The Big Short

[prettyxcool]

What a brilliant evening I had. Thanks so much to Beate.

The special screening was for press, BAFTA members, guest lists and Telegraph members. Lovely to see David, ejwrank, cinefila1 and funthing.

Anything at the Ham Yard Hotel is well worth going to. Either with pre-drinks or after drinks party with flowing drinks and flowing food, and their food is always of a high standard, and very generous, with steak, tuna, pork, cheese cones, fish burgers and vegetarian parcels. And you get to mingle with the actors and director. Managed to have quite a chat with Steve Carell and the director, Adam McKay, afterwards, who was an absolute giant, which you could not tell when he was sitting down on some jazzy chairs for the Q&A. One of the questions asked of Steve Carrell was did he know what he was talking about in the film, to which he replied he did, "next question!".

I really wanted to see this film, as I have a personal interest in the subject matter being affected like thousands of others in the credit crunch of 2008. I also worked in the past for a finance lawyer so know all about derivatives and swaps etc, and subsequently for a training consultancy training the back office of bankers at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and the like, on securities lending, prime brokerage, etc.

A very entertaining, funny and touching satirical docu-drama, with an outstanding cast including Christian Bale as the eccentric financial genius, Ryan Gosling was very funny indeed, Steve Carell, giving an amazing performance, and Marisa Tomei as his wife, and even producer, Brad Pitt, has a part in the film, almost did not recognise him. Spotted Rafe Spall as well. They were all on top form.

Some hilarious scenes including Selena Gomez, as herself, speaking directly into the camera to explain the complexities of Wall Street finance. Classic!

8/10

[Beate]

I missed FOOD?

[prettyxcool]

I missed FOOD?

We just joined the party. hehe.

[kevinknapman]

Anchorman director Adam McKay makes a successful foray into slightly more serious territory with The Big Short.
Based on the Michael Lewis book it details the collapse of the US housing market, the ensuing financial crisis of 2008 and those on the margins of the business who saw it coming and seeked to profit from it.

A great cast including Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt makes it worth seeing alone but McKay manages to make a potentially dry and impenetrable subject gripping and fascinating throughout.
I'm not going to pretend I still understand everything (something the film suggests is exactly how Wall Street likes it) but McKay uses a great deal of humour to get his observations across and there are some amusing tongue in cheek attempts to explain complex financial concepts using celebrities ('Here's Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to explain derivatives') .
He even breaths new life into the potentially clunky device of characters breaking the fourth wall.

As funny as the film is, and it is often very funny, it is also quite an angry impassioned film and is likely to get a similar response from audiences, especially as on-screen text at the end suggests that 7 years later, the banks and government have learnt nothing.

If I have a criticism it's that the big name stars don't really have a chance to act against each other. Aside from Gosling and Carrell they exist in their own separate parts of the overall story.
But this is a minor quibble and The Big Short is a surprisingly enjoyable film well worth seeing.

The Q&A with Carell and Adam McKay was enjoyable too with both on top hilarious form.

[claire]

Really enjoyed this film , sure I missed some of the details and hope to see again to catch anything I missed.

I also loved the scenes explaining the terms used in the film

Amazing hotel, lovely food and drinks too.

[Simon]

A very good film in which Brad Pitt does his best to be Robert Redford. I'd have to admit that several of the American cultural references went over my head - but I got the general idea.

Amazingly made a very difficult subject both funny and interesting.

8/10

[scootermcc]

Word has it that the new arrangements for the times screening has descended into farce with dozens of people being turned away from the screening in London tonight, wonder how the Edinburgh and Manchester screenings went ?

Bet there's going to be a lot of angry people on the forum later.

[stuartboy]

What a huuuuuuge bore!
"CDO" was used almost as often as vulgarisms in the Dirty Grandpa last night.
Ditchwater doesn't get a look in on the dullness stakes. I hated it.

Bored stiff.

[scootermcc]

What a huuuuuuge bore!
"CDO" was used almost as often as vulgarisms in the Dirty Grandpa last night.
Ditchwater doesn't get a look in on the dullness stakes. I hated it.

Bored stiff.

The Big Snore, it's not been a good two nights for you stuartboy.

I was completely lost for the whole 2 hours. Might have been enjoyable if you were a banker.

[valda]

Word has it that the new arrangements for the times screening has descended into farce with dozens of people being turned away from the screening in London tonight, wonder how the Edinburgh and Manchester screenings went ?

Bet there's going to be a lot of angry people on the forum later.

WEll I've no idea what was going on! I got there and went down in the lift to find people all over the place, even queuing up the stairs. I managed to find out that there was some sort of Priority thing going on. No idea what the criteria was, but they wanted to see the ticket on the phone, then check the name off a list.

So I was ok and went in, to find it 99% full so I had to nab 2 chairs in the front row then go look for Missgotty. When we got back, apparently the ushers kept on asking if 'these seats were taken' and again when MG went to get a drink

As for the film, being in the front row was not good, too many closeups, crazy camera work together with over zealous aircon at ankle level made for an uncomfortable viewing. A lot went over my head but I enjoyed it a lot. Very quirky, some good performances ( I'm really enjoying Carell's career at the moment) great songs and some funny cameos 8/10