Snap Judgment: "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Darlings!

I have an idea.

I often propose new ideas for how to go about writing posts for this blog, but: I ALSO often end up getting so psyched up about all the things I want to say about a movie and then hunting down images I want to use and editing and formatting and blah blah blah that I then put off actually doing the thing until they actually don't get done at all.

Dumb.

So maybe, every once in a while, I'll write quick little posts right after I watch a movie.  Maybe not the most thorough reflection or analysis or anything, but a gut reaction immediately post viewing.

To take this for a test spin, luckily, I just saw "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013).

Snap judgment: SO GOOD!!

Okay.  I'm going to limit myself to five bullet points in these reactions.

• Remain unintimidated by the runtime.

Yes, it is 2 hours and 59 minutes long.  Yes, that is very long.  Yes, you are likely to need a potty break.

However, rest assured: you know I have no patience for draggy, bloated bullshit.  This movie is none of those things.  It is, to the contrary, exceedingly well-paced and jam-packed with entertaining shit.

• Because for example: people move all sorts of ways and it's AMAZING.

This:

Rubber-for-bones dancing!

And this: 

Quaalude chase scene!

Two of many, many examples of one of the most thoroughly delighting and entertaining aspects of this movie: its physicality.  Scorsese is amazing in many ways, but it's new for me to appreciate him for his immense talent in directing actors to use their bodies in insane, surprising, hysterical ways without feeling at all slapstick.  And this is only one of the reasons this film is incredibly fun to watch.

• Speaking of which: Cinematography WIN!

I'm not discovering anything new here, but FUCK Scorsese knows how to use a camera.

There are so many brilliant shots in this film that are yummily imagery dense and stimulating and fun.  This is a beautifully-shot movie.

• Jonah Hill!  Matthew McConaughey!  Jon Bernthal!

DiCaprio is fantastic in this.  BUT!  He's also flanked by incredible performances by his supporting actors.

Jonah Hill's is probably hands down the most watchable performance of the film.

But also: Shane!!

Who's got two hands and is showing everyone he knows how to act??
THIS GUY.

And even though he's only in the movie briefly, Matthew McConaughey is basically having the best re-emergence ever.

• Yes there is a ton of crazy debauchery, but there's also a healthy and very well-executed bit of pathos.

I don't want to spoil those pathos bits because they're also some of the best parts of the movie, but trust me: they exist.  They're just enough to add some darkness and intensity to the movie's crazy range and prevent it from becoming a simple, silly booze-and-boobs fest, but aren't too much to dampen the thrill that follows you out of the film.

Or was that a contact high?

Movie score: An enthusiastic 5!

Go go go!!

{Heart}

Bonus Post: Oscar Documentary Edition

Hello AGAIN!

A cursory glance at the search results for this blog using the search term "Netflix" will reveal that I am obviously a major proponent and gigantic fangirl for the site, given its dramatic enhancement of the ease of watching almost anything I want at any time ever.

Add to the Netflix fangirl archives the following, right in time for the approaching Oscars and the perpetually disgusting weather most people on the planet are currently experiencing:

All 5 Oscar-Nominated Documentaries 

Are Streaming Online

Woo!  Go Netflix go!

(Also iTunes!)

{Heart}

2013 Movie Round-Up!!

Hi darlings!

It's that very special time of year when I get to review the highlights and lowlights of a year of movie viewership.

We all know how I feel about this occasion.

I am really excited to note that this is my fourth annual movie round-up, and that since its beginning this blog has with thrilling success performed its role in facilitating my adherence to my 52 movies per year commitment.  It has also thereby continued to play an instrumental and critical role in my clinging to anything resembling self-care as I begin this, the VERY LAST YEAR IN WHICH I WILL BE IN GRADUATE SCHOOL.

EVER.

That's a pretty amazing fact to contemplate.

As that percolates, I'll move us right along to the real business of today's post.

The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies

(2013 Edition)

1. Casablanca (5)

2. Total Recall (3)

3. The Boys of Baraka (4)

4. The Thirteenth Floor (3)

5. Django Unchained (5)

6. Mean Streets (2)

7. Sexy Beast (4.5)

8. Silver Linings Playbook (4.5)

9. Ali (4)

10. The Hunger Games (4.5)

11. The Wicker Man (1)

12. The Room (1)

13. The To Do List (4)

14. The Adventures of Robin Hood (5)

15. Oblivion (3)

16. Helvetica (2)

17. This is 40 (2)

18. Spice World (3)

19. This Is The End (4)

20. Star Trek Into Darkness (3.5)

21. A Fish Called Wanda (3.5)

22. Katy Perry: A Part of Me (4)

23. The Muppet Movie (4)

24. Kumaré (3)

25. Benny and Joon (2)

26. Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (2)

27. Rudy (5)

28. Restrepo (5)

29. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (5)

30. The Fourth Kind (3)

31. Hitler's Children (4)

32. Twenty Feet From Stardom (3)

33. Blue Jasmine (2)

34. Lovelace (4)

35. Elysium (2.5)

36. Prince Avalanche (3)

37. Frances Ha (5)

38. Jobs (2)

39. Girl Model (2.5)

40. The Conjuring (4)

41. We're the Millers (2)

42. Ain't Them Bodies Saints (4)

43. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (3.5)

44. The Invisible Man (4)

45. Lawless (4)

46. Gravity (5)

47. The Summit (3.5)

48. Meet the Fokkens (3)

49. Land of the Pharaohs (4)

50. Repulsion (4)

51. Captain Phillips (3.5)

52. The Return (5)

53. The Cabin in the Woods (3.5)

54. Lars and the Real Girl (3)

55. After Earth (2)

56. Mud (4)

57. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2)

58. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (5)

59. Kundun (5)

OH my GOD, look at all these movies!!

