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Margin Call: Movie Review

Angel Baker — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:34:18 +0000

First time feature length director, J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call has all the trappings of a big hit: it’s star-studded and ominous; its topic is potent and relevant, especially in the “Occupy Wall Street” days. But Margin Call is lacking one critical factor: consequence. No one truly fails in this film. Sure, executives lose their jobs but with their severances the tragedy of termination is more like winning the lottery. We never see the outcome of the bloodbath. What Margin Call does well, however, is intimately portray some very wealthy people sweat, chew steak, and justify their position with cleverly worded speeches.

The Players:

Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer: J.C. Chandor
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci

The Plot:

Set amidst a massive layoff of financial suits in 2008 New York, a young analyst (Zachary Quinto) breaks a code that further unravels an already questionably shady investment firm. Over a span of roughly 24 hours, low level analysts to top executives are caught in the revelation that this discovery will forever change their lives and the history of the financial industry.

The Good:

The Human Factor: Kevin Spacey’s Sam Rogers is deeply conflicted about his work. He is controlled by the money and he hates himself and his boss (played by Jeremy Irons) for it. He is the rally man that delivers great motivating speeches to get product off the floor. At night, though, in the quiet, he is a human. Even as cliched at that might sound, Spacey brings a softness to Rogers that benefits the film. It would be too easy to be disgusted by every cast member for their greed. His duality about his role in selling something of absolutely no value (and massive amounts of it) balances the a-emotional John Tuld (Irons) and Jared Cohen (Simon Baker).
The Rocket Scientist: Peter Sullivan (Quinto) got into the financial industry because, in his words, it pays better than being a rocket scientist. This unassuming, but mathematically brilliant character gets a hold of the formula started by Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) and because of his reverence for his recently terminated boss, spends a night getting all the numbers to add up. What he doesn’t know is that this revelation will start a whirlwind of chaos and secret late night meetings that will cost the country obscene amounts of money. Quinto plays the analyst almost like a savant – he wants human connection but digs into the number crunching. In a scene where he delivers the news about the formula to the top dog, Quinto is great. Sullivan is calm when the rest of the room is quivering around him. It’s as though he truly doesn’t understand that in this world the sky is falling.
The Pace: Margin Call is fast on its feet. There are no wasted moments. There are some wordy diatribes (e.g. Sam Emerson (Paul Bettany) explaining how he spent millions of dollars on houses, cars, hookers, and booze is noteworthy) but they fit here. These people sell – they sell products, they sell themselves, and they sell artificial reality to allow themselves to sleep at night.

The Bad:

The Stakes: Margin Call doesn’t spend enough time playing out the consequences of the choices that are made in the film. The only real option presented is to sell all the product (essentially a bundle of vapor) or to go belly up. Maybe two lines are devoted to what that might mean to the world outside the building. In the universe of this picture, the only thing that stands to be lost is capital. For the players here, who take helicopters to work and show up to 2:00 a.m. meetings in perfectly pressed suits, there isn’t a reason to have a whole lot of sympathy if their salary has six instead of seven zeroes when the day is done.
Irons’ Up Close Chewing: Jeremy Irons’ John Tuld, the swift thinking, financial-tea-leaf reading head of a firm that deals in dollar figures in the trillions, is believably genius. We buy that he made himself from his talent to predict the unpredictable. He’s a decisive, heartless autocrat. He shows us that in so many ways throughout the film that in the morning aftermath of the all-night battle, Chandor’s choice to have him feast on steak just feels unnecessary. Yes, one way to portray his level of distance is to give him a tranquil penthouse sunrise setting while the madness carries on below, but at this point, Tuld has already established that he will stop at nothing to survive. The speech over half chewed steak is overkill following an otherwise remarkable and subtle performance.

Overall:

While it’s not as much of an edge-of-your-seat thriller as it’s billed, Margin Call sets a swift pace and doesn’t muddy itself up with over explanation as to how the financial crisis occurred. Rather, the film gives weight to the decision-makers behind the crisis and how they chose to ignore the data (however complicated or simple it may have been) and the rationalizations they told their underlings to keep up morale behind a curtain of smoke and mirrors.

Rating: 7/10

Margin Calls hits theaters October 21st.

Margin Call trailer

New Priest Trailer promises Vampire War

Damon Houx — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:41:28 +0000

Coming out May 13, Priest is going to be there at the start of the summer season. Paul Bettany will be doing battle with the forces of evil (aka Vampires) to protect his kin. There’s a lot of throwing stars and fighting involved, and the latest trailer also promises Cam Gigandet and Christopher Plummer. What more can you ask for from a Summer movie? Unknown. Check out the new trailer…

Priest has already been pushed back four times, and went through a troubled production, so I’m sure everyone’s happy to finally have the film hitting theaters. Little seen in the trailer are female stars Lily Collins and Maggie Q, nor any Karl Urban, who also appears in the film. Weird.

