The Wolf of Wall Street review

            The economy has been the underlying theme of many of the films released in the last 3 years, and this year being no exception. But whereas “The Hunger Games” and “Killing them Softly”  focused on the  struggle of the lower class and the inertia of the economic climb, moves of this topic in 2013, such as “The Bling Ring”, “Spring Breakers”,  “The Great Gatsby” and  “American Hustle”, are bleak satires of the bloated excesses of the one percent and the material obsessions of American culture.  Martin Scorsese’s latest, “The Wolf of Wall Street”—bizarrely released on Christmas weekend—is perhaps the most salty and biting of this crop; an unrelenting, tenacious carnival of queasy decadence and mind boggling affluenza.

                After losing his first fortune in the big Wall Street crash of 1987, young stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) builds his way back up through an unregulated investment scam, tricking small start-up companies to sell stock to him for half the profits they receive. Later, when Belfort learns he can take this same business model to catch the bigger fish, his life, his friend, his wives, and his firm begins to quickly spin out of control.

                Not unlike Marty’s “Goodfellas” back in 1991, this film follows the rise and fall of an overconfident and mostly unlikable main character as he narrates the events of his life in a barely confessional, but mostly self-congratulatory, tone.  The friends and colleagues who surround Belfort, such as his sloppy yes-man Donny Azoff (played with spot-on comic sleaze by Jonah Hill), his mentor Mark Hannah (A Mathew McConaughey cameo, that almost steals the entire movie in one scene), and even his playboy-model second wife Naomi Lapaglia (played by newcomer Margot Robbie, who’s tough enough to keep up with all of the barking dogs in this movie) not only encourage his extreme behavior but they count on it to maintain their own status.  And when I say extreme behavior, sex, drugs and rock and roll is a reductive bumper-sticker in comparison to the day to day risk-taking these executives indulge in, as they engage in company-funded sex-parties on airplanes and consume fistfuls of illegal pills before and after meetings.

                Barely avoiding an NC-17 rating, Scorsese and company have been heavily scrutinized for portraying this lifestyle as all party and no hang-over and for possibly giving Belfort more money for his actions by adapting his own autobiography. While I can’t speak for Belfort’s royalties, I can say that if this had been a ninety minute blaze of orgiastic crunking, I could see the cocaine ecstasy that this film displays as being problematic. However, this is a three hour film, and after the first few hours of scandalous fun, the darkly-comedic beats begin to ramp up faster and faster until it becomes a numbing montage of capitalistic gluttony. What was once funny, dangerous, and sexy in the first half of the film becomes depressing, disgusting, and irredeemable by the second half, and I don’t consider that as a point of criticism. That, I believe, is exactly the point.

                The half-way mark is where audiences will likely take their position on the film. While some will find the epic build of this to be a monumental critique of privileged narcissism—a kind of Citizen Kane by way Gordon Gekko on bath-salts—others will not be as charmed by Scorsese’s persistent energy and may simply feel like they are sloshing in a bog of exploitation.

                 If this were a straightforward morality tale the characters would learn something valuable and karma would be the ultimate victor, but history isn’t fair and justice isn’t thorough.  Instead, you’re supposed to watch the actions of these men with conflicting sense of curious envy and outraged condemnation, and in that sense, “The Wolf of Wall Street” boldly puts its money where its mouth is.

Grade: A


Originally published in the Idaho State Journal/Jan-2014

The Best Movies You Didn't Watch This Year

                Being a writer for a southeast Idaho publication, I have tried to review and discuss films that are going to play to the southeast Idaho audience.  But, being a movie fan, I have also been watching plenty of other movies that I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on. With the year coming to a close, I would feel remiss if I were to deny Journal readers my recommendations for the amazing output in this year’s limited releases. Though many of the films in this article may have not played first-run in our region, the year’s most interesting, groundbreaking and entertaining films, released in independent, foreign, and/or boutique markets, are now or will soon become perfectly available through rental or streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

                 Early in the year we were treated with a smattering of interesting crime movies that not only broke the traditions of their genre but also broke the predictability of the typical three-act movie structure. Director Danny Boyle reteamed with his old “Trainspotting” screenwriter John Hodge and released the tenchnodelic brain caper “Trance” and reminded people that complicated plots and disappearing MacGuffins are not nearly as precious if you have three capable leads like James McCavoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel to carry you through. You’re never sure if what you are watching is actually happening or what character’s perspective you’re viewing the events through, but Boyle’s energy never lets up and the movie never gets boring. Similarly, Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers”—perhaps the most controversial and divisive film of the year—transforms a simple good-girls-gone-bad heist thriller into a fragmented, neon nightmare parable. James Franco makes a peculiar but refreshing turn as a white-trash, rapping Big Bad Wolf and Disney tween actors (Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez, respectively) stand in as a satirical representation of the hopelessly duped and shallow Gen-Y marketing demographic.  In a more sober representation of American hopelessness, Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines” tells an intricate collection of stories about families, fathers, murder, and secrets, highlighting an ambitious screenplay that manages to fit all the drama and operatic tension of the Godfather trilogy in just one feature.  

