The Wolf of Wall Street - Noodles Review

10 out of 10 Noodles

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese can never go wrong together. Scorsese is a legendary filmmaker. The late Roger Ebert (arguably the world’s most renowned movie critic) even said that Scorsese has given us a classic each decade with Taxi Driver in the 70s, Raging Bull in the 80s, Goodfellas in the 90s, and The Departed in the 2000s. It’s my pleasure to say that he’s continuing that tradition with The Wolf of Wall Street. The Wolf of Wall Street is the basically biography of legendary stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who is an incredibly greedy and despicable, yet ambitious guy. My favorite quote of his is in his narration when he says, “the year I turned 26, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was just three shy of a million a week.” That just shows how arrogant and confident this man is. But that’s not it, because he also lives a life filled with drugs and sex. This movie is gratuitous and insanely realistic about that; it doesn’t hold back at all and you’ll know what I mean when you see this movie. It explores that world of rich Wall Street brokers who are extremely corrupt, and it does so in such detail. You witness the arc that is Jordan Belfort’s life from his start as an innocent and ambitious stockbroker looking to make his way up in the ranks, to the peak of his life where everything is bizarre and extreme, all the way to his tragic fall from grace. Along the way, he’s accompanied by some diverse interesting characters, sharp quick-witted comedy, and probably one of the most engrossing and fast 3-hour movies I’ve ever seen.

This film is so entertaining and filled with such colourful characters. At the front of it all, we obviously have Leonardo DiCaprio with yet another Oscar-worthy performance. He’s such a vibrant character in this movie and his energy resonates so well that it’s contagious to the viewers. He plays his role so well that you stand behind him and love him because he’s so fun and silver-tongued, but at the same time hate him because he’s such a despicable person. While I expected a great performance from him anyway, this is one of those times where I started to not even see him as Leonardo DiCaprio. He was so phenomenally invested in the character that every word that comes out of him is gold. And then there’s Jonah Hill, who plays his best friend and right-hand man, Donnie. If you thought his Oscar-nominated performance in Moneyball was good, then this will blow you away. Jonah Hill has greatly matured as an actor and he’s absolutely spectacular in this movie. Like DiCaprio, he got lost in the role and you started to not see him anymore, but instead just see that character he’s portraying. On top of that, there’s an extreme amazing supporting cast. Margot Robbie (who most people will end up thinking is the hottest woman on the planet) plays Belfort’s wife, and she absolutely nailed the east-coast accent. Matthew MacConaughey’s there for a short time and he’s awesome. Rob Reiner, Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin; they’re all incredible, and add immensely to the completion and hilarity of the overall movie.

And this movie is hilarious. It’s that sharp and quick type of comedy that you have to sort of think of about. It’s almost like a Tarantino movie in that respect. There are so many laugh-out-loud scenes and even some where you feel like you shouldn’t even be laughing, but you do so anyway. The movie goes by so fast because of all the crazy and outrageous scenes. It’s a long story but it’s so high octane that you don’t really even feel the length of it up until the end. On top of that, this film is still a serious character study and biography of this man Jordan Belfort, and there are some very serious scenes in which the tone gets really dark. While there’s so much fun going on, the film doesn’t shy away from the consequences and what negative results can come from living such a lifestyle. In that, Scorsese so seamlessly blends these elements together and retains a consistent focus throughout the entire film. It’s astounding how well the tone can change so drastically, yet the perfect focus can still be there, and it continues to show why Martin Scorsese is such a legendary director. He brings such great style to the movie, with vibrant shots and utterly bizarre scenes that just confuse you but draws you in. It’s a really hypnotic film as it all the bizarre things that go on just draw you in and keep you invested, despite the long runtime. It’s fast-paced and the writing is stellar. There’s quick and realistic dialogue, as well as so many great memorable monologues. It almost felt like Pulp Fiction wherein it keeps you so entertained for so long just because of the witty dialogues and great words that come out of every character’s mouth.

