Person of the Day – Martin Scorsese

It’s Mr. Scorsese’s birthday today. So, Happy Birthday, Marty!

It took a while, approximately 25 years for me to understand the art of Scorsese. And I still haven’t watched all of his masterworks but these days he’s definitely one of my very favourite directors. When I explain what I want to do as my work, I always describe it the way that “I want to do something that I really love, that I really don’t want to quit doing ever, I want to be Martin Scorsese, who still at age of 74 keeps doing the most inspiring stuff.” So, I basically want to be Marty.

So, here’s to celebrate his amazing career and all those great things to become, my top-3 Scorsese films:

CAPE FEAR (1991)

I already saw this back in when it was released and I was only something like 12, so probably I shouldn’t have. But I did and I was so scared of Robert DeNiro’s Mad Cady but I also found him awfully attractive, especially when he was seducing this teenage girl played by always a bit dirty Juliette Lewis. Good stuff.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

When I reviewed Wolf I’ve never gotten that much comments on any of my reviews. I know the film is still kind of wrong but I absolutely loved it! I don’t think any film that long has gone by so fast. And that drug scene! It is my favourite scene of Leo DiCaprio, who I obviously love, of all time. It is so funny! I need to watch this movie again.

HUGO (2011)

If you love cinema like I do, or like Marty does, there’s no way you won’t like this film. Or love it, to be exact. It is one of the most heart-felt and the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Truly amazing work and such a love letter to the art of moving images. ❤

Past-Oscar Thoughts And Some for the Future too…

It’s over again. The awards season and especially the Oscars weekend. This year I was “forced” to spend it alone compared to those past Oscar weekends that I’ve spent with friends watching films and eating well and debating about dresses and who should or should not win. But thanks to social media, it was very easy to stay touch with my girls and continue debating during the red carpet and show itself even when there’s 1000 km between us. 🙂

Thoughts… Well, apart from Sam Smith winning over Lady Gaga I thought all winners were deserving and none of the wins made me angry, quite the opposite. Especially happy I was obviously for Leo (I think everyone was!), Lubezki (again), Mark Rylance (which I predicted correctly!), Morricone for music, Ex Machina for visual effects and of course for the Best Picture going to Spotlight which was my favourite film of the season! Here’s my review of it if interested. I still don’t get why people were so surprised by its win? Justin Chang of Variety puts it to words why it was the best choice to win.

When it comes to the show itself, I wasn’t a fan. I don’t like Chris Rock and especially now when the whole attention was on #OscarsSoWhite discussion, the show was awfully repetitive and not very funny. And really; bringing out all these minority representatives? Kind of obvious and a bit weird. At least to me. Thankfully many of the attendees made the point clear; there should be better offers for people of minorities in movies and from my point of view, I believe we’re on a right track where TV is leading the field (think of Scandal or anything from Shonda Rhimes or Orange is the New Black or Modern Family etc.). It’s good to make people think but as the winners proved, Hollywood hardly is the racist part of the US as already the best director and cinematographer  of the year (and the year before that too) are Mexican.

In reference to my predictions, this year I got 75% correct which is good but not my best (that being 82% if I remember correctly). The ones that I got wrong were the best song, visual effects (wonder if anyone got that right?!), two short categories I predicted wrong (hard ones as I hadn’t seen any of them) and I got sound mixing wrong when I chose The Revenant instead of Mad Max and also editing when I had The Big Short instead of Mad Max. Oh, I’m also very glad that Mad Max won that many Oscars! Go Aussies! ❤ Btw, I always predict at Gold Derby site and again those “experts” lost to users and I keep wondering why they call them Experts?! Even I beat most of them…

