Hacker Cinema
American Hustle
2013 · Film · 138 min
Directed by David O. Russell
A conman and his seductive partner are forced to work for a wild FBI agent, who pushes them into a world of Jersey power-brokers and the Mafia.
2 negative8 neutralfrom 10 commenters
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10 comments on Hacker News
Annapurna Pictures is owned by Megan Ellison. The studio have produced Oscar nominated marquee films like Her, Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle.
Came here to say the same. It is funny that a term that felt so universal is forgotten today. Probably only memorable now due to the movie 'American Hustle'
Same guy was also caught in the Abscam FBI sting (the one depicted in the "American Hustle" film).
Reminds me of the movie American Hustle. The government has a choice of going after criminals who badly hurt a lot of people or going after the easily-demonized bit players. Guess which is good for their careers.
The Oscars are not awarded for historical accuracy. Best adapted screenplay does not mean most faithfully adapted, it just means the best screenplay which is adapted from some source (often fictional).
Hollywood is in the business of telling stories, not teaching history. If you get offended by lack of realism or accuracy, then don't watch Hollywood movies. I can't think of any Hollywood movie you couldn't criticize for twisting reality to further the narrative.
"Based on a true story" should always be taken with a large grain of salt and Hollywood itself have often satirized it - e.g. Fargo slapping a "Based on a true story" sign on a wholly fictional story, or American Hustle stating "Some of this actually happened!"
For a movie that hews startlingly close to that narrative, check out "The Informant!" starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh. I'm also not surprised Lawrence would be drawn to the role, it seems in line with what she does well: strong female characters. They're not always likable characters (for example, in "American Hustle"), and it also shouldn't be a surprise when an actor expands into different kinds of roles.
> The rating will be very high around release time
Pretty simple, people see movies they think will suit them early so will rate slightly higher than the rest who see it later / on DVD and rate it less.
There's a type of movie that fools critics and American Hustle was one. I think it was great but it was over rated. But it took a while for that to get out.
Rarely it goes the other way where movies break genre so the keen people are a little disappointed but the rest are pleasantly surprised and the rating goes up.
I've noticed a trend with IMDB reviews:
* The rating will be very high around release time, then drop a point or two after a few weeks * The top 1-2 reviews will be 9-10 star. After that will follow a large number of reviews saying the movie was terrible.
I first noticed this with movies that I disliked, and couldn't believe their high imdb rating. For example, I loathed American Hustle, and it had that same pattern.
That movie was around 8.4 when first out, and had a ten star review on top. (I've now noticed the ten star review is gone.)
Here's his press release:
http://polis.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=371808
March 5, 2014
Dear Secretary Lew, Chairwoman Yellen, Comptroller Curry, Acting Chairman Wetjen, Chairman Gruenberg, Chairwoman White:
I write today to express my concerns about United States dollar bills. The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss. For the reasons outlined below, I urge regulators to take immediate and appropriate action to limit the use of dollar bills.
By way of background, a physical dollar bill is a printed version of a dollar note issued by the Federal Reserve and backed by the ephemeral “full faith and credit” of the United States. Dollar bills have gained notoriety in relation to illegal transactions; suitcases full of dollars used for illegal transactions were recently featured in popular movies such as American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club, as well as the gangster classic, Scarface, among others. Dollar bills are present in nearly all major drug busts in the United States and many abroad. According to the U.S. Department of Justice study, “Crime in the United States,” more than $1 billion in cash was stolen in 2012, of which less than 3% was recovered. The United States’ Dollar was present by the truck load in Saddam Hussein’s compound, by the carload when Noriega was arrested for drug trafficking, and by the suitcase full in the Watergate case.
Unlike digital currencies, which are carbon neutral allowing us to breathe cleaner air, each dollar bill is manufactured from virgin materials like cotton and linen, which go through extensive treatment and processing. Last year, the Federal Reserve had to destroy $3 billion worth of $100 bills after a “printing error.” Certainly this cannot be the greenest currency.
Printed pieces of paper can fit in a person’s pocket and can be given to another person without any government oversight. Dollar bills are not only a store of value but also a method for transferring that value. This also means that dollar bills allow for anonymous and irreversible transactions.
The very features of dollar bills, such as anonymous transactions, have created ubiquitous uses from drug purchases, to hit men, to prostitutes, as dollar bills are attractive to criminals who are able to disguise their actions from law enforcement. Due to the dollar bills’ anonymity, the dollar bill market has been extremely susceptible to forgers, tax fraud, criminal cartels, and armed robbers stealing millions of dollars from their legitimate owners. Anonymity, combined with a dollar bills’ ability to finalize transactions quickly, makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse fraudulent transactions.
Many of our foreign counterparts already understand the wide range of problems that physical currencies can have. Many physical currencies have enormous price fluctuations, and even experience deflation. 20 years ago Brazil had an inflation rate of 6281%. In 4 years (2001 to 2005), the Turkish Lira went from 1,650,000: $1 to 1.29 to $1. In 2009, Zimbabwe discontinued it’s dollar. Before it was eliminated, the Zimbabwe dollar was the least valuable currency in the world and their central bank even issued a $100 trillion dollar banknote. A person would starve on a billion Zimbabwe dollars and it took an entire wheelbarrow full of $100 billion dollars in notes to purchase a loaf of bread.
The clear use of dollar bills for transacting in illegal goods, anonymous transactions, tax fraud, and services or speculative gambling make me wary of their use. Before the United States gets too far behind the curve on this important topic, I urge the regulators to work together, act quickly, and prohibit this dangerous currency from harming hard-working Americans.
Sincerely,
Jared Polis Member of Congress
He called American Hustle heavy-handed at times; I find his parallel between the DPR case and that movie very heavy-handed, the whole time. Talk about a stretch.
It seems he's happy to have found a criminal proceeding involving "libertarian derp". Besides this implied negativity (not familiar with Krugman, but his language reveals his standings) and a poignant "amazing stuff" reaction at the bottom, Krugman actually offers no analysis, opinion, reaction, or addition to anything at all on the DPR proceedings. His quoting of this[0] story was entirely framed as an example of why being in the FBI "these days is a lot more fun" than in the setting portrayed in American Hustle.
Judging by the title, I was really hoping for a disection of bad opsec decisions. Guess I'll conflate 'krugman' with 'rhetoric' from here on out.
[0] - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/business/eagle-scout-idealist-drug-trafficker.html?hpw&rref=business
tl;dr - Krugman watched American Hustle, then drew a half-hearted parallel between the movie and the criminal activity in the DPR and Silk Road case. He did this without saying much of anything about either subject while insulting libertarian belief systems with the use of the word 'derp'.