All the Money in the World

dws1982
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by dws1982 »

Finished Trust.

With school starting back, it took me awhile to get through this. This year I'm teaching at a completely different school this year--I'm in a regular classroom with, God help me, five different classes to prepare for each day. (High school/middle school teachers typically have at most three.) We're a very small school--through six periods, I only see 70 students!--so there was really no way around it. I have an Algebra I class, Algebra II (I teach it twice a day), Algebra II/Trig, Algebra w/ Finance (the worst class ever--not in terms of behavior, they're okay on that front, they're just zombies who give zero participation), and Pre-Cal. We've already started, and things are going pretty well so far.

Anyway, Trust.

The last seven episodes are kind of a letdown after the really strong first three. I feel like there's an issue in TV, where producers are (understandably) eager to take as much as they can get from a network, and that sometimes leads them to drawing out a story over more episodes than they need. The problem with the back seven is that there's just too much filler. One episode, in particular, is a terrible offender--it spends nearly thirty minutes of a forty-five minute runtime on a very tangential plot involving the confirmation of the son of a man involved in the kidnapping. The last fifteen minutes of the episode--mostly dialogue between Paul III and the son--is very strong, but most of that episode could've been dropped. Honestly, much of the last episode could've been dropped, or at least condensed, as well. It's entirely set in the time after the kidnapping was resolved, and I think that it suffers from an aimlessness that hurts the series. I get that the show is trying to do something different than just document the story of the kidnapping--it's trying to show a world, and a lifestyle, and really making an effort to capture the mood and feeling of that period for all of the characters who lived. But producers need to quit making ten episodes when eight would do.

It's a solid series, very well-made, and very well-acted. All of the principals get more to work with than their counterparts in All the Money in the World, and I really think that Harris Dickinson--who was also excellent in Beach Rats--has potential to become a major actor.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by dws1982 »

I'm three episodes in to Trust, which is FX's 10-episode miniseries based on the same story. Simon Beafoy is the chief writer, and Danny Boyle directed the first three episodes.

I'm not going to take back everything I said about All the Money in the World--it passed the time well enough, although Italiano's issue is definitely a point well-taken--but this is so clearly superior, it's not even close. It's also operating from a premise that, if I remember correctly, the Ridley Scott film never entertained, which is that J. Paul Getty III--like most of his family, he was "rich" but cash-poor--staged his own kidnapping to pay off debts, and that it went very wrong from there. Paul is portrayed as someone who, in a pursuit of a hedonistic, responsibility-free lifestyle, feel in with some friends who used the Getty name to rack up debts because they assumed that Paul would be able to easily pay it off.

Most of the other characters are for the most part very different from the way they were in All the Money; Brendan Fraser is in the Mark Wahlberg role, and there's a humor to the character that Wahlberg never hinted at. Whereas with Wahlberg, it was essentially just a hired gun doing a job, Fraser's character is an American abroad who's presenting a manufactured folksy country charm as a way of disarming people. I've never seen him this fun and playful. Swank's Gail Getty is different too--it's less mom-worry, and more guilt over what she's done to drive her son away. I guess J. Paul Getty is the most similar--still a rich asshole--but the reasoning behind his refusal to pay is different, and more complicated.

Definitely interested to see how it plays out over the last seven episodes.

Even though it's an anthology series--subsequent series will have different casts, although they might still deal with the Getty family--it was submitted at the Emmys in the Drama categories, instead of the Limited Series categories where these shows usually go. It's too bad because I think it really could've gotten some nominations. Although I guess you never know--an adaptation of Howard's End and an AMC show called The Terror were both really well-reviewed and they got nothing.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by ITALIANO »

Mister Tee wrote:
And, tie-ing somewhat into this...Italiano is completely correct: Italians are utterly maligned by this film. They're characterized in much the same way the Turks are in Midnight Express -- as low-life beasts who if anything enjoy tormenting their captive. The (again, completely un-factual) pursuit of Paul III by seemingly every citizen of Italy is a libel upon an entire county, all in the service of creating a chase that isn't even all that suspenseful.
)
Finally someone - an American - can see that! And, unsurprisingly, it's Mister Tee.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by Mister Tee »

I waited in vain to find some way to watch this for free, but Oscar completeness finally compelled me to hop out of my neighborhood and spring for it at full price.

I think it's possible to agree with most everything people have written here:

It's a generally engrossing true crime procedural. The writing is mostly competent, the acting is fine, and Scott, as always, delivers professional work.

