Eighth Annual Movie Ratings Recap

When I awoke on the morning of January 31, my first thought was that this was the last day of the twelve month period I use for blogging purposes when putting together my annual Movie Ratings Recap.  After making a pot of coffee -- one of the few things within my culinary skill set -- I refreshed my memory as to how many movies I had seen in theaters the previous year, then quickly compared that total against my running list for this year's total.  It turned out I needed to see one more movie that day in order to avoid having a lower total than last year's twenty-five.  A blogger's dedication knows no bounds.  Thus, Momma Cuan and I scooted over to the Park Mann to see The Big Short.  Even though I did not end up posting my review until February 8 (A-), it makes the list for this Eighth Annual MRR since I saw it before the February 1 deadline.  (An aside: One of the posts I'm thinking about drafting in the future has to do with self-imposed rules, such as the one just described.)

In the eight years during which I've been reviewing movies, this is the first year I did not rank any movie below a B-.  Thus, even though the quantity of films seen wasn't as high as what I'd hoped for, the quality was generally there.  If you're keeping score at home, I have attended 225 movies at the theater during that eight year span, and the breakdown of my grades for those pictures is as follows:

A   7 (3%)

A-  37 (16%)

B+ 66 (29%)

B   50 (22%)

B-  41 (18%)

C+ 11 (5%)

C   9 (4%)

C-  2 (1%)

D   1
D-  1

In case you're wondering, I never change a rating once I have published the review.  On a rare occasion I might subsequently admit a rating error -- I probably should have given Tangerines, reviewed here last May, an A- instead of a B+ -- but once a rating is posted it's written in stone. Another self-imposed rule!  And, for those movies which, in retrospect, I wish I'd graded differently, it is never more than one notch up or down, e.g., from a B+ to a B, or vice versa.

Of the eight films recently nominated for Best Film by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, I have seen six of them.  I still plan to see Brooklyn and Room, especially if one of them is awarded the Oscar.  My single "A" film of the past twelve month period, The Imitation Game, was nominated for Best Picture of 2014, but since I did not see it until after February 1, 2015, it is on the present MRR.

Here are the twenty five films I've seen in the most recent twelve month period, together with the respective dates of my review.  Within each grade, the films are listed in my order of preference.

A:

The Imitation Game (February 11, 2015)

A-:

About Elly (July 28, 2015)
Red Army (March 6, 2015)
The Wrecking Crew (April 28, 2015)
Bridge Of Spies (November 5, 2015)
The Big Short (February 8, 2016)

B+:

Tangerines (May 15, 2015)
The Martian (January 15, 2016)
Everest (December 17, 2015)
Ricki And The Flash (August 25, 2015)
Spotlight (December 5, 2015)
Steve Jobs (November 12, 2015)

B:

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (July 23, 2015)
Carol (January 20, 2016)
The Revenant (January 25, 2016)
The Longest Ride (April 20, 2015)
Macbeth (December 21, 2015)
Love & Mercy (June 20, 2015)
Still Alice (February 26, 2015)
Mad Max: The Fury Road (August 8, 2015)
Testament Of Youth (June 30, 2015)

B-:

The Theory Of Everything (February 15, 2015)
Welcome To Leith (November 18, 2015)
Far From The Madding Crowd (May 20, 2015)
Aloha (May 30, 2015)

Movie Review: "The Big Short"

"The Big Short": A-.  The Great Recession of this century occurred in 2008.  The economy went in the tank, the stock market tumbled, residential real estate foreclosures were rampant, major financial institutions declared bankruptcy, people lost their jobs, 401(k)s and IRAs took unbelievable hits, life savings were jeopardized, the middle class shrunk, welfare rolls expanded, unemployment lines extended and fingers were pointed.  The number one culprit in the public's collective view was Wall Street.  Yet here we are, eight years later, and only one Wall Street executive, and a relatively low one at that, has served prison time.  After viewing The Big Short, people may be astonished, if they weren't already, that only one white collar criminal has lost his freedom.