What about the future? Well, I already have my short list of possible contenders here at IMDb, check it out! There’s Michael Fassbender with two films, The Light Between Oceans from Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine) with bo and brand new Oscar winner, Alicia Vikander, and Weightless from Terrence Malick with cinematography by Lubezki and co-acting by e.g. Natalie Portman, Benicio Del Toro, Christian Bale, Holly Hunter, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling and Cate Blanchett (some cast, huh?!). There’s also (for techs) Star Wars spin-off and new X-Men and Star Trek movies coming out this year and there’s Morten Tyldum’s (The Imitation Game) Passengers with JLaw and Chris Pratt (he’s also in Magnificent Seven this year). Btw, I just noticed that this girl, Haley Bennett, is in three of these films mentioned so far, bet she’s the It Girl of 2016. Never heard of her before, remember the name! What else?! There’s already Sundance certified Manchester by the Sea (Casey Affleck getting the most of the mentions and also Michelle Williams), another Michelle Williams vehicle in Certain Women and of course The Birth of the Nation that was bought by Fox Searchlight with $17,5 million and will be released in October to be ready for the awards season. And there’s also my “the most awaited” film, La La Land, a film by Damien Chazelle who did amazing Whiplash, the best debut for ages, and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. ❤ There’s also so, so many other “looks great on a paper” films that makes 2017 look promising again. Go and see yourself. I’ll get back to that list in May when Cannes has had its say.

P.S. I liked Cate Blanchett’s dress the best but only she could’ve wear that dress. Only she.

The Oscar Predictions – Winners

It’s been a tradition that I open up my predictions a bit before making the final ones on Sunday before the actual awards time.

BEST PICTURE

1. Spotlight
2. Mad Max Fury Road
3. Room
4. The Martian
5. The Revenant
6. The Big Short
7. Bridge of Spies
8. Brooklyn

Well, I already made it clear that I hope that Spotlight will win. I still haven’t seen Room and Brooklyn but I will watch them both before The Oscars on Sunday but I doubt either of them will be better for me than Spotlight. The Best Picture will go to Spotlight, The Big Short or The Revenant. The most of the people are predicting that it’ll go to The Revenant but I have my doubts… I might change my prediction but at the moment I’m also predicting that the eventual winner will be Spotlight.

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller
2. Spotlight – Thomas McCarthy
3. Room – Lenny Abrahamson
4. The Revenant – Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu
5. The Big Short – Adam McKay

Three words: Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu. (Ok, a slight change for George Miller, I guess but I don’t think so.)

BEST ACTOR

1. The Martian – Matt Damon
2. Steve Jobs – Michael Fassbender
3. The Revenant – Leonardo DiCaprio
4. The Danish Girl – Eddie Redmayne
5. Trumbo – Bryan Cranston

No competition here, it’s finally his year. All salute to Mr. DiCaprio!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Bridge of Spies – Mark Rylance
2. Creed – Sylvester Stallone
3. The Big Short – Christian Bale
4. The Revenant – Tom Hardy
5. Spotlight – Mark Ruffalo

I think and I predict that sentiment will win in this category and thus the Oscar will go to Sylvester Stallone. I don’t really know what I think about it as he’s not that good in Creed but he did come up with Rocky Balboa and didn’t win for him all those years ago. Mark Rylance was scene stealing in Bridge of Spies and all three others were better than Stallone in their films. I’d like to see Rylance to win.

BEST ACTRESS

1. Carol – Cate Blanchett
2. Joy – Jennifer Lawrence
3. 45 Years – Charlotte Rampling
4. Room – Brie Larson
5. Brooklyn – Saoirse Ronan

This one is Larson’s to lose. I have no personal opinion yet.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Carol – Rooney Mara
2. The Hateful Eight – Jennifer Jason Leigh
3. Steve Jobs – Kate Winslet
4. Spotlight – Rachel McAdams
5. The Danish Girl – Alicia Vikander

I think Kate Winslet might upset in this category. She’s been winning some precursor awards but she hasn’t been competing against Vikander’s role in The Danish Girl. Then again Vikander won SAG and she’s THE IT girl of the season. And her role was very, very good. Hmmm… I guess I’m still predicting her. At the moment at least. I thought Winslet was very good too.

BEST SCREENPLAY (original)

1. Straight Outta Compton – Andrea Berloff, Jonathan Herman, S.Leigh Savide & Alan Wenkus
2. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Ronnie Del Carmen & Josh Cooley
3. Spotlight – Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer
4. Bridge of Spies – Matt Charman & Coen brothers
5. Ex Machina – Alex Garland

Should go to Spotlight.

