Review: Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf of Wall Street' Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

My first thought after the credits rolled on Martin Scorsese's 3-hour symphony of greed and depravity was, "How in the hell did this not get an NC-17 rating"??? Followed quickly by "What the f**k was in that fourth hour Marty cut out"??? The Wolf of Wall Street is a relentlessly depraved and aggressively hedonistic tour de force and certainly the director's blackest, funniest movie to date. The coked-up sex-fueled criminality committed by Wall Street broker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) make Gordon Gekko look like Pope Francis by comparison, and while it's not exactly a complete take down of the "greed is good" culture, it works as a deliciously sinful cautionary tale.

After an army of bleak dramas and corny tear-jerkers infecting the awards season, rides in on a rocket sled. There's simply never a dull moment in Belfort's real-life meteoric rise and descent into chaos, so that the lengthy run time never becomes a factor. DiCaprio wears his good guy image only temporarily as Belfort, an upstart Wall Street rookie looking to make his bones in an honest way, until he learns fairly quickly there's no such thing. Working at one of the most respected brokerage firms in the world, he's introduced to the daily insanity by his boss, a chest-thumping, coke-snorting guru played with scene-stealing hilarity by Matthew McConaughey. He teaches young padewan Belfort that in order to survive the Wall Street zoo, you need to do two things: jerk off constantly and snort enough blow "to sedate Manhattan". But he also learns something else: that this isn't a business where the client is always right. The client's just a mook; a sheep ready to be fleeced to the benefit of the broker. Customer satisfaction does not have its privileges.

As terrible as we know this advice to be, there's a twisted logic to it that drives every ridiculous thing that occurs afterwards. We're talking about people who live in the eye blink of time, where a fraction of a second can mean thousands if not millions of dollars. Of course they're going to look for that same instant gratification anywhere, and from anyone, they can get it from.  Belfort learns a lesson early on about the volatility of the market on his very first day, during the epic crash of 1987, and in an effort to make a living and keep supporting his loyal wife (Cristin Milioti); he begins trading at a rinky dink firm shoveling penny stocks on working stiffs. "Garbage men and postmen. There's always postmen" the head of the firm (Spike Jonze) says. The sales are small but the commissions are huge, and soon Belfort is rolling in dough and gathering up his own crew of stiffs to start their own shop.

But it's not until he gets that first hit off the ol' crack pipe that Belfort's world goes bananas, provided by his right-hand man Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), an extremely Jewish mattress salesman who drops everything to get a taste of the high life. "High" being the operative word as the two rail cocaine out of hookers' orifices like it was going out of style, and that's just the least of their indulgences. Okay, maybe the midget tossing is the least. Belfort cheats on his wife with the sexy "Duchess" Naomi (Margot Robbie) before dropping her altogether; taunts the FBI officials sniffing around his financial empire; buys literally everything in sight while robbing America blind. Look up crony capitalism in the dictionary and you'll find Jordan Belfort's smirking mug.

Scorsese recounts this sordid tale in the same rat-a-tat-tat style of Goodfellas, structuring it in essentially the same manner to the point where one can easily tell which phase of Belfort's downfall we're in. Like Henry Hill from that classic mob flick, Belfort is a guy we know is awful but we love him anyway, and as he reveals his screwed up thoughts over extensive voice-over we root for him to get away with it. There aren't many redeeming qualities for a guy like Belfort but Scorsese, screenwriter Terence Winter, and DiCaprio find just enough to make us like him. Perhaps it's our realization that Belfort isn't really a bad guy in the shark tank he exists in 24 hours a day; he's just a by-product of the criminal nature of a corrupt capitalist system. In that sense, The Wolf of Wall Street doesn't aim to impart some new wisdom about dangerous excess, and its fall-from-grace storyline begins to take a familiar shape once the action starts to wind down.

DiCaprio follows up The Great Gatsby as another character of overabundant riches, delivering a manic and wildly unhinged performance that makes last year's villainous turn in Django Unchained seem tame. DiCaprio's proven he can make us laugh before, but physical humor is something we've seen much less of. Here he gets to put all of his comedic gifts on display, especially in one epic scene where Belfort downs a rack of expired Quaaludes, which fail to kick in so he devours more, only to lose all sense of body control at the absolute worst time possible, finding what he calls the "cerebral palsy phase" in a bit that is destined to be an classic. It's just one of many such moments thanks to a supporting cast that is terrific all around.

The Wolf of Wall Street is the ballsiest movie Scorsese's ever, and proves he hasn't even begun to lose his edge.

