Skip to main content

The Big Short

Image result for the big short hd poster

The Big Short is a facetious (in a good way) biopic from director Adam McKay that focuses on a few financial experts' discovery of the US housing bubble in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. It is based on the book by Michael Lewis (also the author of the books Moneyball and The Blind Side).

The film has a star-studded cast with Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt in pivotal roles, all of whom deliver brilliant performances (I would expect nothing less).

Image result for the big short hd posterThe highlight of the film, however, is not the actors' performances, but the unique screenplay from McKay. Analogies (with dramatic graphics) prevail to explain esoteric concepts like subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations in a lucid way. To make things even better, McKay has brought in a wide array of celebrities - actress Margot Robbie, chef Anthony Bourdain, singer Selena Gomez and economist Richard Thaler - to present the explanations, while directly addressing the audience. Gosling too, who is also the narrator, interacts with the audience throughout the film, providing a background to what's going on. These interactions add a nice, personal touch that make the film almost like a presentation at parts.


And finally, the humor. The way in which the story has been told is, in itself, supposed to be amusing (like I said, facetious). McKay has exploited the ignorance of the big banks, media and government to his advantage. The dramatic graphics in the explanations and elsewhere further add to the comedy. These elements give the movie a very satirical feel.

Overall, The Big Short is a very informative, very understandable, very funny and accurate biopic with a star-studded cast that, most importantly, informs the audience unabashedly of what really led to the crash in 2008. There's not much else that you could ask for.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Favourite

I absolutely loved The Favourite . Director Yorgos Lanthimos is truly a genius. All three actresses too - Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz - have delivered impeccable performances. The screenplay is written in such a way that the quirks and characteristics of the characters are implicitly conveyed to the audience lucidly. Many scenes were riveting and powerful, and you could see how the characters' actions were justified by strong ulterior motives. This adds a sinister feel to the whole movie, which is amplified by an apt music score (which can be noticed in the trailer as well) in the background. Another unique feature of the film was that it presented in chapters, making it seem like a series of significant events being shown. Furthermore, the cinematography and editing is fantastic. An example of it that I especially liked was that in parts, Lanthimos has superimposed different components of a scene, which are happening concomitantly, over each other, highlig...

Bohemian Rhapsody

Calling all Queen fans! Bohemian Rhapsody is a fitting tribute to legendary performer and the lead singer of the band Queen, Freddie Mercury. The film does a great job in portraying the ups and downs of Mercury's life. The background is always indicative of the mood in the scene. Director Bryan Singer (and Dexter Fletcher who finished the film after Singer was fired midway) recreates Mercury's exuberance on stage and has made sure that the audience experiences it as though they were there. Some of Queen's greatest hits are played intermittently as transitions, making the flow from scene to scene mellifluously smooth. Rami Malek's performance is stunning. He has done extremely well to get into character and portray Mercury's idiosyncrasies and emanate his confidence on stage, and otherwise (not to mention the big fake teeth!). An Oscar-worthy performance perhaps? Now, I'm not here to separate the fact from the fiction. The movie is not the most acc...

Tenet

Tenet  is epic. Great action. A unique idea, leading to an intriguing concept. Brilliant execution. Brimming with ambitiousness. Nothing uncharacteristic of a typical Christopher Nolan film. I could not have asked for any more as far as the writing and direction go. The film maintains a relentless intensity throughout, while giving the audience just enough time to savor the stunning visual idiosyncrasies that arise when chronology is redefined, making it breathtaking in every way. This gives it a feel that closely resembles that of Inception . Nolan has coordinated every aspect of the film fastidiously to make it as enthralling as it could possibly be. John David Washington plays his character with a distinct suavity (kind of a hybrid between James Bond and Indiana Jones) that is not unlike his role in Blackkklansman . Robert Pattinson plays the sort of character that you would expect to have seen him play, but have not actually ever seen him play. The both of them fit in suitably....