The Wolf of Wall Street
Ok. So it's Leonardo DiCaprio starring in a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terrence Winter. I was sold the second I heard about this movie. So am I biased? Without a doubt. But a movie of this caliber transcends bias. What Mr. Scorsese has given us is a masterpiece. Pure and simple. On the surface, it's about the obscene debauchery of the 80s and the stock traders that led the charge, but at it's core, it's the story that has been told for millennia: the rise and fall of a powerful and tragically flawed protagonist. This film renders all other movies about the gluttony of the Reagan era (past and present) irrelevant. Never has a film whose thematic ancestor is Citizen Kane been able to stand toe to toe with it's forebears (pick your jaws off the floor, film snobs). It's miraculous how Scorsese can make a film so stylistically similar to both Goodfellas and Casino and have the end product be so innovative and essential. Leonardo DiCaprio is unarguably the actor of his generation and he turns in one of the best performances ever captured on film. The Wolf of Wall Street (TWOWS) contains all of the menace, tension, and foreboding of Scorsese's darkest films, but somehow maintains an irreverent attitude that yields some of the funniest scenes you're likely to see this year. When The Departed came out, I saw it four times in the theater. On one occasion, I drove through the worst snowstorm of the year in my shitty Camry to watch that movie in an empty theater. That makes me stupid, sure. But it's also a testament to the power of film. I would drive through another storm to see TWOWS. It's that good. Not often do I find myself watching a movie and simultaneously planning when I can see it again (which will probably be this weekend). When Mr. Scorsese passes away (which I hope won't be for another 100 years), he will leave behind him one of the most impressive bodies of work in the history of cinema. He won't be counted among the Spielbergs, the Coppolas, or the Tarantinos. He belongs among the Welles, the Truffauts, the Bergmans, and the Fellinis. Is this the film of the year? Without a doubt. And although we are in the first years of the 2010s, it could well be the film of the decade.