The Wolf of Wall Street blends such great elements together and everyone involved in the movie works so well together. The serious drama and starkly opposite vibrant comedy blend so seamlessly, while still holding focus. And the directing of the movie complements the writing to the point where the momentum of the film just never stops. The writing works perfectly with the actors as they sell every word they speak as if they’re selling you a stock share. The Wolf of Wall Street really sucks you in and shows you the lifestyle of these characters, sparing nothing as it displays the great successes, the bizarre occurrences, and the dire consequences. I gotta say: The Wolf of Wall Street is my favorite movie of 2013, and it gets 10 out of 10 Noodles. I can’t think of a single flaw. Jordan Belfort once said, “If you give people a good enough ‘why,’ then they’ll figure out the ‘how.’” Well, I just told you why this movie’s great; now figure out how you’re gonna see it.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Noodles Review

8 out of 10 Noodles

   This is the movie I wanted to love the most this year. From the first trailer I saw of it so long ago, I was greatly looking forward to it. I really didn't know what to expect from it; you really don't know what the story's gonna be about until you actually see the movie. That kind of ambiguity really intrigued me. What also intrigued me was that it looked as if Ben Stiller was veering away from strictly comedy into a more serious role in this movie. It almost reminded me of Jim Carrey when he went and did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And while Carrey was much better in that movie than Stiller is in this one, I think I enjoyed Walter Mitty's adventure more. So, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about a guy who kind of lives a boring lifestyle, which leads him to be ultimately the biggest daydreamer in the world. He literally freezes and imagines some spectacular things going on, usually including him as a hero. And we get to see everything he imagines and how people perceive him when he zones out, all from Walter's perspective. From the trailers, these dreamlike sequences seemed really cool and I thought they'd be an awesome highlight. However, in the film, sometimes they're a bit drawn out. They do result in some cool or funny moments though. One of these is even so outrageous that some people may not like it. But it was just so ridiculous that I was laughing so hard; you'll know what I'm talking about if you see it, because it involves conversation of another film that came out in 2008. Anyway, Walter Mitty works for Life magazine as a negative asset processor. He gets all the negative slips of film and process them so they can be photos in the magazine. And this time the one photo that they have to use for the cover is missing, so Walter decides to track down the photographer so he can get ahold of the picture. From there, his real adventure starts and this movie greatly picks up. He starts to go into his fantasies a lot less since his actual life is becoming so lively and epic.
   This is testament to the directing of the film, which is done by Ben Stiller himself. I was really amazed with so many shots in this movie. The cinematography sometimes has such a large and epic scale, and then other times it has a really interesting and visually artful take. Some scenes really even gave me goosebumps because I really felt so sucked in and moved by some of the shots and sequences in this film. His acting isn't bad either because he plays a convincing Walter Mitty. He's hardworking and determined but also a bit quirky and awkward. Kristen Wiig's character, Walter's love interest, was also played well; I think this is the best she's ever been since it's the first time she wasn't playing an outrageously absurd character, and instead a desirable and somehow inspiring woman. The strongest role in the movie, however, is the small amount of time that Sean Penn is onscreen. He plays the photographer that Walter is tracking down, and he's really in this character; he's so interesting and laid back, really encapsulating the presence of a photographer. Then, of course, there's the downsides. There are a few corny characters in this movie. Adam Scott, whom I know as the jerk older brother from Step-Brothers, plays an incredibly cartoony character in this movie. It's made in such a way that he's such an unrealistically mean asshole. I understand that he's supposed to be an antagonist but he really didn't fit. As with a couple other characters, like Walter's weird sister or Adam Scott's bearded friends who just act like henchmen. This sort of disrupted the tone of the film as well.