But...it's disappointing, as Uri notes, to go in online search of background and find that so much of this was fictionalized. Getty didn't agree to pay the full amount. Paul Jr. was more involved than the near-vegetable we see on-screen. Paul III didn't escape (that narrative cul-de-sac didn't fool me, since I could see he was still two-eared at that point -- the ear amputation was literally the only detail I remembered from the real-time coverage.) Getty Sr. didn't die till several years later, not, as the film suggests, practically a result of the kidnapping.

And, tie-ing somewhat into this...Italiano is completely correct: Italians are utterly maligned by this film. They're characterized in much the same way the Turks are in Midnight Express -- as low-life beasts who if anything enjoy tormenting their captive. The (again, completely un-factual) pursuit of Paul III by seemingly every citizen of Italy is a libel upon an entire county, all in the service of creating a chase that isn't even all that suspenseful.

I will dissent, though, on the use of women. I think one of the film's few interesting subtexts was the role male dominance played throughout this event -- most specifically seen in the treatment Gail received, but underlined by the way women were relegated to the sidelines in every part of the story. The shot of the Italian women counting the ransom money as received was a rare witty touch, because it reflected the silent women in the bank who were performing the same function in putting the ransom together.

As for Plummer's work -- he has always effortlessly projected patrician entitlement, and, since that's most of what the role calls for, he fits it perfectly. Sometimes the aristocratic arrogance is laid on a bit thick (I thought I'd seen my last "disdain expressed by having a background skeet shoot" scene), and for me Getty's final scene with Wahlberg doesn't do the job (I got nothing from the encounter that I thought would lead to a Getty change of heart), but it's a worthy enough piece of work. Though no one will ever convince he'd be on the Oscar list minus the "here I come to save the day" narrative. (Credit, though: it's fairly amazing to think of him shooting all those scenes so quickly and so close to opening.)
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by ITALIANO »

mlrg wrote:
ITALIANO wrote:All the Italians are dark-haired in All the Money in the World. All - even the extras in the streets. Not a blond in sight (and I swear that there ARE blonds here). They aren't even just dark-haired - they are black-haired. With big noses, thick eyebrows, full llips. Which actually makes them conveniently similar to Arabs, so more easily identifiable by even the most provincial, ignorant American as the villains of the story. Several events are completely invented, and most of these events - for example the boy trying to escape and being caught by a seemingly-friendly but actually corrupt policeman - contribute to portray Italy as a land where everyone is violent, greedy, sadistic, fraudolent, untrustworthy.
Even if this werent a country I know something about, I'd be terrified at the racism in sight. The fact that all the well-intentioned, liberal, progressive Americans writing before me in this thread found this movie "enjoyable", "efficient", etc, without even slightly noticing THAT, says alot about America, and why America has a President like Trump today. And then they worry about Weinstein...
It's like all portuguese (man or women) are fat, have a moustache and own a restaurant as portrayed in Love Actually (although it's a British film).

:lol:
Exactly!

Please see the movie if you still haven't. All the Italians look lkke Egyptians. And there ARE Italians looking like Arabs of course, but not many, and most importantly, not ALL!
In the movie, all Italians are bad. The journalists are portrayed as either crazy animals like the hordes of paparazzi who follow the heroic American mother everywhere or like cynics who offer money in order to publish private photos of the kidnapped boy.
Italian women don't speak - this is something I discovered from this movie and I had never realized before. Italian women just devotedly follow their men, and if their men are criminals, they follow them silently and, in the funniest scene (people in the cinema burst out laughing) they - silently and devotedly as always - sit around the table counting the ransom money.
Oh, I forgot. There IS a sort-of good guy in this hell on Earth. It's obviously one of the kidnappers - a low-grade mafioso with a golden heart right out of a B-spaghetti western who more than once advices the good and pure Americans: "Leave Italy immediately!!!!".
By contrast, the Americans in this movie are rational, balanced, sensitive, human. I mean... How shall I put it... Well, let's just say that anyone who has been on this board for even just a week know that this isn't often the case...
Anyway, the movie is atrocious, not just for its racism. The so-called poliziotteschi made in Italy in the 70s with little money weren't more bidimensiobal and at least had a better pace. But I find interesting that nobody in America noticed the racism. Are they so used nowadays to see "others" portrayed that way - the foreign, the dark-skinned as the enemy of a country which is pure and healthy? And not just Americans, it seems. Australians and Israelis were "engaged" as well, "right up until the end" (!) - I mean, such a compelling, coherent storyline, and such subtle characters have that effect on the viewers, right? But I'm afraid this is one of the aspects of globalization - you identifiy with the (light-skinned) winner, always, even if you live in a completely different environment.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by mlrg »