BEST SCREENPLAY (adapted)

1. Carol – Phyllis Nagy
2. Room – Emma Donoghue
3. The Martian – Drew Goddard
4. Brooklyn – Nick Hornby
5. The Big Short – Charles Randolph & Adam McKay

Should go to The Big Short. In both writing categories there is a chance to award the directors of Spotlight and The Big Short as they have writing credits of their films as well.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Mad Max Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario
• Carol
• The Hateful Eight

Three in a row! Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you Mr. Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki! (Oh, if you didn’t know, he shot The Revenant.)

BEST EDITING

• Mad Max Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Spotlight
• The Big Short

Eddie Awards (given out by American Cinema Editors) went to Mad Max and The Big Short and I can’t see those two losing here either. I just don’t know which one will. Both have notable editing, even for people who usually don’t pay attention to things like that. In The Big Short it is the main story telling tool, so at the moment my money’s there. But it could be Mad Max too. I just don’t know. And I can’t decide which one I prefer, both are cool.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Mad Max Fury Road
• The Martian
• Bridge of Spies
• The Danish Girl
• The Revenant

Precursors tell me that this one is to Mad Max’s to lose. I personally liked the production design of Bridge of Spies a lot. But just the sake of those cars, I predict Mad Max to win.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• Cinderella
• Carol
• The Revenant
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Danish Girl

I love Cinderella’s dresses! They’re so beautiful. But precursors say Mad Max again. And then again, like I wrote in my review, the clothes in The Danish Girl are like characters themselves. So, a bit hard one. And Carol is very much stylish. But I think I will bet on Mad Max again.

BEST MAKEUP

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• A 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
• The Revenant

Mad Max. At least should be. The Revenant has cool work as well. I haven’t seen the third option but I think nomination is enough for it.

BEST SCORE

• Carol – Carter Burwell
• Bridge of Spies – Thomas Newman
• The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
• Sicario – Jóhann Jóhannsson
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams

This one has to go to Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight has cool soundtrack. John Williams also managed to compose a nice one, again. And my personal favourite is Sicario’s soundtrack but as  Jóhann Jóhannsson just won the last year, I don’t see it happen this year again. So Morricone.

BEST SONG

• Spectre – Writings on the Wall
• The Hunting Ground – Til It Happens To You
• Youth – Simple Song #3
• Fifty Shades of Grey – Earned It
• Racing Extinction – Manta Ray

Weeknd just won Grammy for his song in Fifty Shades of Grey but I still think this one will go to Lady Gaga and Til It Happens To You (co-writer Diane Warren). Only three of these songs will be performed at the show, it’s all about the star status and stage is set only for Lady Gaga, Weeknd and Sam Smith.

BEST SOUND EDITING

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Sicario
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Mad Max, The Martian or Star Wars? Or The Revenant? I have no clue. Sound editors will have their Golden Reels awards given away only on tomorrow. I hope I’ll be wiser after that.

BEST SOUND MIXING

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• Bridge of Spies
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The Revenant

According to the precursors, this one goes to The Revenant. I don’t know otherwise and I have to admit that Bridge of Spies was the only one where I paid attention to the sound mixing, it worked really well.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Ex Machina
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The Martian
• The Revenant

I think this one goes to Star Wars. Mad Max has a change as well as does The Revenant but still, I’m predicting Star Wars.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE

• Son of Saul (Hungary)
• Mustang (France)
• Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia)
• Theeb (Jordan)
• A War (Denmark)

Son of Saul. I haven’t seen any of these, so I got no opinion.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Inside Out
• When Marnie Was There
• Anomalisa
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• Boy & the World

 Should go to Inside Out, anything else is a surprise.

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• The Look of Silence
• What Happened, Miss Simone?
• Winter on Fire

Amy is the only one I’ve seen but it was also one of the best films that I saw last year. I hope it wins and I’m also predicting it.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

1. World of Tomorrow
2. Sanjay’s Super Team
3. Bear Story
4. We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
5. Prologue

I hope Sanjay’s Super Team wins as it looks cool and would be one of those awards that would go to minorities but World of Tomorrow has a good change as well, I think. I didn’t really like it despite the good message.

