Video Review of "Wolf of Wall Street" a 6 out of 10 on the JWO scale:

 I am not sure I get it.  Nominations for best actor and best movie?  I know everybody loves Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill (for different reasons I imagine).  And who doesn’t love Martin Scorsese.  This movie for over three hours tells about the real life exploits and excesses of Wall Street.  (I guess I didn’t see the cut version, which comes in slightly shorter). First DiCaprio.  I think he did a fine job acting.  Except I thought he playing Jack Nicholson.  Really, I kept imagining he was Jack Nicholson.  Maybe the character was like that. But as much as I love Jack, Leonardo should be acting, not imagining himself as Jack Nicholson. Ok, so that’s a little judgmental of me.  I admit it. (I like DiCapria, and appreciate his taking on a diversity of roles in other movies but this became a caricature).   Just too much over the top, no nuance.  Really I would say that is the problem with the whole movie…everything way over the top and no nuance.  I would have liked to have seen more about the FBI guy schlubbing his way through the case and what he was feeling about it.

For a much better movie on this topic of the penny stocks and abusive sales tactics….see the 2000 movie “Boiler Room” with Ben Affleck, Giovanni Riblisi and Vin Diesel (yes Vin Diesel) Much more depth to the characters and the stories. 

Three mini movie reviews of what I saw this past week - The Hobbit (part 23), Interstellar, The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Hobbit Part 23 (ok, it just seems that way )  a 5 out of 10 on the JWO scale 

Possibly this should be titled, the many different ways to kill an orc. So the one thing the movie has going for it is its special effects, which were great.  Yes, it is a commentary on war and the need for good to stand in the face of evil.  Although after about an hour of ongoing slaughter, I started having fun thinking about the obnoxious elves and greedy dwarves as the 1% hoarding all the gold (unearned by the way and at the cost of the death of many innocent women and children in the nearby town) and healthcare (elves live long lives), and the orcs as the oppressed proletariat. Hmm..how would that change how we watched the movie.  I know its all a allegory of WWI but still as a movie, the heroes are not all admirable individuals.  Maybe that is the point.  Really, I am not sure there is a point other than to show off the wonderful scenery.

Interstellar a 7 out of 10 on the JWO scale

I enjoyed this movie.  I tend to like movies that deal with spaceflight, some sci-fi,  and dystopian futures,  so there is a bias here. It was a little slow at times, and the acting is not academy aware material, but still the movie was thoughtful, nostalgic and had meaning for me. Plus its always good to see Michael Caine.  I don’t know about the science underpinning the movie, but it gave me a couple of different perspectives of how our actions affect our future and our place in the Universe. I don’t want to say more without giving away the ending.  There was a point in the movie where the characters were faced with a tough decision.  One made a choice with pure utilitarian rationale. The other was guided by love. The character who makes their choice by love says 

“So listen to me when I say love isn't something that we invented. It's observable. Powerful. It has to mean something. Maybe it means something more - something we can't yet understand. Maybe it's some evidence, some artifact of a higher dimension that we can't consciously perceive. Love is the one thing that we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't understand it. “

Trust Love. I’ll take that message any day.

Video Review of the week – “The Grand Budapest Hotel” directed by Wes Anderson a 7.5 on the JWO scale.

Similar to Terrance Mallick, either you love Wes Anderson movies or you hate them.  They are quirky, fun, cleverly written stories with meanings within meanings, some of which I will never get until I watch the movie for the third time (or maybe never).  They make you chuckle, not guffaw. They show the innocence and complexity of life, and they point to what has most meaning in the world for their characters. There are cameos galore by many stars as well which is fun. His 2012 movie Moonrise Kingdom is one of my favorite films.  Grand Budapest is worth seeing. Although not quite as nostalgic as Kingdom, it does broaden the scope of the characters lives to the larger world around them.  This story centers on the concierge of the Hotel Mr. Gustave and his protégé Zero.  Its pointless to give you the plot because well, its just a fun roller coaster ride. Zero grown up, speaking of Gustav said, “To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it - but, I will say: he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace!”  May we face the world as it is, with grace and humor and integrity. .  It tells how circumstances around us change, but we can maintain our integrity. Or perhaps it shows the choice we make when we don’t change, how it affects us.  So much fun, so much to think about.