ITALIANO wrote:All the Italians are dark-haired in All the Money in the World. All - even the extras in the streets. Not a blond in sight (and I swear that there ARE blonds here). They aren't even just dark-haired - they are black-haired. With big noses, thick eyebrows, full llips. Which actually makes them conveniently similar to Arabs, so more easily identifiable by even the most provincial, ignorant American as the villains of the story. Several events are completely invented, and most of these events - for example the boy trying to escape and being caught by a seemingly-friendly but actually corrupt policeman - contribute to portray Italy as a land where everyone is violent, greedy, sadistic, fraudolent, untrustworthy.
Even if this werent a country I know something about, I'd be terrified at the racism in sight. The fact that all the well-intentioned, liberal, progressive Americans writing before me in this thread found this movie "enjoyable", "efficient", etc, without even slightly noticing THAT, says alot about America, and why America has a President like Trump today. And then they worry about Weinstein...
It's like all portuguese (man or women) are fat, have a moustache and own a restaurant as portrayed in Love Actually (although it's a British film).

:lol:
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by Reza »

ITALIANO wrote:All the Italians are dark-haired in All the Money in the World. All - even the extras in the streets. Not a blond in sight (and I swear that there ARE blonds here). They aren't even just dark-haired - they are black-haired. With big noses, thick eyebrows, full llips. Which actually makes them conveniently similar to Arabs, so more easily identifiable by even the most provincial, ignorant American as the villains of the story. Several events are completely invented, and most of these events - for example the boy trying to escape and being caught by a seemingly-friendly but actually corrupt policeman - contribute to portray Italy as a land where everyone is violent, greedy, sadistic, fraudolent, untrustworthy.
Even if this werent a country I know something about, I'd be terrified at the racism in sight. The fact that all the well-intentioned, liberal, progressive Americans writing before me in this thread found this movie "enjoyable", "efficient", etc, without even slightly noticing THAT, says alot about America, and why America has a President like Trump today. And then they worry about Weinstein...
Lol
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by ITALIANO »

All the Italians are dark-haired in All the Money in the World. All - even the extras in the streets. Not a blond in sight (and I swear that there ARE blonds here). They aren't even just dark-haired - they are black-haired. With big noses, thick eyebrows, full llips. Which actually makes them conveniently similar to Arabs, so more easily identifiable by even the most provincial, ignorant American as the villains of the story. Several events are completely invented, and most of these events - for example the boy trying to escape and being caught by a seemingly-friendly but actually corrupt policeman - contribute to portray Italy as a land where everyone is violent, greedy, sadistic, fraudolent, untrustworthy.
Even if this werent a country I know something about, I'd be terrified at the racism in sight. The fact that all the well-intentioned, liberal, progressive Americans writing before me in this thread found this movie "enjoyable", "efficient", etc, without even slightly noticing THAT, says alot about America, and why America has a President like Trump today. And then they worry about Weinstein...
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Re: All the Money in the World

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Uri wrote:
And I do want Pulmer to be nominated. Ok, he is fine, though he’s not out of his comfort zone here, but as a trivia freak I would just love the chance to be able to note that he’ll be the oldest nominated performer ever, being nominated for the “youngest” performance ever. Was there ever a performance being nominated so shortly after it was filmed?
The nearest that comes to mind and its by quite a few months was Million Dollar Baby that was filmed in June/July 2004. There is bound to something else with a shorter timeframe than MDM though.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by Uri »

I was 10 when all this happened, and I was aware of it – the ear stuff surly made an impact – but I can’t say I remembered all the details when I watched AtMitW. And while I was engaged too, from time to time I had this uncomfortable feeling that parts of this film didn’t make sense, not to say were totally dumb. The escape attempt, the grand chase at the end, when all the parties roamed the narrow streets of the village looking for Paul, Gail being the executor of Getty’s will. So, I looked it up – and lo and behold – all this stuff never happened. Now – artistic license is great, but once it’s not being applied so a work of art – in this case this film – would become more poignant, more challenging, more intriguing, but instead to standardized it into a more simplistic and banal narrative, I have no use for it.

And I do want Pulmer to be nominated. Ok, he is fine, though he’s not out of his comfort zone here, but as a trivia freak I would just love the chance to be able to note that he’ll be the oldest nominated performer ever, being nominated for the “youngest” performance ever. Was there ever a performance being nominated so shortly after it was filmed?
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Re: All the Money in the World

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dws1982 wrote:
flipp525 wrote:I found this enjoyable although it doesn’t amount to much more than what Sabin might call a “Wikipedia entry” movie...I am betting that Plummer’s addition to the cast greatly increases the value of the final product. He’s wry, often funny, but commanding and takes on the mantle of this uber-rich man as though it fits him like a glove.
This is a pretty good summation of my reaction.

