The pair are teaming up for the new political thriller “House of Cards,” a 13-episode series created specifically for Netflix. Spacey will star and produce the show, while Fincher (“The Social Network”) will share producing credits and direct the pilot episode. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced today the show will start shooting in his state starting this spring.

The series is based on the novel and British miniseries of the same name dealing with political ambition and intrigue.

Media consumers won’t have to wait much longer to sample the kind of original fare Netflix has in mind as it broadens its content base.

“Lilyhammer,” a mobster out of water series starring “The Sopranos’” Steven Van Zandt, will debut next month on Netflix. And starting Monday, people accessing Hulu and Hulu Plus can watch “Endgame,” that streaming service’s original series about a chess genius who solves crimes in an unorthodox fashion.

Our television world is changing faster that network executives – or anyone else, for that matter – can process. But it’s mostly good news for the consumer. For example, viewers will be able to watch the entire season of “Lilyhammer” at their convenience rather than waiting for a new episode each week.

More choices, more platforms and, let’s hope, more quality programming coming from new sources.

—–

Things are already bad at the 107 year-old Manhattan-based investment firm, bad enough that specialists who know how to manage those being unceremoniously laid off have been brought in to do just that. Eric (Stanley Tucci) works in risk management and has been with the company 19 years. Today he’s been given six months severance at half pay and a humiliating escort out the door. Before he reaches the lobby, his passwords have changed and his company phone’s been shut off. Before Eric leaves, though, he hands a thumb drive to one of his young protégés who wasn’t let go, Peter (Zachary Quinto), a 28 year-old Ph.D. graduate who decided to trade in the opportunity to be an actual rocket scientist for the money and action on “The Street.”

Thinking the worst is over after the layoffs, those who remain are able to exhale and get back to the business of buying and selling. But this is just the beginning. After work, Peter opens Eric’s thumb drive and discovers that his mentor was close to finishing a risk assessment report on the firm’s current holdings.  Curious, Peter finishes the report and is horrified to learn that the kind of worst case scenario no one ever dreams of is not only possible but inevitable.

To be sure his calculations are correct, Peter calls Seth (Peter Badgely) , a 23 year-old hollow man-child obsessed with money, and Will (Paul Bettany), a senior trader who could walk out of a mine field without mussing up his hair, back into the office only to have them confirm that the sky is indeed falling.

Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey, who gives the performance of his life) is the lion of the firm, a 34-year veteran whose life is so empty he spends his evenings at an animal hospital with a dog he’s keeping alive at the cost of a thousand dollars a day. It takes some convincing, but sometime just before midnight, Sam’s back in the office looking at the numbers with a cold chill creeping down his spine.

Up the corporate ladder we and our cast of characters climb. Next up is Sam’s superior, Jared (Simon Baker) and Sarah (a terrific Demi Moore), the firm’s chief risk officer. Finally, a helicopter dramatically delivers the company CEO, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), who gathers everyone around a conference table and then asks Peter to explain things to him as though he were a small child or golden retriever. Tuld might not be interested in the dit-dit of his own company’s complicated financial portfolios, but blood-letting he gets, and once he understands what the firm is up against, he has no problem laying out their options.

A Faustian bargain is the only way out. You see, the firm (an obvious stand-in for Lehman Brothers, whose CEO was named Fuld not Tuld ) is underwater with toxic holdings (that I assume are mortgages), but purely by chance and luck they have information no one else does. This means they either can do the honorable thing, hold on to their worthless holdings and go down with the rest of Wall Street, or they can unload what they know is worthless on unsuspecting buyers who have no idea what’s coming. This also means that their poison pill will be remembered as the one that started the economic collapse. Either way, their firm is finished. But a one-day fire sale before The Street catches on to the fact that this is a fire sale at least means the individual players come out whole.

“Margin Call” is without a doubt one of the finest films of the year. The superb cast has never been better, the screenplay deserves an Oscar nomination, and the direction is impeccable. Most of the story might be set  within the confines of a single building, but the rich cinematography and elegant production design make that a non-issue. And just when you think the skyline of Manhattan has been photographed in every conceivable way, cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco gives the city a foreboding feel, a city of the damned who don’t yet know they’re damned.

Most impressive is the dialogue. Along with Tuld, Sam also asks Peter to explain what’s happening in layman’s terms. At first I interpreted this as a somewhat lazy conceit, an excuse for exposition in order to tell the audience what’s happening. But even after two explanations, I still didn’t fully understand, and that was the idea. The fact that Tuld and Sam hold positions of extraordinary authority over a large part of the American economy but have no idea how the sausage gets made is part of the horror story. As far as the audience, we know everything we need to — the moral dilemma and the consequences either way.

