Based on the bestselling book by Michael Lewis, this movie details the true story of four outsiders who risked everything to take on the big banks during the greatest financial fraud in American history. With just a touch of humor mixed with unbelievable facts, this movie was up for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and one of the top 10 films of 2015.
Violence: None
Sex: Strippers
Language: Yes
With a star studded cast, this film manages to make a movie about banking and the subprime housing market entertaining. McKay wisely puts in asides (when a character addresses you directly about what is going on in a particular scene) that not only provides some humor, but actually helps you understand a certain aspect of what the characters are talking about, like CDO’s, tranches and other esoteric stuff. I’ll admit there are a lot of things going on in this movie that are hard to follow, but the director takes his time and keeps the excitement and suspense slowly build to a satisfying conclusion. I know a whole lot more about the housing market collapse than I did before watching this movie. After seeing this film, I can see why Bernie Sanders appeals to many people. What the banking industry did here was criminal and the fact that we, the taxpayers, were on the hook for the bailout really makes you get hot under the collar. It would almost seem farcical if it weren’t true. The acting is great; especially Steve Carell and Bale’s character has a false eye (CGI) that really creeps you out after awhile. The amazing thing here is that only one person (scapegoat) went to jail over this financial fiasco and you have to ask yourself, “Has anything changed?” -I highly recommend this film for both entertainment and educational purposes.
This is the first BD I have reviewed with DTS:X, which I do not have the ability to decode. Hopefully, I will by the end of this year (as well as reviewing in UHD). That said, the 5.1 sound was articulate and fairly active in the surrounds for a dialog based film. The music was lively and the surrounds really put you in the strip club, or conference rooms. Colors are good as are detail and shadow definition in the interior scenes. This was shot on film and some grain is present throughout, but not distractingly so.
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There is a “housing bubble” of extras with almost 2 hours worth of goodies, including: DVD version, In the Tranches: Casting, The Big Leap with McKay, Unlikely Heroes: The Characters of Big Short, The House of Cards: The Rise of the Fall, Getting Real: Recreating an era and some deleted scenes.
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Besides a DVD and digital copy, there are: In the Tranches: Casting , The Big Leap: Adam McKay, Unlikely Heroes: The Characters of The Big Short, The House of Cards: The Rise of the Fall, Getting Real: Recreating an Era and of course some Deleted Scenes.
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I'd like to see those extras bundled in. This was a very interesting movie especially for those of us who lost over half of our home value in 2007.
It wasn't an easy movie to watch. Much of the "dialogue" was sotto voce and was difficult to hear unless you had the levels turned up to the point where "normal" conversation was at ear-splitting levels. The "aside" comments were necessary to inform the main narrative, but were often simultaneous with the (louder) "normal" dialogue.
That said, I already knew most of the material that was presented in the movie from other movies and from reading. What I hadn't realized, until this movie, was how central the outright fraud of the bond-rating-houses was in bringing on the crisis. To say that Moodys & others were asleep at the wheel is just plain insufficient. They were, in fact, in bed with the Wall Street banks and deliberately gave high credit ratings to derivatives that, if properly investigated, would have been shown as totally worthless. The exaggerated bond ratings were instrumental in creating the bubble.
It's fair to say that many, many employees of the Wall Street banking firms and especially employees of the bond rating houses deserve (richly deserve - pun intended) to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Instead, the US Government bailed them all out using taxpayer money, and they all got rich. Disgusting is too charitable a term. Not a single banker (most of whom were directly causative and culpable in the disaster of 1980) was ever even sent to prison. This was the largest fraud in the history of the world.
The worst part is that the Government didn't learn from the mistake. Even now, banks and bond-rating houses are beginning (again) to package & sell derivatives that consumers can have no idea as to what the contents might be. Regulation to ensure fiscal transparency is grossly overdue.
It makes me worry (with very good cause) about the stability of my investments and the future of the global economy. So despite the difficulties of the movie itself, I recommend it highly. If more people understood, we might get some needed honesty and transparency. Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
Amen, to that.