The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) movie review

The Wolf of Wall Street is entertaining and disgusting in equal measures and is one of the best films of this year.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a black comedy based on Jordan Belfort's memoir which was adapted to a screenplay by Terence Winter. Belfort is a former stockbroker who made millions by defrauding investors with fraudulent stock sales. Martin Scorsese is no stranger in dealing with complex characters, he already did it with characters like Travis Bickle and Jake LaMotta in his two masterpieces- Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. But unlike those two films, Scorsese injects comedy like he did with Goodfellas and thus prevents the film from becoming a serious drama. Since this film is a comedy, it may look like a movie glorifying the action of the characters, but it is not. It is a satire and Scorsese takes  great care that we laugh at the actions the characters make and not laugh with them.

The movie begins with Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) explaining to us (breaking the fourth wall, the same as Ray Liotta does at the end of 'Goodfellas') about his high octane life. Then suddenly, in true Scorsese fashion we are taken years back, when a jobless Jordan starts building his fraud empire with the help of  Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). We follow him as he changes from a quiet, brilliant stockbrocker to a scheming, greedy, brilliant emperor. He meets, falls in love and eventually marries Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie) but like everything in his life the marriage ends with a bang. Complicating problems are an FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) and Belfort's own overconfidence and drug problems. As much as the movie is entertaining, it feels too long. Scorsese should have edited it more (The same problem could be found with 'The Gangs of New York'). Thus some scenes feel unnecessary and awkward, and this drags the movie down a bit.

Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio give powerful performances in every scene 

It can be said that 'The Wolf of Wall Street' is much different from other Scorsese films( Actually 'American Hustle' is more like his other films). It is his most colorful film yet after the drabness of 'The Departed', moody noir cinematography of 'Shutter Island' and the CGI influenced magical color palette of 'Hugo'. Martin Scorsese directs this movie with great energy and momentum and follows Belfort's life as it soars, flies and crashes. But this is not a movie about justice being served, it is more about the success which Belfort achieves and the insane partying and debauchery at the top.

DiCaprio and his band of mad stockbrokers show off their weird dancing skills

Kudos should be given to the performances given by the cast members. Leonardo DiCaprio is increasingly becoming the best actor for biopics( Howard Hughes, J.Edgar Hoover) and is pitch perfect. He plays his character with exaggeration and loudness, which perfectly blends in with the mad world the director has created around him. Give the man a Oscar, he has been snubbed many times (He was not even nominated for 'Django Unchained'!!). Jonah Hill is as incredible as he was in his oscar nominated performance in 'Moneyball'. Margot Robbie is a newcomer but she is excellent as Belfort's trophy wife, Naomi. There are a number of smaller characters all excellently performed by actors like Rob Reiner and Jon Bernthal. But the best acting apart from Caprio's was done by Matthew McConaughey, who absolutely ruled in his cameo(And introduced us to the catchy anthem).

'The Wolf of Wall Street' is Scorsese's best film since 'The Departed' and that is saying a lot. Only Scorsese can direct a movie like this, a one which which is filled to the brim with energy.

+DiCaprio's best performance yet

+Energetic script

+Wonderful cast

+Successfully avoids being tagged as a parody

--Some more editing should have been done

88-"Excellent"

American Hustle is flawed but don't get me wrong, it is one of the best movies this year

David O. Russell's movies are about characters. They rarely have a story and are more about character interactions. In his latest movie based on the real life FBI sting operation, he unites the actors of 'The Fighter' and 'Silver Linings Playbook' in one of the best ensemble casts in movie history.

Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a bald, fat con man.He meets Sydney Prosser(Amy Adams) and immediately falls in love with her. With her false identity as wealthy aristocrat Lady Edith Greensly, their loan scams became bigger and profiteer. That is, until they were arrested by FBI Agent Richard DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) in a sting operation.Richard forces them to work for him in exchange of releasing them. The story follows them  trying to implicate the Camden city mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner). Complicating problems is Irving's wife Rosalyn(Jennifer Lawrence), an unpredictable force of nature, who yearns to get involved in Irving's life but makes life harder for him in doing so. The movie is very entertaining, though the plot is a little weak and too long. The best part is that we are never sure who is conning whom.

Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams in one of the best performance of their lives

Russel has taken not one but many leaves out of Scorsese's book.The background narration provided by Irving and Sydney is so much similar to Henry Hill's and his wife's in 'Goodfellas'. His characters are unpredictable, the dialogues memorable and his swooping camera shots are too Scorsese like. But he makes sure to infuse his own brand of  film making.  Like Christian Bale in 'Fighter' and Jennifer Lawrence in 'Silver Linings Playbook', this film is filled with super energetic characters like Richard and motormouths like Rosalyn. 

The costumes are terrific and the soundtrack awesome, and really transports you to 1978.

