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Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell

Posted on May 16, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell.
Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell. Image via Amazon.

Money Monster Plot Summary – No Spoilers

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the cocky and popular host of the finance show Money Monster where he puts on extravagant stage performances and sheds out investment out like the ultimate authority. And while he knows what he is talking about, an unexpected “glitch” at the investment company IBUS has him

cause a lot of people to lose money: a total of 800 million, to be exact. The company CCO Diane Lester (Highlander’s Caitriona Balfe) is apologetic and sticks to the talking points while the CEO Walt Camby (The Affair’s Dominic West) is nowhere to be found.

This doesn’t really affect the rich Lee or his director Patty (Julia Roberts) – until a blue collar victim named Kyle (Jack O’Connell) takes them hostage on live television. He puts a gun to Lee’s head and makes him wear an explosive vest. Kyle holds a deadman’s trigger and demands answers. He wants to know how a “glitch” could happen, how Lee could give such shitty advice so confidently, and most importantly, he wants a word with Walt.

The police get quickly involved, but they don’t count on Lee’s humanity taking over and deciding to help Lee. And the more Lee and Patty listen to Kyle, the less they buy Walt’s glitch story. Can they find out what went wrong before it is too late?

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Money Monster Movie Review

Money Monster is a modern movie in the vein of Mad City. While the plots differ, there are several similarities that got me nostalgic:

Mad City starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman.
Mad City starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman. Image via moviepostershop.
  • An otherwise sane and decent man going mad when he loses his money. In Mad City, John Travolta gets fired from his job at a museum and takes the manager hostage, with the unexpected surprise of kids being there at the same time.
  • A not-so-empathetic reporter tries to control things (In Mad City, the reporter is played by Dustin Hoffman), but then he gets on the gunman’s side as he learns more about his situation.
  • We end up rooting for the wronged family man, but of course, ****spoilers**** they will tragically pay the price of taking justice into their own hands, even if we badly wanted them to win.
  • The police will make things worse.

The good things about Money Monster, apart from the stellar cast and director Jodie Foster, is that it feels like the emotional, humane drama/thrillers of the 90s. The not-so-great thing is it feels like we have seen this movie before.

And for some reason, while I was sad at the ending and enjoyed the time I spent on the movie, I didn’t feel as touched as I was when I watched Mad City.

And while Money Monster made more money at the box office and is a bit more highly rated at IMDB, I still prefer Mad City.

That said, as a 90s kid, I still feel Julia Roberts and George Clooney are more my generation than say Scarlett Johannson or Chris Hemsworth. I love seeing them on screen in lead roles. So for nostalgia and the love of cast and director, I still recommend giving Money Monster a shot. As familiar and predictable the story might feel, it still has more heart than a lot of stuff out there.

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Money Monster is a 2016 movie written by Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore, and Jim Kouf. The movie made over 93 million dollars worldwide. It’s budget is reported to be around 27 mil.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Alan DiFiore, Caitriona Balfe, dominic west, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, jack odonnell, Jamie Linden, Jim Kouf, Jodie Foster, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, mad city, money monster, money monster cast, money monster movie, money monster movie review

2012 Golden Globes: Ricky Gervais? Tame? Never!

Posted on January 23, 2012 Written by ripitup

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  Ricky Gervais 2012 Golden Globes

Sorry, I’m a bit late about posting about Ricky Gervais’ third time hosting the Golden Globes. But I’ve been watching the Golden Globes for three years in a row- and all three because he was hosting it. And I’ve been writing about his jokes and the highlights and I didn’t want to make an exception. What can I say? I love Ricky.

I enjoyed this year’s show just as much as I did in 2010 and 2011 and my only complaint that the host should just get more time, especially if it is Ricky Gervais.

People love criticizing just to criticize and Ricky got his fair share of it. People said he went too far for two years. And then this year, apparently he wasn’t raunchy or outrageous enough. In Ricky’s defense, he was just as raunchy, but he had less time. And this year he didn’t have Charlie Sheen as material, or Paul McCartney. Or Cher.

But what really bothered me was that all the actors wanted to be funny when presenting, and if anyone brought the show momentum down, it was the actors- trying to hard to be “nice” and “casual” about Ricky. The only actors that didn’t annoy the hell out of me were Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and the William H. Macy-Felicity Huffman couple.

Below are some of my favorite Ricky moments and you can compare them with his  2010 and 2011 Golden Globe performances.

on Jodie Foster and her movie The Beaver   

The Beaver is a 2011 Jodie Foster drama, starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. It’s about a man coming to grips with his depression with the help of a beaver-shaped puppet.

