talking about the threat of men coming on the land with guns, or hanging barbie dolls in trees in Gaia, or any of the spray painting of dyke that we had to cover up. The leering at naked bodies. The reality of male violence that made that rapid alert system necessary.

Read the entire piece from Karen Thompson.
Hat tip to Uncle Barb for always pointing me to more knowledge and a better understanding of the world.

 

Black Mirror: S3 E1 (Merry Christmas)

Watched the phenomenally wicked tech-suspense British 21st Century Twilight Zone-ish Black Mirror last night. I have yet to blog about the first two seasons. Last night I caught their brand-new Christmas special on Netflix, White Christmas starring Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Rafe Spall (Timothy’s son) and Oona Chaplin (daughter of Geraldine and great-granddaughter of Charlie). Black Mirror is in a word – phenomenal. Wait I already used that word. Black Mirror is stupendous. It takes twisted fairy tale sort of stories, places them in the near future, and adds just enough future technology to make you go wow. Each episode orbits in a completely different universe. I’ll be reviewing S1 and S2 in the very near future. For now, 5 out of 5 for the very special Merry Christmas from the phenomenal Black Christmas. Happy 2016.