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY

1. Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
2. Last Day of Freedom
3. Body Team 12
4. Chau Beyond the Lines
5. A Girl in the River

I love Chau but it looks like other people like Body Team 12 or Claude Lanzmann more. According to Scott Feinberg of Hollywood Reporter, many of those voters who haven’t seen short films might just vote for Lanzmann because of his name and Shoah, so at the moment I’m predicting Lanzmann.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

• Ave Maria
• Day One
• Shok
• Stutterer
• Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

I have no clue. Stutterer sounds like easy one to predict.

The Oscars Reviews: Spotlight & The Revenant

It’s been a month since I saw these two, so it feels a bit silly to write about them now but as I will go through their Oscars chances at the same time, let’s do it anyway.

SPOTLIGHT (2015)

Directed by Tom McCarthy

Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, John Slattery & Brian d’Arcy James

Synopsis (by IMDb): “The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.”

I wish Spotlight would win the Best Picture on Sunday. To me it is the best picture of the season. I came out of the cinema trembling. From time to time I get physical reaction to movies and this one was one of them and the physical reaction (if not puking) is the mark of remarkable film. Spotlight is remarkable and should be awarded because of that.

When you read the synopsis of Spotlight or hear what it is about, it sounds boring, doesn’t it? And it is actually made that way. It tells a story what happened and I don’t believed it’s hugely dramatized either, it doesn’t look like it and it doesn’t feel like it, but at least to me it affected much more deeply than any other film this year. It engaged me into the story so fully and in a way that I didn’t even realise it did it before I was feeling so much it was a bit hard to bear. Masterful filmmaking.

Like I said, I hope it gets the best picture Oscar on Sunday’s Oscars. Spotlight is not parts, it’s a whole. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams got supporting nods but they are just part of the great cast and I don’t believe any of them is better than the other. Ruffalo’s part is a bit more flashier than others and draws the attention while McAdams is basically the only woman on the screen; they’re both great but I so is the whole cast. I believe McCarthy is also worth of an Oscar but I have to admit (as you can read in the following review) that he will most probably not win it except maybe for the best screenplay where Spotlight has the best chance of winning. The editing Oscar is still wide open, I think, it could go to Spotlight or The Big Short or Mad Max.

All in all, Spotlight to me was a perfection. It’s not Star Wars, it doesn’t change your life but there’s nothing wrong with it, quite the opposite, everything works so well that it’s a bit hard to realise it. To me the best thing was that it affected to my feelings so deeply it felt bad and it should feel bad. Like said, masterful.

Rating: ***** (out of 5)

The Revenant (2015)

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Written by Mark L. Smith & Alejandro González Iñárritu

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio (and Tom Hardy & Domhnall Gleeson)

Synopsis: “A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820’s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.”

There were approximately 10 minutes for me between seeing Spotlight and The Revenant. I still wonder if it affected my liking of The Revenant. I guess I only find out if I ever watch it again. And I’m not sure if I ever want to watch it again.

Well, first of all: Leonardo DiCaprio will win his Oscar this year. For sure and very much deservingly so. I still think he was better in The Wolf of Wall Street as it was comedy, something I didn’t think Leo is capable of doing, but yes, of course, his role in The Revenant is… um… Excellent? First-rate? Like he always is. Anyway, I’m glad he finally gets the statue, he’s one of the best ones in the industry. Tom Hardy is nominated in the supporting category and I’m glad he is, he’s really good in this one (but then again, isn’t he always?) but I doubt he’ll win this time.

