Had a bit of an unintentional Kevin Spacey film festival over the last couple of days.
I THINK it started with re-watching
Horrible Bosses where Kevin Spacey played, of course, a horrible boss. I'd forgotten about Colin Farrell's brill and underused character in the movie, and I love that he gets to do these sorts of crazy roles, I always want to see more of him now. And I know I could have gone for more of Julie Bowen's slutty wife character.
After that, or possibly the day before, I can't be certain, was
Swimming With Sharks which I had never seen before despite liking the promos for it on various videotapes in the 90s. And of course I remember it from "Rebel Without A Crew." Spacey hit this great venom-spitting abusive high in this movie and I think he'd been around before then but I'm sure this is what put him on a lot of peoples' radar (whereas I don't think I've seen the actual MAIN ACTOR from that movie again). Benicio Del Toro also has a small role as Spacey's first assistant.
I think at this point I watched the full-length trailer for "House of Cards," the David Fincher Netflix-exclusive series where Spacey is a prick in politics (I think a whole lot of these roles are "Spacey is a prick in..." but he's so entertaining to watch, I'm fine with that. I would LOVE to see a tongue-in-cheek "Making of" where Kevin Spacey plays himself AS the
**** he plays in so many movies. But I wonder if that might get lost on people (and if I can say, I think my favourite prick role of his was as the man who invented sarcasm on Saturday Night Live, which I think he's overdue to host again).
Then poking around Netflix's menus and it's insane amount of doubles, I found
Margin Call which I had never seen before, chronicling the night before the 2008 Wall Street collapse began. It's got great people like Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, and Paul Bettany in it and the fact it all takes place over one night really ratchets up the "you are there" feel to it. Unfortunately, the movie commits the sin of "tell me in plain english" SEVERAL times, and one literal "explain it to me like I'm a child" (delivered by m-f-ing JEREMY IRONS, who you'e just like "h-ll yes!" when he shows up), but they still do a TERRIBLE job at explaining exactly what the problem is. It reminded me of something Lewis Black said, "if you have a company, and you can't explain in one sentence what it DOES, it should be illegal!" And the low budget and style of shooting makes it feel like a movie from the 80s in a GOOD way, like the kind of serious movies that were coming out for adults t watch like "Wall Street" and the like without being crummy like the second "Wall Street." And we seriously need more Paul Bettany in our movies. And Jeremy Irons, 'cause he delivers a nice bit about the true nature of money at the end.
And from an unclear issue to good-old-fashioned greed, we move to
C asino Jack, based on the book and starring Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff, and I gotta say I really liked his turn in this movie. Abramoff apparently produced two Dolph Lungdren movies (he had a poster of
Red Scorpion in the office, and I accidentally found out that movie is ALSO on Netflix!) and a big movie buff, so Spacey had a chance to pull out his impressions and I think it actually adds to the character. The movie focuses on Spacey and his partner-in-crime (Barry Pepper, who I liked but couldn't help thinking of Denis Leary the whole time) deciding to make some extra green ripping off an indian tribe that wants to open a c asino, then they decide to get into the gambling business themselves, dealing with a Greek immagrant-turned-mobster who owns a fleet of c asino boats, and them going money crazy. What really makes it for me is just how great and full-of-himself Spacey's character is, he's got delusions of grandeur but they're justified and he believes them, he doesn't play himself as a bad guy, just a bit of an
**** who wants way too much and decides to take it (his whole justification is laid out right at the start of the movie and you could totally agree with it, which is how he draws you in). And of course, their front guy for the c asino boats is about the best casting I've seen in a while and the role that guy needed.
I don't know what'll be next, but I think I'd have to revisit this short that came out that Spacey did with Erin Cahill: