Jeff Bridges proves there’s life in the old dog yet
If you come to The Old Man (Disney+) like I did – not knowing the first thing about it, except that it stars Jeff Bridges, who is pretty good in everything – then you’ll watch the first 15 minutes and think: boy, this is slow. Grindingly slow.
It seems to be about an old man (well, Bridges is 72) called Dan Chase, whose wife has died. Chase lives a solitary existence with only his two dogs for company, and a concerned daughter on the end of the phone. He suffers from anxiety and worries that he’s showing the early signs of dementia, although his doctor says he’s fine. He gets up several times in the night to pee.
Normally I’d say don’t read on if you haven’t watched it because spoilers are coming – but really, do read on, because then I can tell you that this isn’t a bleak study of a widower that will bore you to tears. You will realise this at around the 15-minute mark, when someone breaks into Chase’s house and he shoots them, sets up the scene to fool the police, then grabs a stash of guns and money from under the floorboards. Not your average pensioner.
It turns out that Chase is an EX-CIA man who has been in hiding for years after some business in Afghanistan. He was a good guy but did some bad things
in the name of the US government, and his past is finally catching up with him. This is problematic for his former colleague, Harold Harper (John Lithgow, aged 76), who is now a big deal in the FBI and wants Chase’s exploits to stay covered up.
Future episodes fill in the backstory, with actors playing the two leads as their younger selves. They also brighten things up a bit, because most of episode one seems to take place in the dark. It is based on a thriller by Thomas Perry and the flashbacks aren’t half as good as the present day stuff, mostly because Bridges elevates the material.
There are shades of The Fugitive and Rambo and last year’s Bob Odenkirk film, Nobody. And there’s a bit of wish-fulfilment here: despite his advancing years, Chase can still beat up men half his age. For an action thriller, though, it can still be a bit slow at times. Chase isn’t afraid to get into fights – but he does take quite a while to get his breath back afterwards. Anita Singh
It’s rare that a documentary about the stock market turns out to be actual fun. However, Eat the Rich: The Gamestop Saga (Netflix) is full of surprises. This rollicking three-parter recounts how a ragtag band of millennial misfits joined forces to rescue their favourite video game store from the clutches of fat cats. An air-punch of a story ensues.
In January 2021, US retail chain Gamestop (the rough UK equivalent is a cross between Blockbuster Video and Dixons) was seriously struggling. Wall Street vultures began circling. That is, until amateur traders mobilised on social media.
Together they hatched an audacious plan to get rich quick, disrupt the market and beat hedge funds at their own game. It was David vs Goliath for the digital age. Well, if David was a slightly stoned conspiracy theorist on a laptop in his bedroom while Goliath sat smugly in a Manhattan corner office.
Punters piled in to inflate Gamestop’s price. The trend went viral. Elon Musk got involved, because of course he did. Over the course of a frenzied fortnight, Gamestop’s share value soared by 1,500 per cent and triggered a short squeeze that threatened to bring down the system. Was it all a big joke, driven by lockdown boredom? Or a gamechanging power shift and payback for the 2008 crash?
Happily for film-makers, online investment is a treasure trove of colourful characters. There’s rapper Mikey Guggenheim, who busts out a rhyme about stock prices and ends up semi-naked. There’s pro gambler Chris “Krispy” Ream, who lost his house but laughs it off. There’s Youtuber “Roaring Kitty” (real name: Keith Gill) who made a mint but ended up in front of a federal hearing.
The stakes might be high but the narrative tone echoes the daft online memes that drove the fiasco. Disney animations and animal clips illustrate points. It’s a wild story, told in pacy, pulsating style which refuses to take itself too seriously. And it makes a refreshing change from the streaming service’s usual factual diet of ghoulish true-crime. It doesn’t bloat but barrels along, with the whole series coming in at under two hours. Did I understand the financial ins and outs? Nope. Did I enjoy the ride anyway? Heck yes. Michael Hogan
The Old Man ★★★
Eat the Rich: The Gamestop Saga ★★★★