It seems to me that it’s a bit hard for me to write this review, so I’ll just go straight ahead to the Oscar nominations and review The Revenant via them. 12 nominations including best picture, director, actor, supporting actor, cinematography, editing, makeup, costumes, 2 x sound, production design & visual effects. That’s a lot. The Revenant already won in the Golden Globes for the best picture, director and Leo as well as in BAFTAs for all of those plus cinematography and sound. Lubezki got the statue from American Society of Cinematographers too and I believe that he will get it again (third time in a row!) from the Academy and yes, he again deserves it, shooting in natural light is a pain in the ass and The Revenant looks amazing (although, I wasn’t a big fan of those “nature stills” like melting snow etc., they kind of felt like “this looks pretty, let’s put it in”…). All in all, all those technical achievements in The Revenant are top notch. I can’t deny that. And it will probably win a bunch of those awards, for sound I guess at least and I liked the makeup and hair styling, both looked authentic. The bear didn’t but I think it must have influenced my viewing that I knew it was made with CGI.

I’ve been Iñárritu’s fan since Amores Perros and I really, really wanted The Revenant to be his best work to date but unfortunately, to me, it isn’t (Amores Perros still is). It feels like he has lost “the loving feeling” when trying to achieve something that has never been done before. He is one of the best directors working today and his films are technical marvels but like Birdman last year, The Revenant also left me cold. In the end I just didn’t care who lived or who died, I just wished it would be over. But yay for Leo!

Rating: **** 

 

The Oscars predictions 2016 #1

Here we go! My favourite time of the year. The Oscars time!

It’s four days until the announcement of the nominations and I’ll be looking into my predictions every day until 14^th. Golden Globes will be aired tonight and we might get some indications who will be the winners but those doesn’t affect to the Oscar nominations as the ballots are already in and no one can change their vote anymore.

We have some indications from critics and guilds and obviously from nominations of Golden Globes and BAFTA awards but thankfully this year the race is quite wide open. There are a lot different winners so far and even more equally good or great films to be nominated. I can’t actually remember when the Oscar season had been this open the last time. Room for surprises.

I still have quite many categories where I keep shifting the contenders back and forth and that’s the reason why I start with the ones that I’ve 95% locked. I also list the ones that have been in my mind and can be dark horses or even quite potential nominees.

BEST ACTOR

1. The Martian – Matt Damon
2. Steve Jobs – Michael Fassbender
3. The Revenant – Leonardo DiCaprio
4. The Danish Girl – Eddie Redmayne
5. Trumbo – Bryan Cranston
6. Black Mass – Johnny Depp
7. Youth – Michael Caine
8. Son of Saul – Geza Röhrig

I still wonder a bit if Johnny Depp will make it but I doubt it. He might change the places with Cranston BUT Cranston plays a real life screenwriter from the Hollywood Golden Era. And they just love their own. Plus at least to me he was better and Trumbo in general is a better film than Black Mass. The four others I consider total locks and will be amazed if they are not nominated. And even though it should be DiCaprio’s year, there might be a change to Matt Damon to beat him. We’ll see.

BEST ACTRESS

1. Carol – Cate Blanchett
2. The Danish Girl – Alicia Vikander
3. 45 Years – Charlotte Rampling
4. Room – Brie Larson
5. Brooklyn – Saoirse Ronan
6. Max Max: Fury Road – Charlize Theron
7. Joy – Jennifer Lawrence

I only yesterday changed Alicia Vikander to this category and took JLaw away. I might regret it later but I have a feeling that this is the way it goes this time. I also think there is a slight change for Charlize Theron if younger generation of actresses votes enough for her. I don’t know. I guess some other older generation actress like Maggie Smith or Lily Tomlin could take Rampling’s place but I doubt it. And when it comes to winner, I think it’s Larson’s to loose. But so far I’ve only seen Theron’s work and to me she over-acted, so I can’t really have a proper opinion here. Can’t they just give a nomination for Daisy Ridley? I love her and her character.

BEST SCREENPLAY (original)

1. The Hateful Eight – Quentin Tarantino
2. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve & Josh Cooley
3. Spotlight – Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer
4. Bridge of Spies – Matt Charman & Coen brothers
5. Ex Machina – Alex Garland
6. Trainwreck – Amy Schumer
7. Sicario – Taylor Sheridan

Well, this one is 100% lock. I loved Trainwreck but I can’t see it getting nomination and I really hope that Ex Machina gets one in this category because it truly deserves it. And I wish Inside Out will win but I think Spotlight will. I hope not. I haven’t even seen it yet but I just love the idea of Inside Out, it’s truly imaginative and for that it should win.

