Vice

Political satire with superb acting, especially Christian Bale and Amy Adams who each put forth one their best performances, and have earned consideration as one of "Hollywood's" greatest acting duos (previously teamed together in 'The Guardian' and David O. Russell's masterpiece 'American Hustle').

Factual aspects are suspect throughout, but the purpose of this film was entertainment, and in that respect, this is engaging and engrossing.

Just take the details of events with a grain of salt. I know a couple of the individuals spotlighted well, and have met almost all of them via notable political family member. It makes for good drama and humor, but a lot of bs is added that is flat out inaccurate and/or applies twisting of events towards misrepresentative. It relies heavily upon "Confirmation Bias" to achieve some level of audience buy-in; the favorite manipulative tool of today's media in all forms.

That being stated, this is great entertainment and utilizes brilliant filmmaking techniques that magnify the satirical-fun objectives of the film.

More evidence Christian Bale is one of the most skilled actors on the planet, and the Bale/Adams pairing sealed as a legendary success formula. All the actors scored, as did the direction, photography, editing, and screenwriting.

Great entertainment for certain.

In 2008, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino made a film about a, then, still living sinister political figure Giuliano Andreotti. The ferociousness of the portrait was acceptable to the public at large because it was presented as a stylish, slightly surreal comedy. Adam McKay sets VICE in a more realistic universe but the results are just as pungent, disturbing and funny. Christian Bale is spookily perfect. And Amy Adams is a modern day Lady Macbeth of major proportions. The most unsettling part of the whole experience, because Vice is an experience, is the knowledge that this are the people chosen by the people. The fact that countries have the governments they deserve gives me a chill in 2018. A remarkable film with remarkable performances. Bravo.

It puts "Hereditary" to shame. However, I disagree with critics' assertions that director McKay set out to make Cheney seem like a complete monster. He often humanized him, and there were a couple of moments when a few of the members of my audience got somewhat emotional. If you had asked them before the movie if they were going to shed a tear while they watched it, they probably would have replied, "HELL NO." Also, whereas I would state firmly that there was ZERO link to anything that involved 9/11 and Iraq, McKay provides a very tenuous, dubious possible link to him-- which later completely boomerangs into Cheney's face.

To put it bluntly, it was the worst administration of all time, and as the film states early, I think that many Americans have either forgotten it or never really paid attention to it completely. When Democrats describe their worst fears of possible Trump disasters, I don't think that they know that they are describing things that *actually occurred* during the first decade of this century. When Bale as Cheney looks directly into the camera and delivers a monologue-- or postmortem-- about his tenure as vice president, it might remind you of Emperor Palpatine's rationalizations in the Star Wars prequels. As the film shows, at the time there were justifications for unitary executive privilege that were written by a single moron and apparently regarded as gospel-- and can be used as precedent by future presidents. And I probably don't need to remind you about the most unjustified, wasteful, moronic and disastrous war in American history, which he strongly advocated and for which the entire world is continuing to pay a heavy toll. This film is actually important.

Finally, Bale is my choice for best lead actor of 2018. It was a tour de force performance.

If this film has any slight problems for me, I didn't like some of its artistic license. Sometimes I wanted it to be more straightforward. But it's a must watch.

This film is held together by some truly outstanding performances (Bale and Adams, in particular). It will no doubt be compared to writer/director Adam McKay's film adaptation of The Big Short. But while that story covered just a couple years, Vice spans nearly 4 decades, significantly more difficult to fit into a 2 hour film.

McKay's use of a narrating character is sometimes helpful in providing context and continuity, though I think it worked better in The Big Short.

As a bio-pic, Vice does a good job of capturing Cheney's drive for power and his devotion to his family. Complicated people are generally difficult to depict in film, but McKay and the team he assembled gave it an effort worthy of some awards.

I found some of the editing a bit quirky to the point of distraction, but I definitely recommend seeing it. Be sure and stay to the end.

Whether it's entirely fact-based or not, I can't deny how engrossed I was by its unique and interesting style. The film starts out very strong and compelling, but the screenplay is bit choppy and doesn't stick the landing. While some events are brushed over, others are brilliant and enjoyable enough to make the film an overall worthwhile experience. The performances are truly great and Christian Bale is an absolute powerhouse with such a commanding presence. This is a film with purpose, no matter how unsubtle of a gut-punch it may intend to deliver.