Director Chandor goes nowhere near politics. His film is neither an indictment of Wall Street or capitalism. This is a fictional human story set in and around an all-too-real event. The characters are believable, and the choices they ultimately make are for them to live with and for us to judge.

Yesterday I wrote that with rare exceptions, the independent film genre has become a parody of itself. Had I not already seen “Margin Call,” I might not have mentioned the exceptions.

“Margin Call” is available at Amazon.

Christian Toto’s interview with the director is here.

Not so fast, says “Margin Call” writer/director J.C. Chandor.

—–

Not only does the film refuse to paint all Wall Street denizens as cold-hearted villains, it shows that money isn’t always the driving factor in foul financial decisions.

“The situation is far more complicated than quote, unquote greed. Careers are on the line, people’s self worth,” Chandor tells Big Hollywood. “It’s beyond monetary gain.”

The film, which nabbed two Independent Spirit Award nominations (Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay), is now available via Blu-ray, DVD and digital download from Lions Gate.

“Margin Call” follows a long, calamitous night in which a low-level investment bank worker (Zachary Quinto) alerts his bosses that the company’s fiscal house is about to come tumbling down. And, possibly, the entire economy along with it if the wrong moves are made. The modestly-budgeted film features Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore and Simon Baker.

The impressive cast wasn’t drawn to the project for a quick paycheck. Chandor, a first-time feature director with experience in commercials and documentaries, had to do some unofficial selling to seal the deals.

“The first couple of conversations with every one of these actors were an audition in a weird way,” he says. “The script drew them in, and they agreed to sit down with me.”

One doesn’t need to be a professional number cruncher to follow “Margin Call,” and that was all part of the plan.

“At every stage of the process, from writing through shooting and, most importantly, editing, it was about finding that balance … so that there wasn’t unnecessary information flying around,” he says. “We tried to keep the story as simple as possible, zeroing in on what was most interesting.”

One of the darkest dollops of humor in the film stems from how the bigger the boss, the more clueless he is regarding the bank’s spread sheets. Chandor used his own research to flesh out these bleakly comic morsels.

“I ran into a lot of that on the trading floors,” says Chandor of how he asked various professionals to break down in basic terms the work they do.  “So many people were unable to do it. They’d get halfway into it, and then they couldn’t explain it in a very simple way.”

“If you can’t explain something in four of five sentences … that’s a sign that you yourself don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Margin Call” wasn’t a blockbuster by even independent film standards. But the movie raked in roughly $5 million in domestic ticket sales and north of $4 million through Video on Demand – the latter coming at the same time “Call” was in theaters.

The press seized on the OWS connection early on, but Chandor says that could have harmed the film’s profitability.

“In the end, things like that can have a very negative impact on the film. It makes it feel too ripped from the headlines,” he says. “That ended up not being the case. For a film with very little money for advertising, it helped raise our awareness significantly … but dollars and cents wise, I’m not sure how much an effect it had.”

The film’s impact on the greater independent film scene, though, may just be beginning. “Margin Call” maxed out on 199 theaters while simultaneously showing via VOD. The film was deemed a success on both platforms, assuaging theater owners’ fears that VOD distribution will eat into theatrical profits.

“For 95 percent of small, art-house releases that never break through the 200 screen release mark, this is absolutely a net positive,” he says.

Chandor initially rejected the VOD move, thinking back on the straight to video dreck of a decade or so ago. Now, he sees the “Margin Call”-style release pattern as a huge boon to independent film – and parents with small children.

“I have two kids. I don’t get to go to the theater any more … it’s an expensive night out,” he says. “I feel anything that increases the audience [for a film] is a good plus.”

Instead of taking a broad look at the financial crisis of 2008, ‘Margin Call’ focuses on one company and takes place over the period of twenty four hours. Written and directed by J.C. Chandor, the film features a huge cast, so it’s often difficult to determine who the main character is. If there is a key player, it’s the company that employs most of the other characters–a firm that stands on the brink of collapse.

Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), a risk management officer, is one of the firm’s first casualties. He loses his job early on when the company is forced to downsize. Before he is escorted out of the office, Eric hands former underling Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) a disk showing an formula that he’s been working on to assess the company’s financial well-being. When Peter digs deep into future projections for the firm, he discovers that the company has dramatically over-leveraged itself with mortgage-bundled securities.

What starts out as a small discovery from a low-level employee quickly turns into something more. The revelation leads to meetings with managers, supervisors and eventually the head of the company. As the meetings move from one office to another one and from one floor to another, managers played by Simon Baker, Kevin Spacey, and Jeremy Irons are slowly introduced.

In terms of financial terminology and the structure of such a firm (built on status, not experience), I think the screenplay gets a lot of its facts right. However, it loses credibility when it tries to build up suspense. If a major flaw in the system of a financial company was discovered late into the evening, would a board of executives meeting really take place at 2 a.m.with many of the directors actually showing up in suits and ties? Would a company executive really be able to helicopter onto the office roof in the middle of the night?

Aside from such elements, the story itself is well-told and credible. In examining one company through a short time period, the story rejects the urge to talk about the roots of the problem and why the company decided to take on so many risks. Instead, it focuses on a company that, through bad decision-making (either self-inflicted or with the assistance of government programs), has found itself in a precarious position.

At times, the story does show financial firms in a negative light. When the firm downsizes early on, Rogers (Spacey) is more concerned with his dying dog than with the employees that have lost their jobs. However, he eventually becomes the heart of the story. He knows the company has taken on too many risks and has to make some terrible choices to clear off its overburdened books. He’s conflicted about the choices that he’s eventually forced to make.

Irons also does a fine job projecting the human side of the company. At times, he’s a calculating executive, but in one great conversation, he argues that the market will always have its share of volatility. In the world of trading, some companies will falter while others will succeed. That’s the way the world works.

The promise and failures of the film can be understood with a few simple questions. Is the world of financial markets a tough business? Of course. Does ‘Margin Call’ simplify the complex issues that led to the market downturn in 2008? Undoubtedly. Is it still worth seeing? Yes.

—–

Politico:

The video stars Kevin Spacey, Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Kristen Wiig, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen as part of the foundation’s celebrity division, pumping out ideas like not breathing to save the environment. There’s even a cameo from Bubba at the end.

More here.

—–

The three mistreated employees in this story are Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charie Day) and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis). Harken, Nick’s boss, is a psychotic manager who openly mocks and threatens his employees. Meanwhile, dental assistant Dale is being sexually harassed by his boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) while Kurt, who works at a chemical company, is often mistreated by his boss, a demented cokehead named Bobby Pellit (Colin Farrell). The three men eventually conspire to have their bosses murdered with the assistance of a ex-convict that they meet at a local bar (Jamie Foxx).

The logic of their plan is that each man will kill the other man’s boss, thus throwing off the police. This formula was used before as both a drama (“Strangers”) and a comedy (“Throw”).  There’s even a scene where the three employees openly discuss and give homage to those earlier films, although one of the characters doesn’t seem to know the difference between the two.

However, there is one major problem with the plot. Dale’s boss seems to be the only dentist who was willing to hire him because of Dale’s previous conviction as a sex offender, a conviction he received after going to the bathroom in a children’s playground after hours. Although Dale wants to keep his job as a dental assistant, he also wants his boss murdered. However, if his boss is killed, he wouldn’t have a job anymore. Dale doesn’t seem to take this into consideration.

“Bosses” tries to follow in the footsteps of “Bridemaids” and “The Hangover” in its reliance on vulgarity. Unfortunately, the raunchiness in “Bosses” is often unfunny and disgusting. A few funny sex jokes could work in a film like this but the film relies on references to sexual organs, intercourse and sexual deviancy for laughs and most of the jokes fall dismally flat and may leave audiences disgusted.

There are a few funny scene, however, and some members of the supporting cast shine in their roles. Kevin Spacey, Charlie Day and Colin Farrell all stand out for the life they bring to their often unlikeable characters. However, the script falters and leaves the actors doing as much as they can with limp lines and unbelievable plot developments. The story’s conclusion ultimately feels fake as all of the main problems are resolved relatively easily. It’s as if the writers needed an easy way to tie things up and just threw in the first idea they had.

“Horrible Bosses” isn’t a terrible movie, but it’s mediocre at best and would be a horrible way to waste an afternoon.

In the new comedy Horrible Bosses, Jennifer Aniston plays an overbearing dentist named Julia who tortures her assistant Dale (Charlie Day) by sexually harassing him. She’s one of three managers (along with Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey) meant to be so detestable that their underlings plot to murder them. She constantly corners Dale, asking him to perform lewd sexual acts. In one scene, Aniston’s character calls him into her office, wearing nothing but a white lab coat. When he expresses discomfort, she taunts him like a high-school bully. “You’re starting to sound like a little faggot there, Dale,” she says.

[...]

So remember folks, the First Amendment provides for freedom of speech, just so long as you don’t offend any gay people.  Just ask Tracy Morgan…

Can you imagine the goodwill Hollywood would engender if they were to stand up as an industry and say:

“You know what, America? We got this. We understand what’s happening in this country. We understand you’re already over-taxed and worried about the deficit. And while we realize $167.5 million in the face of trillions isn’t a whole lot, it is something we as an industry can cover. We call on Congress to cut this from the budget and assure the NEA this town will plug that funding hole with our own money.”

My guess is that just a tenth of the profits from “Avatar” could make up the funding gap. But they will never do it for three reasons:

1. It’s the decent thing to do and therefore not in them.
2. They need a reason to run around Capitol Hill feeling important.
3. They get a sick thrill knowing we’re paying for bullwhips in butts.

Variety:

Despite the absence of an official hearing, lobbying org Americans for the Arts forged ahead with a Tuesday morning event in a House caucus room, where Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and others read excerpts of their prepared testimony.

“Many people who are making the cuts don’t believe in the cuts themselves,” Baldwin told the gathering of hundreds of arts advocates. “They’re just speaking from an old, tired script.” …

Baldwin compared the current budget battle to that of the 1990s, when he also testified before a congressional committee. Back then — the height of the so-called “culture wars” — federal support for controversial artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and Karen Finney gave ammunition to critics calling for the elimination of the NEA.

Those controversies, Baldwin said, “don’t exist today.” He said the motivation for the latest proposed cuts was “laziness.”

I am in favor of using Planned Parenthood’s government money to fund the NEA. Can we agree on that Alec and Kevin?

Hello?

Guys?

Priorities.

I don’t know about you but I’m ready for a government shutdown. These public employees can just go home and lean on their own damn shovels for a change.

The Wrap:

Kevin Spacey credited federally funded arts programs for his successful career and called for the federal government to continue its support for public arts programs.

The Academy Award-winning actor made his remarks Monday at the 24th annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Spacey delivered the speech to a coalition of organizations who are in the to the nation’s capitol this week to participate in Arts Advocacy Day.

He related his own story of growing up as a child from South Orange, New Jersey, from a modest background with a lack of self-confidence. He got a major boost at age 13 when he was asked to perform a scene in a play and actor Jack Lemmon praised his performance and encouraged young Spacey to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

“I would never had had that experience If I had not grown up at a time when there was enormous support for the arts in the United States,” Spacey said.

We fund the arts, we fund abortions, we fund NPR and PBS, we fund public unions that work against our own interests…

Is it 2012 yet?

It was all wrapped around the theme “Mikhail Gorbachev: The Man Who Changed the World.”  The Moscow Times reports that Spacey and Stone were, err, “cheesy.”  Standing in front of neo-classical columns “decorated with pink curtains,”  the two co-hosts “continuously mangled various Russian names and concepts.”  Stone (who they described as “ditzy”) went through a number of dress changes and Spacey tried to crack a joke about perestroika that was, well, “mangled.”    In between The Scorpions sang their songs “Wind of Change”  and later “Rock You Like A Hurricane.” Spandex anyone?

—–

Ted Turner was given an award.  Then came a Russian pop group named Khor Turetskogo singing the old black spiritual,  ”Go Down Moses.”  Strange choice if you are celebrating the birthday of an atheist,  don’t you think? You can’t make this stuff up.

Famous Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky tried to remind London about who they were celebrating.  He filed a lawsuit to have Gorbachev arrested for his crimes as Soviet leader.  Bukovsky points out that among other things Gorbachev ordered the violent break-up of several demonstrations between 1989-1991 which led to the death of 100 people. But his request was rejected by a London Court on the grounds that Gorbachev was in the UK as part of a “Special Mission” on behalf of the Russian state.  The fact is, of course, that he has absolutely no official position in the Russian government.

At a time when everyone is reporting on the alleged demise of the dictator in the Middle East how strange that they celebrate one from a different region and a previous era.  Gorbachev was not elected,  and he rejected democracy in favor of a “leading role” for the communist party.  Events passed him up.  He didn’t lead Russia to a democratic system.   Just shows you that for the Left the Universal Law of Dictators is simple: dictators on the right bad; dictators on the left,  throw them a party!