This is director Scott Charles Stewart‘s second film with Bettany in a similar territory – they both did Legion together. That also had supernatural asskickery.

If this film is just action sequences of priests using kung fu and elaborate weapons to fight off vampires, then I would bet that this might be better than its schedule changes would suggest. But this is also going to be a low budget type of affair where many of the money shots will be in the trailer. Bettany came close to being a real A-lister, but he’s taken his lumps, and now seems to have moved in to character acting, and being a B movie lead. At one point he was almost the lead in Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps that was a bullet dodged for everyone.

Will you see Priest this summer?

Sundance 2011: Margin Call Review and Video Review

Mali Elfman — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:31:40 +0000

Jason Reitman showed us both the business and human(e) side of lay-offs, showing us the state of the average worker, yet somehow managing to give us hope. W. showed us the ridiculousness of the Bush administration while George W. Bush while still in office. Fair Game showed us in a thriller how the truth is often lost in big corporations… And many more followed, all making statements about the problems in our country, many of them while the events in the film are still being played out or discussed in real life. So where does J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call fall?

The Players:

Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer: J.C. Chandor
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci
Cinematography By: Frank G. DeMarco
Original Music By: Nathan Larson

Review:

The biggest problem with this film is that it doesn’t differentiate itself enough from other economic disaster films in any interesting or thought-provoking way. The film takes a looks at the world of an investment firm during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis, but doesn’t really give us anything new to understand, merely shows us what happened. To add to that, it doesn’t fulfill its requirements as a “dramatic thriller” that it calls itself, it’s more of a slow moving, surface level explanation. We’ve been inundated with this kind of film for the past few years because people need to know why.

Margin Call is Up in the Air without the humor, W. without the political commentary or timeliness, Casino Jack without the tension or the humor, Fair Games without the suspense or strong message, The Company Men without the personal, human relationships… So what it is?

The thing that all of these films have in common is that they either teach us something new about our current state, give us hope, or show us new information that may have led to our current situation or that is currently causing our situation. Margin Call shows us something that happened, in a somewhat interesting way, with no real message, very little humor and almost no tension (for the audience).

It does however provide an inside look at big business and the chance to understand why certain decisions are made. What this film did well is show you that everyone is somehow to blame, and that one’s office superior’s know one thing, how to get out of a bad situation with as much money as possible — they’re not the ones running the company.

What was most interesting about this film is watching how big companies fall into the ladder system… Every time that someone was able to try and do something to predict what was going to happen or try to save the day, they get a piece of information the push it up the ladder and then people are scared of what it means and twist into something new so that they don’t get screwed (which almost always screws them). We see a long line of bosses, all of which first appear to be an asshole, but eventually we somehow come around to understand their rationale. As soon as that happens, the problem gets pushed up the ladder again, and we get to see another aspect of big business. No one ever solves the problem and the people who do are fired.

The best moment in this film is Jeremy Iron’s final monologue. It summarizes the meaning of everything you’ve just watched without appearing cliched and gives us some kind of reasonable rationale to big business (bare in mind that I said reasonable, not humane, intelligent or morally right.) Kevin Spacey did a great job of stepping aside and letting the other actors take center stage. Zachary Quinto gave a solid performance, though I couldn’t stop starring at his overly perfect eyebrows.

Overall:

The cast was impressive part of this film and probably the number one reason to see it. It does provide you with some god information, just not necessarily the most interesting.

Rating: 6/10

Though not everyone agreed with me, fellow co-writer Brendan Walsh had some other thoughts…

Video:

Sundance 2011: Photos and Info For Dramatic Thriller ‘Margin Calls’

Mali Elfman — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:50:55 +0000

One of the highly anticipated film at this years Sundance Film Festival is first time writer/director J.C. Chandor’s film Margin Calls, a dramatic thriller about an the economic collapse in 2008 and a group of financial investor 24-hours below everything fell apart. The film boosts an all-star cast of Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore and was produced by actor Zachary Quinto’s production company, Before The Door Pictures.

There’s no doubt that this will be one of the heavy-hitters that will soon find a home in theaters across America. Find out more about the film and see some of the first promotional photos to hit the web below…

Official Synopsis:

Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is a thriller entangling the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. When entry-level analyst Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster. Expanding the parameters of genre, Margin Call is a riveting examination of the human components of a subject too often relegated to partisan issues of black and white.

Propelled by a stellar cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, and Demi Moore, writer/director JC Chandor’s enthralling first feature is a stark and bravely authentic portrayal of the financial industry and its denizens as they confront the decisions that shape our global future.

Official Photos:

What do you think of the film?

