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

Doomsday Gun

The film is based on the true story of the so-called Project Babylon, which had Dr. Gerald Bull build a "supergun" for the Iraqi government.

It also details the involvement of both, the British and US Government, who aided (directly or indirectly) the building of the gun and another, smaller one, referred to as Baby Babylon.

The give it more validity, the voices of (among others) George Bush, Margaret Thatcher and Al Gore are played over the last few moments. Ultimately, the project was more or less financed by the US tax payers while the Brits looked on, profiting from the export of the components of what they officially referred to as "oil pipes".

The telling is very factual and somewhat sterile, not making any of the characters too sympathetic, which keeps them at an emotional distance. The cast is brilliant and the story itself is stirring, though.

Dr. Bull was assassinated in 1990, practically ending the supergun project. However, his technology was later used by the Iraq in SCUD missiles.

5/10