THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

Rated: R

STARS: Leonardo DiCaprio,  Jonah Hill,  Kyle Chandler,   Matthew McConaughey,  Rob Reiner
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
GENRE: Dark Comedy

The first hour or so of The Wolf Of Wall Street is an out of control, never ending pep rally with cheerleaders who are out of their minds screaming right into your ear.  It's excessive and annoying,  like a nagging spouse trying to make the same point over and over when you already got it the first time. Which fits in, I suppose, with a film about excess and greed taken to ludicrous limits  ( based on the book of the same name by the infamous swindler Jordan Belfort. )  If you make it through that part of the  movie without cashing out and leaving the theater, The Wolf Of Wall Street pays substantial dividends the rest of the way.  

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill are gut-busting funny as drug addled  stock brokers riding the crest of an artificially created financial wave that is about to crash into the rocks as it gets closer to shore.  With a cast of "thousands" of literally hysterical hangers-on and bosomy beauties letting it all hang out in an orgiastic microcosm of what the world would be like if we all  followed our base instinct to live for nothing but our own self- satisfaction without regard to consequence.    

Grade:  B +

JILL'S TAKE

Tim and I saw this flick two weeks apart so my feeble mind has forgotten much of what makes THE WOLF OF WALL STREET worth seeing. What I do remember, however, is Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar-contending performance.

It's hard to believe he wasn't on speed while filming this movie. (His character certainly sniffed enough coke throughout!) I also remember thinking the movie would have benefited from some serious cutting. Not that I nodded off or anything. Still, the scenes of excess—drugs, yacht trips, group orgies—were overly long in my opinion.

Being a big fan of this film's director Martin Scorcese's hit HBO series "Boardwalk Empire," I had to laugh at how many subliminal plugs he gave that show. When the well-stoned characters were watching TV, guess what they were watching? And many of the actors in BE had bit parts in this film. I'm all for loyalty—especially among movie directors—but I felt a lot of those bit parts were unnecessary. (Like Shea Wigham as a ship's captain?) Then again, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is all about excess. And since I have often been accused of living on the edge myself, I could certainly relate.

GRADE:  A -

THREE ON DVD (recently released to home theatre) THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO***THE SITTER***LIKE CRAZY

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)


Rated:  R


I'm not going to repeat the whole plot synopsis from the original Swedish film, because the Hollywood remake is the same, for the most part,  in that respect. So if you didn't see the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo from 2009, go to my  review  now and check it out. Then come back.


dum de dum...
dum de dum...


 I half expected a toned-down version for American audiences,  but the remake pulls no punches in recreating those scenes of violence and sexual assault. So the main comparisons to be made are between Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, and Michael  Nyqvist versus Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist.  


Rooney Mara's Lisbeth seems more waif-like--more sullen and withdrawn than Noomi Rapace's smoldering, edgier characterization.  Her actions in the original felt totally in line with her outward persona. When  Rooney Mara's Lisbeth  breaks out of her shell and starts kicking some butt, it is something of a surprise that she has it in her. So I'll give the nod to Rapace there. 


As to which of them is more appealing in the buff, (if you're at all interested in such things) it's a tossup, because both of them looked like they had been on a thirty day juice fast. Mara has a little more going for her up top, so score one for her. (Actually...two.)


Daniel Craig is a serviceable Blomkvist , but I'm more accustomed to seeing him as an action hero than an intellectual--and since the setting  IS  Sweden, and Michael Nyqvist  IS a dyed-in-the-meatballs SWEDISH PERSON...geez,  I gotta go with him.


This 2011 version clocks in at upwards of two and a half hours, but I liked it nonetheless. Mainly because once I've seen a movie, I've forgotten most of what it's about six months later, so it's... like...NEW TO ME!


Grade:  B




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THE SITTER  (2011)


Rated:   R 

Noah (Jonah Hill) is a giver.  And in the heady opening scene of The Sitter, he is  performing a service for his self-absorbed girlfriend who, once she is satisfied,  always has an excuse for not wanting  to return the favor. It is this very selflessness that will land him in a mess of trouble when he takes on a babysitting job to help his mom out, and runs into the kids from hell.


There's the precocious  preteen Blithe (Landry Bender) who likes to play dress-up and drop the totally unexpected F-bomb; the adoptee from El Salvador, Rodrigo, (Kevin Hernandez)  who gets off on blowing up toilets by dropping  some REAL (cherry) bombs inside them: and 13-year old Slater, (Max Records)  a gentler soul confused about his sexual identity.


Things spiral out of control when Noah goes looking to score some coke at the behest of his girlfriend, and out of necessity must take the kids along for the ride. The little darlings behave badly, some drugs are ripped off, a minivan is stolen, and Noah must come up with some big bucks before a cranky drug kingpin (Sam Rockwell) exacts his revenge.


The Sitter is a wild ride, and an enjoyable one. A total grin-fest all the way through. However,  the nasty little kids in this movie, who not only stretch, but bulldoze the boundaries of acceptable language and behavior for children onscreen,  make The Sitter--ironically--a film that you don't want to take your kids to. But for adults, I'm rating it "highly."

Grade:  B +   


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LIKE CRAZY (2011)


Rated:  PG-13


A British citizen ( Felicity Jones) studying for her degree in Los Angeles falls for an unassuming  teaching assistant (Anton Yelchin) and the game is on. It's not a game of catch-me-if-you-can, but  of hold-onto-me-if-you-can. When Anna decides to overstay her visa and spend a languorous summer "in bed" with Jacob, complications ensue after she returns home and then attempts to reenter the country later.  Seems the immigration authorities don't take kindly to those who bend their rules, and she is unceremoniously put on another plane and sent back home. 


Like Crazy  is a bittersweet film about  long distance relationships, and whether love can conquer all when the odds are stacked against you.  


Anna and Jacob try to be realistic about their plight, and become involved with other people (here's Jennifer Lawrence of Winter's Bone and Hunger Games popping up again as Jacob's new squeeze).  Until  one day Anna sends him a text and says she KNOWS they were meant to be together--you know, like Romeo and Juliet...like peanut butter and jelly were meant to be together--and it convinces him to traverse the Atlantic to be with her in London. 


But his visa will run out too.


The question that Like Crazy  is posing is whether true love really exists, especially for the  very young in a world of so many distractions and temptations. There is no fairy tale ending here--just a realistic one. And by saying that I haven't revealed what ultimately happens to them, because Like Crazy is about complicated emotions, not simple ones. 


But it's a beautiful little film--I'll say that. 


Grade:  B+