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Peter Berg confirms the 'Friday Night Lights' movie probably won't happen

As a Taylor Kitsch fangirl, I'm wiping away my tears as I write this: the "Friday Night Lights" movie probably isn't happening. Years after the series finale in 2011, after NBC dropped the series and brought it back, after cast members Kitsch and Kyle Chandler and Michael B. Jordan and Connie Britton and Jesse Plemons have all gone on to better things, the dream has died.

According to Peter Berg, who developed the show and whose Mark Wahlberg-starring film "Lone Survivor" comes out later this month and early next year, "There's not gonna be a movie." In a talk with Collider.com, Berg also went on to say that he, although initially wanting to do the film, has now "come to believe it's probably not a good idea and I seriously doubt it's gonna happen." This comes only a day after Kitsch told Vulture he was "never gonna be in that movie" because he thought the series ended in the right way.

And the other cast members? Well, Britton has talked before about wanting to do the film, but said back then that Chandler's growing film career - he's been all over the place recently, from "Zero Dark Thirty" to teen drama "The Spectacular Now" to the upcoming "The Wolf of Wall Street" - was holding up the project. Chandler never confirmed or denied that, but now Britton is on "Nashville," so she probably doesn't have time, either. And everyone else - Kitsch had a bad year in 2012 (remember the duds that were "John Carter," "Battleship," and "Savages"?), but he's in "Lone Survivor" and a few more high-profile projects; Michael B. Jordan has tons of work lined up after being so great in "Fruitvale Station" earlier this year; Plemons owned it on this last season of "Breaking Bad"; Minka Kelly is busy being Chris Evans's on-again, off-again girlfriend; and Scott Porter is on the CW's "Hart of Dixie," which is somehow still a show that gets good ratings! So the likelihood of this cast getting together again ... doubtful.

But was the dream of a "Friday Night Lights" movie even that worthwhile to begin with? As a crazy "FNL" fan, I have to agree with Kitsch that the show ended in the right way. All the storylines were effectively wrapped up. We saw the best marriage on television continue to be the best marriage on television. We saw Matt and Julie end up together (spoiler alert, whatever, watch the damn show). And we got to see Riggins say "Texas forever" one last time. Isn't that enough?! I would say Berg and Kitsch are right on this one. Five seasons, seventy-six episodes, of "FNL" was enough.

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Review: 'The Spectacular Now' Starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller

 NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from the Sundance Film Festival.

There's a very real danger in simply living in the moment. While it may sound exciting and adventurous, it also invites complacency and stagnation, a dangerous cocktail made more lethal when alcohol is thrown into the mix. While this may sound like a proper lead-in for director James Ponsoldt's previous Sundance hit, Smashed, it serves equally well for his wonderful coming of age story, The Spectacular Now.

Teen romances are a dime a dozen, but it's rare to find one that has so much meaning and isn't just an excuse to pair up two beautiful people. The film deals believably and honestly with teen anxieties about the future, while also exploring the familial impact of addiction. If that sounds like potentially weighty stuff, that's because it is. Emotions run high from the very beginning and never let up even for a moment, from the joys of first love to painful examinations of one's self worth. Aided by tremendous performances by Miles Teller and Golden Globe nominee Shailene Woodley, we may be looking at one of the year's first truly great films.

Before it gets to all that, the story may look and feel quite familiar. Sutter Keely(Teller) has everything that a high school senior could want. He's popular, forming the elite power couple with his girlfriend Cassidy(Brie Larson), and is always the life of the party. He's also a functioning alcoholic, taking quick sips from his flask at all hours of the day. As the school year begins to draw to a close, thoughts turn to the future. Cassidy, wanting more for herself than just a fun time, dumps him suddenly. Dealing with it the only way he knows how, Sutter drinks himself into a stupor, waking up on the lawn of Aimee Finicky(Woodley), an average and mostly invisible girl from school.

Aimee is a beauty, but doesn't have the confidence in herself for others to see it. On the other hand, Sutter is the complete opposite. A completely charismatic figure with no fear of anything, the two begin a relationship that quickly blossoms into something more. Ponsoldt captures their budding love sweetly and without pretension. The two are a perfect mix on the surface. He emboldens her to stand up for herself and live a little, while she keeps him grounded enough to prevent a total meltdown. Through one another, they learn to deal with their various family issues with strength. Both come from broken homes, albeit via different means, and the added responsibility from such an arrangement has impacted them both. Most telling is the disappearance of Sutter's father (Kyle Chandler), who left the family under bad circumstances years earlier, leaving his mother(Jennifer Jason Leigh) to fend for herself. Sutter carries hopes that his father will someday enter back into his life, despite his family, including his sister(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) hoping for the complete opposite.

