Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Nominee)

The Wolf of Wall Street is the true-life story of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a talented and ambitious but small-time stock broker that partners with Donny Azoff (Jonah Hill) to start the very successful Stratford-Oakmont, a brokerage firm that gained notoriety by gaining profits with penny stocks.

This movie was like Flight where you are watching it and you can't even believe that people can actually function with that amount of drugs in their system.  The only thing different was, it was an [bleeping] blast!  I mean it was funny but intense.  Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio were awesome.  Leo carried the movie but Jonah had all the best lines and his weirdo teeth are mesmerizing...you seriously can't look away.  To add to the awesomeness, this was Rob Reiner's first film in almost ten years! My favorite line uttered by this brilliant man was: "Who the f**k has the god d*mn gall to call this house on a Tuesday night?"  Classic.  OH and by the way, this movie used the "F" word 506 times making it the film with the most "F" bombs ever.  So if that word makes you sensitive…. you should just skip this one.  Just in case you need proof: http://variety.com/2014/film/news/wolf-of-wall-street-breaks-f-word-record-1201022655/ttp://variety.com/2014/film/news/wolf-of-wall-street-breaks-f-word-record-1201022655/.  Because the "F" word is the least of your problems.  What you should be worried about is the prosthetic penis, near death by a piece of ham, candles in unusual place and all the blow and prostitutes that money can buy.  That being said, it's a great movie about the rise and inevitable fall of Jordan Belfort.  The amazing thing about the editing is this crazy, fast-paced film will make you think the editors were encouraged to snort some cocaine before they got to work.  Seriously. 

In the last few blogs, I’ve already claimed that Gravity is the most significant technical achievement and 12 Years a Slave is likely the most accomplished film of this year. But despite all of that, The Wolf of Wall Street is my favorite film of the year that I will certainly revisit the most often. I will admit right away that I am likely biased since I am a Scorsese disciple that would basically award all of his films with Best Picture, but it’s hard to argue when he proves himself time and time again as the greatest American film director alive at the very least. It seems that the controversy over this film was in high gear before it even came out, with many claiming that it glorified Jordan Belfort and his criminal activities and lifestyle instead of condemning it. Apparently these people do not fully grasp the concept of satire and did not see the same film I did; Scorsese is a master filmmaker that is capable of much more than just a this-or-that approach. Not one to settle into any one style or become stale with age, Scorsese still has many surprises even for his hardcore fans. Just when you think this is going to be another in the Goodfellas or Casino mold in which the protagonist breaks the fourth wall to explain how everything works, Belfort will interrupt himself to say something like, “you know it doesn’t really matter, the point is we made a ton of f$#!%@# money.” The Wolf of Wall Street will have you laughing uncontrollably before the guilt sets in that you are laughing at gullible but innocent lower-middle class people getting screwed, and that essentially you are cheering for the wrong team… unless you belong to that upper echelon of society, in which case you may not feel the guilt and are likely a part of the problem anyway. In the film’s first thirty minutes or so, you may find yourself shrugging off the controversy like it’s not that excessive, but by film’s end, you will have seen more drug use, nudity and profanity than in any R-rated film you can remember. DiCaprio’s fabulous performance, brimming with twitchy, drug-addled energy matches the material and easily earns another nomination and likely another disappointing loss for him. There are too many spectacular supporting performances to name them all, but one that truly deserves mention is Jonah Hill, up for his second Oscar this year. His shared scene with DiCaprio in which they are so high on Quaaludes that they are only capable of groaning and drooling at each other is the pinnacle of how pathetic their characters really are and is one of the riskiest and best scenes in any film this year. It’s fantastic to see Hill really bloom as an actor; the guy who professed himself the “Iron Chef of pounding vag” in 2007’s Superbad is now nominated for Oscars and appearing in Scorsese and Tarantino films, so miracles can happen. Some will find the ending to this film aggravating since Belfort’s consequences don’t seem to be proportional to the suffering he’s caused nor does he seem to truly change for the better, and they would be right. And therein lies the satire- that people that live in Belfort’s economic bracket can screw over their friends to get out of trouble, buy their way out of the same rules that everyone else has to play by and may even be elevated as heroes thanks to a society with dangerously misguided priorities. Who’s laughing now? Despite the fact that it will likely lose most if not all of its Oscar nominations due to the controversy, I predict that time will look very kindly upon this film. The fact that Scorsese could pull this off without mocking the audience and still make for an incredibly entertaining and fast-paced film makes it my favorite of the year.

Real-life Jordan Belfort appears in a brief role in the film's final scene, introducing his cinema stand-in Leonardo DiCaprio. As accurately portrayed, Belfort is now a motivational speaker who previously served 22 months in federal prison for stock fraud.

Jordan Belfort: Let me tell you something. There's no nobility in poverty. I've been a poor man, and I've been a rich man. And I choose rich every fucking time.  

(I swear mom, it was impossible to find a quote without the "F" word…)