BEST SCREENPLAY (adapted)

1. Carol – Phyllis Nagy
2. Room – Emma Donoghue
3. The Martian – Drew Goddard
4. Steve Jobs – Aaron Sorkin
5. The Big Short – Charles Randolph & Adam McKay
6. Brooklyn – Nick Hornby

I might change my mind with this after seeing Carol, Room and Brooklyn. I will watch them during the next three days but for now this is it. I wasn’t a huge fan of The Martian, it’s witty and fun but nothing spectacular but as big time Buffy fan, I’m also a big time Goddard fan, so I hope he wins. I think all of them have a chance.

Maybe one more category… Let’s see…

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Mad Max Fury Road
2. The Revenant
3. Sicario
4. Carol
5. The Hateful Eight
6. The Martian
7. Bridge of Spies

My favourite category. Bridge of Spies got added about half a minute ago (I just saw it in the cinema, like half an hour ago). I could see it getting nomination even though it wasn’t my favourite kind of cinematography. I can’t wait to see The Revenant, Lubezki is just unbelievably good and already the trailer looks amazing! 360 degrees shots and natural light… I’m quite sure it’ll be my favourite of the year. But I also liked The Hateful Eight and obviously Mad Max too but it’s more about that rapid editing. And Sicario is Deakins, a lot of hard stuff, shots in actual darkness. It’s brutal to look at as it should be consider the subject matter. And Carol looks beautiful though I haven’t seen it yet. But wouldn’t it be cool to “Chivo” to win three in a row?!

That’s all for today. Any thoughts? Do you disagree/agree? Other choices? I’ll be back tomorrow with another categories.

The Wolf of Wall Street review

Finally! I have promised to post this for twice already. And it’s been almost a month since I saw this. Oh, how time flies!

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by Terence Winter & Jordan Belfort

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Rob Reiner & Kyle Chandler

I’d like the Academy to give the Oscar for Best Acting to Leo DiCaprio. I thought he was marvellous in this one. Absolutely stunning! I never knew he had that comedic side in him. Especially the one with physical comedy. The car and crawling scene is absolutely hilarious. And please do understand, all of you who took The Wolf of Wall Street as the celebration of drugs, sex and money, that by no means that would be any kind of funny in real life. But in this movie, it was. A blast!

I did like Jonah Hill too but I’m not sure if he deserved an Oscar nod. Surely he does not deserve to win, I think he is a little bit over the top. Then again, that’s a bit stupid comment considering that the whole film is over the top. Matthew MacConaughey was very funny and somewhat scary at the same time in his scene. Well, scenes, but especially in that one particular. All of the other actors and actresses were very good too.

I think it’s marvellous that a man in age of 71 is capable of doing this kind of comedy. It’s dark, it’s gritty and it’s unbelievably entertaining. Some people have been complaining about the length of it, I don’t. Three hours have never felt shorter (well, Lord of the Rings but I could live in the Middle Earth, so I don’t really count them). And the soundtrack! Especially good. I hope that my mind is in that kind of place when I’m 71. Scorsese again deserves his praise. And I’m not even his fan, he’s a bit too violent for my taste (outclude Hugo).

When it comes to celebration of rich and famous lifestyle of drugs and bad behaviour, I don’t think this film does that. It does not underline the fact that it kind of despises its subjects but I think it does that. It shows us how ridiculous that kind of living is, whether you see it or not. I think it gives a bow to its main subject, Belfort, because in the end, he was (think he still is) good at what he did, speaking bullshit, but not the way of life that he lived. Sexism? Sure, but you have to remember that in our “free” Western World that kind of -ism is able to exist only if we allow that to happen. I don’t know about you girls, but if nice looking rich man would pay your living, would you let him do that even if it meant you need to look good and take care of your appearances? Oh, and have frequently sex with him? I just might be able to do that…

Rating: ****½ (out of five)