    A major gripe of this movie is its tonal inconsistency, since the tone was all over the place for the first third of this movie. It sort of got out of it. The daydreams, even, kind of come out of nowhere and most of the time don't have time to get you connected to them. Just as well, the movie has some very cliched moments, and the movie overall has a lot of very predictable elements. As a result, the writing of the film isn't very strong. Even some comedic moments are hindered by this. But even so, the film does have a large share of funny scenes, whether they're subtle or laugh-out-loud. What I came to see this movie for wasn't the comedy, though; I came for an inspiring feel-good tale. And from the moment Walter makes his decision to go to Greenland, that's what we get. The location shooting is absolutely breathtaking and the transitions in this movie from scene to scene are even cool in their own way. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is probably the most visually stunning film of 2013 and the epic cinematography gives it such an ambitious feel. The real thing to this movie is Walter finding himself, and actually living life, and I can't tell you enough how satisfying that actually is to see. This movie polarizes critics and viewers as some can love it, some can hate it, and some can go straight in the middle. While I wasn't totally invested in the first act of the film due to tonal inconsistencies and some bad characters, once Walter Mitty embarks on his adventure, it becomes one of the most uplifting and awe-filled movies I've seen in a while. While it subtly disappointed me, it still impressed me to earn 8 out of 10 Noodles. The ambition of Walter Mitty's life should be no secret.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Noodles Review

9 out of 10 Noodles

            The movie I've been looking forward to the most in 2013 has finally come. And while it's still not the perfection I hoped for, it's still quite a treat. The second installation in The Hobbit trilogy (serving as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy) brings us back to Middle Earth with style and houses a grand feeling of adventure which is the main element I wanted out of this series. The Lord of the Rings, if you didn't already know, is collectively my personal favorite movie of all time. The trilogy perfectly captured the fantasy, wonder, and amazement of the lore from Tolkien's literary classics, as well as blending components of action, adventure, humor, and gave viewers moral senses of hope, friendship, courage, among tons of other things. The trilogy escalated from amazing character development to extremely epic in such a seamless fashion, that it's truly something to marvel at. That trilogy is taken from three 400-page books, whereas The Hobbit trilogy is taken from one 300-page book, with ideas from Tolkien's other books as well as new story elements that fans of the books won't see coming. As one of those people, I can say that it's pleasant to have read the book yet not completely know how all the events in the film will unfold. Though some die-hard fans (or hipsters) will say that it's too starkly different from the book, I say that that's what we should come to accept now. The outside story arcs that aren't in the book (such as Gandalf's personal quest to see if darkness has returned), all make sense and, for the most part, don't feel out-of-place at all. Desolation of Smaug has the right tone throughout the movie; it's the tone I was looking for in the first movie. In the first one, it held more of a familial tone, and while this film is still a fun-for-the-family movie, I feel like it definitely grew up and became more like a Lord of the Rings movie (and that's exactly what we all want!).

            Something that's consistent throughout all the Lord of the Rings movies (which includes The Hobbit movies) is the characters are so well done. And that is the case in this movie, too. The casting is so well done that the actors/actresses fit their roles so well. They look like essentially exactly what I would imagine them to look like while reading the books or thinking about the characters. Just as well, the acting is pretty much stellar. Martin Freeman proved to me in An Unexpected Journey that he is the definitive Bilbo. He kills it in this role and he nails every expression, mannerism, hobbit-ism, and line in the exactly the way that he should. Also, you can see that his character has grown. I like to see character growth, especially when it's not overtly-cliched. We saw in the first movie that he was still a homesick peaceful guy, even on the adventure. But he grew since then, and we can see here that he's grown quite courageous, as well as cunning. He even is responsible a lot of the time for getting the gang out of trouble in a bunch of situations. The company of dwarves is still well acted done and the leader, Thorin Oakenshield, feels even more heroic and leaderlike in this film. As well as Gandalf, but we all already know that he's an inherent badass. 

