THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Review

Martin Scorsese's whoopin' and hollerin' "The Wolf of Wall Street" has a lot in common with David O. Russell's zany and freewheeling "American Hustle." They both deserved more time in the editing room, two overlong sagas that have been hotly anticipated by critics and will both be lauded by the Academy. Maybe I missed the boat. With Scorsese's "Wolf," we have a two-hour-and-fifty-nine-minute film chock full of scenes that could've been trimmed by minutes. Add those minutes up, and it's the running time audiences should've been spared. Adapted by screenwriter Terence Winter ("Boardwalk Empire," "The Sopranos,"), the story of Wall Street master swindler and money laundering expert who started his own firm at age 22 and went on to screw over millions is no sprawling epic. It's filmed as an unrelenting barrage of excess, hopped up on the cocaine and quaaludes Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) takes for breakfast and the rest of these guys put into their system to stay numb to their sins -- didn't I make a similar drug reference to "American Hustle"'s style? I digress.

It's a parade of debauchery. Cocaine, the outlawed prescription pill quaaludes, booze, parties, more booze, bikini-clad strippers, more quaaludes, topless hookers, bottomless hookers, Leonardo DiCaprio's sinfully gleeful Jordan Belfort banging his hot wife (Margot Robbie) on a literal bed of money. OK, OK, we get it. This guy's rich, has no regard for any of the victims piling up in the wake of his success and is choosing to completely ignore his inevitable capture and downfall, and instead he soldiers on with reckless abandon. Ninety minutes later, we're still looking at the same guy. Smart move to have the film narrated by Belfort and make it from his perspective, which turns the film into a (very dark) comedy. Otherwise we'd blow our brains out.

There's no denying that DiCaprio's performance here is the craziest he's done and arguably his going-all-out, over-the-top barbaric best. Belfort, obsessed with a reality of himself that could only possibly remain temporary, is cut from the same cloth of DiCaprio's Gatsby earlier this year. Just hopped up on coke. He drives a white Lamborghini, lives in a beautiful mansion, fuels his mind on a cocktail of drugs, commands his office like the leader of a clan and carelessly drunk-pilots his helicopter which otherwise rests perched atop his extravagant yacht.

There are a number of great scenes. The film's best is actually its quietest moment when Belfort sits face-to-face meeting the very FBI agent (Kyle Chandler) trying to take him down. Watch the conversation weave against Belfort's favor and his expression morph when he realizes it's not going his way. The polar opposite is a scene where Jonah Hill's Donnie Azoff, in a performance that's like a whacked-out version of his Oscar-nominated turn in "Moneyball," takes aged lemmon quaaludes with his co-conspirator Belfort. They slam a fistful of pills, rendering them rolling on the ground useless, slurring their speech and hardly in control of their motor skills. It's slapstick absurdity, and it's an unsettling riot.

Matthew McConaughey (still thin from "Dallas Buyers Club") drops by in two early scenes and steals the show, showing a young, eager, not yet tainted Belfort the ropes of brokering, mandating he masturbate two times a day in order to stay sharp. Later, when the seasoned Belfort shouts in a microphone to his crowded, rowdy room of sleazy brokers eager like a room full of horny frat boys, the movie is firing on all cylinders.

It's pop-pop, bang-bang, non-stop all the time in "Wolf." Keeping that momentum up drains an audience who's awaiting an outcome other than the bitterly predictable. Go out with something for us to gnaw on, mull over about the depravity and dark underbelly of the American dream, of the get rich quick mentality. The live-wire energy is there and never not boring, and it's a grandiose display of sensationalism and crass capitalism, but in the end, what's it all for?

84th Annual Academy Award Nominations

It's as if the Academy knew we became tired of being able to predict all the nominations because this year things are definitely shaken up. The announcement this morning for the 84th Annual Academy Award nominations provided a hefty number of surprises most notably when the Best Picture nominee title cards flipped over to show a symmetrical eight...and then a ninth. So there you have it: the first year not five, not ten, but nine films have been nominated for Best Picture.

