The Wolf of Wall Street Movie Review
by Brian Wezowicz
I am going to try to be as concise as possible because I have three movies to review and not a whole lot of time to do so.
The Wolf of Wall Street re-teams director Martin Scorcese and his muse, Leonardo DiCaprio, for the 5th and (in my opinion) best time. These two crank the volume to 11 and go full-tilt f'n crazy for 3 hours... emphasis on the f-word (said a record 506 times).
Wolf is an exhausting movie, but I was never tired. It comes at you like a coke and quaalude fueled bat out of hell. The movie tells the "based on a true story" of Jordan Belfort, a wanna Wall Street millionaire who with the aide of his crackpot buddies from Jersey concoct a scheme to get rich on the backs of their clients, all the while engaging in behavior repulsive and debauched enough to make the hardest of us gasp in horror. But what a ride it is!
DiCaprio is at his absolute best as Belfort, a small town guy with big city (and dollar) dreams. We meet him on his first day as a Wall Street trader, which also happens to be Black Tuesday, the day when the market had its biggest crash since the great depression. The crash puts his firm out of work and leaves poor Belfort without a job. But before he loses his job, Jordan has lunch with his boss (a scene stealing Matthew McConaughey), where he learns that his one and only job is to make as much money as possible. Clients and ethics be damned! After Belfort returns home with his tail between his legs, his wife notices an ad for a penny stock trader, which Jordan begrudgingly goes to. At this job, he learns that he can make up to 40% commission and quickly realizes that there's a lot of money to make in the penny stocks. He hires a ragtag group of friends from high school and writes them a script to follow as they sell bullshit wrapped as dreams. Cut to a few years later, his firm is the biggest thing on Wall Street. This is where the real debauchery begins. There is so much sex, drugs, & stocks n' roll in this movie that you begin to feel dirty just watching it. Jonah Hill shines as Belfort's second in command, a morally bankrupt human being. He is instantly in awe of Belfort and the seemingly endless possibilities that Wall Street has to offer. The big question (as DiCaprio's character asks the audience) is "is all of this legal?" The answer, surprise, surprise, is a resounding NO. Belfort & Co. become sloppy and attract the attention of the FBI... eventually leading to their downfall and Belfort's 22-month jail sentence.
It should be mentioned that this movie has drummed up quite a bit of controversy since its release. Some feel it doesn't go far enough to say "this is bad, mmkay?". I don't see it this way, and I don't think Scorcese owes his audience this type of explanation in anyway. To me, this movie questions the very fabric of the culture of Wall Street, and the way these guys do business. It screams out, "look what these douchebags are doing! This is what they are getting away with and nobody is stopping them". The brilliance of this film is that it lets you draw your own conclusions. The scene that resonated with me the most is when the FBI agent (played excellently by Kyle Chandler) finally nabs his man, he still has to ride the subway home by himself, while Belfort gets to spend 22 months in a white collar camp of a prison. Scorcese is saying that the punishment (if any) for these scumbags is too lenient. A slap on the wrist will not stop this behavior, and why should it? Even if they get in trouble, they can make a ton of money as a motivational speaker or a corporate board member. The cycle of stealing won't stop unless we do something about it.
I am giving this film 4 out of 4 stars. It's Scorcese's best since
Casino, and the best he and DiCaprio have ever been together. The editing, by the amazing Thelma Schoonmaker, is perfect. Like I said before, it is an exhausting movie, but it flies by. They keep the gas pedal pressed for the entire 3 hours. The song choices are spot-on. Jonah Hill continues his amazing dramatic work as the douchiest of douches. He really is a sight to be seen. Go see this movie!
American Hustle Movie Review
by Brian Wezowicz
Did you ever see a movie trailer that made absolutely no sense, but thought to yourself "wow, I need to see that and I have no idea why"? That is my initial thought when the trailer for this film launched early in the fall. After seeing it, I'm still not sure exactly what it was about, but I can tell you that I enjoyed it.
"Some of this actually happened" announces the films opening title card. And with that phrase, we are launched into David O. Russell's aptly named,
American Hustle. This is a brilliantly acted movie with amazing hair and incredible costumes. It shows us that we are all, on some level, hustling to get by. We have to hustle to our wives, husbands, siblings, children, bosses, neighbors, etc. We do this to satisfy ourselves and to get ahead in life. We create out own version of who we are and run with it. The person we project to the outside world isn't necessarily the person we are on the inside.
