’Dumb Money’

Snappy, fast-paced, fun David vs Goliath narrative as small time investors take on the might of Wall Street Hedge Fund analysts.

The strangulation of the video game store GameStop is the target for a quick, get-rich scheme by Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen). But in the time of COVID lockdowns, social behaviour follows no known pattern with ‘everyman’ Keith Gill (Paul Dano) following, analysing and broadcasting on YouTube the investment of his life savings into GameStop. Rather than strangling the company, with eight million followers mirroring Gill, the tables are turned on the billionaires as they head for bankruptcy. With Caroline Gill (Shailene Woodley) anxiously looking on as their investment moves from $100,000 to more than $20 million, Gill encourages all to stay firm and keep their shares: every dirty trick in the book is about to be thrown at them.

An incredible true story, director Craig Gillespie entertainingly covers several narratives linked to the core storyline. In-debt students, a GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos), a palliative care nurse (America Ferrara) are all first timers whilst Plotkin sees his life crumble in spite of massive injections of cash support from billionaires Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman).

Rating: 72%

Director: Craig Gillespie (I Tonya, Cruella)

Writer: Lauren Schuker Blum (TV’s Orange is the New Black), Rebecca Angelo (TV’s Orange is the New Black)

Main cast: Paul Dano (The Fabelmans, There Will Be Blood), Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island, The Suicide Squad), Shailene Woodley (Ferrari, The Fault in Our Stars)

‘Pam & Tommy’

A confronting yet enjoyable eight part miniseries that follows Baywatch TV star Pamela Anderson’s wild whirlwind romance with Tommy Lee which results in marriage after only 96 hours.

Two phenomenal performances anchor the crazed narrative of this hugely entertaining if occasionally confronting eight episoder. As Anderson, Lily James grows in stature, demanding to be heard above and beyond the ‘all swimsuit and dumb blonde’ label attached by the Baywatch showrunners. And the initially ever-supportive cocaine-fueled Tommy Lee brilliantly played by Sebastian Stan is inconsistent, anarchic and occasionally terrifying – as electrician Rand (Seth Rogen) finds out early on in the story.

It’s the decision to position the focus of the narrative from Rand’s perspective that makes for an interesting telling. Struggling financially, the electrician and former part-time porn performer finds Lee’s refusal to pay his bills a challenge. Revenge is sweet as Rand steals the enormous safe from Lee’s garage. And in that safe…. the famed personal sex tape. The non-too-bright Rand thinks he’s struck gold – as does adult film producer and former employer Uncle Miltie (Nick Offerman).

The newly weds are not aware initially that the tape has gone: the early episodes interweave crazed marital bliss with Rogen and Offerman exploring ways of exploiting the footage (it’s the early 90s – the internet is in its infancy and there were no privacy laws covering such material). Even when it becomes public, the knowledge of the release takes time to filter down. But when the penny finally drops, the repercussions are massive. So begins a destructive domino principle as lives are changed forever – none more so than that of Pamela Anderson, desperate as she was to be taken seriously as an actor. Such personal material in the public domain is personally and professionally destroying. Lee is equally outraged but fails to understand his wife’s distraught view that as a woman things are far worse for her. Desperate to minimise the attention, she is ignored as Lee and his band of lawyers look to legal action after legal action, resulting in the controversy snowballing.

To add controversy to scandal, Pamela Anderson herself was none too happy about the unauthorised revisiting of the story. But there’s no denying the power of the tale and, prodigious talking prosthetics aside, Pam & Tommy is extremely well made.

Rating: 71%

‘The Fabelmans’

A feel-good coming-of-age tale loosely based on Steven Spielberg’s own adolescence as the awkward Sammy discovers his love (and skill) of making movies. But with it comes the revelation of an unexpected family secret.

A technical genius in the pre-digital 1950s, Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) is a loving husband and father and provides well for his family. Equally loving, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) indulges her three children, introducing a 7 year-old Sammy (Mateo Zoryan) to the delights of filmmaking. Burt’s best friend and colleague Bennie (Seth Rogen) also lives in the Fabelman house, a home full of laughter and love. Moves out west with Burt’s work, first to Arizona and then California, puts pressures on the family. The support of an east coast Jewish community is replaced by an isolated suburban LA home. As Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) discovers his first love and acceptance through filmmaking, so Mitzi’s mental state suffers.

