The Big Short (2015)

 

In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the US mortgage market. In their research they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.

Brilliantly staged and cast drama manages to show and explain the reasons for the international financial crisis 2007-2008 and expose its perpetrators, fast-paced and tinged with irony, although it doesn't shy away to reveal the tragic dimensions of this historic event.

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

 

A victim of a brutal attack finds a unique and beautiful therapeutic outlet to help him through his recovery process.

Well-intentioned and heartfelt drama based on a true story presents some great special effects and godd performances by Carrell and Mann, but there's an unbalance between its fantasy and reality segments, so that the real-life scenes seem more artificial than the imagined ones.

 

Vice (2018)

The story of Dick Cheney, an unassuming bureaucratic Washington insider, who quietly wielded immense power as Vice President to George W. Bush, reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today.

Political satire focused on a malicious historical politician is foremost successful with the extraordinary performances of its cast and with some biting moments, but generally is not very funny, has a haphazard script and - the reality was much worse than depicted here.

Hope Springs (2012)

 

 

After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their relationship.

 

The stars perform fine as a couple in a midlife crisis, but the message is that relationships are little business enterprises which only are 'successful' with constant effort and efficiency.

 

Maltin**1/2: "Reasonably realistic, empathetic comedy-drama...features (yet another) fine performance by Streep, but it's almost impossible to care about Jones' sullen, quarrelsome character. We have to take it on faith that she saw something wonderful in him all those years ago." 

Bewitched (2005)

Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic show "Bewitched."

Lacklustre romantic comedy that is not that amusing and leaves one wondering, why any girl would fall for this guy.

Maltin**: "Postmodern riff on the popular 1960s TV series...Inoffensive comedy allows Kidman to be cute, but has no genuine emotions or sentiments because its premise is so cpmpletely artificial."