Movie Review #13: Wolf of Wall Street

I found this pic here but it was originally by crqsf and posted to gushmag.it

You know I never thought a movie would offend me, but there is just something about seeing a man sniff cocaine from a woman's lower extremities as an opening shot to a film that just rubs me the wrong way.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great attention getter, but I would like to be warmed up to the use of drugs in the movie. It threw me off quite a bit, and to be honest, I didn't like it.

But enough about the complaints, here's a review of Scorcese's Wolf of Wall Street.

ACTING
The performances in this film were top notch. It's no surprise that Leo D got an Oscar nod from his character in WOWS. Seriously. Like I was afraid that he might have actually overdosed at some points in real life because it was just so realistic. That and Jonah Hill was hilarious as always and made majority of the comedic quips in the film. Props Mr. Hill, props.
Total Oscars: 4.5

SET/MAKEUP

By Margot_Robbie.jpg: Eva Rinaldi derivative work:
Jbarta (Margot_Robbie.jpg)
[CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

There were definitely some points where I laughed at the realism in the film. For instance, Leo D's character having a house in the Hamptons and living it up almost every weekend. I also really appreciated the fact the Margot Robbie's makeup wasn't ever overdone. She's quite a lovely looking person and I liked that the makeup artists didn't go overboard making her look like a porcelain doll even though she was treated like one in the movie.
Total Oscars: 4

STORYLINE
Jordan Belfort (Leo D) is a man struggling in his first marriage, straight out of college, who just got his first big job working as a broker on Wall Street. He was pretty successful until the giant crash in the 80's, in which he really struggled to make the bills. He ends up building his own stock broker firm with Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) and becomes a multi-millionaire. Enter Naomi (Margot Robbi) and now you have a divorce and another marriage. But then Jordan gets investigated by the FBI and his whole life becomes out of control. He has to find a way to make things right or the life he once knew will be out of reach.
Total Oscars: 
4

Oscar Sum: 12.5

As good as this movie is, I cannot give it a full rating because of my amount of dislike towards the amount of f***s said in this film (it actually set a record, just FYI). That and the INSANE amount of drugs will stun you into submission. If I can't handle it, I can't give you warning enough. Seriously.

Movie Review 12: Hable con Ella

I discovered that I have a director crush.

A director crush is a movie director that you respect and admire, but are not physically attracted to them because majority of the time they are WAAYYYYY too old for you, but you have a crush on their awesomeness and their ability to portray a story in magnificent lights that have never been attempted.

My director crush is Pedro Almodovar.

He's just got so much ingenuity I can't even describe how talented his neurons are.

His movie that I watched is called "Hable con Ella."
 In case you can't tell, this movie is done in Spanish. And yes, I understand Spanish so it was a completely enjoyable film.

ACTING
I had never heard of majority of the cast before, but I looked up their credentials.
And they're all pretty bad ass.
So they get 4 Oscars for just being cool.
Total Oscars: 4

SET/MAKEUP
The setting was set in modern day Spain, so everything was pretty much normal looking. Although one critique I have is that Marco should not have been wearing jeans. Maybe he wasn't, maybe he was, and yeah he's a journalist, but come on. I've been to Spain and NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD OF JEANS OR CASUAL WEAR.
Whatever.
He just looked too laid back.
Although I WILL give props for the matador costume for Lydia because it was pretty damn cool.
Total Oscars: 3.5

STORY LINE
Marco is a journalist that is doing a piece on a matador (bull fighter), named Lydia. Things were going well for them until she gets spooked at something in her house and they end up roadtripping together and becoming a couple. Well one day, Lydia goes into a match and gets into a pretty bad accident, making her go into a coma. She gets transferred to a special care hospital where Benigno works at. Benigno is a middle aged man who happens to be in love with one of the patients, Alicia. Marco and Benigno become best friends but things take a sudden turn when Benigno becomes imprisoned. Marco then has to piece together his friend's life and his love, Alicia.
It's ridiculously complicated, but completely genius.
Total Oscars: 5

OSCAR SUM: 13.5

New Project coming soon!

