Best Picture Nominee Catch Up Movie: The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Screenplay by Terence Winter

Based on the book by Jordan Belfort 

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jean Dujardin, Jon Favreau, Joanna Lumley, and Matthew McConaughey

I am a sucker for satirical films that poke fun at excess wealth, people having a King Midas complex and hedonistic debauchery. I didn't know that this movie was comedy.

The movie details the meteoric rise and disastrous fall of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio). He is an ambitious stock broker that wants to have everything in life; the money, cars, women and drug. Jordan gets his wish as he teams up with Donnie Azoff (Hill) to find their own firm, Stratton Oakmont, Inc.

Let's get this out of the way. I thought it was weird that Jordan would talk to the camera one minute, and in the next he would talk in voice-over. This choices took me out of the movie. There is also the runtime of three hours. It didn't need to be three hours longs. Cut out the first thirty minutes of the movie was have sufficed.

I never knew what I expected out of this movie. I was not expecting to laugh as much as I did. Scenes of snorting copious amounts of cocaine that would make Scarface jealous. I have seen so many tits. Not my thing, but I had my fill.

I didn't think that I would root for a guy that is essentially embezzling money from investors to line his pockets, snort up his nose or used to screw random hookers. DiCaprio's performance was very good. I think the Academy was afraid to give it to a comedic performance. The same goes for Hill. The unnaturally bleached white teeth of Don was on par with DiCaprio. I am surprised that the movie didn't get much love at the Oscars.

Rating: 9/10

Best Picture Nominee Catch Up Movie: Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Stars: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, C.J. Wilson, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Ivy O'Brien, Gretchen Mol, and Tate Donovan

Going into this unofficial blog-a-thon, I knew that there will be some Best Picture nominees that I would enjoy and not. I loved Lonergan's directional debut, You Can Count on Me very much. It was one of my top ten movies of 2000. This movie is not it.

Lee Chandler's (Affleck) world is turned upside down when news of his older brother, Joe (K. Chandler) dying. While trying to make funeral arrangements, Lee learns that Joe wants him to be the guardian of Joe's teenager son, Patrick (Hedges).

I thought I was being punk'd. The more I watched this movie; the more rage I was building up.

Everybody is this movie was an abrasive asshole. Who was the audience supposed to sympathize with? Lee? A depressed a janitor that have multiple flashbacks with the "good times" with his brother, nephew and his wife-- ex-wife, Randi (Williams). Patrick? An overachieving pompous prick that spouts a million questions a minute to Lee. Who?

I don't understand the praise for this movie. The dialogue. My god. I cannot with it. There is something about actors putting on a Boston accent  irritates me. The characters don't like real people. They act like people for a bad melodrama. Do any of the character ever talk to each other? Ever? That answer is resounding no.

I hated this movie so much that I turned it off. I could not torture myself anymore. The level of fucks I had to give with this movie ran out. Use wikipedia and save the trouble.

Never been more disappointed in Kenneth Lonergan than I have with this movie. Fuck right off with this movie. Insufferable dreck.

Rating: 1/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Twenty Two: Carol

Carol (2015)

Directed by Todd Haynes

Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy

Based on the novel, "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, John Magaro, and Cory Michael Smith

There have a been a slew of movies that I didn't like as of late. Before watching this movie, I heard from Harper's Bazaar named this one of the best lesbian movies. I would agree. Thank Goddess for Todd Haynes, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Set around the Christmas season 1952, a shopgirl turned aspiring photographer, Therese (Mara) meets unhappy housewife, Carol (Blanchett). They strike up a friendship that leads to more.

Todd Hayne's movies are handled with care and brilliance. This one is up there with Far From Heaven, one of my favorite movies of 2002. I have never been so enthralled with a movie. The costumes, the score, Blanchett, Mara were superb.

The relationship between Therese and Carol is a slow burn. I loved it. The pacing was perfection. I was choked up. I wanted the world for them.

The only thing that bothered me was Mara was put in supporting at the Oscars. She was the co-lead with Blanchett. The audacity of The Weinstein Company for that bullshit.

Rating: 10/10

 

Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Screenplay by Mark Boal

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Fares Fares, Jennifer Ehle, Édgar Ramírez, Mark Strong and James Gandolfini

One of my most anticipated releases of 2012 was Kathryn Bigelow's latest feature, Zero Dark Thirty.Waiting on bated breath as the movie didn't come out in wide release until it was nominated for five Oscars on Thursday. Bigelow's last film was the Oscar winning The Hurt Locker, which was my number one movie of 2009. I fully expected that this movie was surpass it. Needlessly to say, I was slightly disappointed with it.

Maya (Chastain) is CIA operative who has been reassigned to Pakistan after the events of 9/11. She witnesses first hand what interrogators do to get the information they need to find the most wanted man ever. The small groups of operatives go off of leads and intelligence reports to find the exact whereabouts of bin-Laden. Is he in a cave as the American people all believed? Was he hiding in place sight and nobody knew anything about it? That was Maya's number mission to locate and bring bin-Laden to justice.

I remember the night when the president announced that Osama bin-Laden was killed. People were gathering in front of the White House cheering on his death. Watching a movie, I remembered a phone interview I had with former Fox commentator John Gibson on his radio show a few years back. He asked me if the US should go into Pakistan to get UBL. I said, yes. We debated on how can the US invade a friendly country to get the mastermind behind 9/11. He had to pay for killing 3,000 people that day. I was proven right. In your face, John Gibson. Suck on that.

As stated before, my expectations with this movie were very high. I thought it was going to blow all of the other movies out of the water. Was the movie intense? Yes. They were few and far between, expect the last act of the movie was edge on your seat. I had the same feeling when I saw The Master. The movie felt empty. I was bored was the movie, shifted around in my seat. I think that Chastian's performance deserved the nomination for Best Actress. There were specific moments in The Hurt Locker that I back on with awe. I guess, that would be said with the last moments of the movie, but it had to be added in when the US captured bin-Laden as they made the movie. Without that last part of the movie, it would been another disappointment as I had many this year.

My Rating