Margin Call

This is about financial crisis hitting a big wall street company. Most of it happens during two days, starting with some major downsizing happening, than a rocket scientist (no, really) figuring out that something has been going very wrong lately and is about to hit the company in a big way, the ones earning the really big bucks dusting themselves off by distributing their potential losses down to their buyers and then they all suck it up for a few months and go back to business as usual.

Sounds dry?

Well, it could be with the financial humbug that none of the so-called 'little' people don't understand (this means the average movie goer). Luckily, the cast in Margin Call is stellar and makes this much more interesting than one might expect.

And when I say stellar I mean it.

Here are Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Jeremy Irons and Stanley Tucci. I love every single one of these men individually and love them even more in an ensemble. There is also Demi Moore, who is brilliant in her own right, of course, but my love for her is limited.

You know what else? This is a directorial (feature length) debut. J. C. Chandoor had one short film to his credit before this and has since made the equally impressive All Is Lost.

Bonus - beautiful shots of New York City by night.

8/10

The Joneses

The family Jones is made up of a group of pretty people that practice stealth marketing. They represent everything their neighbors want to be and as a result, improve sales figures for whatever new product they are assigned to push.

The mother power walks in the niftiest new clothes, the father mows the lawns in the newest mowers, the kids flash all their great new stuff around school and for their new friends. And the friends and neighbors bite...whether they can afford to or not.

Of course, the marketing concept gets the proper Hollywood treatment - an illicit affair, the token gay character, real romance and the big tragedy that finally cracks the shiny front the family unit put up.

Personally, I would have preferred less shine and a little bit more grit to the story. In the end it is all just as shallow as the values the Joneses sell.

3/10