The pitch perfect cast

But what mainly makes this movie awesome are the performances. Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper are excellent actors and are wonderful in this film. Amy Adams successfully prevents her character from being cliched. And bravo Jennifer Lawrence. She is one of the best actresses now and I am really excited for the next movie she stars in. Jeremy Renner makes us feel sympathy for his character, even though he is the antagonist. And I was really bowled over by the 'Boardwalk Empire' guys- Shea Whigham and Jack Huston. They were excellent. And of course we had that cameo by Robert De Niro. I don't know about you, but when I saw him in the dark room, I had goosebumps on me.

American Hustle, with its wild characters, natural comedy and frantic pacing is one of the best movies of 2013.

+Excellent cast

+Wonderful use of costumes and music

+Widely entertaining

--Plot is a bit thin

--A little long

87-"Excellent"

Mishawr Rawhoshyo(2013)review

Mishawr Rawhoshyo is an excellent tribute to Sunil Gangopadhyay and a must watch in this festive season

I remember coming back from my last semester examination, excited, and running to my bed where I would always find the latest 'pujobarshikhi' (Special puja edition) of  'Anandamela'. 'Kakababu' stories were always the first  ones I would read. In a magazine fiilled with detective stories, they were refreshingly different. Kakababu is an unique character. He is a cripple walking on crutches, but this does not stop him from scaling Everest or fighting terrorists. He is is a person with  strong  will and confidence and is a wonderful creation of Sunil Gangopadhyay. Sadly,the great author passed away last year and the absence of  a Kakababu story in this year's edition was glaring. Fortunately, Srijit Mukherjee's film was released this puja, ensuring that this year does not remain 'Kakababu'-free.

I am not a great fan of Srijit's work.His films were great but always lacked something. For example, 'Baishe Shrabon' had a great twist and excellent central performance but too simple a plot which disappointed me a lot. His films are filled with grand, sweeping camera shots; colourful characters and excellent music which effectively masked their shortcomings. So how does 'Mishawr Rawhoshyo' fare?

It is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen. Prosenjit Chatterjee is almost perfect as Raja Roychowdhury /Kakababu. Though he had a tough time expelling his characteristic drawl and attitude.

The result is a Kakababu who is more 'Prosenjit' than 'Kakababu'. Aryann Bhowmik  made a good Shontu. Rajit Kapoor, Swastika Mukherjee,  Neel Mukherjee( excellent as always) ,Barun Chanda, Rajesh Sharma, Tridha Choudhury, everyone played their roles with utmost sincerity. Indraneil Sengupta however gives the best performance of this film. He plays the complex, layered character of Hani Alkadi, a rebel ( a fantastic creation of Mr.Gangopadhyay) with great aplomb.

Kakababu and Shontu sharing a smile

   Not everything is perfect though. This film is full of experiments. Some are great ( The fighting scene in the hotel  interspersed with original text from the story is a great touch which sadly was not repeated in the climactic fighting scene) .Some are odd( Split screens in an important scene in the first half which totally destroyed the moment). Srijit also uses odd camera angles( taking a page out of RGV's book,lets hope he never stoops down to that level) which fortunately cease post interval. I also did not understand the reason for a song about Delhi(which is actually a good song) and was more confused as to why there was no song about Egypt as the later is the more important place in the movie.The scene about the police chasing Hani Alkadi was also confusing and poorly executed.

There are few songs (which is a very good thing for films like this) and they are usually good(Especially 'Kakababu's song')

Story-wise, it is a perfect adaptation. Srijit hardly deviates from the original plot(except for modernization of the characters-Kakababu tweeting was a great addition).He must be applauded for making a 'complete' film-complete with budding romance, humour, action, humane moments and the great thing is that none of these were forced into the film and came naturally.The great locale (Egypt looks beautiful) and the high budget surely helped though!

Egypt looks great!!!

People reading the review may be surprised to know that this movie is one of my favorites. Why so?

Because the negative points are too small to damage the film and most people would not even notice these points.They are the reasons why 'Mishawr Rawhoshyo' is not a classic, but an excellent film and a fitting tribute to one of  India's best authors.Never have I been so much excited for the next film in the series, which will surely come.Go and watch it.It is great..

+Well acted

+Hani Alkadi is a compelling character

+Faithful adaptation

+'Complete' film

+Some nice touches

--And some touches that didn't work

--Some minor inconsistencies and plot holes

"76"-Good  

Lootera(2013) review

Lootera is a beautiful film.Such  films are not made anymore nowadays.

Have you ever watched old hindi or bengali movies?For all you Hollywood fans out there,have you watched 'Casablanca' ?Or 'Gone with the wind'?If not, Lootera may seem strange to you.A seemingly lazy movie with a slow plot.

Vikramaditya Motwane, in his second film after the critically acclaimed 'Udaan' adapts an O.Henry short story to a  beautiful and astonishingly breathtaking period film.

Ranvir Singh as Varun Shrivastav

The film follows Pakhi, the  educated,cheery daughter of a bengali zamindar who falls in love with Varun, the young archaeologist who had come to Manikpur for seaching the remains of  an ancient civilization.

Love blossoms between the two against the backdrop of a time when zamindari was outlawed in India .