The only thing not surprising was "Hugo" leading the nominations with 11 closely followed by "The Artist" with ten, then "Moneyball" and "War Horse" tied at six, "The Descendants" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" tied at five and finally "The Help" with four.

The biggest surprise of the morning goes to "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" which was originally thought to be left out of the race. Instead, it was the ninth nominee to be included for Best Picture along with "The Artist," "The Descendants," "The Help," "Midnight in Paris," "Hugo," "War Horse," and yes, "The Tree of Life" got recognized.

Best Director paired these nominees down to which ones really matter and included Martin Scorsese for "Hugo," Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris" and Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life" who clearly won over Steven Spielberg for "War Horse."

The renewed love for "Tree of Life" should come as no surprise, but it did seem like it might had been forgotten considering previous award show proceedings.

Every acting category but one provided a surprise. Let's start with the not-surprise of Best Supporting Actress which went to Janet McTeer for "Albert Nobbs," Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer for "The Help," Berenice Bejo for "The Artist" and yes, Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids." I'm ecstatic about McCarthy's nod but equally upset over the snub for Shailene Woodley in "The Descendants."

Now for the surprises. In Best Actress, Rooney Mara for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" managed to edge out Tilda Swinton for "We Need to Talk About Kevin," a switch that I'm absolutely thrilled with. With Mara were the expected nominees of Viola Davis for "The Help," Glenn Close for "Albert Nobbs," Michelle Williams for "My Week with Marilyn" and Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady." It's between Streep and Davis for taking this win.

The Best Actor category included not Leonardo DiCaprio for "J. Edgar" nor Michael Fassbender for "Shame" but instead accompanying the expected George Clooney for "The Descendants," Jean Dujardin for "The Artist" and Brad Pitt for "Moneyball" were the surprises of Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Demian Bichir for "A Better Life."

The Best Supporting Actor category gave "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" its second nomination, this time for veteran Max von Sydow. Joining him were the front-runner Christopher Plummer for "Beginners," Jonah Hill for "Moneyball," Kenneth Branagh for "My Week with Marilyn" and Nick Nolte for "Warrior." The fact that trailers can now proclaim Academy Award-nominated Jonah Hill still baffles me.

What about Albert Brooks for "Drive," you ask? Well, much like the rest of the film he got snubbed. "Drive" walked away with only one nomination -- for Sound Editing. It's a shame it couldn't even land a Best Cinematography nod.

The Animated Feature category made absolutely no sense to probably everybody. With nominees like "A Cat in Paris" and "Chico & Rita," it left people scratching their heads. No "Adventures of Tintin" to be found. "Kung Fu Panda 2" made it in along with "Puss in Boots" next to the front-runner "Rango." Except perhaps "Rango" is no longer the front-runner maybe replaced by one of the unknowns from abroad. "Cars 2" getting shut out marks the first time a Pixar movie has not been nominated. That's what you get for selling out.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" got ignored over Best Score nominees "The Adventures of Tintin," "The Artist," "Hugo," "Tinker Tailor Solder Spy" and "War Horse."

"Dragon Tattoo" made up for it in other technical categories, however, including Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Film Editing and Cinematography.

Although it deserved much more, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" made its appearance in the usual "Harry Potter"-nominated categories including Best Makeup, Art Direction and Visual Effects.

And what of the Best Original Song nominees? Only two? And the song nominated from the "Muppets" was "Man or Muppet?" The other nominee went to "Real in Rio" from the not-nominated animated feature "Rio." At least it could supposedly make for a shorter ceremony without as many performances.

The Best Adapted Screenplay nominees included "The Descendants," "Hugo," "Moneyball" and the surprises of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and even "The Ides of March."

"Bridesmaids" represented comedy at the nominations this year with its Best Original Screenplay nod alongside "Margin Call," "The Artist," "Midnight in Paris," and finally, the foreign language "A Separation" which leads in its Best Foreign Language Film category.

So what can we take away from all of this? The Academy decided to sufficiently surprise us this year without really throwing a wrench in the whole thing. Yes, the "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" Best Picture nomination will cause an uproar if it hasn't already (I, for one, am over the moon about it). And yes, the re-emerged love for "The Tree of Life" is welcome to many. Still, though, "The Artist" will be the prize winner of the night come time for Oscar Sunday. The nominations may be switched up, but the winners remain the same.

