ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
jianqiaoyep You can still get justice in America, but it will cost you 10 million. What I dont get in addition is that the AG and the government did not pay them back, for false accusation and 5 years of work. It's false accsation from the AG for god's sake.
BasicLogic I only got one thought when I watched this film: Suppose your family didn't have that 10 million dollars, or suppose you've only got 8 millions, could you still afford to continue the lawsuit against the American bureaucratic system? Or suppose you didn't have enough financial backbone and your pocket was not deep enough, did it mean that you guys would still have been jailed? So this also means that if don't have enough money to fight in the court, you would have to plead guilty in the end, the injustice would never be overturned? So even you've been exonerated and proved to be innocent, what's next?
ryanlaurencecole I want to be careful to ensure my opinion of the doc isn't just my opinion of the subject. I don't think the subjects of the doc are irable or deserve to be felt sorry for. The doc however, does a good job of introducing the players and explaining each of their association with the bank and family who runs it. I found myself getting distracted by the numerous scenes showing the family talking over each other and communicating nothing. I wanted to know more about the the effect on the trial on the community instead. Although this isn't my favourite doc of the year, I certainly think it's worth a watch.
marsanobill Abacus: Small Enough to Jail is a suspenseful David v. Goliath documentary of family loyalty and stubborn courage facing a gigantic government agency and an ego to match. As follows: Tom Sung emigrated from China at 16 and became in time a citizen, a successful lawyer and a resident of upscale Connecticut. Nevertheless he noticed that 'establishment' banks were happy to take his deposits, but when it came to getting a loan, he didn't, as the saying went in the hateful days of the racist Exclusion Act, 'have a Chinaman's chance.' Sung then took a chance and started his own bank—Abacus Federal Savings. His timing was perfect: new immigration laws in the 1960s meant Chinatown soon had a] plenty of customers for Abacus and b] something besides Cantonese restaurants. He was a genuine positive force among the Chinese population, ired and respected by all. Then about a decade ago low-ranking Abacus personnel were caught falsifying mortgage applications; they were immediately sacked and their misdeeds reported to feds, as required. Mistake, as it turned out. The subprime- mortgage crisis was big news: until then, few Americans used the word 'trillion' for anything but the national debt or the distance from here to Alpha Centauri. Villains included Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and while some were fined, no one went to jail and most bonuses were paid as usual. Unfortunately for Abacus, new-minted New York D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr., who was as hungry for publicity as NY's Sen. Charles Schumer, saw a chance for headlines and photo ops. Seeking a halo as the sole public avenger of the crisis, Vance charged Abacus with 80 counts of criminal wrongdoing, launching a court battle that ran five years and cost $10 million. Although the major villains had got off lightly as being 'too big to fail,' Vance's target was indeed 'small enough to jail': in size, Abacus was 2600th among U.S. banks. About the size, as it turned out, of David. This is an excellent documentary, suspenseful but lightened with some bursts of humor among the Sung family as they fight for the reputations and their principles.
