Posts tagged James Spader
“Lincoln” about Our Greatest President
Nov 25th
“Our Greatest President”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Lincoln is an excellent film about the last few months of the life of our 16th president when he was faced with an almost impossible task: Get the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by a lame-duck congress before the Civil War ends.
The 13th Amendment states simply, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitute, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
The time was January 1865, Lincoln had just been reelected to his second term, the resolution had been passed the previous year by the Senate, but defeated by the House, and Lincoln was trying to get it passed by the House so that it would become law before the Civil War ended and the Southern representatives rejoined Congress, in which case it would never be passed.
So, the film is about the wheeling and dealing in Washington in order to get something achieved, which makes it as timely as today’s Washington.
Daniel Day-Lewis plays Lincoln, and at one point he tells his cabinet of officers, “As the preacher said, I could write shorter sermons, but once I start, I get too lazy to stop.”
We are told that it is not illegal to bribe Congressmen, because they starve otherwise, which may or may not be true, and we see many of the influences being peddled by the men who are working to get the amendment passed, which becomes complex and confusing, but don’t try to follow and understand everything. Just let the story and its details wash over you and admire them.
Especially admire the work of Day-Lewis as Lincoln, as well as the outstanding work of Sally Field, James Spader, and Tommy Lee Jones, among many others.
Also admire the directing of Steven Spielberg, although you might be distracted by the opening scene and think that it is too much of a reminder of the opening of the 1998 Saving Private Ryan.
In fact, there are many parallels in this film that are intended to make a point and a reference to our modern times, and that is perfectly acceptable.
Lincoln is a great film about whom many claim to be our greatest president.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps” Money Talks, Too
Sep 30th
“Money Talks, Too”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS is the sequel to the 1987 WALL STREET, also directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas in his Academy Award-winning performance as shady financier Gordon Gekko.
In fact, this film opens in 2001, and Gekko has spent almost eight years in prison for insider trading. He is released, given back the personal belongings he had when he went in–one of which causes a laugh from today’s audience–and there is absolutely no one to greet him on the outside.
Then it is seven years later, and Gekko has written a book entitled IS GREED GOOD? which is a reference to his famous statement in the first film.
Meanwhile, we meet young Jake Moore, played by Shia LaBeouf, a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street. His girlfriend is Winnie, played by Carey Mulligan, who just happens to be the estranged daughter of Gordon Gekko, and she even refuses to watch him being interviewed on television.
Jake is given a “spot bonus” check of over $1 million by his boss for his work, but this is just before the crisis that sent stocks plummeting.
Jake’s boss is Louis Zabel, the managing partner of an investment bank and played by Frank Langella. Jake asks Louis, “Are we going under?” and is told that is the wrong question. The right question is “Who isn’t?”
So, when their firm does fail, Jake goes behind Winnie’s back to seek out Gekko for some advice and learns that the man probably responsible, Bretton James, played menacingly by Josh Brolin, has a “history” both with Jake’s boss and with Gekko himself. Both of them now have a reason to seek revenge on James, but Gekko needs some money to play with.
The story hits close to home in a lot of ways both personal and professional, and Mulligan is simply great in her role, whereas LaBeouf isn’t so bad himself. Of course, Douglas is always good, and Stone must be laughing all the way to the Academy Awards next year.
Just as “Greed is good” is a shortened version of what was really said in the first film, “Money never sleeps” is also a shortened version of what Gekko says.
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS also brings to mind “Money talks, but all it says around me is “Goodbye.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Movie Trailer
Sep 29th
“Greed is Good.” This is the credo of the aptly named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the antihero of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. Gekko, a high-rolling corporate raider, is idolized by young-and-hungry broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). Inveigling himself into Gekko’s inner circle, Fox quickly learns to rape, murder and bury his sense of ethics. Only when Gekko’s wheeling and dealing causes a near-tragedy on a personal level does Fox “reform”-though his means of destroying Gekko are every bit as underhanded as his previous activities on the trading floor. Director Stone, who cowrote Wall Street with Stanley Weiser, has claimed that the film was prompted by the callous treatment afforded his stockbroker father after 50 years in the business; this may be why the film’s most compelling scenes are those between Bud Fox and his airline mechanic father (played by Charlie Sheen’s real-life dad Martin). Ironically, Wall Street was released just before the October, 1987 stock market crash.