It's the last stop, everybody! Tune in for the 84th Annual Academy Award ceremony on Sunday, February 26 at 8 p.m. on ABC. And check here for a full list of the Oscar nominations.

84th Annual Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Here I'll be predicting all the major categories for the 84th Annual Academy Award nominations which get announced tomorrow morning!


Best Picture
1. The Artist
2. The Descendants
3. Hugo
4. The Help
5. Midnight in Paris
6. War Horse
7. Moneyball

I predict there will be seven nominees, but here's the rest if it gets expanded to ten:

8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
9. Bridesmaids
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Director
1. Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"
2. Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
3. Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"
4. Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
5. Steven Spielberg, "War Horse"

Best Actor
1. Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
2. George Clooney, "The Descendants"
3. Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"
4. Leonardo DiCaprio, "J. Edgar"
5. Michael Fassbender, "Shame"

Best Actress
1. Viola Davis, "The Help"
2. Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"
3. Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
4. Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
5. Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"

Best Supporting Actress
1. Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
2. Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
3. Jessica Chastain, "The Help
4. Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
5. Shailene Woodley, "The Descendants"

Best Supporting Actor
1. Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
2. Albert Brooks, "Drive"
3. Kenneth Branagh, "My Week with Marilyn"
4. Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
5. Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"

Best Original Screenplay
1. 50/50
2. Midnight in Paris
3. The Artist
4. Bridesmaids
5. Beginners

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Moneyball
2. The Descendants
3. Hugo
4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5. The Help

69th Annual Golden Globe Award Winners

I guess when Ricky Gervais was surprisingly invited back to host the Golden Globes, it was under the condition that he would do his opening monologue and then disappear for the rest of the evening -- because that's exactly what happened. His opening zingers were actually great and not too harsh or cynical like last year. Bashes toward Kim Kardashian were a must, and Gervais was smart about knocking the HFPA itself as opposed to his celebrity spectators.

A quick hit on first presenter Johnny Depp was perfect allowing Gervais to pick up right where he left off last year. "Have you seen 'The Tourist' yet?" he asked Depp.

And then he jabbed, "The Golden Globes are just like the Oscars but without all the esteem." It also was two-and-a-half hours before he got bleeped, and that was right around the time Meryl Streep warranted herself a bleep. Penis jokes were aplenty most notably during George Clooney's speech when he gave a shout out to Michael Fassbender's full nudity in "Shame."

It was nice that the evening didn't feel entirely all about "The Artist," although it's still the one to beat at the Oscars. Instead, Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" closed out the night with a win for Best Picture Drama. "The Artist," however, still led a total number of wins at three followed by "The Descendants" with two.

"The Artist" took home awards for Best Score, Best Picture Comedy or Musical and Best Actor Comedy or Musical for Jean Dujardin. It only made sense for Dujardin to win in his category because all of his actor competition landed their nominations under Drama. This included George Clooney who won Best Actor Drama for "The Descendants." He's now the one to beat at the Oscars, and Dujardin is his closest competition.

The love was pretty widespread including a Best Director win for Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") over Michel Hazanavicius for "The Artist." Meanwhile Woody Allen took home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay ("Midnight In Paris"). For whatever reason, "The Adventures of Tintin" won over "Rango" for Best Animated Feature perhaps to get Steven Spielberg up on the stage.

The other surprise of the night was Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady" winning Best Actress Drama over Viola Davis for "The Help." I still believe Davis is the front-runner for the Oscar, however. Streep gave a blind speech having lost her glasses. George Clooney made an attempt to pass them up, and they made it to David Fincher...and stayed there. Perhaps it was his anger toward Streep for winning over Rooney Mara.

Wins for Octavia Spencer for "The Help" and Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" further cemented them as the clear front-runners in their respective Best Supporting categories at the Oscars. Spencer's speech was exceptionally moving and timely touching on the MLK holiday.

Morgan Freeman received his tribute with the Cecil B. DeMille award, and everyone was disappointed when he didn't do the voiceover for his own career montage. Helen Mirren also managed to make a drunken fool of herself introducing him.