Ricky mentioned that not many guys have seen Jodie Foster’s Beaver. He is sure that it is good, just that it wasn’t seen by guys.  The joke is funny, no matter which meaning you want to get. Yes, Jodie Foster is a lesbian and movies like The Beaver don’t typically become box office hits.

on the network, award show and Mel Gibson

He introduced himself as Britain’s best comedian, presenting the second most-watched award show on America’s third most-watched network.

Then Ricky said that he was given a list of what not to joke about, and he read the “list of” from a paper. Apparently, he wasn’t to joke about Mel Gibson this year.  He wasn’t also allowed to talk too dirty, but he assured his audience that his vocabulary was quite rich. He wasn’t allowed to do anything naked (not that he ever did), and that it would be the audience’s loss.

on Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp was his first presenter, and he went a little easy on him. After all, he did mock the hell of The Tourist last year, saying that it was the only movie that didn’t have 3D characters and that the box office revenue came from the people who were bribed with Cher concert tickets. Not that it worked, as it wasn’t the 70s anymore.

This year he just asked Johnny if he has seen The Tourist and Johnny said no good-humoredly. But of course before Johnny came to the stage, part of Ricky’s introduction was “The man who wears anything Tim Burton makes him wear”. Since I get bored with 90% of Tim Burton’s movies and at least 60% of Johnny Depp movies, that line was more than enough for me.

on Colin Firth

There is nothing bad to say Colin Firth. Not about his personality, or about his movies. Sure, he made some bad movies in the past (Trauma, for instance), but having won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Actor in 2011 for his role in The King’s Speech, and having been nominated for Golden Globe and Oscar for A Single Man the year before, it is not like he can joke about Firth’s movies, or performances.

And Colin has been a graceful guy, and it is not like he can joke about his personality. So Ricky did the next best thing. He mocked himself. He said Colin and he were both Brits, but unlike Ricky, Colin had an Oscar. “Oh, good for him”. And unlike Ricky, Colin has women swooning over him. Well, Ricky can’t see it but whatever. And he also said that Colin Firth was racist (which is OK because everyone knows he is not) and that he isn’t as nice as he appears as he punched a blind kitten (which again we know he didn’t.) So when Colin came, he greeted him with a handshake and mock-kicked Ricky.

on George Clooney:

It is a George Clooney year again, enjoying a kind of popularity that Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner (who both have two Oscars, in the same two categories: one for Best Film and one for Best Director) possessed in the 90s. And he is being praised by critics not only for his directing efforts, but his acting is loved too (Costner was nominated for Best Actor Oscar once, and Mel Gibson only has two Golden Globe nominations for his acting efforts).  But excluding his possible nominations this year, Clooney has already won an acting Oscar, and he has had several other nominations both for his acting and writing/directing. Yes, he is loved. And people do find him gorgeous. Why everybody is that fascinated by Clooney is beyond me.

And Ricky practically said George could give him a …….. (fill in the blanks) if George got any more successful or handsome. I think this was a great way to point out the Clooney craze, although I am not sure if Ricky thinks George is overrated.  But I did enjoy the joke all the same.

On Justin Bieber

Gervais just pointed out what a ridiculous idea it was to ask a paternity test from Justin Bieber, as the only way for him to get a girl pregnant was borrowing a Turkey roaster (or something to that effect) from Martha Stewart. “What a waste of a test that would have been”.

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So no, I don’t think Ricky Gervais talking about his size, or joking about Jodie Foster’s beaver or Bieber’s impregnating abilities was tame. He is only tamer when you compare his Golden Globes material to his shows, where he would even joke about the hunger in Africa.

You don’t go to Gervais for political correctness. You go to him to be funny, unpredictable and outrageous. And the only mistake so far is that they haven’t asked him to do the Oscars yet. More time, more material. He would go crazy. I guess even the tamer Ricky isn’t tame enough for Hollywood…

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: 69th golden globes, Colin Firth, colin firth golden globes, George Clooney, george clooney golden globes, golden globes 2012, golden globes ricky gervais, Jodie Foster, jodie foster the beaver, Johnny Depp, johnny depp golden globes, Ricky Gervais, ricky gervais golden globes, ricky gervais golden globes 2012, the beaver movie

Coming Soon: The Beaver starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster & Anton Yelchin

Posted on December 14, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The Beaver starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster & Anton Yelchin
The Beaver starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster & Anton Yelchin. Directed by Jodie Foster. Image via shockya.com

The Beaver is Mel Gibson & Jodie Foster’s latest collaboration. The two met and became good friends while they were shooting Maverick together in 1994. Maverick is a western comedy/adventure starring Foster and Gibson. It was directed by Richard Donner.

