MOVIE REVIEW | The Big Short (2015)

“Saints don’t live on Park Avenue.”

I only remember a few things about Adam McKay’s 2010 buddy cop comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.  Its opening death scene was hilarious, I don’t think I laughed a single other time after that, and the end credits involved a PowerPoint presentation describing the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.  I guess one underwhelming comedy with that it its core wasn’t enough to get his disgust about the GFC out of his system.  Because now McKay is back, with a much more grown up and direct take on the issue, with The Big Short.

Michael Burry (Christian Bale) isn’t your typical Wall Street trader.  He wears old shorts and t-shirts with no shoes around the office, he listens to classic, thrash metal years Metallica, and he notices things that other traders don’t.  Like the fact that the American property market is on the verge of collapse.  With property being one of the few sure things in the history of US finance, he finds it hard to convince anyone else of his findings.  But one other trader sees the value in Burry’s theory, and soon Jared Vennet (Ryan Gosling) is pursuing the same idea.

MOVIE REVIEW | Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

“Who the hell is Julius Caesar? You know I don’t follow the NBA!”

I don’t like Anchorman: The legend of Ron Burgundy. Yeah, that’s right, I don’t like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. I don’t just not like it, I also have no idea how it became the favourite it is. Usually, even if I don’t like an immensely popular movie, I can at least see why others do. But the original Anchorman has no real redeeming qualities that make up for its lazy, shitty jokes. I’m not anti Will Ferrell / Adam McKay. I like Talladega Nights, I love Step Brothers. I even thought The Other Guys was kind of interesting.

I watched the first Anchorman a decade ago when it first came out and its initial buzz was unavoidable. Its cast was great (the first sign of the massive comedy career Paul Rudd would go on to build), the story setup showed plenty of potential, and Ferrell is always going to bring more laughs than your average comedic lead. Only, it rarely made me laugh, and the potential fuelled premise quickly turned into a well and truly flogged dead horse.