So it comes down to "The Artist" and "The Descendants" over what's going to nab the top prize at the Oscars. The former is still the clear leader, but last night's wins for the latter pushes up its potential.

Check here for a full list of the 69th Annual Golden Globe Award winners, and stay tuned for the announcement of the 84th Annual Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, January 24.

HUGO Review

Martin Scorsese has given us the best-looking live action 3-D movie of this generation comparable to the prowess of James Cameron's "Avatar." Scorsese knows how to properly take advantage of the technology, and if nothing else his newest film -- the greatest departure from anything else he's made before -- demonstrates how to use 3-D to its utmost potential. The film is packed with bouts of visual trickery and flourishes that astound. In a most breathtaking opening sequence, we're shown the life of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who lives among the ticking clockwork and mechanisms within the walls of an elaborate 1930s Parisian train station. The swirling, intricate panoramic views and angles of the train station are just a taste of this magical world Scorsese constructs.

Hugo's life at the train station is made difficult by a cranky toy shop owner (Ben Kingsley) and the limping train station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who's always chasing Hugo through crowds of travelers. Hugo is an orphan forced to live off thievery as he scurries around hiding himself in a maze of ladders and walkways winding all the clocks making sure they run exactly on time. Hugo bases his life around machinery and making sure things are fixed and working right. His labor of love is an old automaton found by his father (Jude Law), seen in flashbacks. If fixed properly, the automaton should be able to write a message -- one that Hugo is convinced his father left for him. He's a genius when it comes to finding all the right screws and gears for the project, but there's one puzzle piece left. It's a key hole in the shape of a heart, and Hugo's journey takes him to find that heart-shaped key to fit the lock.

Along the way Hugo meets a young girl his age, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who has an appetite for adventure. Together they show each other their secret worlds. His, the inner-workings of the train station clock tower, and hers, the many books within the catacombs of a library she explores. As much as Isabelle craves adventure, Hugo discovers she has never been to the movie theater -- the era's best option for getting lost in a new world. Them sneaking in to see a movie begins the film's second half, which is an obvious and lavish celebration of the birth of film.

The cranky toy shop owner turns out to be George Méliès, a pioneer French filmmaker at the dawn of the 20th century. He also turns out to be Isabelle's godfather. Such knowledge leads Hugo on a path to more self-discovery than he could've imagined. Serendipitous links aplenty, even Hugo's father described the first movie he saw as a rocket poking the Man in the Moon in the eye -- a scene from none other than Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon" (1908). The wizardry and wonderment of the film's second act distracts from a threadbare thin plot, but it's easily forgiven. In the greatest sense, there's more to "Hugo." It's less about plot and more about getting that certain fuzzy feeling, a feeling Scorsese must love -- of sitting in a dark theater and getting caught up in a dream.

Rich film history is embedded in everything Scorsese makes, and here he dramatizes his personal connection with the medium. Paralleling his own character's passion, Scorsese is a master of artistic mechanisms rekindling our love for the marvels of movie technology both old and new. The director hasn't exactly made a movie for children. Even more impressive, he has made a ravishing movie for adults without coarse language, sex or violence earning a PG-rating full of childhood innocence without pandering. For audiences this is an enchanting and moving look into childhood longing and exploration, and for cinephiles this is something even more: an array of cinematic pleasures and a not-so-subtle plea for the preservation of cinema's past. And to think this message arrives to us in 3-D. If the technology has any future, here it is endorsed fully -- and expertly executed -- by Scorsese himself.

HUGO Named Best Film by NBR

The National Board of Review announced their winners for this year. And while they don't have too much bearing on the overall awards landscape, they still are worth taking a look at -- especially this year considering what got decided as Best Film.

Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" was named Best Film, and Scorsese received Best Director.

Looks like "Hugo" is more of a year-end awards contender than I had at first anticipated, which means I need to get myself to a theater quickly to see it for myself.

Other notable wins include all those for Alexander Payne's "The Descendants." It took home Best Screenplay as well as Best Actor for George Clooney and Best Supporting Actress for Shailene Woodley. I see a trend, and one that could very well make its way to Oscar.

