THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Me on The Wolf of Wall Street red carpet

The Wolf of Wall Street was without a doubt my most anticipated film of 2014, and as a life-long fan of Leonardo DiCaprio you can only imagine how thrilled I was to attend the London premiere for the film last night! Although unfortunately director Martin Scorsese wasn't in attendance at the premiere, nor did my luck extend to actually meeting the God that is Leonardo DiCaprio, I had a brilliant time and couldn't believe that one of the biggest stars on the planet, one of my idols, was stood just a mere two feet away from me.

On top of all of the excitement of the night, I am pleased to say that The Wolf Of Wall Street lived up to my expectations and then some as Scorsese and DiCaprio united for the fifth time to make yet another cinematic masterpiece.

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), The Wolf of Wall Street documents Belfort's corrupt rise to a multi-millionaire stockbroker who lives a life of sex, drugs and excess. By 1998 the FBI are on Belfort's case with suspicions of security fraud and money laundering, which leads the film to a climactic and unpredictable conclusion.

Leo & Margot introducing the film at the premiere

At three-hours long, The Wolf of Wall Street managed to hold the same high-quality throughout with powerhouse performances, great direction and an intense and entertaining narrative, all cleverly matched with comedic undertones that made the 180 minute run time fly by. Every scene is fast-paced and exhilarating to watch and the audience are not given the opportunity to get bored or lose interest in the story as just when you think that it might be starting to die down, Scorsese throws in another curveball; be it an unexpected scene of DiCaprio writhing around on the floor, off his face on drugs, or a sudden party with booming music and such extravagance and shenanigans it would put Gatsby to shame. 

All in all, the film is a steady flow of entertainment and shock tactics as Scorsese steps out of his comfort zone to make a film almost incomparable to his other major crime movies through the heavy use of black comedy and glossy cinematography; making The Wolf of Wall Street shiny and artificial-looking, miles away from Scorsese's usual gritty thrillers but appropriately reminiscent of Belfort's lifestyle. 

Leonardo DiCaprio gives another winning performance

Unsurprisingly, Leonardo DiCaprio gives yet another show-stopping performance as the corrupt, anti-hero Jordan Belfort and proves that over years in the industry he hasn't lost his sense of humour as he delivers some brilliantly hilarious scenes, which you can just tell were performed with good banter and Leo's tongue firmly in his cheek. DiCaprio's voiceover carries the film as it keeps the audience up to speed with what is going on and even though you may know absolutely nothing about stocks or Wall Street, the voiceover cleverly tells you just enough for you to understand the criminal activity that is making them so rich, without being patronizing or taking up too much time.

Despite DiCaprio's powerhouse performance, the relatively humble supporting cast held their own and were just as fascinating to watch as the leading man. Shunning the possibility of fading into the background against a Hollywood superstar, Margot Robbie, who played Belfort's long-suffering wife Naomi, Jonah Hill, playing Belfort's best friend Donnie, and the rest of Belfort's various friends, foes and accomplices helped bring The Wolf of Wall Street to another level of entertainment. The entire cast had a great connection which showed through their on-screen rapport as the expletive-ridden dialogue bounced between the characters as though they weren't actors portraying a character but old friends for whom the conversation came naturally and realistically.

My only criticism of The Wolf of Wall Street comes with the film's very final moments. The few scenes prior are a pulse-pounding mix of violent, domestic disputes, suspenseful 'will-he-won't-he' interrogations and a wicked turn of events which all feels like it is leading up to a mind-blowing climax that in fact turns out to be a little bit underwhelming. Being based on a true story leaves Scorsese relatively powerless when it comes to how Jordan Belfort's story ends, however, the ending felt a little bit sudden and left me wanting more. A want that was only intensified when the film's credits started rolling without any of your closed-caption summaries of what became of Belfort and the rest of the characters that are typical (and expected) of film's that are based on true life stories.

All in all, The Wolf of Wall Street is an exciting, entertaining and exhilarating watch. A three-hour action-fest that is full of excessive lifestyles, great performances and big laughs, ensuring that Scorsese and DiCaprio are back exactly where they belong: firmly at the top of the game.

