This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Awesome Movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

In New York City, during the George W. Bush Administration, handsome tattooed Josh Hartnett (as Thomas "Tom" Sterling) struggles to keep his multi-million dollar "dot.com" business going, after the stock market slides downward in "August" of 2001. His partner, the "creative genius" of the organization, is Adam Scott (as Joshua "Josh" Sterling), a nervous new papa. Mr. Hartnett is optimistic, even when it comes to beautiful brown-skinned ex-girlfriend Naomie Harris (as Sarrah).Singer-musician David Bowie has a cameo, as wheeler-dealer mogul after Hartnett's business.Unfortunately not a great film, but "August" should put director Austin Chick and cinematographer Andrij Parekh on a watch list; their green-hued New York looks rich. Showing off his long torso, Hartnett still needs that great movie role; besides looking good, he performs the unfocused character well. With a tight soundtrack and trendy script ("My bad", "Hey yourself"), this "August" doesn't stick because the short-lived drama is, like Hartnett's character says, "so over" and "way over." ***** August (1/22/08) Austin Chick ~ Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, Naomie Harris, Robin Tunney

I won't waste your time with a long review. Let's just say I figured out the ending to the movie about five minutes into it. I knew what was going to happen, why it was going to happen, and had a good idea of how it was going to happen. This movie will drag you through repeated nonsense. It beats a dead horse over and over. Then the credits roll. Save yourself time and money and watch something else. If you want to watch an interesting business or market movie, watch Wall Street or even Boiler Room. Don't waste your time here.I now see that I need ten lines in order to have a valid review. Here are my ninth and tenth lines. Josh Hartnett should stick to acting, NOT producing movies.

This is the surprise of the year so far for me.This excellent little film tells a story of two brothers and their struggling company in a timeline that just precedes 9/11. Several people on IMDb have commented that they don't see why the movie needed to be "cheapened with a 9/11 theme" or some such nonsense. Let's be clear: this movie is not about 9/11 but this was historically a crucial point for the dot-com bubble.The movie does actually a wonderful job highlighting these events, without spelling them out in some awkward exposition. The story focuses mostly on one of the brothers: The Charismatic Tom (played by Josh Hartnett), who mostly handles the business aspects. Director Austin Chick does a good job immersing us in his life, his lifestyle, his struggles and his ambiguities. His uneasy rapports with his brother Joshua, co-founder of the company "Landshark", who is the quiet "tech guy" behind the operation. With his parents. His former girlfriend. Various other persons in his life and business dealing. It's an absolutely fascinating portrait. What really helps is Hartnett's performance. Now, I'm sorry to say I never was a fan of this fairly popular actor and he had failed to impress me until now... but this has changed. Hartnett is in fact the main strength of this movie, makes the story come alive and shines among a very, very solid cast around him. Tom's role as a confident, brash young guy who must keep appearance and keep his company afloat while he knows it's going down (along with his personal life) required a good acting palette.It is a strength of the movie that it manages to push both the story of Tom and present an interesting portrait of this time period where economically, things were crashing. What we have here is a movie that could very well have been boring to death due to its topic (finances are a fairly abstract thing, and usually not terribly interesting unless they're your own) but instead becomes fascinating. In many ways, it is reminiscent of Wall Street. Various speeches that Tom delivers and his bout of negotiations lead to several strong moments.This is a great movie. Where pretty much every scene is worthwhile and supports the overall themes that are pushed. Director Chick seems to have a purpose with every element presented and even the elements not present. Consider: we never get to know what Landshark does. At all. Which might seem weird yet is terribly fitting since along with other shooting star companies of the time, it was all a smoke screen anyway.Great movie, probably a must buy for those who have an interest in the dot-com bubble.

I just got done with watching this movie and I have to admit it was really pointless. 1/3 of the movie is just business lingo, the other 2/3 is just plain contemplation of Josh Hartnett's slightly above average acting...Big holes in the script. We don't know anything about the characters backgrounds, it feels like Tom is acting like an ass just for the sake of it. Very cliché character: the cocky guy who has tons of money, pisses off everybody and then realizes that there is more in life than dough. We all saw it coming right at the first party scene... Am I the only one who would have liked to know what kind of product their company made? Why is the company sinking? Sept. 11 was mentioned in other reviews, I could not find any link whatsoever...Let's face it, the whole plot was not movie material and even thought it was pretty well shot and the score is interesting I don't think any business or stocks neophytes have any reason to see it since there is absolutely no character exploration.ONE LAST THING: What was the point of putting David Bowie in the trailer, on the DVD's back picture and even write his name on the cover when he actually gets less screen time than 90% of the cast? (even the semi-goth employee gets more screen time...)