Although the final count may not be as impressive as last year's, I must nevertheless observe that I totally exceeded my goal.  Especially in the context of the ever-increasing demands of my graduate career, that is pretty spectacular.

Okay!  So, this year's worst movies were:

For I-know-it's-Scorsese-but-it's-still-pretty-meh:

Mean Streets (1973)

For being so hilariously, terribly terrible:

The Wicker Man (2006)

For being so bad it is honestly hard to believe anyone agreed to help make this movie happen:

The Room (2003)

For being OH MY GOD SO BORING (2013 edition!):

Helvetica (2007)

For totally not even understanding what kind of a movie it was even trying to be 
(depressicomedy, I guess?):

This is 40 (2012)

For totally, irritatingly irresponsible portrayal of the mentally ill and the care they need:

Benny and Joon (1993)

For failure to make a compelling documentary in spite of immensely compelling 
primary material (2013 edition!):

Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (2011)

For Cate Blanchett and Louis C.K.* being basically the only good things 
about this awfully-written movie, or

Woody Allen** fuck you I love you so much and you can do so much better:

Blue Jasmine (2013)

For having the first paragraph of this review sum this movie up perfectly:

Jobs (2013)

For being so bleh it's hardly even worth mentioning that this movie exists, or

Olivia Wilde married that guy?!:

We're the Millers (2013)

For not living up to its awesome tag line or Will Smith, 
and for giving everyone a stupid and inconsistent accent that sounds like a speech impediment:

After Earth (2013)

For its not living up to the cast of "Sherlock" and being generally interminable:

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Hmm.  This is honestly kind of hard, especially since the list is particularly long this year.  I suppose I should choose the movie I would be most annoyed for people to see instead of something good?

In that case, my choice for least favorite film of 2013 is:

Yep.  It was long.  It was boring.  It basically totally blew it.  At least pretty much every other movie on that sad short list tried to do something interesting... They just fell on their faces while doing it.

Okay!  And now to the extra fun part: the BEST movies I saw this year!

Casablanca (1942)

Django Unchained (2012)

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Rudy (1993)

Restrepo (2010)

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)

Frances Ha (2013)

Gravity (2013)

The Return (2003)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Kundun (1997)

...

Okay so per usual I'm struggling to come to a decision.  I actually started drafting this post a few days ago and stopped at this point, because my brain started to squish together (a) because it was late and I was le tired and (b) this decision is hard, which I suppose is a nice problem to have.

For example: I thought "Gravity" was exhilarating and beautiful to see in theaters, and I'm so glad to have finally seen the luscious, gorgeous classic "Cassablanca" (not least because I finally get a ton of references I didn't before).  

"Catching Fire" might seem like an odd entry on the list, but it was a pretty faithful adaptation of a really fun-to-read book that, in spite of a 2+ hour runtime, didn't bore me for a second (none of which can be said about that godawful hobbit movie referenced above... sigh).  We all know how much I hate a poor movie adaptation of a good book, so the latest "Hunger Games" entry earns extra points for that.

I'm pulled toward "The Return," for several reasons:
1. I'm an intractable xenophile and lover of subtitles, although I am somewhat under-exposed to Russian cinema.
2. I apparently love movies about sad, cold boys.
3. The film is stunningly shot, contemplatively paced, and wonderfully performed.

In spite of the intense competition, however, I'm going with a movie that makes me really excited for the cinema to come.  It is a fresh, funny, cozy, interesting, nuanced character study with a delicious réalité feel.  I left the theater feeling exhilarated and embraced, like I had seen something with a new perspective that makes me eagerly look forward to the intimate, thoughtful future movies it will influence and inspire.  Part of the reason I enjoyed the film so much is that it reminded me of the classic "Annie Hall" (1977), but from the titular character's perspective rather than the man who loved her.  (The gorgeous shots of New York City revealed via the film's wandering tour through the main character's various scattered, haphazardly-acquired living arrangements didn't hurt, either.)  Without being warped through the lens of the male gaze, this movie's heroine has an awkward, sweet, beautiful authenticity that feels at once self-possessed and vulnerable.  Best of all, she is altogether whole.

My favorite movie of 2013 was "Frances Ha."

If you haven't seen it, oh my goodness, GO.  You'll love it!

Looking forward to sharing the next year of movies with you!

{Heart}



* = Louis C.K. has a history of sexually exploiting women.  I no longer support his work.
** = Woody Allen has a history of sexually exploiting women and of being a hand-wringing apologist in support of men who sexually exploit women. I no longer support his work.

Resolution Success: Pending!

Welcome to 2014!!

One of my very dear friends and bridesmaids-to-be got me the following amazing book for Christmas:

In light of my recently-renewed resolution for the new year, this is clearly enabling of the highest order and in the best possible way.

I hope your new year is off to a similarly auspicious start, dearest readers!

{Heart}