            And then we have the elves. Legolas, who was my favorite character in The Lord of the Rings trilogy for most of my life, is still awesome in this movie. His actions scenes make this movie so much cooler and appealing, since he's a such a fluid fighter with his bow-and-arrow and his two swords. However, it's incredibly noticeable that he's sort of like a different character in this movie. He's arrogant and sometimes comes off as a jerk. But I realized that this comes to play into his overall character arc over the span of the entire series, and imagine he'll grow into a more humble warrior in the next movie. The other elf is Tauriel, who, like Legolas isn't in The Hobbit book. However, unlike Legolas, she's not in any of the books whatsoever; she was completely made up for this movie. However, she definitely feels like she belongs there and she's acted well by the beautiful Evangeline Lily (plus she's got her fair share of badass action moments!). The one thing is just that there's a bit of a small romance and it feels a little bit forced and childish, so I don't think that really fit, but it was partly essential for some story segments to move forward. A lot of things in this movie, you can tell were shoehorned in by Peter Jackson, especially the involvement of Legolas and Tauriel, but it's executed in such a way that it feels like it belongs there. But the character who really belongs here is Smaug (his name's in the title, duh). In case you live under a rock, Smaug is the dragon who lives in the Lonely Mountain, which is where the Company of Dwarves is journeying to in order to reclaim it as their kingdom. Smaug, is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch; and let me tell you, they could not have picked anyone better. Cumberbatch is already one of my favorite actors and his voice is such a chilling an awesome one. He lends to Smaug just the right tone of voice and speaks so articulately; it's honestly amazing. Smaug just gives off the perfect vibe of arrogance and you can tell he condescends upon virtually everyone. He was such a memorable character and he was so menacing that I don't think I'll ever forget him as a movie antagonist. When Bilbo first encounters the incredibly huge Smaug in the mountain, it is the ultimate "oh shit" moment and it keeps you so invested throughout their conversation.

            The special effects, as expected, are also breathtaking. The dragon is designed so flawlessly, that you don't just feel like he's there; you KNOW that the dragon is right there about to roast some poor souls. The CGI in other scenes was mostly on point; however it did slack a little bit at some moments. The effects are done by WETA (pretty much the gods of computer-generated special effects); we can't just let them off so easily, so there's a minor gripe there. The orcs are done better in this movie though. One of my major gripes with the first movie is that firstly, the orcs were done with CGI, and secondly, I could easily tell they were. Thankfully in this movie, a lot of the orcs are done with makeup and prosthetics so there's a more realistic and gritty feel to them. The feel of the entire movie is much more exciting. One of my main problems with An Unexpected Journey was that it had pacing issues and a lot of it felt slow or uninteresting. But Desolation is turned on for pretty much all of it 161-minute runtime; in that, I mean that it's exciting and something's happening, almost all the time. When they get to Laketown, it slows down a bit, but that could just be in relativity because the rest of the movie there's so much stuff happening. I mean, hey, we can't have action every second of the film; so that makes sense.

            All in all, Desolation of Smaug a greatly welcomed installment to the series, and it's a great improvement over the first movie. It's moreso like An Unexpected Journey was actually just building up to the events of this film. This movie capitalizes on a lot of what it's got; the characters and action are spectacular, while the overall scope and tone are going in the right direction. Hopefully, the final film in the trilogy will veer towards even greater excellency, as there is still room to improve. However, The Desolation of Smaug as a movie is the opposite of a desolation, as it rightly earns 9 out of 10 noodles.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Noodles Review

8.5 out of 10 Noodles

            May the odds be ever in your favor... Just kidding, I'm not that cliche to start off a review with a generic quote from the movie. But for future reference, do not whistle four notes while holding up three fingers; you will get shot. That's not all I learned from this movie though. I learned that there's hope for The Hunger Games series. Actually, let me rephrase that. We all know that it's going to make big bucks from all those devout fans of the books and just the teen populace of the world, so: I learned that there's hope for the quality of the movies in the series. So, we left off in the first movie that Katniss and Peeta won the Hunger Games, and the way they did it gave way for people to get the hope and idea to rebel against the oppressive government in this world. Let's talk about the world for a second. The world that Suzanne Collins has established is actually really impressive and interesting. I really dig the lore and how everything came to be, as well as the overall atmosphere of it. This movie gets that atmosphere right. The tone throughout the beginning of this movie is spot-on and I was afraid that wouldn't get it right, because the first movie didn't quite do it. I liked the first movie to a certain degree; it did hit some good notes, but I personally don't feel like it did the source material the right amount of justice. Catching Fire, takes almost a 180-degree turn, because this is SO much better! First off, they build off of the good things in the first movie, and then they improve on some of the weak points, and I think that's a lot due to the new director because I could definitely tell that this was directed differently (for the better, though). The camera angles are a lot better, as well as the tone and placement of everything; especially the pacing. Pacing was a major problem for me in the first movie because I don't think I should be getting bored during a movie about a government-orchestrated fight to the death between teenagers in a post-apocalyptic world. But I did. Sigh. The pacing is much better in this sequel. I was invested throughout more of the movie. And here's what you've all been waiting for... wait for it... the violence in onscreen! In the first movie, almost all the violence was offscreen so we didn't even see what happened; it was moreso implied. That deters the viewers from caring as much for what happened. Being able to see the actual cuts, injuries, hits, and deaths, really adds more to the emotion and investment in the film.