                This has also been a terrific year for movies about women.  Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha”, a modern black and white indie about a young New Yorker (Greta Gerwig) who can barely make ends meet or even hold on to a stable living situation in her post-academic life, perfectly captures the plight of the overqualified, jobless 20-somethings of our era. “Enough Said”, with Seinfeld’s Julie Lewise Dreyfus and James Gandolfin in his last role, is a warm and clever rom-com throwback about middle-aged second chances. In Woody Allen’s latest, “Blue Jasmine”, he wisely gives Cate Blanchett a meaty enough character and a light enough screenplay to let her take hold and command the screen for its entire ninety-eight minutes. Blanchett plays the complicated Jasmine with heartbreaking sympathy and sociopathic wit in such a way that the movie, refreshingly, never condemns the character or begs the audience for her redemption.

                If you’re like me than you probably can’t resist a good coming of age movie.  “Mud”, by Jeff Nichols, frames a criminal-on-the-lam plot with a teenage story about first loves and broken homes. Matthew McConaughey continues his impressive winning streak and Nichols’ southern world-building feels fully realized and lived in, creating something like a cross between “Huckleberry Finn” and “E.T”.  “The Spectacular Now” is a confident coming of age film about a young alcoholic (Miles Teller) who, in trying to mend a freshly broken heart, finds companionship in a geeky loner girl (Shalene Woodly) from his high school. In giving her the confidence she needs to make things happen in her life, he also exposes her to his most destructive tendencies. It’s a real film about real teenagers and it doesn’t promote or judge the character’s choices. Of course, when it comes to this category, one can’t not bring up the lyrical beauty of the French, Palme D’Or winner “Blue is the Warmest Color”, a young love story that isn’t afraid to take its characters or its actors anywhere.  Unlike many American coming-out dramas, this doesn’t end after our heroine figures out her sexual orientation gets the girl. Instead, the movie continues to follow both the pragmatic Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and her artsy, bohemian lover Emma (Léa Seydoux) as they learn about who they are and what they need out of a long term commitment. Both leads give fearless performances and by the movie’s end you will feel like you have gone through the couple's most intimate highs and lows.

                Lastly, this year has also treated us too some wonderful oddball, genre-bending films such as the horror-comedy “John Dies at the End”, a film that crosses the slacker, pizza-breath vibe of “Wayne’s World” and “Idle Hands” with the shadowy and nonsensical terror of films such as “Donny Darko” and “Lost Highway”. And then, in what is probably still my favorite motion picture of 2013, one should not miss seeing the tragic sci-fi romance “Upstream Color”, about a young couple who find each other after unwillingly undergoing a psychic treatment that involves pigs, worms, orchids and the writings of Henry David Theroux.  It’s a puzzle box narrative without an instruction booklet, but it’s hard work pays off in an intensely interior and emotionally engaging way.  Self financed and self distributed, “Primer” director, Shane Caruth, not only makes one of the most impressive sophomore efforts by an indie filmmaker but he practically creates a whole new cinematic language in which to tell his story.  It’s on Netflix. And you’re welcome.

                 So, even though I have spent a lot of time ragging on the Hollywood blockbusters and the star vehicles from this year, 2013, film for film, has proven to be one of the most engaging years in movies. I also want to remind readers that I chose not to spotlight the obvious awards-season indies such as “Inside Llewyn Davis”, “Dallas Buyers Club”, or “Nebraska” because, while all of those films are fantastic and deserve your attention, they certainly don’t need my help. Also also, I want to remind those who may think my tastes lean so far left that I can’t enjoy a popcorn movie anymore, that Alfonso Cauron’s “Gravity” deserves just as much praise for its expressive storytelling as it does its special effects and sometimes it feels like I might be the only person left who will admit to unabashedly loving “Star Trek into Darkness”. So there.

Originally published in the Idaho State Journal/Dec-2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug review

               First of all, I want to say that as someone who has always struggled with his weight, I think it's great that Peter Jackson has been able to successfully shed much of his excess body mass and find ways to remain healthy and lean. I only wish that he could apply the same kind of discipline to his filmmaking. 3D, wicked-high frame-rates and motion capture have become his new indulgences and these technologies have apparently now taken precedent over coherent storytelling and character development.  

                As a fan—and sometimes defender—of Jackson’s ambitious Lord of the Rings trilogy, I’m at a loss at how the same man behind that behemoth of a juggling act, who, for three films, was able to keep all of his balls in the air at the same time, now can’t manage to competently tell a simple point-A to point-B plot.  I left last year’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” with the bare-minimum level of satisfaction and a heap of better-luck-next-time reservations.  Within “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”, despite spending its entire running time throwing CGI things at the camera, whatever story was set up in the first film has now been shoved aside for a two hour and forty minute, fantasy, tech-demo.