In the 2008 presidential election campaign, Democrat candidate Barack Obama was able to turn the tables on the GOP by asking the famous question originally posed by Republican Ronald Reagan one week before the 1980 presidential election day: "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"  In both 1980 and 2008, the challenger posing that question was elected president over the incumbent party.  For most voters both in 1980 and 2008, the answer was a resounding "No!"  The Big Short tells the story of how our country reached that point.

Not everyone lost net worth in 2008.  Starting in 2005, when the housing industry is universally considered one of the pillars of the American economy, Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale), a neurologist turned hedge fund manager, starts seeing developments which have escaped the attention of almost everyone else.  Burry correctly observes that credit standards are so lax that even people who ordinarily would not come close to qualifying for a mortgage loan due to their low FICO (i.e., credit) scores now are able to buy into the housing market.  The main attraction for these home shoppers is the teaser initial interest rate on short-term adjustable rate mortgages.  After paying ridiculously low interest for three or sometimes five years, a balloon payment will come due.  Burry predicts that when these credit-unworthy mortgagors are unable to refinance, foreclosure will ensue.  Thus for those short-term loans originated in 2005 (the time when Burry sees the light), the sky will fall in late 2007-2009.

Burry is the founder of Scion Capital, a hedge fund over which he exercises complete autonomy.  When he starts investing hundreds of millions of dollars in credit default swaps, a financing vehicle which will pay off only if mortgage loans defaulted en masse, two things (among others) happen.  First, the mortgage banks such as Goldman Sachs are only too happy to sell him these products; in fact the Goldman bankers are having difficulty hiding their mirth, figuring that the socially awkward and somewhat odd looking Burry is naive to buy any swaps, let alone buying them by the bushel basket.  Secondly, Scion's other officers and investors become outraged at Burry's investment decision, which requires Scion to pay periodic fees to keep the swaps in place.  Day by day, from the time of his initial purchase until the 2008 crash, Burry updates on the chalk board outside his office the rate of return for the Scion portfolio.  It is consistently a negative percentage, sinking lower on a daily basis, and each update raises the blood pressure and ire of his partners.

But as we all know, Burry gets the last laugh.  When the housing market finally goes bust, Burry's predicted payday becomes a reality.  The final number he writes on his blackboard in 2008 is plus 489%.

The Big Short isn't a movie about what happened; we all know.  Rather, it's a movie that explains, often humorously, how and why the crisis occurred.  To that end, director Adam McKay employs two enjoyable devices.  Fans of the television show The Office will recognize the gimmick of having the actors look directly into the camera and speak to the audience.  (Coincidentally, that show starred Steve Carell, whose character is mentioned below.)  This gives the storyteller an opportunity to educate the viewers without having to tweak the dialogue artificially for that purpose.  Secondly, McKay uses cameo appearances by internationally famous Anthony Bourdain and singing actress Selena Gomez in a couple of sidebar skits, shot respectively in a kitchen and at a blackjack table, to illustrate how complex investment products like collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and synthetic CDOs work.

While Burry is certainly the main character, the viewers are also introduced to financial contrarians like Jared Vanett (Ryan Gosling, who strongly resembles ESPN's Adam Schefter), Mark Baum (Carell), and Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt).  All of them become heavily involved following the lead of Burry by jumping with both feet into the credit default swap gamble.  Each of those characters has his own interesting background and motive.  A wrong telephone number and a discarded brochure in an office lobby figure in the fortuitous routes for their involvement.  The inclusion of these big time investors gives the story line welcome periodic breaks from the Burry plot.  Their separate reactions to their personal good fortune, occurring simultaneously with the tragic consequences befalling millions of people, is a lesson in human nature.

Arguably one of the reasons for making the film is so that the American viewing public can be made aware of the abuse of power and conflicts of interest displayed by a number of Wall Street firms, the Securities & Exchange Commission, and the two most important bond rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's.  The film also shows the stupidity -- there's no other name for it -- of the Department Of The Treasury and the Federal Reserve.  The Big Short takes a complex topic from recent history and, in a very entertaining way, makes it quite digestible.  The lessons to be learned:  If you think something is too good to be true, it probably is; and, don't assume everything you are told by the government and its agencies is on the level.