Spielberg’s fitting Hollywood version of his own early years, The Fabelmans is a glossy-surfaced look at adolescence and acceptance. The director’s trademark exploration of that journey of loneliness and rejection is writ large as Sammy overcomes hurdles and wins over classmates. At times funny (particularly early on), it’s a warm-hearted narrative and celebration of family but, by skating over the issues of mental health and anti-Semitism, slips into another of the director’s trademark – candy-coating.

Nominated for 7 Oscars in 2023 including – best film, director, actress, supporting actor (Judd Hirsch), original script (Spielberg, Tony Kushner)

Rating: 63%

Director: Steven Spielberg (Bridge of Spies, Jaws)

Writer: Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A.I. Artificial Intelligence), Tony Kushner (Lincoln, TV’s Angels in America)

Main cast: Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, Venom), Gabriel LaBelle (The Predator, TV’s American Gigolo), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Love & Mercy)

‘The Disaster Artist’

Occasionally laugh out loud, The Disaster Artist is the funny telling of the making of The Room, regarded as one of the worst films ever made.

When aspiring young actor Greg Sestero (a toothy, smiling Dave Franco) meets the deeply strange Tommy Wiseau (a modulated and controlled wackiness from James Franco) at an acting workshop, their worlds change.

It’s all based on truth as the deluded Wiseau, tired of Hollywood rejections, sets out to make his own film. Money is no object as he writes, directs, stars and produces the mess that is The Room – a film so bad it becomes a huge cult hit.

A loving homage with lots of cameo performances (Jacki Weaver, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, J.J. Abrams, Kristen Bell and more), expect The Disaster Artist to appear in this year’s awards shortlists – particularly James Franco as lead actor (he also directed).

Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2018 (best adapted screenplay).

Rating: 74%

Director: James Franco (Bukowski, Tenn)

Writer: Scott Neustadter (500 Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now), Michael H. Weber (500 Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now) – based on the book by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell

Main cast: Dave Franco (Now You See Me, 21 Jump St), James Franco (Milk, Why Him?)

‘Sausage Party’

It’s rude, crude but at times very funny (and at times potentially offensive)!

An animated rebellion by supermarket food against their fate is led by Frank the Sausage. Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen) discovers almost too late that he will not be spending all eternity deep inside Brenda the Bun (Kristen Wiig) in the ‘great beyond.’ Foodstuffs returned by a disatisfied shopper have brought with them the realities of their fates. Now Frank needs to cross the supermarket aisles to convince the other foodstuffs of what’s about to happen on the Fourth of July celebrations.

It’s irreverent, crass and fluidly crosses animation boundaries as religion, sexuality and politics come under the spotlight, accompanied by expletives galore. And Sausage Party certainly adds new meaning to the idea of a food orgy!

Rating: 64%

Director: Conrad Vernon (Monsters vs Aliens, Shrek 2), Greg Tiernan (Thomas & Friends, Happily N’Eer After)

Writer: Kyle Hunter (The Night Before), Ariel Shaffir (The Night Before), Seth Rogen (The Interview, The Watch), Evan Goldberg (The Interview, The Watch)

Main cast (voices): Seth Rogen (The Night Before, Steve Jobs), Kristen Wiig (The Martian, The Skeleton Twins), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street, True Story)

‘Steve Jobs’

It may veer from the truth and nothing but the truth in the telling of a few key years in the life of Steve Jobs, but Danny Boyle’s biopic, Steve Jobs, is an electric, quick-fire, multi-layered drama written by Aaron Sorkin.

Overcoming the ‘controversy’ of looking nothing like Jobs, Michael Fassbender is magnificently self-aggrandising in the title role – a modulated performance of ego, self-confidence and God-like arrogance… (And to think the portrayal has been toned down from the real thing). And whilst Jobs is the conductor to his orchestra (maestro would have been more self-appealing), the bit players in this unfolding drama are unanimously excellent, with Kate Winslet receiving her seventh Oscar nomination.

Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2016 (Fassbender & Winslet).

Rating: 76%

Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting)

Writer: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball) – based on the book by Walter Isaacson

Main cast: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, Shame), Kate Winslet (The Reader, A Little Chaos), Seth Rogen (The Interview, 22 Jump Street), Jeff Daniels (The Squid & the Whale, The Purple Rose of Cairo)