J.C. Chandor‘s first two films, Margin Call and All Is Lost couldn’t have been more different — the first was a talky, smart depiction of Wall Street’s collapse and the second a quiet, small-scale tale of one man’s survival. For his third film, A Most Violent Year, Chandor is taking a look at the lives of an immigrant family in New York City during the crime-filled winter of 1981.

A Most Violent Year is now set for a December 31, 2014 release in New York and Los Angeles, before expanding in early 2015. The release puts it in prime contention for this year’s wide-open Oscar races — though Chandor’s films have arguably under-performed with the Academy, the film sports a great cast (Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, David Oyelowo and Albert Brooks) and Chandor will most likely be considered for original screenplay.

The film will be released by A24 Films, which has only existed since 2013 but has quickly become a hotspot for daring indie films. The company is most notable for Spring Breakers, Obvious Child and Under the Skin.

While we wait to hear much more about the film in the coming weeks, check out the first trailer for A Most Violent Year below:

People are already talking about Oscar potential for Robert Redford’s performance in J.C. Chandor’s (Margin Call) open-water thriller, All Is Lost. The film is about a man’s struggle to survive the elements at sea and face mortality after his sailboat is severely damaged. To celebrate the theatrical release of the film we are giving away two free movie tickets to All Is Lost to one lucky readers! This contest is open to the U.S. and Cananda. All Is Lost opens in NY and LA October 18th, nationwide October 25th.

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All Is Lost Interactive Movie Poster

All Is Lost trailer

All Is Lost movie poster

This morning’s press screening of J.C. Chandor’s All Is Lost marks my second and final screening in the famous Grand Théâtre Lumière. The theater features one of the world’s best projection screens and produces without a doubt the best sound I have ever heard come from a theater. Grand Théâtre Lumière can literally hold a couple thousand (approximately 2,300) and yet there is not a single bad seat in the house. Adding to the prestige of it all is walking up the famous set red carpet stairs to approach this astounding theater.

Grand Théâtre Lumière

Red Carpet at Cannes

All Is Lost

The very opening scene of All Is Lost contains all of the dialog found in this hour and a half story of survival of a man lost at sea. We hear him recounting a farewell letter that he just penned where he admits his faults and states just how sorry he is, though we cannot relate. All Is Lost then jumps eight days back to show the struggles he had to endure from the wrath of mother nature.

Director J.C. Chandor does not provide many background details in the film, which is a brave move just as much as it is a burden. Questions such as who this man is or how he got in this situation are left completely unanswered. We have no idea what his faults are or why he is so apologetic in his letter. As far as the film is concerned, the only important thing is the impending doom that lies ahead for the unnamed character (played by Robert Redford). A storm is brewing on the horizon and his boat has already taken some damage, letting water in. Furthermore, his water pumps no longer function on their own anymore nor does his radio that would allow him to call for help.

You must credit Chandor on making these storms come to life with realistic visuals that combine with haunting sounds of massive storms found in the middle of the ocean. Although most of All Is Lost is about surviving days worth of storms, something that does eventually grew tiresome by the end, the best shots are when the camera is underwater showing the abundant sea life that surrounds him from below. The film offers very little hope, but with a title such as All Is Lost, I expected that to be the case. The biggest flaw for me is that no details are given about his life or what he has to live for, therefore, I found myself not caring as much as I could have about the character. Also, I will not go into too much detail about the ending other than to say it is a disservice to the rest of the film.

RATING: 6

The Great Beauty

Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty) is essentially a day in the life of a wealthy journalist named Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo), who on his 65th birthday begins to reflect on his life. He openly admits that his life adds up to nothing, despite being surrounded by an extravagant lifestyle of rich and fame. There is a chance that he has simply grown tired of the playboy lifestyle that he has been accustomed to his whole life. Jep is a man who lives without a care in the world, yet desperately wants to care about something again.

The somewhat lengthy runtime allows Sorrentino to explore many tangents in The Great Beauty, some of which probably could have been shortened. One particularly interesting one is a satirical take on performance art when a nude woman runs head first into a Roman monument in front of a cheering crowd. Afterwards, she is pressed on what makes her an artist but she breaks down without an answer, humiliating herself as a self-proclaimed artist. The Great Beauty takes a few jabs at the current snapshot of Italian culture as one character claims, “The best people here are tourists.” Ultimately, Jep is looking for the great beauty; Sorrentino seems to have found it.

RATING: 8.3

The release of Margin Call was done at a perfect time, a time where Occupy Wall Street is currently going on in New York protesting the top 1% of the wealthy. This film is about that 1%. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker J.C. Chandor, the film depicts the events that led up to the Financial Crisis of 2008 from an unnamed investment bank.

Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) has been with this financial investment firm for 34 years. He is the head boss of the risk assessment team. He is going through a rough time, his dog is close to dying and the majority of the risk assessment team is being laid off today. To complicate things exponentially, a discovery is soon made that could end the company.

Right before Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) was laid off, he was on to something pretty important. The senior risk analyst voices this concern to the job consultants but they did not seem to care. He even brought it up when speaking to his boss as he was packing up his personal belongings of his desk but it did not seem important to his boss either. Finally, as he is about the leave the building for the last time, he hands a USB drive off to one of his co-workers named Peter (Zachary Quinto) and says “Take a look at it, be careful”.

After Peter crunches the numbers from Eric’s file he discovers that Eric was really on to something huge. He frantically alerts his co-workers of his findings. Each person he tells reacts the same way, completely shocked. The news climbs up the ranks and eventually Sam is notified.

Sam calls for all the senior partners of the company for an emergency meeting to discuss these findings. The CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) is brought in by helicopter. Attempting to explain the situation to him is difficult because he does not understand all of the business side of the corporation, he only manages it. Once they speak in plain terms he quickly understands the severity of the problem.

There was a lot of finance jargon thrown around throughout Margin call, enough to where I think it would confuse the average person. I myself was at a loss when terms like MBS market and ABX index were being talked about. However, if you are fairly educated in Economics than you would probably appreciate the fact they did not dumb down the script.

My favorite scene in the film is when Eric speaks about a bridge he once built. The bridge connected a border town in Ohio to one in West Virginia over the Ohio River. They way he mathematically breaks down all the numbers to show how much time and money that bridge saved – all in all he figures he saved 559,020 days by building that bridge based on time/money savings.

Margin Call will walk away with at least one award from the 2012 Independent Spirit awards, as one category has already been decided at the same time the nominations were announced. They will be presented with the Robert Altman award which is given to the director, casting director and its ensemble cast. The film is also nominated for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for the 2012 awards.

Through the course of the film, you find out that the personal finances of the bankers themselves tend not to be very good. All of them are making at least six figures, yet every one of them spent nearly all of it. Greed and ignorance has transcended from the work environment to their personal lives. All of the characters are shocked when they hear how much the other person makes, but equally as shocking is how little they have left of it.

It was not just that Margin Call was a little slow moving, it is that the film feels like it is on the same level the entire time. Aside from the very beginning, there was no real excitement to the film, I never felt that there was a climax to the story. That being said, it is a very accurate depiction of the events leading up to the financial crisis, as well as the lives of the people that actually work for investment banks.