2014 Film of the Year!

Film of the Year!

The Wolf of Wall Street

There you go! In the longest drawn out list since time began, the movie of the year is the one where Jonah Hill eats a goldfish. Bambi, this is not.

This is a movie about excess and greed. But not the dark and moody Wall Street with Gordon Gecko. This is the bright and shiny Wall Street where you trade stocks at 9.30am and you're knee deep in hookers and blow by 12.05pm.

This TRUE story may have been embellished by its creator but the more you believe the more you'll enjoy it. And I enjoyed it.

For those not in the know, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a determined stock broker who breaks all the rules to become the hottest trader in town. He loses his principles very quickly to get what he wants and a decade of drug use brings his whole world crashing down.

This film would not be top if not for the casting of Leo DiCaprio who MAKES this film and OWNS it completely. Generally speaking his film choices seem to be on the nose every time and it doesn't hurt to be the current muse of Martin Scorsese. If anyone else were to attempt to steal the limelight on the film it would be Jonah Hill or Matthew McConaughey. The "McConaissance" as it is currently known, only finds enough space for 2 scenes but his chest thumping performance is, arguably, the most memorable of the entire 3hr running time. Jonah Hill, along with Leo, was Oscar nominated for his role and this further proves that he can do drama just as effortlessly as comedy although this role requires both in equal measure.

In terms of offending the public, this doesn't shy away from portraying the stressful environment of Wall Street. Full frontal nudity (both sexes), bums (both sexes), rape, drugs, the most uses of the word 'fuck' in a movie ever, spousal abuse, child abuse (kind of), objectification of women, objectification of monkeys, goldfish cruelty and much more. Enjoying the film doesn't mean you agree to all this behaviour but it's definitely a world we find hard to swallow (pun intended).

Scorsese has found his groove with the Biopic genre with Raging Bull leading all the way to The Aviator and it is confidently directed and expertly edited. The drug fuelled scenes even feature continuity goofs on purpose to showcase the instability of the situation.

All in all, if this makes you want to try drugs like it did with me and my wife, you probably enjoyed it as much as we did.

Adam Yates