Blaine: I was thinking about seeing “The Big Short” in theaters, but my parents told me it’s all talk and I don’t like sitting through those kind of movies in the theater. I did grow an anticipation for it while I was waiting for it to be released on blu-ray. I rented it from Redbox after it’s release and I thought it was ok the first time, but it’s one of those movies that took it’s time to grow on me. I liked it more the second time than the first. I also like Adam McKay’s work from “Anchorman” to “The Other Guys” and others and I’m amazed how different “The Big Short” is compared to the films he has made in the past. It’s also a drama with some of Adam’s humor added to it. After seeing “The Big Short”, I realized that Adam can make serious movies too and not just comedies.
Plot
Four outsiders predict the financial collapse and housing bubble crisis and they find a way to bet against the big banks and win.
Blaine: I was already liking Christian Bale’s character, Michael Burry when I was doing my research on “The Big Short” because this is a guy who has it easy except at the end when the collapse actually happens. He doesn’t have to wear a suit at his job, he can wear whatever clothes he wants and he can do whatever he wants in his office like listen to rock music, brush his teeth, exercise as long as he’s doing his job by making money. He does wear a suit when he goes to meetings. Michael says he feels more comfortable alone and I 100% agree with him on that because I feel the same way about myself. Even though I have friends that tell me I’m not a loner, I think I really am. If I was Michael Burry I’d be a very happy man.
I also like Steve Carell’s character, Mark Baum. He’s been described as someone who is the fiery guy, an unlikely hero and a guy who is harder on himself than anyone else. If he has something to say he spits it out. What I like about him is that he’s not afraid to speak up either for himself or about what’s on his mind. Adam McKay had already worked with Steve Carell in the past and he knew Steve is a good actor, but after he saw him in “Foxcatcher” he was blown away. Adam said that Steve may have been the biggest surprise of the whole movie to him because of the performance Steve gave as Mark. Steve even pushed himself take after take to really do his best.
It’s kind of hard for me to understand what the people are saying in this movie some of the time when they are discussing business.
My dad is always complaining about how some historic movies like “Argo” have scenes that have scenes that aren’t based on fact. But there’s a scene in “The Big Short” where Finn Wittrock’s character, Jamie Shipley is saying what really happened about how they learned that the housing market was a bubble and would end up crashing. He looks at the camera and explains that they actually learned about the housing bubble another way, but they showed them figuring it out looking at some charts while they were being told to leave a bank’s lobby. I have never seen a scene like that in a movie before and I think that is very clever.
Adam read the book and thought it was one of the best books he read. He even said he read the whole book in an entire night. He didn’t believe he could make it because although there are some comic parts to this movie, it is essentially a serious story and in the past he is known for comedies. But because no one else was making it he finally decided to take the chance to make it himself. And he had a passion to make it and that’s the number one thing I love about filmmakers, their passion to make the movies they really want to make.
“The Big Short” has a tragic ending even though the main characters succeed. A lot of people lose their jobs and houses and that made the people who succeeded feel terrible.
My rating on “The Big Short” is five out o five.
Awards
“The Big Short” won Adam McKay his first oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay along with his co-writer, Charles Randolph. I was very happy for Adam winning an oscar because I like him. It also won the Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Comedy, Christian Bale. The Ensemble Cast Award at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Jeremy Strong and Finn Wittrock at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival
