So, Steven Mnuchin is going to be Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary. I don't have particularly strong feelings about Dodd-Frank or anything like that—what do I look like, some kind of nerd?—but I do have very strong feelings about the fact that he has served as executive producer (read: financier) of a number of films over the last few years.
In lieu of serving as an official adviser to the Senate Finance Committee—senators, please, quit calling me, it's embarrassing, I'm a journalist, I can't help you with this and I don't want my emails showing up in the forthcoming batches of Russian hacker email dumps—I'll offer some unofficial advice about what questions you should pepper Mnuchin with. I'll be honest: I'm not convinced he's right for this role.
- Mr. Steven Mnuchin: Who, exactly, pressed Zack Snyder to make the disastrous cuts to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice? Was this a WB decision? Did you use your pull as moneyman to try and save Snyder's clearly superior cut? Be honest, even in the far superior director's cut, the whole "Martha" scene is pretty bad, right? If you met a foreign treasury secretary equivalent and found out that your mothers shared a name, you wouldn't, like, instantly be his best friend, would you?
- Everyone who saw Suicide Squad before it was released understood it was an irredeemably stupid pile of shit, right? Given that it has grossed three-quarters of a billion worldwide, I guess it doesn't matter, does it? What does this teach us about the intelligence of the average moviegoer? Of the average voter?
- Was Mad Max Fury Road robbed at the Oscars? Who would win in a fight: Mad Max or all the journalists in Spotlight? Shouldn't this be how we determine best picture, an imagined battle royale featuring characters from the various nominated films?
- Be honest: Inherent Vice was kind of a mess. So was the third act of Edge of Tomorrow. No questions for you, just seeking an affirmation.
- On a scale of 1-10 how amusing is it that you, Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary, are an EP on Warren Beatty's first movie in like a billion years? I'll be honest, I laughed.
- In the Heart of the Sea. Yikes. What happened there?
- Member that scene in Pan where they sing "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? Why? Why is that a thing? Did someone see Moulin Rouge and think "yes, we should do that, but with kids, and like a flying pirate ship"?
- People seemed to like American Sniper but I thought it was kind of lame, to be quite honest. Should I move to China or Russia?
OK, that's a start. Steven Mnuchin has much to answer for. Feel free to tweet more questions at me. I'll pass them on to the appropriate Senate staff.