Margin Call - DVD Review

★★★½

Starring Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgely, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Aasif Mandvi.
Directed by J.C. Chandor.

This does for millionaire financial analysts what Glengarry Glen Ross did for real estate.  It's not based on any one company, but it wouldn't surprise me if the execs at Lehman Bros. or AIG went through the same thing.

Early in the movie there's a scene where a supervisor Eric (Stanley Tucci) along with 80% of the other workers on his floor.  He passes off a thumbdrive to a co-worker Peter (Zachary Quinto) who opens and tries completing its formulas.  He does that evening, and he calls Eric's boss Will (Paul Bettany) to come back to the office.  Peter shows him the numbers, and Will calls his boss Sam (Kevin Spacey) who then calls other higher-up executives until finally the CEO helipcopters in.

Jeremy Irons is John Tuld, the CEO, and one of the bitings truths the movie captures is that the further up the chain, the less knowhow they actually have, the less work they actually do.  They're there because they make the "hard decisions."  Irons commands every scene he's in, and this is with an already outstanding ensemble.

Priest - DVD Review

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Starring Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Cam Gigandet, Lily Collins, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer, Brad Dourif, Alan Dale and Madchen Amick. Directed by Scott Stewart.

I like dystopian adventures as much as the next guy. I also recognize this mishmash is far from a good movie, but it's not without its guilty pleasures.

Take, for instance, Karl Urban. In a world where vampires are eyeless sabretooth goblins, he becomes the first human vampire, and the man likes his powers. He also gets to do a few slow glances back over his shoulder, from under the brim of his hat. That is a man who knows he's playing a mean s.o.b. and having fun with it.

Like most movies, it kept reminding me of other movies. Here's a little Judge Dredd, there's a little Matrix, throw in some Doom, a pinch of Blade Runner, a whiff of The Searchers, a hint of Wild Wild West, a dash of any steampunk flick that had Jack Palance, and voila, we get Priest.

This is a world where the church controls the humans, and naturally the church is led by a council of robe-wearing smirkers who sit in a semi-circle and just wait for people to enter their hall and genuflect. The High Monsignor of Smirk is Christopher Plummer, who can only go the way of ham with his cliched dialogue. The church believes the vampire menace has been eradicated, but when one Priest's niece gets kidnapped by them, that Priest (Paul Bettany) must defy the church to save her.

I think this puts the wooden stake in the undead heart of the idea that Bettany can be an action star. The movie's mercifully short at 80 minutes, so we don't get bogged down by too much plot; it's more of a series of action sequences. And yet, it leaves things open for a sequel. Based on its box office, that notion may have its last rites read.