American Hustle Review

I saw American Hustle on January 11, 2014!! Now while this movie may not have alot of action going on, it had great characters and an exciting plot. It follows the lives of con artists, FBI agents, and politicians. We look at the lives of Irving Rosenfeld, who was played perfectly by Christian Bale. He was probably my favorite part of the movie overall. I thought his physical appearance especially his ridiculous comb-over were hilarious, but Bale made that appearance work. That appearance combined with his eccentric personality was really fun to watch. Bale really stole the show throughout the movie. I felt like his presence in scenes made it that much better.  He is a very good actor, and I feel bad for people that only have seen him in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Check out performances like American Psycho, The Prestige, The Fighter, and definitely American Hustle. Along with Irving, we look at his relationship with Sydney aka Edith for conning purposes played by the gorgeous Amy Adams. She looked absolutely amazing in this movie, and in my opinion this was one of her strongest performances. The system they used early on showed that Sydney was the brains of the operation, even though Irving was the one that brought her into the con...okay, so maybe she overheard him talking about how he liked meeting her which led to their partnership, but still Irving wouldn't have been as successful without her involvement. FBI agent Richie DiMaso played very well by Bradley Cooper eventually comes into their lives and turns things upside down by throwing them into a world of corrupt politicians and casino gangsters. Richie has alot of ambition, and he believes he can take them down. The catch is: he needs the assistance of Sydney & Irving. Irving does not like Richie, while Sydney is caught in the middle. I thought Amy was really the glue between the two characters. Her acting has always impressed me. The tangled web of shenanigans that Richie gets them involved in has Irving worried, because one of the men Richie wants Irving to help bring down ends up becoming a good friend of his: Mayor Carmine Polito which Jeremy Renner did a great job with. Bale really did well dealing with the conundrum of conning him all along which may get him arrested in front of his wife and children. He really dislikes Richie for this reason and his closeness with Sydney. Irving loves Sydney, but is also married to a truly unlikable character in his wife Roselyn. The reason he stays with her is because he loves the son-which isn't biologically is, but he still loves. Besides Sydney, its the person he cares about most. Throughout this movie whether its dealings with the mob in a back room-great cameos by Robert DeNiro and Michael Pena or a huge face/off between Sydney and Roselyn, you really get into the scene. I loved Sydney, but loathed Roselyn. While I enjoyed Bale, Adams, Cooper, and Renner, I truly disliked Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Last year, she was incredible in Silver Linings Playbook. I thought she was way too over the top here and I didn't think she did well with the role at all. I rolled my eyes when she was miming to Live & Let Die as it threw off the seriousness of the dilemma Irving was in at that moment. I feel alot of people overrate her acting, because I don't think its as good as people say. I know a mob will now come and beat me up for saying that, but its my opinion and I'm entitled to it. The interactions with Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Bradley Cooper were the best parts of this-Bale & Adams are two of my favorites and Cooper is a pretty good actor. The three of them together created some fun and intense moments at all times. I like that Adams & Bale are on the Golden Globe list, and I expect them to be on the Oscar list as well. I really don't feel Lawrence should be on the list for this, but I don't make the decisions. Overall, I would give this a 4/5. This is a very good character driven movie with some interesting plots, great twists, and, for the most part solid performances.

