Tagline: He'll risk everything to beat the system!
The Preshow Entertainment was 1970s TV commercials. Some amazing stuff! With celebrities!
Texaco- Bob Hope
American Express- Pavarotti
Tang- Florence Henderson
Sanka- Robert Young
Gaines Puppy Choice- Drew Barrymore as an infant!
Kraft Italian Dressing- Daniel J. Travanti and Al Molinaro
Yoplait- Jack Klugman, speaking French!
And Muriel cigars, featuring "Spend a little dime with me," with the Mercury dime.
Plus many more!
The movie selected was: ROGUE TRADER. We thought it would be about an Eskimo, or a frontiersman trading pelts. But that would have been fun.
RT is about-
A) the true story of the man who single-handedly brought down one of (if not) England's oldest financial institutions, Barings Bank, with his illicit trading.
B) The greed of a company who turned a blind eye because he was making so much money.
C) An hour too long.
The film stars Ewan McGregor as Nick Leeson, a clerk at Barings Bank who is sent to Jakarta to start up their office. It's here he stars in his own private year of living dangerously.
It's a textbook example of a true story and probably a compelling book that should never have been made into a movie (Stock market trading? Not an exciting movie idea). However, if you're going to make it, you best put a spin on it, shake it up, make it thrilling or fun...or even watchable (like, say, SHATTERED GLASS). Not always an easy thing, since the protagonist is indeed an anti-hero.
The movie is a jumbled, boring, "who cares", repetitive exercise. Like watching a gambler in Vegas in real time, seesaw his winnings and losses. He's lost a million. He gets lucky and makes it back. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
A disappointing entry in RMC. But it was no THE BUMBLEBEE FLIES AWAY or RIVER RED (that one nearly killed us). And of course, we had some fun tearing it down. The actual event happened 10 years ago, and the movie came out 4 years later (straight to cable here in the US) . Nick Leeson is now out of jail, a free man. But we, however, were sentenced to 101 minutes of labor.