American Hustle is loosely based on the Abscam scandal of the 70's, which resulted in the arrest of a number of public officials. Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld, a two-bit bullshit artist who, along with his mistress Sydney (played brilliantly by Amy Adams), gets recruited by the FBI to take down elected officials. Irv and Sydney are small time hustlers. They pretend that Sydney is connected to the British royalty in order to scam people into investing in their schemes. It seems to work out for them well until an undercover FBI (an hilarious Bradley Cooper with an even better 70's male perm) agent busts them. He wants to use them to bust some politicians to increase his standing at the Bureau. He believes that if this group of nobody's can pull off the bust of the year, he will be on a path to the top at the FBI. To get there, however, he has to pull off a series of cons and games. You see, in American Hustle, even the so-called good guys are hustling to get by. I won't spoil the fun, but there are a few twists and turns in the road and the reactions from each character are priceless.
The real stars of this movie are the women. Jennifer Lawrence plays Irv's bored housewife with the same flair and gusto that won her an Oscar last year for
Silver Linings Playbook. My only complaint about her is that she's a tad too young for the part, but after about five minutes it doesn't matter. She completely won me over. On the other hand, Adams' ability to switch between a British and American accent to the point where I couldn't remember where she was actually from added to the charm. She approaches this role in with a full take no prisoners attitude. She's the only one who seems to be in full control of her path in life through this entire movie.
Some are (unfairly) dismissing this film as Russell's blatant attempt at doing a Scorcese movie. I don't think that's the case at all. And even if it was, is trying to emulate the premiere American filmmaker such a bad thing? Quentin Tarantino has made a career of making "homage" movies. The styles are similar, but I can't write this movie off as a Scorcese knockoff.
I'm giving this movie 3 out of 4 stars. The acting was incredible. The hair was even better. The story left me desiring a little more. It's not that the storyline was bad (it wasn't), it's just I found myself drifting away from caring about the story from time to time. I was so caught up in the performances that the storyline seemed almost secondary. With this film, David O. Russell has established himself as the new actors' director. It's not hard to see why. Everyone of these actors deserved their Oscar nominations. I would recommend this film if you want to have a fun two hours at the movie theater.
12 Years A Slave Movie Review
by Brian Wezowicz
I am saving the best for last. Simply put, 12 Years A Slave is the best movie of the year. It is also the best and most brutally honest movie ever made about slavery. It is also so much more. It's a story of pain, suffering, loss, love, and above all else, hope.
12 Years A Slave, based on the book by Solomon Northup tells the story of a free northern man (played with such passion by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who was duped and kidnapped into slavery. He goes to sleep a free man and wakes up in shackles in the brutal south. His name has been changed and he is now property. This movie does not sugarcoat America's greatest sin for one second. Every word, every emotion, every whipping is presented with precise detail by the film's brilliant director, Steve McQueen. He wants you to feel each slaves' pain as if it's happening to you. The cries of a mother who has just been torn apart from her family permeate into the next scene. The sound of a whip shredding flesh pierces your ear. The blood soaked clothes will burn your eyes. He does not let you forget their pain for one second. This is not a sugarcoated Hollywood depiction of slavery. It is a down and dirty honest look at how the attempt to dehumanize an entire race of people left us all scarred.
By the time he is sold to a cotton plantation run by a self-proclaimed "n#gger breaker"(played devilishly by Michael Fassbender), hope is almost lost. He is whipped on a daily basis by a master who uses God's word as justification, and he witnesses unspeakable brutality that you or I could not even imagine. Yet, through all his pain and suffering, Solomon never loses hope of seeing his family again. He etches their name in his fiddle, and he tries to write them a letter. The emotions he wears on his face during this performance are incredible. Ejiofor's performance is career making. You really feel his pain, anger, and confusion as if you were there with him. The rest of the actors in this film (particularly Lupita N'Yongo as a female slave who experiences unspeakable suffering) are top notch.
I am giving this movie 4 out of 4 stars. I wish I could give it more. It is really on an entirely different level from all of the other films released this year. This is a film that will be remembered for years. It will enter the pantheon of one of the best films ever made. It is back out in theaters as I write this. Please go see it and bring a friend. It will be well worth your time. I can't emphasize this enough.