Ahhh, it has been SUCH a long time since I have written for you all. I am soooo sorry. School is a bit of a succubis, so I haven't exactly had the time nor feeling of vivacious desire to do anything other than sleep after I finish my homework.

BUT

I do have good news.

In one of my classes, I have been asked to do a presentation on Spanish and Latin American films and directors. SO I will be reviewing a few of those next!

I am soooo excited to finally do something I know a LOT about again and can't wait to share the new info with you all.

Keep yourselves on alert as more movie reviews will be coming your way! :)

Movie Review #??: Despicable Me 2

Oh dear.

I haven't been on here for a while now, haven't I?

ooohhhh soooooooo sorry about that.

As soon as I set foot in the "States" again, it was as if I had 90 million planes to catch and I just got back from a family emergency mandated "vacation" only 5 days ago and already I am preparing for another family oriented trip in just a week or so.

Power girls don't stop!

But on the last trip I had with my fam, I went to the movies with some of my nieces! And being as they are quite young, we went to go see "Despicable Me 2."

Minions, rejoice.

ACTING
Well, see, it's a bit of an animated film. So the acting is all computer generated and so are most of the things I would normally critique. But NONETHELESS, I was thoroughly entertained by Steve Carrell's Russian accented voice over technique. Being a Russian accent connoisseur myself, I appreciated the heavily foreign linguistics.  
Total Oscars: 3

SET DESIGN/MAKEUP
As previously mentioned, this was an animated film. So there's not much to go on for this field. Although I do have to admit, I REALLY WANTED TO BE AT THE MEXICAN THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY! Taco hats are genius! 
Total Oscars: 3

PLOT SUMMARY
Gru (Steve Carrell), has been hired by an anti-villain organization to retrieve a very powerful serum that can destroy the world, which happens to be conveniently located in his local mall. The agency he is working for has located several suspects in the mall that own shops. Gru and his new partner, Agent Whild, have to search the shops and get to know the owners in order to find the special serum.

Sorry if I got the agent's name wrong. It's been 2 weeks since I've seen it. O.o

Hopefully, I'll get more on top of writing reviews for you. Sorry about the long delays! 

Movie Review: Wreck It Ralph

Hola hola!

Sorry I haven't been posting stuff lately! I'm currently in a really intensive language program overseas and I have not had time to watch movies because of all of the homework that I have been doing.

I am sooooo sorry!

But thankfully on the way over here, I was able to watch a movie on the plane, Wreck It Ralph.

It was quite honestly one of the cutest movies I have ever seen in a long time! :)

ACTORS
Well, I can't say much about the acting because it was an animated film. But I guess this means I can talk about the animation! It was really well done. Like REALLY well done. And the voice actors were pretty awesome! I loved Sarah Silverman (shockingly; normally I'm not a fan of her material). Her personality matched her character!
Total Oscars: 3.5

SET/MAKEUP
AGAIN, there wasn't really a set to critique because it was animated, but some of the scenes that had to be animated must have been INTENSE in the editing room! There was this one scene where these giant, vicious bugs were attacking these high tech warriors and it was action packed! I'm sure the animators had a fun time putting in all of the frames for everything. There was also this land completely made out of candy and my inner fat kid was screaming for me to go buy a Hershey's bar after watching it.
Total Oscars: 4

STORY LINE
Ralph is this giant character in a video game called "Fix It, Felix." He's the antagonist of the video game and is always smashing the building that Felix, the handyman, has to fix. His video game is one of the most popular in the arcade, but one day Ralph gets tired of being the villain. He just wants to hang out with Felix and his neighbors because they get to do cool stuff. He hears about this medal that will deem him a hero and travels through various video games trying to get the medal, but ends up messing up the story lines of other games along the way. He also makes a friend in Vanellope, a "glitch" in a candy cart racing game and tries to make her biggest dream come true, but there are a lot of issues that come with trying to help a glitch and has to decide if his friendship is worth more than the medal.
Total Oscars: 4

Oscar Sum: 11.5

It really is a cute movie and I encourage you to watch it whenever you have some free time and just want something fresh and light humored to watch! :)

Movie review # 10: The Great Gatsby

Leonardo DiCaprio is like a giant tub of Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream: so nice to look at, but you know deep down inside that you have to end your infatuation with it eventually because the mini heart attacks you get just from thinking about it are probably really bad for your cardiac system.

