The Big Short

Drowned in their own ambitions. The creators want so much to be the authors of a gripping wake-up call that they are almost unwatchable at their core. All the economic ranting lacks the bigger dramatic arc that propelled, for example, The Wolf of Wall Street, which the screenwriters obviously adore (evidenced not least by the ubiquitous and overly aggressive satire). Some personal stories make brief appearances here too, but due to the dilution of attention among the dozens involved, they vanish into oblivion. I understand that if you're going to discuss economics and mortgages for over two hours in a hundred and one different ways, we will have to immerse ourselves in professional terminology, but we still didn't really need that many. The constant dissection of more and more future financial catastrophes is downright tiring in the final act, it doesn't move the plot forward and merely redirects it into a screenwriter's twist it has already taken several times before. It's been a while since I was last this bothered over actors (in this case, the chameleonic Christian Bale and explosive Steve Carell) performing at full steam without managing to interest me in the consequences of their characters' actions. (06/01/2016)

A screenwriting masterclass. A fantastic slap in the face of the greedy capitalist system of hard-core, savage financial jungle led by scummy Gordon Geckos, an economy without regulation and feedback controls. No other film in the last 10 years has shown better how the invisible hand of the market is ripping our asses off, that a few individuals can profit handsomely from your misery thanks to the greedy policies of the banks, that we are somehow to blame for everything, thanks to our indifference, and that everything will be borne financially by the common folk of the middle and lower classes. And as the closing credits show, history unfortunately repeats itself and will continue to repeat itself as long as man lives. (27/04/2016)

Bombastic! An atomic bomb. The horror of a mortgage in its most nightmarish form. And again emerges my favorite topic, dumb and irresponsible people. I don’t want to pretend that I understood everything, no way. And Margot Robbie in the bath was more distracting than helpful in explaining, but I have a feeling that fundamentally it isn’t so complicated after all. Good old untruths and lies. In terms of acting, The Big Short is wholesome, from Bale thru Pitt. Everyone wrings out the maximum from their role, Steve Carell dominates again (where was he all those years when dramas were knocking on the door?), he rediscovered himself in this movie. Adam McKay was a surprise. The end of the American dream presented with humor and tension. You have to see it more than once. (07/02/2016)

For me, the plot of The Big Short revolves too much around mortgages and banks. It lacks the playfulness and lightheartedness of The Wolf of Wall Street, which would be entertaining even if you saw it in Chinese. When the final credits informed us of “Where are they now” in text only, without photos of the characters, the names weren’t enough for me to know who these people were. But the actors were great, and I was the most surprised by Steve Carell, who seems to be transitioning from light comedies into character acting. (07/01/2016)

A Little bit like Margin Call, a little bit like The Wolf of Wall Street, a little bit like John Oliver... Pell-mell, which holds together despite all assumptions and the creators do not play it safe. On the contrary, McKay has a nicely subversive and viewer-friendly approach to a topic that is difficult to grasp. His approach is perhaps too inconsistent (but thanks to this, it is exceptionally dynamic) and where "each of the great cast" steals a show for some time, but as a result, he managed to make a film that sheds light on the financial crisis in such a way that it works both dramatically and comedically (in the best moments even within the same scene) and, in addition, it was understandable even to those who have no idea what financial market is about. (16/01/2016)