The Wolf of Wall Street Review

I saw the Wolf of Wall Street on January 10, 2014. I can honestly say besides Catch Me If You Can & Inception, this was Leonardo DiCaprio's finest performance. The movie is based off the life of Jordan Belfort from a wealthy stockbroker living the high life into a man involved with crime and corruption. Martin Scorsese is probably my all time favorite director. His stories have always been interesting to watch on screen. DiCaprio is my all time favorite actor. It's always interesting to watch his performances. He puts energy into every one of them. He gets himself into that character's mindset and that is what makes the performance so believable. His charismatic presence on screen made you believe that DiCaprio was Belfort. I liked watching the character starting out who had ambition and the temptation of greed early on inside of him. Once he learns the ropes, his career takes off where he gains wealth through a boiler room atmosphere selling penny stocks at higher prices to earn more commission eventually heading a company called Stratton Oakmont (the movie opens with a promotional video of the company). DiCaprio's monologues about greed, money, and the "good life" were so well done. It reminded me of when Patrick Bateman would have inner monologues to himself in American Psycho. On a sidenote, did you know DiCaprio was the first consideration for that role, but Gloria Steinem told him it would be bad for his image with teenage girls. It also had that Greed is Good atmosphere of Wall Street. However, where Wall Street tends to bore me, this movie just constantly flows with a great conversation or scene throughout. DiCaprio does such a great job of making you love Jordan one minute, but absolutely loathing him the next. With the amount of money he has coming in, he cheats on his wife and engages in drugs. Both women cast as his wives did a tremendous job. I felt his first wife Theresa played by Cristin Millotti was great for Jordan early on encouraging him and telling him not to give up when many people weren't hiring stockbrokers. She was almost like Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny-though not as animated. The other woman in Jordan's life Naomi played very well by Margot Robbie had excellent chemistry with DiCaprio through both good times and bad. Theresa represented the rise of Jordan's wealth, and Naomi represents the fruits of the wealth and eventual decline. I also need to point out that Jonah Hill gave the best performance of his career. He was great as Jordan's best friend Donnie Azoff, who eventually causes problems for Jordan. Working with DiCaprio gave him an opportunity to show how great of an actor he can be. Jordan Belfort is a perfect role for Leonardo DiCaprio. He went all out in every scene and I think its time the Golden Globes and the Oscars award this man for his incredible work in this movie. The incredible characters, dialogue, scenes, and performances by all people involved whether it was Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler (FBI agent), Margot Robbie, etc. all did an amazing job creating true movie magic. This is one of Martin Scorsese's finest movies which in my opinion is a definite 5/5. I am really hoping DiCaprio wins Best Actor at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars. This is a man that has had consistent performances, especially from 2002 on. Witnessing his work in The Wolf of Wall Street made me realize just how incredible of an actor he truly is.

Dallas Buyers Club Review

I saw Dallas Buyers Club in November, but with awards season coming up I figured I would get around to writing the review for it. Dallas Buyers Club was a very good movie about the AIDS disease. It looked at the controversy of the early medications, and the efforts of Ron Woodroof to get that medication to himself and other patients to prolong their lives. I was very impressed with the performances of Matthew McConaughey, who proves that he can act. I've always liked McConaughey-seems like an easy going actor that loves shooting movies. He has really been doing well in the independent movie business, most recently in Mud. In this movie, it might be difficult to like the actual character of Ron, because his personality is pretty despicable early on. He's a womanizer, racist, etc. However, McConaughey is able to show signs of change in Ron's personality throughout the movie. I felt his chemistry with Jennifer Garner, who plays Dr. Eve Saks to be very natural, and her role is important in terms of discovering flaws in certain medications. Ron's medications are what the patients need. It's incredible to see the physical transformation of McConaughey in this. He really went all out for this role, and throughout the movie gave a tremendous performance which has earned him a nomination at the Golden Globes, and most likely the Oscars. As great as McConaughey was, I believe the star of this movie was actually Jared Leto. I couldn't believe how much he transformed himself in this to portray the character of Rayon. He literally looked like a woman, but he stole every scene he was in. Leto has always been great at portraying great characters. I always felt he was an underrated actor, and his performance here struggling with his sexuality and his father, as well as the dreaded feeling of being lonely made for a magnificent performance worthy of recognition. McConaughey and Leto worked so well with each other. They are such polar opposites in terms of their reputations as actors, but they really used that well here. The Ron & Rayon characters are so different, but similar as they're both judged for different reasons. This is a great example of two actors giving outstanding performances in a movie dealing with controversial material that ended up working well. Along with these performances you also have the direction of Jean-Marc Vallee combined with the writing of Craig Borten & Melissa Wallack to really create a positive achievement in movie making. I give this movie a 4/5 overall. The nominations for this movie thus far for awards season are well deserved.