Priest Theatrical Trailer – Paul Bettany Gets Angry

Krystal Clark — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:58:00 +0000

Paul Bettany’s done fighting angels in Legion, and chasing Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in The Tourist, he’s ready to stake some vampires! The British actor appears in the new theatrical trailer for his summer action film Priest, which is based on the Tokyo Pop comic book of the same name. Check out the new trailer below…

Priest is set in an alternate world world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece. Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

The film is directed by Scott Stewart who also helmed Legion, and it co-stars Karl Urban, Maggie Q (“Nikita“), Cam Gigandet, Stephen Moyer (“True Blood“), Madchen Amick, and Christopher Plummer.

Priest opens in theaters everywhere on May 13, 2011.

What do you think of the theatrical trailer for Priest? Are you excited to see the film?

Source: Yahoo Movies

VOTD: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie in The Tourist Bloopers

Krystal Clark — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:38:28 +0000

Like many of you, we were shocked when this year’s Golden Globe nominees were announced. The Best Musical or Comedy category has been under a lot of scrutiny because of the inclusion of Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, and their film The Tourist. Who knew that the movie was funny or full of great songs? Apparently, it was filled with laughs, but unfortunately most of them were caught off camera and came at the expense of co-star Paul Bettany. Take a look…

This footage originally aired as a special segment on Entertainment Tonight, and was re-posted online via ScreamingAngie11 on YouTube. It looks like the actors really had a lot of fun behind the scenes, with Mr. Bettany being the butt of most of their jokes. It’s always great to see such serious actors lighten up every now and again, but this video would have been ten times better if there was a surplus of Timothy Dalton in it. Did you see his outtakes from Hot Fuzz? To call them hilarious would be an understatement.

What do you think of the outtakes from The Tourist? Do you think the movie and actors deserve their Golden Globe nods?

The Tourist: Movie Review

Mali Elfman — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:00:09 +0000

It’s time for some pretty people blowing up pretty places in The Tourist! Luckily for us, the film is actually a bit better than the average run of the mill sexy, action adventure and is entertaining enough to keep you interested the whole way through despite it not being in any way, shape, or form original or surprising. But it is fun and easy for the whole family to go and see if you’re too afraid to see one of the best films of the year also coming out this weekend, The Fighter. But hey, some people like photo shoots with acting…

Players:

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Writer: Julian Fellowes, Christopher McQuarrie, Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Actors: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Rufus Sewell
Original Music by: James Newton Howard
Cinematography by: John Seale

The Plot:

An American tourist (Depp) visits Italy to mend a broken heart, but crosses paths with a female Interpol agent (Jolie) who plans to use him as her pawn. Soon the tourist finds himself in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger.

The Good:

It’s Pretty: Beautiful shots, beautiful locations, beautiful people… it’s a whole lot a pretty going on everywhere you look. It’s not exactly a challenge to make Venice, Italy and two of the best looking people in the world look good, but they still deserve some mention for doing so.
Self-Aware: The last line in the film (don’t worry I won’t spoil anything) about Depp’s face not only wraps up the movie but is very much said with a wink to the audience. I thought it was rather accurate that when Jolie enters ANY room, all the men around her ogle her with their eyes. The film seemed to know what it was and who the people in it were, which made it a little bit easier to swallow.
Supporting Cast: The way they used Rufus Sewell was brilliant. He’s the one good surprise that I didn’t see coming and was well cast and used in the movie. Paul Bettany and Timothy Dalton both put in great performances and as predicted raised the bar on the level of acting in the film.
The Pace: Often times film’s like these lose their pacing about half-way through, but despite my pessimistic behavior walking into the theater the film managed to keep me interested throughout.

The Bad:

Cliche Upon Cliche: From the English baddy to the convenient romance to the random dance sequence — think of every espionage thriller cliche over the past 50 years and it’s in this film. There’s literally nothing original about it and the twist is good, but predictable.
Time for a Music Number: There are two places in the film where the music really fails. One is the random song choice used instead of keeping with the score and the second is the dance number which goes with my cliche comment.
Predictable: It’s so incredibly easy to see where this film is going from 20 minutes in. Though there are a few decent twists there aren’t nearly enough surprises or suspense for a film like this.

Overall:

This is a pretty film and not entirely disappointing, but there are far better espionage movies out there and far better ones with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. It’s an easy flick to watch and is entertaining enough to keep your attention, but that’s about the highest praise I can give it.

Rating: 5.5/10

The Tourist in theaters December 10, 2010!

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Will you go to see the film?

The Tourist Cast Interviews: Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Timothy Dalton

Mali Elfman — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:00:52 +0000

The people that make The Tourist more than just an A-list extravaganza, but a solid film throughout is the stellar supporting cast of Englishmen which include Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Timothy Dalton. These three men are the muscle behind every move and none of them disappoint on screen or in the brief interview clips that we have for you below. Check them out and see for yourselves…

Paul Bettany:

Timothy Dalton:

Rufus Sewell:

The story of the film centers on an American Tourist (Depp) visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise (Jolie) is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. Against the breathtaking backdrop of Venice, Frank pursues a potential romance but soon finds himself the pursued as he and Elise are caught in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger.

