Monday, January 7, 2019

Movie Review Madness - Vice


Vice is snarky good fun.  If you liked The Big Short written and directed by Adam McKay, then this film is for you. It’s sharp, clever dialogue and structure cracked me up. Who knew that a film about Dick Cheney could be so amusing?  It’s about an average guy in Wyoming who got a wake-up call from his fiancée – Lynn.  Stop drinking, get your act together, or I’m leaving you. Sure enough, Dick truly got straightened out, went  to school, made connections, and was in the right place at the right time.

Christian Bale gives a genius performance. It’s uncanny. Amy Adams as Lynn is spot on – she’s the Lady Macbeth behind the scenes control. Steve Carell as Rumsfield is a power tool.  And Sam Rockwell as George W. is a bit cliché as the bumbling dude. The movie, from the beginning, is full  of fact and fiction….just roll with it. No matter what, we know what did occur under the Bush presidency, and a whole lot of it was thanks to Vice President Cheney.  This is a movie about power, power grabs, control, and it’s a tad scary as to what did occur – even if it was only fifty percent true.  Crazy times that affect us even today.

But scenes with focus groups manipulating vocabulary. Scenes in regards to the military. Scenes about consolidation of powers.  OMG. It’s sad. It’s a hoot.  I admit I lean left and have despised Cheney. But I had to say “Kudos” to what the man accomplished. And yes, it’s taken with a grain of salt. I like a good chuckle and I laughed out loud a bunch.  I’d say that Christian Bale should start preparing his Oscar speech. Vice is a film. This is NOT a documentary.  It is well done and I’ll use the snarky word again. I like a smart sharp film – this totally entertained.

13 comments:

  1. A good review Joanne, Sometime wake up calls are good. The only films I see is on the TV way after their release. Once again for a good review.

    Yvonne.

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    1. thanks. I'm sure it will show up on tv fairly soon

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  2. I hardly recognize C. Bale in the trailers of this film, so I'm not surprised his performance is Oscar worthy. This is definitely on my list of movies to see...so thanks for your 2 Snarky review.

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  3. I'll probably have to put a few years in before I watch it. However, it is amazing to see Bale's transformation.

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  4. I thought it was more documentary like, good to know it isn't.

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    1. It's based on "facts", but they are taken lightly and skewed with a purpose - to me, it was to entertain. I'm sure for others it could annoy. HA!

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  5. I didn't even know Dick Cheney was interesting enough to have been the subject of a more. And I love Steve Carell. Thanks for the info, Joanne.

    I hope your first week of 2019 has been a fun one. Here's to another year of film greats and lots of other good stuff for you.

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    1. thanks. Oh he was a conniving S.O.B. - a villain makes for a good movie lead

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  6. I guess I was unaware of anything good he did for the country. I really couldn't stand the guy.

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    1. then this movie will confirm your thoughts. He's a good villain. Christian Bale referred to him as Satan in his Golden Globe speech. Ha!

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  7. We saw this recently too. Good performances by all involved, I thought. Humorous, but I hope everyone can sort out the parts that are true from the parts that aren't. It was cleverly done.

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