Oh what? You don't have that big of an obsession with something?

Well, poo. You need to find something to get excited about.

Go join a fan club.

Loner.

ACTING
Leo...whyyyyyyyy must you be so beautiful holding glasses of adult beverages? ugh. I just got a mini heart attack. *starts fanning herself*
Then there's the lovely Carey Mulligan. She plays a great portrayal of a potentially bipolar woman who's infatuated with attention.
And Tobey Maguire. He's just sooo cute :)
Total Oscars: 5 (they're all just so flippin fantastic)

SET/COSTUME
Dear heavens. This movie made me REALLY want to time travel back to the roaring 20s. The set designer just made it look so FABULOUS. The parties were extravagant, the costumes were soooo detailed, all of the rooms perfectly designed. I mean DEAR GOD. Why can't I have a Gatsby that is willing to fill my entire living room with giant floral arrangements? Only drawback is that a lot of the stuff was CGed in and as a film editor, I find this rather distracting.
Total Oscars: 4.5 (so close to perfect score, eh?)

STORY LINE
The tale of Jay Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchannan is a twisted plot of secrets, shadows, whispers, and alliances. If you haven't read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you should be ashamed of your poor soul.
Total Oscars: 5

OSCAR SUM: 14.5

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a muscle relaxer. My heart is going cray craayyyyyy at the constant mention of Leo D.

Review # 9: Lincoln

ALAS I HAVE DONE IT.

FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO I WATCHED LINCOLN.

DDL, enjoying time in the White House.
By Pete Souza (White House (P111512PS-1655)) [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

I'm just kidding! It was actually only like 2 weeks ago, but I just wanted to make a dramatic entrance. *giggles*

Anyways, so so so soooooooo sorry for being so slow on the posts. I've been busy with my 17 credits of school work, here in the States. I feel as if I am going to pass out from exhaustion all the time, but hey, 3 more weeks and then it's summer for me!

To the review!

ACTING
I've always thought Daniel Day Lewis has an oddly shaped head. This time I didn't notice it though because of his rockin'  sideburns and charismatic interpretation of one of the most well known U.S. Presidents of all time. He's chillin with his man chops, Civil war style.
Sally Field was also pretty good. She looked a little too weathered to be playing the wife of Mr. Lincoln, but her acting was pretty good!
and then there's Joseph Gordon Levitt's cameo as Lincoln's son. Yummmmmmmmmm. He looks good in a top hat. That is all.
Total Oscars: 4


SET/COSTUMES
I had a strange craving for cupcakes when I first saw Lincoln and I had no idea why....
Then I realized that Sally Field was drowning in her costume and when she sat down she looked like a wedding cake topper, so my confusion was clarified. She's a petite little thing and should not have been wearing that large of a hoop skirt.
As mentioned before, DDL had the coolest side scratchers in his makeup, so makeup does get props for that.

The sets were pretty cool too! There were a few scenes where Lincoln was riding around in a horse pulled carriage which added a realistic touch to the whole thing
Total Oscars: 3.75 (would have been a 4, but Sally needs to quit walkin in that hula hoop!)

STORY LINE
A movie about Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Not only does it talk about some of his most famous points, but also an inside look as to the man that he really was.
It was fairly chronological so no need to get confused with a bunch of flashbacks.
Total Oscars: 5

OSCAR SUM: 12.75

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back and watch Joseph Gordon Levitt being a patriotic soldier in a well fitting costume.

Tootle-loo!