★★★★✯

The Wolf of Wall Street is out nationwide from 17th January!

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Related Article: The 5 Oscars Leonardo DiCaprio Should Have Won By Now

Love,

I may not have met Leo, but here is me walking past him on the BBC News!

THIS IS THE END

I’m not always the biggest fan of Judd Apatow-esque comedy so going into This Is The End I didn’t actually know a majority of the cast/ cameos! Obviously there is Seth Rogan (who I have liked ever since 50/50) and James Franco (who I’ve liked ever since I saw his face – I’m only human!) but Jay Baruchel? Danny McBride? Craig Robinson? I know Jonah Hill as a name but am not the biggest fan of his films. When I first watched the trailer I thought that it looked funny and the concept of actors playing themselves really appealed to me, however, as I didn’t know half of the main cast I was doubtful over whether or not I would enjoy it as I thought the jokes might be mostly ‘in-jokes’ that non-fans of their films wouldn’t understand… It took a couple of weeks of reading nothing but good reviews for me to decide to just give it a chance and hope for the best!

This Is The End tells the story of a group of famous actors who are having a party at James Franco’s house when the apocalypse begins. Having witnessed the grisly death of fellow party-goers, Rogan, Franco, Baruchel, McBride, Hill and Robinson find themselves standard together in Franco’s house with limited food and water, fighting for survival.

It took a while for me to develop any faith in this movie, the pre-apocalypse scenes felt a bit awkward and clumsy; making it obvious that much of the script had been improvised. The party scenes were very much just a game of Spot The Celebrity and, as Seth Rogan’s films tend to go, the comedy was mostly coming from weed references and sex jokes, which isn’t my kind of humour to say the least. However, once the erm, apocalypse began and the film got into the swing of things the laughs came thick and fast; the half a dozen actors who make up the main cast have a fantastic rapport and work really naturally together, and that is what made the film so funny. Without the fuss of the party and fitting in as many celebrity cameos as possible the central cast had a chance to flourish and although it was never going to be the most integral or witty film of the year, it does exactly what it says on the tin – simple, silly but very enjoyable.

The Holy Trinity

As you may have guessed from my previous reviews, comedy films have to work the hardest to impress me. I’m not naturally drawn to comedy films and there are few that I find laugh-out-loud funny, especially new releases. But This Is The End had me and the rest of the cinema laughing out loud constantly, the script (improvised or not) was so strong for a film of this standing and a lot of the time I found it to be the small moments that made the film. The muttered-under-the-breath comments, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments, the holy trinity being compared to Neapolitan ice cream – the humour came in a variety of ways and almost all of them were spot on for me.  In fact, I saw this film last night and have since found myself giggling at the memory of particular quips and comments (the ‘elephant in the room’ comment has been getting to me the most I have to admit) - That’s when you know that you have seen a good film!

The cast had great chemistry

As well as the humour, the storyline was strong – it kept my attention and had me wondering what would happen next. However, towards the end it became a little bit repetitive and very predictable, if the film were to have gone on for even ten minutes longer I think that it would have been ruined so I am glad that it finished when it did, although a post-credit scene showing the fate of the other characters wouldn't have gone amiss! The cast worked flawlessly together, obviously they are all friends in real life but this really translated to the big screen and the natural chemistry that the actors all have with eachother is what made This Is The End so believable to watch (not the apocalypse part, obviously, but the way that the cast reacted to the apocalypse and to eachother was very realistic) and there were some very welcome references to classic horror movies such as The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, that film fans will appreciate but unfortunately appeared to go over most of the audience's head!

In short, this is a fun, enjoyable and hilarious film that delivers 100%. I feel that there is a bit of pretention against it with people criticizing and passing the film off as nothing more than a group of self-righteous actors getting together, fooling around and cashing in…. And do you know what? That is exactly what This Is The End is, but when the end result is so strong what on Earth is the problem with that?!

All in all I award This Is The End with ★★★★☆



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Love,

P.S. I do kind of wish Neil Patrick Harris had a cameo :(