(February 2, 2020 at 10:47 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I liked everything about it - the cast, the pacing, the script, all of it. But what really stood out for me was Joe Pesci’s stealing every scene he was in. He projected an air of quiet menace that I found absolutely riveting. If he doesn’t win the Oscar, it’ll be a travesty.
Boru
Ah, did the Oscars not happen yet? You may remember how I feel about awards. LOL!
Joe Pesci has a knack for stealing the show, in the best way possible... did you happen to catch the "secret" little 20 minute conversation after the movie was over? Worth watching if you really liked the film. You have to let the movie totally play out on Netflix, i.e. fast forward as far to the end as you can, then the "play next" screen will come up, and it's a little 20 minute conversation between Pacino, Pesci, Scorsese and deNiro about the backstory of the movie, the making of, etc. Pretty cool to watch.
(February 2, 2020 at 10:51 am)Editz Wrote: Far too cliche'd for my taste - thematically, casting wise...plus Wolf of Wall Street is probably the ugliest and most depressing film I've ever seen. I did try watching TIM yet made it only circa 5 mins in before turning it off in contempt. Ah well, horses and courses I guess.
Interesting. I thought Scorsese did a good job of avoiding any painfully obvious cliches. Also, I really suggest you give The Wolf of Wall Street another chance... I know a lot of people just looked at it like it was glorifying drug use, breaking the law and being unfaithful to your beautiful blonde wife... but it wasn't that at all. Scorsese, in my opinion, was trying his best capture the absolute chaos that was Jordan Belfort's life... the addiction to drugs, to sex, to money, to power. If anything, he was portraying Belfort as a fucking piece of shit. It's just that he's humanized so you do, in fact, see Belfort as a human, which I think is a side a lot of people do not want to see. I think it's easy for us to paint certain people in one way, with one word, so our idea about them is a nice, tidy little package that our minds can manage.
I think reality is often much different. I think Belfort was an addict, and power hungry, and a megalomaniac, and an asshole, and a husband, sometimes a good one, often times not, and a guy who was deeply insecure, and trying to fill the void(s) in his life with everything he could find, because he was self-medicating.
Of course, all of this can still be true while you still think the movie sucked - and that's totally fine. I think you should just rethink it a bit, if you can, or if you care to, or if you think what I'm saying makes any sense.
But, in a way, yeah, The Wolf of Wall Street was very ugly and depressing... and I think Scorsese captured that essence of Belfort's life wonderfully. This guy was not some awesome, super cool, rich, fly, suave stockbroker. He was a con artist and an addict in almost every way shape and form, on top of, obviously, being a criminal.
So yeah, just something to think about!
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.