Ridley Scott movies are pretty easy to rank into tiers, and their goodness or badness generally depends on how engaged he is with the material. If he's not engaged with the material, you're going to get something truly dire like Robin Hood or Exodus, but he has a few really excellent films, in my opinion, and several solid entertainments. This is a pretty efficient thriller. Plummer is really good, and I think you really get a sense of a rich man who constantly feels he has to prove himself, even in old age. Charlie Plummer and Romain Duris are both really good too. Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg are fine but you could imagine other actors pulling those roles off just as well.
Agree 100% with the comments from flip & dws1982. Kept me engaged right up until the end. Funny how Christopher Plummer was Ridley Scott's first choice to play the role but overruled by the studio who wanted a more bankable 'star' in Kevin Spacey. The irony is that Spacey does not and has not for some time gotten bums on cinema seats though there is no denying his was getting them bums on lounges around the world in their millions for House of Cards. When are studios ever going to learn. People that are big on TV/Streaming, etc don't get people out of the home into cinema.

Anyway Christopher Plummer fits the role like a glow and I couldn't imagine anyone better to play that role. Bravo for the work that Scott, Plummer, the rest of the cast and crew for pulling this all off in such a tight timeframe. The screening I went to was packed so heres hoping a nice little profit for there efforts.
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Re: All the Money in the World

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flipp525 wrote:I found this enjoyable although it doesn’t amount to much more than what Sabin might call a “Wikipedia entry” movie...I am betting that Plummer’s addition to the cast greatly increases the value of the final product. He’s wry, often funny, but commanding and takes on the mantle of this uber-rich man as though it fits him like a glove.
This is a pretty good summation of my reaction.

Ridley Scott movies are pretty easy to rank into tiers, and their goodness or badness generally depends on how engaged he is with the material. If he's not engaged with the material, you're going to get something truly dire like Robin Hood or Exodus, but he has a few really excellent films, in my opinion, and several solid entertainments. This is a pretty efficient thriller. Plummer is really good, and I think you really get a sense of a rich man who constantly feels he has to prove himself, even in old age. Charlie Plummer and Romain Duris are both really good too. Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg are fine but you could imagine other actors pulling those roles off just as well.

Interested to see the FX miniseries Trust, which will tell the same story. It's directed (at least partially) by Danny Boyle, with Hillary Swank, Brendan Fraser, Donald Sutherland, and Harris Dickinson in the four main roles there. I always enjoy it when two versions of the same story come out close together.
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Re: All the Money in the World

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I found this enjoyable although it doesn’t amount to much more than what Sabin might call a “Wikipedia entry” movie. Anyone who’s remotely familiar with the story is not going to be in for much of a surprise although the film does have some good moments (the fire, the gruesome ear cutting scene, and the final chase are all well done). Even the scenes from their lives in earlier times prior to the 1973 kidnapping hint at an interesting (albeit different) movie.

Christopher Plummer is the very clear stand-out from the cast and could very well earn an Oscar nomination for his performance (and it would be deserved, not just based on goodwill toward him for stepping in at the last minute although I think that definitely increases his chances). Honestly, I can’t even imagine Kevin Spacey in the role (even with age makeup). I am betting that Plummer’s addition to the cast greatly increases the value of the final product. He’s wry, often funny, but commanding and takes on the mantle of this uber-rich man as though it fits him like a glove.

I love Michelle Williams, but I found her kind of affected in this movie. What was the deal with that accent she was doing? She’s perfectly fine as the mother of a kidnapped teen (her best scene is when she has to identify his body and realizes, with joy, that it isn’t him), but she seemed either miscast or misdirected. I’m shocked that she received a Golden Globe nomination for her work in this. It’s really just not deserved.

Mark Wahlberg is completely forgettable and his character should have been played by another actor. At times, I thought he was just plain awful. I didn’t, for a second, believe that anyone would have hired him in the capacity under which he serves Getty. A combination of too modern and too “cool for school” style of acting.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by Sabin »

The film sounds like lightweight entertainment. Plummer probably has a good shot at a BAFTA nomination, which will keep him in the conversation. What we've seen from the supporting performer categories over the years is that a fifth nomination usually goes to the coattails. 'Call Me By Your Name,' 'The Shape of Water,' and 'Three Billboards...' have good candidates.
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Re: All the Money in the World

Post by Reza »

These are raves for Plummer's performance and the Globes noticed. Wonder if he will sneak onto the Oscar nominations list.
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