Showing posts with label martin scorsese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martin scorsese. Show all posts

Monday, 24 February 2014

Road to the Oscars: Day One (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Over the next week I plan to do something a little different: I'm going to try and watch all the films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year.

For those of you who don't know, the nominees are:
  • American Hustle
  • Captain Phillips 
  • Dallas Buyers Club
  • Her
  • Gravity
  • Nebraska
  • Philomena 
  • The Wolf of Wall Street
  • 12 Years a Slave
Previous to starting this week I have already seen three of the nominees: American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street. As there are 9 films and only seven days until the Oscars I will be including two films in one of the days post. 

So without any further delays, here is today's review on The Wolf of Wall Street. 


My name is Jordan Belfort. 

The year I turned 26 I earned 49 million dollars, 

which really pissed me off 'cos it was three shy of a million a week.



Me, I love a good trailer for a movie. I'll watch them over and over again. I've even been known to download them onto my Ipod just so I can listen to them while I'm out and about. I'll also see anything Leonardo DiCaprio is in. He's actually one of the three actors in the world I have given myself the task to watch their entire volume of work (Edward Norton and Ben Whishaw being the other two). So when the first trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street was released in June last year you could say I was a little bit ecstatic. It's one of those very rare perfectly made trailers, with a brilliant song (Kanye West's 'Black Skinhead'), perfect editing and hilarious quotes that make you want to watch the movie right then and there. The only problem was I had to wait until January 23rd. 
Not even December 25th like the rest of the world. It was a long wait.

I was able to be consoled a little when I managed to get advanced screening tickets and see it three days earlier than the rest of Australia. I love seeing movies in advanced screenings or on the day they are released. Aside from the fact that you get to see the movie before the majority of the population, you are sitting in the cinema with a crowd who wants to be there. They've been waiting for it as long as you have. They've watched all the trailers, the interviews and they are just as excited as you are to see if it exceeds their expectations. This crowd was no exception. They fed off the amazing energy the whole cast throughout this movie. We were all in stitches during the Quaaludes scene and audible gasps were heard throughout the cinema in the very funny but very shocking big party scene with Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie. 



I 100% agree with this film's nomination for an Academy Award. This is one of Scorsese's finest work. It's definitely too long and I feel like there were little bits and pieces they could have left out, but it was an amazing roller coaster of emotions and reactions. I was laughing so hard one minute and then the next you're just left feeling a little grossed out, shocked or just empty. There isn't too much of a plot, it just outlines how Belfort started out in stocks and then focuses mainly on his life while the police were investigating him and his company. It's very interesting to see if only for the fact that while you're laughing at the incredibly ridiculous situations that are happening, there is also the thought in the back of your mind that this actually happened. This was someone's life. 

What stands out in this movie are the performances. Margot Robbie somehow managed to steal scenes from Leo. This is arguably Jonah Hill's best performance to date. McConaughey was on the screen for a maximum of ten minutes in the very beginning but still managed to be one of the best parts and Leo, well he was so good I hardly have the words. If he finally wins the Academy Award he so deserves this year, it will be for the right film, and even though it's the toughest competition in a long time for Best Actor, I don't think you'll hear too many people arguing. 


Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Trailer Tuesday #1

As I wrote in my Weekly Review post earlier this week, I promised that I had few things up my sleeve for improving my blog. Trailer Tuesday is one of these and hopefully will be something you guys like and I can write one for many Tuesdays to come!

This week I'm talking about two trailers, both of which I am frothing over. Both you might have seen, but I'm hoping at least one is relatively new to you guys. 

The Wolf of Wall Street trailer did come out a while ago, I admit. This has not stopped me watching it at least twice daily. This is an example of a perfect trailer. Scorsese. The music of Kanye. The editing. Leo. 
Yesterday I asked myself a very tough question "If you just had to watch one movie at the cinema for the rest of the year, what would it be?". With so many great ones coming out, you can understand this question was impossible to answer. I got it down to a top three, and this was definitely one of them. 





The second Catching Fire trailer is so amazing. It's one of the other three movies in my top three (the third is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) most anticipated this year. What I like about this trailer is that it is a continuation from the first one they released. The first one focused a lot on the revolution going on and didn't include anything really about the Quarter Quell (and hence there was no Finnick, which is the main thing, lets be honest). This second trailer on the other hand, focuses much more on the Games and shows not only Finnick but a lot of the other contestants too. 
I'm really sorry but while I'm writing this the trailer isn't up on youtube, I think it's a copyright problem as it was just shown at Comic Con. I will edit this later to include a trailer for it. Instead I've added the small part Finnick is in (so worth the wait for this, right guys?). 


source: drunkstilinskis
Let me know what movie you would pick if you could only see one more in the cinemas this year.