As the title suggests, Vikram is actually a con man,who steals everything from the zamindar's house and leaves just before getting married to Pakhi. Many years later,Vikram and his friend Devdas had come to Dalhousie for another mission and unknowingly rents the guest house of  a now relatively poor and terminally ill Pakhi.

Lootera has minimum dialogues,wonderfully written by the director but it is the non verbal communication which is  the heart of this love story.The longing glances,the unbearable wait for acceptance and the little games played between the lead players is very much realistic and adds to the magic of the film.

Varun and Pakhi(Sonakshi Sinha) walking in the beautiful scenery of  Bengal

It does not hurt that the cinematography is achingly beautiful.Every shot looks like a water colour painting,which looks even better as they  are efficiently captured.The costumes and props too are pitch perfect.

Performance wise ,it is a winner.If anyone would have told me that I would love a Ranveer-Sonakshi starrer even few months back,I would have laughed at their faces. Ranveer Singh gives the best performance of his career(which honestly did not have many good performances) as the soft spoken hero.Sonakshi Sinha leaves behind the rural,feisty girl image,which she had perfected in 'Dabangg'(and bored the audiences to hell in all her other films) and plays a bengali girl wonderfully. Vikrant Massey gave an amazingly perfect performance as Varun's sidekick Devdas.I will look forward to his other performances eagerly from now on.

The best performance is without doubt given by Barun Chanda ,who plays the Zamindar with a world weary attitude and shows again why he was one of  Satyajit Ray's leading men.

The movie is accompanied by a beautifully constructed background score.Equally great is the album,which boasts of songs like 'Sawaar Loon','Shikayatein'.'Ankahee','Zinda','Monta Re' and 'Manmarzian' and is easily  the best album of this year till now.Both the score and songs are directed by Amit Trivedi(continuing his success from 'Dev D','Wake up Sid','Ishaqzaade' and 'Udaan').Lyrics are penned by another talented artist ,Amitabh Bhattacharya.

The movie lacks in certain points,it does not provide a credible background to Varun's life, and it really does slow down sometimes but when you  watch the extremely heartfelt ending, I am sure you would love the movie even if it had Bobby Deol in it!

Lootera is easily a strong contender for movie of the year,and though it will not appeal to today's youth, who

are more into rom-coms, it is a movie  which deserves to be seen by everyone.

+Best music score and album of this year

+Great performance

+Barun Chanda

+Beautifully shot

+Does not suffer from the post- interval syndrome

+Wonderful ending

--A little slow

--Varun's background should have been fleshed out more

90-"Masterpiece"

Man of Steel is a wonderful reboot which delivers almost all of  what it promised

Zack Snyder has given us the average '300' and the good but not excellent 'Watchmen'.

The problem with Watchmen was its lack of respect and understanding of the original graphic novel.Respect for the source is very important, a lesson which Snyder has fully learned for his latest film 'Man of Steel'.

'Man of Steel' is more of a science fiction than a superhero film.In that case it is similar to the Dark Knight trilogy,which was more of a crime thriller whose protagonist happens to wear  a Bat suit.

What MOS does is help us see Superman from a different angle.

It asks important questions,which non of  the Marvel movies have ever asked.What does the common people think?They are obviously  scared but most importantly they start asking about their own existence.

Just picture a person,who has believed God to be fake,superpowers as myths throughout his life and suddenly you have a God like being ,that too from outerspace!

'Man of Steel' asks this question,and creates a beautiful story around it.Superman's origins ,i.e his growth in a farm is shown in flashbacks in an innovative manner ,and not chronologically as in lesser films.

Many welcome changes have been made in the Superman lore.

Lois Lane is not a damsel in distress as she too gets into action with Superman(no pun intended).Underpants have been removed.(Again no pun intended).

Superman is given really challenging  choices -destruction of humans vs Kryptonite reproduction centre,which makes us think too.

The performance is usually good.Henry Cavill did not have a number of emotions to portray but he does his job well.Amy Adams is mostly eye candy and fails in showing  genuine emotions.Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are much better than the main couple,acting out really emotional moments.Russell Crowe is good as usual.The best performance is easily of Michael Shannon as General Zod,creating a character who is both psychotic and sympathetic(His only problem is that he loves his people more),

The film is visually spectacular,but the action scenes at the last part are what we are seeing almost every year(Avengers,Tranformers etc).

The movie is good.But it is far from perfect.

It falls into blockbuster movie cliches  .(Whenever Superman and Zod are falling on to  Earth they are falling in New York,and always in front of  Lois  and his friends).A climax is almost absent.As always special effects overcomes story and emotions.('Inception' was one of the rare ones which actually joins them together as integral parts of each other).

Overall Man of Steel is a good  and enjoyable film and is easily the best Superman film since the original one of 1978.

+good performance

+visually spectacular

+Gives an emotional edge to the normally stoic superhero

+Perfect for starting a franchise

--Superhero movie cliches

--Some over the top action scenes

--Story takes a drop post interval

84 -"Good"