The Big Short is basically a story about a bunch of hedge fund traders and some other banking guys that nobody ever notices who see that the economic market is going to crash very very hard in 2007-08. It is a biographical movie based on a book and it's shot in a varied meta-documentary and comedy-drama style with frequent fourth-wall breaks and comedy. Yes it's about the finance industry and some bank shit but it's also really really good and If I understood (or guessed) what it's about then you can probably do that too so go watch it
Surprising, hilarious and utterly brilliant. The Big Short feels more cinematic than an MCU film, more thrilling than any crime drama and more earnest than any other film I have ever seen. It's the movie's subject that makes it so, the trading and finance part of the world that makes so little sense to all of us and the way this film actually takes time to inform you about what's going on, using these humorous celebrity cameos that allows it to feel so real while never being boring. It's like a biblical tale, a peak fictional novel about how some misunderstood lowkey guys got wind of a coming economic collapse and it's all real
The editing, the music and there's just this fervent energy and vibe to the film that keeps it moving, like an Edgar Wright film, it never stops on a scene to long and cuts back and forth really fast and it's just all so good
I have never seen an Adam McKay film before but now I'm a fan. And what a dream cast too, seeing Steve Carrel walking around with a camera jerking as it follows him felt like I was watching a dark episode of The Office or something
10/10 Weirdly, I saw The Wolf on Wall Street twice and never understood the stocks stuff in it. That was a few years ago tho so maybe it's time to visit it again but yeah, if there's a genre of movies like The Big Short then please let me know
Thank You for Smoking was great. I don't know how well it did in theaters or on DVD, though, due to the title. I think a lot of people thought the movie was pro-tobacco.
Another good one is The Insider (1999) with Russell Crowe. It's about real-life Jeffery Wigand who blew the whistle on tobacco companies. In 1996, he appeared on 60 Minutes and told everyone how companies added substances to make nicotine more addictive, how they knew about all the carcinogens, and how they marketed towards children to get people hooked for life.
Sorry For Smoking was produced by Elon Musk, weirdly