Of course, none of the leads would be able to get caught up in the choas if it wasn’t for our find supporting actors!

Check them all out in The Tourist hitting theaters on December 10th.

Comic-Con 2010: Priest Cast – A Funny Bunch from a Serious Movie

Krystal Clark — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:26:25 +0000

Update: Be sure to check out the first poster of Karl Urban as the villain, Black Hat.

After multiple delays and a 3D conversion, Screen Gems upcoming Manga adaptation Priest has made its way to San Diego Comic-Con. The film is officially scheduled to hit theaters on May 13, 2011 and reunites director Scott Stewart with his Legion star Paul Bettany. Today we took part in the official roundtable interviews for the film that not only featured Bettany and Stewart but co-stars Maggie Q, Karl Urban, and yes Cam Gigandet from Twilight.

The entire event was light and funny. Bettany was hilarious and his young son (who was in the room) came up to him in the middle of the interview and gave him a big kiss! It was very sweet. Later on Stewart was speaking and Bettany came over after he left the table and interrupted to ask the director a question. It was very loose and relaxed. Do you want to hear the other unexpected surprises that popped up? Take a listen…

Paul Bettany and Cam Gigandet Interview:

Scott Stewart’s Interview:

Maggie Q and Karl Urban Interview:

There you have it. You heard for yourself what the actors plan on bringing to their version of Priest.

Like what you read? For more fun, check out our top stories from Comic-Con…

Comic-Con 2010: Karl Urban Priest Poster

Krystal Clark — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:53:05 +0000

Update: Be sure to check out the Priest Cast Interviews.

Over the past few months Screen Gems have released several photos from their upcoming Manga adaptation, Priest. They featured the title character played by Paul Bettany, his sidekick Cam Gigandet, the damsel in distress Lily Cole, and a kick-ass priestess played by Maggie Q.

Those guys are great and all but what about Karl Urban? He’s also in the film but has been missing from the group. He plays the character Black Hat and guess what — he’s a vampire! Check out the first full poster of Urban from the Comic-Con floor and another shot of Bettany in all his tattooed glory…

Priest centers on “a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.” The cast also includes Stephen Moyer, Madchen Amick, and Christopher Plummer.

The film is directed by Scott Stewart and is scheduled to hit theaters on May 13th. It will also be in 3D like everything else these days. Get used to it.

What do you think of the latest posters from Priest? What do you think of Urban playing a vampire?

Photos From Scott Stewart’s Priest

Krystal Clark — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:47:56 +0000

Screen Gems red-haired step-child, Priest has been delayed multiple times even though the film wrapped ages ago. The studio decided to convert it to 3D and also gave it a “final” release date of May 13, 2011. Over at /Film, they’ve posted a new batch of photos from the movie that includes shots of its major stars in action. Take a look…

Priest centers on “a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.” The cast includes Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, and Stephen Moyer, Madchen Amick, and Christopher Plummer.

From what we’ve heard, the actual premise of the Manga from which the film is adapted varies in the actual movie. There is a question of how close director Scott Stewart remains to the source material that could impact whether or not the film is a success.

In these shots in particular, Maggie Q does look badass as the Priestess, but we’re more interested in seeing Moyer in costume. We’re so used to watching him as Bill on “True Blood” that sometimes we forget that he’s an actor who can actually play other characters.

What do you think of the latest photos from Screen Gems Priest? Are you interested in seeing the film?

First Photo of Paul Bettany in Priest

Krystal Clark — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:04:29 +0000

Even though Screen Gems’ live action adaptation of Priest continues to go through the release date shuffle, that hasn’t stopped the studio from unveiling the first official photo from the film. Over at Bloody Disgusting they’ve posted an image of actor Paul Bettany in character as the star and hero of the film. Take a look…

Priest centers on “a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.” The cast includes Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, and Stephen Moyer, Madchen Amick, and Christopher Plummer.

The vampires in this film kind of look like zombies and I don’t know how I feel about that. The gray ashy appearance just isn’t doing it for me. Bettany on the other hand looks great as the living incarnation of the character and I can’t wait to see what everyone else will bring to the table.

The film is directed by Scott Stewart and is currently being converted into 3D for a May 13, 2011 release.

What do you think of the first photo from Priest? What do you think of Bettany and the vampires?

ScreenCrave.com » paul bettany

Margin Call: Movie Review

The Players:

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 7/10

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Sundance 2011: Margin Call Review and Video Review

The Players:

Review:

Overall:

Rating: 6/10

Video:

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The Tourist: Movie Review

Players:

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 5.5/10

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

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