Movie Review: Money Monster (2016)

NEWEST REVIEW IS LIVE!! Let's go count some cash today with Money Monster

Hello All,

    I apologize for the lack of posts this week. It’s been slow around here and you could see how much running around I’ve had to do, I honestly think I could make the roadrunner envious. We are getting close to summer movie season though, and having seen an example of the release schedule for next week, it’s going to be a good week. However, we are stuck in the here and now of this week, and in wide release around me is Money Monster. I’ve been seeing the trailers for this one for a while, and even though the reviews were non existent until today, I had hope that maybe we could have an interesting thriller on our hands in the meantime. Did we get that type of film? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of Money Monster, a financial analysis and stock trading show. However, when irate viewer Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) storms into a live showing and straps a bomb to Lee, his director Patty (Julia Roberts) must help him unravel a financial mystery at the centre of the whole situation.

Pros - The cast is solid, especially O’Connell who basically steals the show in my mind. The story manages to keep itself interesting and intense, and probably features one of the best verbal assaults on a character I have heard in a really long time. Jodie Foster manages to do well in the director’s chair, offering a really steady an interesting look on a premise that’s been explored quite a lot recently, in that it’s willing to go in on a more personal story than most. It’s also quite an interesting journey to see evolve and unfold in somewhat real time. It also avoids going into deeply preachy territory about the subject at hand while also avoiding sounding cynical.

Cons - The ending you can kind of see coming from a mile away, and when you find out who the bad guy is, they do their best to try and paint them that way by throwing every damn cliche they can at them and they basically become a cartoon villain minus the twirly mustache.

Final Score - 8/10

It’s a great thriller that if you don’t mind the thud like ending, then I can easily recommend this.

Next - Sing Street: That’ll probably be on Monday since I will be out on the town that day anyways. Although at some point this week, I’ve decided to give you all an insight into my thinking by making my ranking scale public. I’ve had some questions recently about it, so I figure why not?

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Thank you all again so much, and I hope you get yourselves excited for the summer blockbuster season.

Until then, I’ll see you folks at the movies.