Reviews
Ted (2012)
Absolutely Ridiculous...
... which is precisely why I enjoyed it so much.
First of all, if you're going to sit down and watch a movie about a guy and his magic teddy bear, I truly hope that you're not expecting a deep, serious and profound cinematic experience. If you are, it's your own fault for not getting what you want here.
Wahlberg steps out of his action movie hero shoes long enough to do a good job as a lovable loser, Kunis & McHale are very good and MacFarlane is MacFarlane. The movie is laugh out loud funny in parts, and I giggled like a six year old in a tickling match at what I thought was the funniest fight scene I've ever viewed.
It's a funny locker-room-humor flick for folks who are not setting their standards too high. Relax, get over yourself, pop open a cold one and enjoy.
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The Newsroom (2012)
Transparent, insulting political partisanship
Having spent nearly 20 years in the media in a former life, I was eagerly looking forward to this show. My friends in the field and I used to talk about a TV show that looked behind the scenes of the media in a serious way, and it was exciting to see the idea come to fruition.
What a disappointment. The show has turned out to be nothing more than a weekly diatribe against Republicans. Yes, there are some nods to the mechanics of producing a news broadcast, but the thrust of the program is clearly coming from a partisan political perspective with the goal of pushing that perspective with great verve no matter what.
Worse, anchor Will McEvoy is portrayed as a "Republican" who is troubled by the Tea Party (my goodness, do they put time and effort into bashing THAT group on this show) and soothes his conflicted agendas by slamming the GOP and the Tea Party with non-stop, ferocious intensity. The character is clearly nothing more than a token who is being used to make political points. It's insulting to think the producers of this show think we're going to buy this.
Full disclosure: I'd agree with the surveys that indicate roughly 85% of the media is liberal, and so in that way I suppose the show is demonstrating some accuracy. The staff of this newscast are also fairly typical in that they all think of themselves as on some kind of holy Truth Crusade and don't even realize how their political feelings are coloring their news gathering and reporting.
That said, at its core we're provided with nothing more than ham-handed partisan political ideology. And goodness knows, there's already more than enough of that on the television and radio from both goofy ends of the political spectrum.
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The Losers (2010)
Hey, it is what it is.
And you were expecting what, Shakespeare?
After a brief glance at the promo stills, I was expecting big explosions, hot chicks, some cool heroes, a decent bad guy, a plot that didn't make me think too much, a car crash or two, some amusing sarcasm, and then a few more explosions. Something that would give my home theater a nice workout.
And that's what I got.
Not enough character development, intellectual discourse or introspection on the nature of Man for you? Then it's your own fault for picking this movie. Lighten up, Francis.
Hit "play", have a cold one handy, and crank it up. That's what it's for.
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Too Big to Fail (2011)
A distorted account of a critical disaster
As a financial adviser, I have two very different thoughts on "Too Big to Fail".
First, I was fascinated by the human element - the relationships between decision-makers, the communication, the uncertainty, the failings and doubts we all possess. We all read the headlines, but rarely are we given even the slightest insight about the decision-making processes that affect us all.
Second, and unfortunately, the story is told with such obvious omissions and distortions that it is clear writer Andrew Ross Sorkin not only carries a partisan grudge, but made little attempt to hide that grudge in the script. Just a few examples of many:
1. One clear "villain" of the meltdown was the American consumer - those who willingly purchased homes they quite well knew they couldn't afford, took advantage of 125% refi's to pay off credit cards so that they could run them up again, tapped into their equity for trips, cars, boats and other goodies, etc. Instead, they were clearly portrayed as victims, and the only time a reference is made to them is when the biggest villain in the film, Dick Fuld, is scoffing at them.
2. Legislators Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who are documented to have made errors in judgment leading up to the crisis, are portrayed as having absolutely nothing to do with it, completely stunned that this was happening - worse, they come off as passionate defenders of the people. Only someone who knows absolutely nothing of this crisis would fall for this. Come on, Mr. Sorkin.
3. Then-SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, the highest-profile Republican in the story, is portrayed as a bumbling, indecisive, oafish fool. If the rest of the film were not so left-leaning, this portrayal may not have been so obvious. Instead, it falls right in line with the rest of the partisan approach.
4. When assistant Michele Davis asks why regulators failed to notice and act upon the blatant problems in the mortgage industry, Hank Paulson sheepishly responds, "because we were making too much money." What?! The federal government failed to do its job because some people were making a lot of money? Wouldn't an indictment of such magnitude warrant a much larger inspection during this movie? Instead, it's just passed off as "greed". Astonishing.
5. Blame for the entire economic meltdown is placed in one place, and one place only: Those Evil Banks. Not one ounce of blame (outside of the ridiculous statement in #4, above) is placed on the massive failure of regulators to do their job; on the consumers who willingly signed on the dotted line, on the bureaucrats from both parties who pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make bad loans in the interest of "fairness."
I could go on. In short, partisan politics (from BOTH sides) have so polluted our everyday culture that it's now impossible to believe anything you hear, read or see. "Too Big To Fail" is a vivid example.
Here's the problem: This film had a chance to teach us critical lessons about the financial meltdown. An accurate approach could have served as a road map for the future, a warning siren to everyone from politicians to Wall Streeters to regular citizens on the dangers of personal greed, of poor political leadership and of the need for more effective regulation of financial markets.
Instead, it's just another political statement disguised as "fact". What a shame.
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