            That is also thanks to the acting because that's also great. Jennifer Lawrence has obviously proved herself as a credible actress now. She's got an Oscar, is the frontrunner for one of Hollywood's currently largest franchises, and is a great onscreen presence. We know she's great as Katniss. But I was really surprised by her in the beginning of the movie. You really begin to feel bad for Katniss and she effectively portrays her post-traumatic stress and stubbornness. What really surprised me, though, was Josh Hutcherson. Wow, man, give yourself a pat on the back. Josh Hutcherson improved so much; I was literally impressed. In the first movie, I gave him a lot of crap since his acting was so wooden and ineffective. Back then he was just a pretty face. He's really improved, because I genuinely cared for his character in this movie, maybe even more than for Katniss at some points. Their little entourage in the Hunger Games is quite fleshed out and distinctive as well. It's inevitable that everyone's gonna love Finnick (or Aquaman as I called him). He's a humble yet confident guy who protects his old lady friend Mags; he's attractive and he fights with a trident. The guy is acted well, too, so he's definitely a plus. My favorite character, however, is Plutarch Heavensby. He's the gamemaster, and plots with President Snow (the real baddie) on how to get rid of Katniss; their conversation on how to get that done is probably my favorite scene in the whole movie. He's played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favorite actors, and I knew just from the trailers that I'd end up loving him. He surpassed my other favorite character, Caesar. Caesar, as well as pretty much all of the supporting cast is acted well. The only characters I sort of have a problem with are the career tributes (the tributes from districts 1 and 2). I understand that they're supposed to be formidable foes, but this movie honestly doesn't play them as anything else; it feels like they're just there to be bad guys.  

            Unfortunately, like the first movie, the pace slows down when the Hunger Games actually start out. This is a bit of a letdown because it's a little weird that the movie slows down when the "action" actually begins. Not only that, but the quality of the movie takes a bit of a dip as well. Yet by this point, it is a realization that the actual Hunger Games aren't the basis of the series. The Hunger Games event itself is a tool to help tell the story; it's a vehicle to propel the actual conflicts. That conflict is oppression and revolution. And this is one of the main reasons I like the book series. It's layered and has elements of politics on top of all this action and stuff. It's not just black and white wherein a good guy is trying to beat a bad guy; there's other components involved. Catching Fire really started to show that, whereas one of my main problems with its predecessor was the lack of this layering. So up to the Hunger Games, we have actual dramatic conflict occurring, and it keeps us intrigued most of the way leading up to the games. The scope of the film was great until then, and I really felt more connected to the characters before it happened. Speaking of scope, there are some moments in the film that really make it feel more epic, and truly escalate the experience; this is in part due to a great blend of sweeping cinematography and a strong musical score. The score in this movie is definitely much stronger than that of the first movie since the music is actually memorable. I guess we could sum up this movie that way, because it's overall just more memorable than the first installment of the franchise. Catching Fire is a more exciting and more layered film that not only houses more intrigue, but also more cinematic prowess. Despite it having some obvious conveniences and other downfalls, Catching Fire is definitely a step in the right direction for the series; a step toward 8.5 out of 10 Noodles. The odds are coming to be in their favor.