This Island Is No Vacation

Movie Review
Shutter Island (2010)


What we see here is a master at work but also having fun at the same time. Just take note of the cameo. It's like Martin Scorsese is throwing us a little treat, a hint to the fact that even he isn't taking this all too seriously. He's having fun with us, and we better be ready and willing to go along for the psychologically thrilling and exhausting ride. Even when Scorsese is playing with us, he's masterful. No, his latest film, "Shutter Island," is not perfect. But even when not at perfection, Scorsese is a master at the craft and knows how to make a compelling motion picture. His love for filmmaking and for cinema in general is apparent throughout the movie's lengthy running time, quite like Quentin Tarantino's latest work, "Inglourious Basterds." Both present a history that is changed and unreliable, and they both are inspired by endless genres and older works. Martin Scorsese knows how to make a film, so let him have his fun, and "Shutter Island" is it. It's dark and delirious, a waking nightmare, and I, for one, loved it.

The year is 1954, and U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is on his way to the fog-covered, doom-and-gloom-promising Shutter Island with his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). The island is home to a prison for the criminally insane with a ward that used to be a fort in the Civil War. In other words, there's nothing inviting about this place, and the horrifyingly pounding score at the film's opening confirms this notion without question. The two have been assigned to a case of a missing patient, a woman named Rachel (Emily Mortimer) who is guilty of killing her three children. It appears impossible to leave the island alive as it is surrounded by cliffs of jagged rocks. To the prison's director, Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), it would seem that Rachel just evaporated through the walls.

Adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane, the story is simple enough upon first glance. But the trick is that there's something awfully terrifying about this island. There's something hidden amongst the endlessly heavy walls of gray concrete, and Teddy becomes obsessed with finding out just exactly what it is. The investigation hits a dead-end when the two marshals meet Dr. Naehring (an ever-menacing Max von Sydow) who gives the vibe of being a co-conspirator with Dr. Cawley. Just what could they be hiding in this place? Teddy becomes entrapped by his own involvement and investment to the island as he delves into motives beyond himself.

DiCaprio gives a deeply felt and haunting performance as a man torn between his memories and the reality of what is happening to people on the island. Teddy comes across people who could either be ghosts of his past, a trick of the imagination, or mere people who remind him of his own trauma. We receive glimpses into Teddy's history, his involvement in liberating a Nazi camp, along with the life he had with his wife (Michelle Williams) before she died tragically in a fire. They're presented in dreams, hallucinations, and flashbacks, and they're vibrant and beautiful even in their horror. As a hurricane brews with strong winds and sweeping trees, so brews the hurricane inside Teddy's mind. His partner is not nearly as involved, but he cares for his partner. "You OK, boss?" he frequently asks of him. Meanwhile, a visit with a patient named George Noyce (Jackie Earle Haley of "Watchmen" and "Little Children") and an encounter with a different Rachel (Patricia Clarkson of "Lars and the Real Girl") send Teddy deeper into the downward spiral of confusion, frustration, and madness.

Every performance here is sublime, no matter how minor the role. The singular scene with Patricia Clarkson is arguably the film's most emotionally potent, and Kingsley never fails to have a glimmer of menace even behind the kindest eyes. This film is all about atmosphere and the tone, that feel of film noir, the pulpy complexity and dramatization of it all. The key is the mystery, following along only with the instinct of your senses, of what you see, hear, and ultimately feel. The movie is an extremely sensory experience, and in the same vein, a surprisingly emotional one, too. It becomes nearly stressful, but only in the best way a movie can transfix and transport you.

Scorsese deals with some weighty themes in "Shutter Island," and even here he continues to explore the aspects of human nature that have intrigued him in his other films. The question becomes the clarity of the dividing line between what is considered to be sane or insane and the violence that may come with such. Is it ever justifiable? Nothing is ever what it seems even up to the film's final frame. To speak of the ending would be pointless. Some may like it while others may detest it. For me, I think it works, and it makes sense with the narrative that unfolds. And, best of all, it makes you want to go out and see it again.