Friday, December 20, 2013

Diary of a Fangirl: The Wolf of Wall Street

"The Wolf of Wall Street" brought back a boatload of nostalgia.

I love Scorsese, and I love DiCaprio, so I was 99% sure I was going to love their latest project.  After viewing it, I can tell you that was a complete understatement.

"Goodfellas" is not only my favorite Scorsese film, but my favorite film, period.  "The Wolf of Wall Street" felt like a total throwback to that film, except all of the violence is replaced with nudity and drug use.  Even the appearance of Jon Bernthal (who, omg, is so awesome you guys), made me think of DeNiro, and tied the whole thing together for me.



Anyway, this film is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, who makes his start on Wall Street, loses his job, goes into the penny trades and creates a mega millions stock company with his rag tag friends.

Back to the "Goodfellas" connection--

A lot of the styling of shots and narration also harken to Scorese's early 90s masterpiece.  DiCaprio as Belfort tells a good chunk of story to the audience with voice overs, and at times, breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience (as Ray Liotta did at the close of "Goodfellas").  Even Leo's on-screen wife, actress Cristin Milioti, reminded me a bit of Lorraine Bracco.  And it's a period piece.  I'd have to watch it again to see if there was a gradation in color throughout the piece.

DiCaprio also doesn't work alone--he has a great supporting cast accompanying him.

All in all, I give it damn near four stars (I want to say between 3.5 and 3.75 out of 4), and it's definitely worth the watch.  And a rewatch.  If Leo doesn't get an Oscar for this, I just don't even know.


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