The Beaver was written by Kyle Killen & directed by Jodie Foster. Jodie Foster co-stars alongside Gibson.  The cast also features the young and talented Anton Yelchin, who performed brilliantly both on Charlie Bartlett and Fierce People.

The Story

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) has become increasingly detached and depressed. His wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) feels like she has no choice but to take their two kids Porter (Anton Yelchin) & Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) and leave. Walter, however, finds a weird solution. He takes a beaver hand-puppet and starts using it to communicate, both in his personal and professional life. This further infuriates his son Porter but this just might be a working method for the old Walter coming back…

The Verdict

Well, I have to see the movie first. But I will definitely see it. Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster are two of my favorite actors. And I try to give movies about depression a chance because they might end up being very hopeful and/or uplifting, in total contrast to the theme. Because depression is something that can happen to anyone and anytime and well, who better than Mel to portray it since he is not only a great actor but also has gone through depression himself. He was diagnosed with manic-depression and he’s still struggling to keep it under control.

Of course it might end up being a bad movie, but so far it looks promising.

You can watch the trailer here.


Also on Jodie Foster:

Nim’s Island starring Gerard Butler, Jodie Foster & Abigail Breslin

Sommersby starring Richard Gere, Jodie Foster and Bill Pullman

Also on Mel Gibson and His Movies

Edge of Darkness starring Mel Gibson

MEL GIBSON TOP 10: The movies that prove he can act, direct and entertain better than anyone

All About Mel: A Fun Yet Fair Mel Gibson Tribute

8 Reasons to Love Braveheart- Braveheart Movie Review

MEL GIBSON IS A DAD. AGAIN!!!

Mel Gibson: what in the world happened to you?

Favorite Revenge Movies

A Movie Poll with 10 Fun Questions Featuring Mel Gibson, James Cameron, Heath Ledger and More

11 Bad Celebrity Behaviors – Inspired by Mel Gibson

11 Great Mel Gibson Films You Should Consider Watching


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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Anton Yelchin, drama, Jodie Foster, Jodie foster movies, kyle killen, maverick, maverick movie, Mel Gibson, Mel Gibson movies, movies, movies about depression, Richard Donner, Riley Thomas Stewart, the beaver, the beaver movie

Inside Man with Clive Owen, Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster

Posted on February 25, 2010 Written by ripitup

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inside man with clive owen, denzel wasington and jodie foster
Brilliant. Just brilliant. If I were an actor, I’d be so jealous of Clive Owen. The guy plays in awesome movies. And obviously, I don’t need to praise neither Jodie nor Denzel at this point in their careers? Love the cast,script and the direction. The only thing I don’t like about this movie is…Wait, there is nothing I don’t like about it! Image via cinemablend.com

Wow. Wow. And wow. It is one of those rare movies where it gives you everything you can ask for, while entertaining the hell out of you and keep you guessing during the whole time:

Actors: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Plummer

Plot: Detective Keith Frazier (Washington) is facing the most interesting bank robbery-hostage situation ever. The criminals are very well-organized and very smart. Their leader Dalton (Clive Owen) seems to have thought every little detail. They have tens of hostages, all from different backgrounds, all forced to dress like the criminals. Needless to say the cameras are broken, and our criminals never show the hostages their faces. So if they all get caught, there is no one who can testify against them.

The bank in question belongs to a wealthy and well-respected businessman (Christopher Plummer) who wants a very mysterious woman involved:  Madeleine White (Jodie Foster). She has a complicated job description. She knows all the right people in the high places and she can get anything to anyone. But this one is tricky- even for a sharp woman like her. How the hell is she going to get one specific thing out in all the chaos? And why is that one thing so much more important than all the money inside the vaults?

A 7.7 imdb rating is way, way underrated. The script is brilliant. Just when you think you see the next twist coming, you don’t. I think this is Clive Owen’s best movie. Oh, and don’t give me that “you raised our expectations so high and now we will be disappointed” look. If you don’t like this thriller, there is a chance my taste in movies is radically different from yours. I never thought I could like a Spike Lee movie this much. But whether you like him or not, anyone into smart heist movies will like this movie.

9/10. At least.

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqWFRPi63s[/pro-player]

inside man with denzel washington, clive owen and jodie foster
What’s your favorite Clive Owen movie? This is mine. Image via movie studio.files.wordpress.com

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Christopher Plummer, Clive Owen, Clive Owen movies, Denzel Washington, Inside Man, Inside man trailer, Jodie Foster, Spike Lee, Willem Dafoe

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