The film smashes all genre clichés with its authentic portrayal of the two lead characters. It's always a trap of teen romances to turn it into yet another version of She's All That, with a quick make-over and a cool new boyfriend changing the female's life forever. It's not that simple here, and Woodley captures Aimee's shyness and vulnerability without pushing it on us. While she was excellent in The Descendants and deserving of the acclaim she received, this is a role that requires more maturity and nuance, and the results may again see her in awards company. Teller, who gave as good as he got opposite Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole, is no less extraordinary as a guy trying to mask his insecurities under a shield of jokes and liquid courage.

Movies like this tend to do great business at festivals, but don't always measure up after general audiences get done with them. Although writers Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter know a thing or two about turning teen romance into a critical and box office powerhouse, having written the whimsical (500) Days of Summer a few years ago. Much like that film, The Spectacular Nowisn't satisfied with giving us the same old fluff, it aims for something deeper and lands a direct hit.

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First Trailer for 'The Spectacular Now' Starring Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley

The Spectacular Now is a film with no shortage of talent having the finest moment of their careers. James Ponsoldt made his debut last year with the alcoholism drama, Smashed, and is currently developing a Hillary Clinton biopic. Stars Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller are the toast of young Hollywood, both starring in a major YA franchise in Divergent, while she also stars in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel. When The Spectacular Now debuted at Sundance, the judges loved them so much they awarded the two leads a Jury Prize for their performances. All that's left is for the film to win over audiences, and now the first trailer is here to show why it may have a pretty good shot.

Written by the guys who gave us (500) Days of Summer, the film centers on the relationship between Sutter Keely (Teller) and Aimee (Woodley). He's a party guy and functioning alcoholic, while she's a brainy introvert who completely falls for the charismatic but troubled Sutter. He's a guy who lives solely for the moment, with no concern for the future, and it's up to her to bring him back down to Earth, but it proves more difficult than she thought.

It's a tour de force performance for both Woodley and Teller, and Ponsoldt is at the top of his game in presenting an achingly real portrayal of two broken people finding salvation in one another. In my review I said it "isn't satisfied with giving us the same old fluff, it aims for something deeper and lands a direct hit". Y'know what? I continue to agree with myself on that. This is one of the must-see movies of the year, folks, so set a date for The Spectacular Now on August 2nd.

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Leonardo DiCaprio Goes Nuts In the First Trailer for 'The Wolf of Wall Street'

For a film that boasts the talents of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, and Martin Scorsese, along with a script by The Sopranos' Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street has remained mostly under the radar. Perhaps it's due to audiences growing tired of movies about the economic collapse and the white collar criminals who led us there, and regardless of the cast this film sounded like something we've seen before. But now that the first trailer has arrived, it's obvious from the very first frame that this is nothing like anyone could have predicted.

With an energetic, comedic rhythm we haven't seen from Scorsese in years, the film is about as far away from his past collaborations with DiCaprio as possible. For that matter, DiCaprio seems to be having more fun than ever, and we see him grooving to the sound of Kanye West's "Black Skinhead", tossing dwarfs, eating goldfish, and acting like an out-of-control Jay Gatsby. The story is based on the life of Jordan Belfort, a high-powered stock broker whose hard partying, drug use, and fraud led to his going to jail in 1998. His story partially inspired the underrated film Boiler Room, and this trailer looks like that by way of Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. McConaughey looks like a definite scene stealer here, Hill may be channeling his Moneyball persona a little bit, and Margot Robbie is a bigger presence than expected as DiCaprio's sexy gal pal.

Through all the insanity we do get flashes of violence and the arrival of the Feds, giving us a brief look at Belfort's ultimate demise. There's so much going on here that it's easy to miss the presence of Jon Bernthal, Kyle Chandler, and Ethan Suplee, while the rest of the extraordinary cast consists of Jean Dujardin, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Spike Jonze, and Cristin Milioti. The Wolf of Wall Street opens on November 15th.


Wolf of Wall Street by Teaser-Trailer.com

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Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kyle Chandler set for 'The Spectacular Now'

A fantastic talent who is often wasted in substandard movies, Mary Elizabeth Winstead got a chance to show just how good she can be earlier this year in the Sundance festival hit, Smashed. The alcoholism drama won her the attention movies like The Thing and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter didn't, and now she's about to reteam with its director, James Pondsoldt, for film that has just as much positive buzz swirling around it.

