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The first two thirds of the movie are nothing short of brilliant - the script is taut, the directing is exacting, and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s picaresque, demonic acting delivers a powerful punch and counterbalance to the comedic, serious turns of Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, among others. The narrative is compelling in true Tarantino fashion and keeps you guessing enough, murder-mystery style, until things get…complicated in the third act.

The final chapters of the movie are more of a (bloody) mess in my taste, in a free-for-all denouement that delivers what Tarantino fans have come to expect from the filmmaker, but that, to my taste, feel more like a copout in story-telling. Still, the visuals are memorable if violent, and overall, the movie delivers. Helped along the way by Ennio Morricone’s (the award-winning composer of memorable movies from the beautiful Cinema Paradiso to many westerns like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) testy and suspenseful score, the picture is perhaps one of Tarantino’s best since Kill Bill or Inglourious Basterds. And, given his popularity with the Academy, it is likely that the movie will find space in the crowded field. After all, his last two movies (Basterds and Django Unchained) have found space in the final Best Picture nominees despite their late release. Although it did not score as well with Globes and SAG, neither did those two. Finally, Leigh’s devil-like performance could propel her to a lifetime Academy Award, particularly if Mara and Vikander vacate some space.

Oscar hopes: Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Score

The Big Short and Chi-Raq: Urgent, Timely Movies

Already in platform release are two movies that should be Oscar contenders - and one of them really is. The Big Short and Chi-Raq could not seem more different in appearances, but both are almost identical if you look closer: both are urgent, timely movies about important issues, and resort to parody and bombast to explore, almost in frustration, the intractability of the problems they address.

Short, based on the Michael Lewis book of the same name, recounts in enthralling detail the origins of the housing bubble and crisis of 2008-2009, which brought the world economy to the brink of collapse. The hubris of the characters involved outwardly evokes Martin Scorsese’s demolishing of the values and attitudes that permitted these excesses, as portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street. Steve Carell and Christian Bale, meanwhile, deliver memorable, method-acted performances, while the filmmakers employ breaking-the-fourth-wall techniques to bring the audiences into the harder nuances of the economics at play in the movie. As tongue-in-cheek as it is serious, The Big Short reminds us that unabashed greed, aided by unabashed government and public complicity, leads us down dangerous, self-destructive paths, which are, in the end, somewhat still celebrated. With its SAG ensemble nomination to go with its likely Globe comedy win over The Martian and Joy, The Big Short is close to a lock for a Best Picture nomination.

And perhaps I exaggerated the similarities to Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq, which does not have the “it all ends well for the perpetrators” feeling to it, even though the narrative itself does convey that idea. The movie, based directly on the Greek comedy Lysistrata, analyzes the complexity of the gun violence problem in Chicago, and unapologetically lays blame at several sources and feet. It resorts to comedy and parody, as it must, because the topic is otherwise too depressing to take on completely deadpan, and because the filmmaker, understandably, views the entire issue as a comedic, unbelievable mess. Essentially a companion piece to Do the Right Thing, which did not find love with AMPAS, I also do not have high hopes that this difficult movie will find a space at the Shrine. For shame, because Lee has done it again: attacked an important, intractable issue, and used his compelling story-telling abilities to capture the audience.

Oscar hopes (The Big Short): Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor (Bale), Editing, Adapted Screenplay

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