                The plot of this second installment—as it barely exists—continues to follow Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and his merry gang of dwarves, led by the brave but stubborn Thorin (Richard Armitage), as they make their way through the dangerous pockets of Middle Earth on the way to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their home and treasure from a massive dragon named Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).  On the way, they run into an army of Orks, racist wood elves, and a downtrodden fishing community, ruled by a corrupt master (Stephen Fry). 

                Seems modest enough, right? Well, added in, we also follow the wizard Gandolf (Sir Ian McKellan) as he is sneaking around caves and forests in search of a non-related prophecy, as well as a wooden will-they-or won’t-they, romantic strand dealing with Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and an arrow-wielding elf named Taurial (Evangeline Lilly).  All of these story bits, along with the main journey, struggle for air between a number of bloated, video-game action set-pieces. 

                Despite Jackson stretching this relatively short novel into three separate films by including side-mythology from Tolkien’s other writings, this movie couldn’t be less interested in the story.  Through most of the it the characters are bounced from one set-piece to another with hardly any narrative tissue holding them together.  There are far too many goofy names and magic scrolls and foretold something-or-others to keep up with, and the film’s complete inability to slow down and let the plot breath prevents any of these elements from progressing.  We don’t even have a particular interest in Bilbo’s involvement in the story anymore since the movie continually shifts the center of consciousness, digressing into uninteresting and irrelevant subplots and over designed and aggressively choreographed green-screen action sequences.

                What will inevitably trick audiences into thinking they got what they paid for is the fantastic, well-paced conclusion of the film, involving the dragon Smaug; a completely believable and awe-inspiring CGI creation that steals the entire show. Cumberbatch’s voice is used to good effect here and the scene, unlike the rest of the movie, is based in its characters and their interactions.

                Back in 2005 I would have never called “The Lord of the Rings” series subtle, but compared to these exponentially disappointing Hobbit prequels they now feel like Ken Burns documentaries.  Whereas those films knew how to use their long running-times to build brooding atmosphere and explore the different character dynamics, this movie just feels like being led on a track through a spook house, passing one visual thing after another, in way that seems arbitrary and inconsequential. 

Grade: D+

Originally published in The Idaho State Journal/Dec-2013

Out of the Furnace review

               The characters in Scott Cooper’s “Out of the Furnace” have everything working against them. They’re under paid, they’re incarcerated, they’re deep in debt, they have cancer, and worst of all, they are they are living in the genre confines of a bleak rural noir. Like 2010’s “Winters Bone” or even this year’s “Prisoners”, crime and revenge has bled from the urban streets into the red-neck hills, where the consequences of human betrayal are met with even more brutality.

                Cooper’s follow up to his country music character-study “Crazy Heart” is quite a departure in style.  Even though the understated quietness of his scenery and the subtle direction of his actors are still intact, this movie moves away from the tangible warmth of the county-western bars and plunges deep into a dower underworld of drugs and murder. While Cooper philosophizes on America’s post Iraq psychology and the economic weight burdened on blue-collar culture, when the plot finally kicks into gear , his film settles confidently into its base interests as a nail-biting, pulp thriller--and an occasionally brassy one at that.

                Christian Bale and Casey Affleck play Russell and Rodney Baze, two brothers who live  in a rust-belt, steel town, and who each have their own crosses to bare. Russell is sent to prison for 5 years after a drunk driving accident and Rodney is sent to war in Iraq, where he hopes to make some money for the family. When Russell is finally set free, he finds his girl (Zoe Saldana) remarried and his brother is forced to lose bare-knuckle boxing matches to pay off his ever growing debt with a local drug syndicate. After Rodney goes missing and the cops are tied-up by jurisdiction to move forward with the case, Russell decides to investigate the rotted underbelly of this dangerous world himself.

                 “Out of the Furnace” isn’t nearly as profound or as A-level as it thinks it is, but the sincerity of the performances and a seat clenching third-act saves it from being an unrelenting downer.  Bale and lil’ Affleck are both effective without overplaying things and their instincts are tuned well enough know which note to play each scene.  Side performances from Willem Dafoe, Sam Shepard and the recently revived Forest Whitaker fill out their roles nicely as well. But it is Woody Harrelson as the tobacco stained, meth-head, hillbilly heavy, who drips with intimidating menace in every scene he steals.

                While spending the first half of the film stacking conflict on top of complication against the protagonists, the story feels a bit loose and shaggy, and slow to get going. But when the pawns have been put into place the despair truck is finally done unloading, all of this character work pays off in an old fashion man-hunt.  The violence is treated just a blunt as the emotions are approached with tenderness and the mechanics of the cat and mouse set-piece’s between Bale and Harrelson and genuinely exciting and unpredictable. 

                If you can wade through the woe-is-me grunge in all of it, there’s a half-way decent revenge movie to enjoy in here. I can’t say Cooper gives us anything we haven’t seen somewhere else done better—“No County For Old Men” and the Aussie gangster film  “Animal Kingdom” comes to mind—but sometimes when you get a respectable director and talented cast together you can end up with something pretty watchable.

Grade: B -

Originally published in the Idaho State Journal/Dec-2013