Winstead, along with fan fave Kyle Chandler(Super 8), Andre Royo(Red Tails) and Bob Odenkirk(Let's Go to Prison) have joined the cast of The Spectacular Now, based on Tim Tharp's novel. Already sporting The Descendants stand out Shailene Woodley, along with Brie Larson and Miles Teller, the film follows Sutter Keely, a fast living alcoholic high school senior who takes a social outcast named Aimee under his wing in hopes of reforming her. In true She's All That form, it'll be him who has his life changed instead. Winstead will play Aimee's sister, while Chandler is her father.

Production has already begun, so hopefully we'll get a chance to see this by next year's Sundance. [Variety]


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Kyle Chandler joins Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf of Wall Street'

While Friday Night Lights fans may be ecstatic over Peter Berg and Connie Britton's recent statements that a film based on the TV series will definitely happen, there remains some reason for caution. You simply can't have an FNL film without Kyle Chandler as pure-hearted football coach, Eric Taylor. There's a good chance Chandler will do everything in his power to clear room for it if a start date is ever nailed down, but it remains a fact that his career has taken off since the show's cancellation.  He may be ready to move on.

After starring in last year's Super 8, and playing a central figure in Ben Affleck's upcoming hostage drama, Argo, Chandler is moving up in an even bigger way. He'll join Martin Scorsese's financial drama, The Wolf of Wall Street, which currently has Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role of hard partying, corrupt stock broker Jordan Belfort. The film is based on Belfort's own memoir, and adapted by Terence Winter(Boardwalk Empire).  Chandler will play Coleman, an FBI agent tasked with bringing Belfort down. Jonah Hill recently came aboard as Belfort's buddy, convinced to leave his stable job and get into the crazy world of stock trading.

Not having read the book, I'm not sure how big of a role this is, but this makes for three heavy hitting directors in a row for Chandler. He seems to be building up his resume quite nicely. Filming is set to begin this August. [Deadline]

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Friday Night Lights not dead yet? Peter Berg wants to bring it to the big screen

TV shows get cancelled all of the time. And more often than not, you get an uproar from the loyal diehards who do silly things like sending peanuts to the networks, or start hundreds of online petitions nobody reads. Friday Night Lights was saved by it's audience after a second season of low ratings, leaving NBC and turning up on DirecTV where it just concluded it's fifth and final season. The show, about a small football town in Dillon, TX, was based on the great 2004 film directed by Peter Berg, which was itself adapted from the acclaimed 1990 novel. Berg didn't want to let it go, and put together the TV series, which has won raves for it's portrayal of small town life and the relationships within.


While the DVD of the final season has been out for a few months, the final rebroadcasting aired on NBC just a couple of nights ago. And just like when the movie was over, Berg appears to be reluctant to leave Friday Night Lights in his rearview. According to TVLine, Bill Simmons(editor at Grantland) tweeted that Berg is already working on a way to keep FNL going strong...

"PS: We didn't put it in the oral history, but Peter Berg told us he wants to do an FNL movie with Chandler/Britton off the final episode."

We've seen a lot of these stories over the last couple of years. Arrested Development, Party Down, Veronica Mars, and many more cult hits have gotten their fans' hopes up with wishes to bring their low rated projects to theaters. It almost never happens. However, Friday Night Lights may have more momentum than others. For one, the show is receiving more awards buzz than it ever has before. The show was just nominated for a Best Drama Emmy for the first time, with nominations also earned for stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. Plus, Berg is a heavy hitter in the biz right now. He may have the clout to get this done. Friday Night Lights is a proven commodity, on the big and small screen. Somebody's going to want to cash in on that. No deal is in place as of yet.

I adore the movie, thinking it may be the one perfect football film. Yet I've never seen the TV show. Maybe now that it's done I'll start from the beginning.

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Casting Notes: Mark Strong "Tinkers"; Fanning joins JJ Abrams' Super 8

* Just as I thought Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy couldn't get any better they go ahead and add one of the best character actors working today as Mark Strong has signed on for an unidentified role. He'll be joining Gary Oldman as retired MI6 agent George Smiley, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and Ciaran Hinds. Wow. The film is based on Jon Le Carre's acclaimed novel of the same name.

* While we all are still grasping around trying to figure out exactly what the heck JJ Abrams' and Steven Spielberg's mysterious new film, Super 8, is all about, they're already casting. The first two recognizable names? Elle Fanning(Phoebe in Wonderland) and Kyle Chandler(Friday Night Lights tv series). Nobody has any clue what they're doing in it, which makes sense because nobody knows what the flick is. I hate JJ Abrams for being so damned mysterious all the time.

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