The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Director-Martin Scorcese

Rated-R

Length-180 min.



 

In another epic chapter in the Martin Scorcese collection, The Wolf of Wall Street swallows you whole and sufficates you with greed, whores and excessive drug abuse until you can't take it anymore. At least that's the lifestyle portrayed by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio).

 

However, this multi-millionaire didn't start out as the power hungry madman that he's remembered for. Mr. Belfort started out as the rest did as a small-time stock broker, or "the bitch" of the company. But Belfort was far too intelligent and ambitious to be restricted by the constraints of his firm. So after taking the advice of his mentor, Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), he broke away from his firm and decided to go out on his own. And after getting the brilliant, but totally illegal, idea to doop small-time investors into investing their money in bogus companies and retaining over 50 percent of their investment in his commission; it was all downhill from there.

 

Once Belfort brought together his own team of handpicked salesmen, his firm grew and grew and grew, until it exploded. At this point he was making more money than he knew what to do with. Oh, but he found a ways to spend it (hookers, blow and million dollar bachelor parties). He was a god amongst men and there was truly no stopping him until he made the acquantaince of FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler). This really threw Belfort for a spin, as he was forced to change his entire way of life in order to cover his tracks. Not to mention, start going straight edge as far as his business ventures were concerned. But once you've had a taste, there's really no way you can satisfy that hunger for more. 

 

This is one of the best films I've seen all year, which is refreshing because most films of this magnitude fail to live up to their expectations. Something that definitely surprised me was the amount of drug abuse, vulgarity and explicit sexuality throughout the film. But Scorcese does whatever he wants and gets away with it. And you know what, I love him for it. He made the film seem more realistic. My only issue with the film was that it was a little drawn out. It could've been cut by 30 minutes and it would've been the film of the year. I understand Scorcese was trying to create another film on par with that of The Departed, Casino and Goodfellas; but what he needs to realize is that most people can't pay attention for more than two and a half hours.

 

This is the must see film of the year. I would suggest it to any and all moviegoers. Except it may be a bit too much for the youngsters. But hey, that's why we have a rating system, isn't it? So leave the little ones with a sitter and head down to your local theater to see how the rich got richer and then lost it all, because they're all a bunch of greedy bastards. The Wolf of Wall Street.

American Hustle (2013)

Director-David O. Russell

Length-138 min.

Rated-R

As a part of the trio of films coming out this December (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues & The Wolf of Wall Street being the other two), with all the hype and anticipation; I wasn't blown away by my first viewing of the three.

American Hustle follows the likes of two big-time cons in Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), whom of which make an impeccable team, seemingly having it all figured out until they encounter FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso catches these two with thier hands in the cookie jar, and offers a plea bargain in exchange for their cooperation in his operation. From that point forward, Irving and Sydney seem to become further burried in a world of hurt that they can't seem to escape.

As the plot unfolds we are introduced to Irving's wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), and their main play in the beloved mayor of New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner). Each character plays an important role in both setting up dealings with corrupt politicians and almost ruining their entire plan. But in the end, the hustlers do what they do best and come out on top.

Although this film had many fantastic elements in it's wardrobe selection, portrayal of an era, acting and comic relief, it still wasn't as good as I expected considering the amount of talent put on display in this film. I think Director David O. Russell tried to outdo himself after Silver Linings Playbook, which was unnecessary because this film had all the right qualities to be a ballpark homerun, but was a little too drawn out and could've been cut down to a solid hour and 45 minutes while still achieving the same goals.

Overall, still a good film, but not a great film. But by all means, hustle on down to the theater and check out this movie, if not to view the seductive and revealing attire worn by that of the beauty that is Amy Adams, then just to enjoy the American Hustle, baby.