Tag: Leonardo DiCaprio

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Wow!! It seems like it’s been ages since I saw and wrote a movie review, but in reality it’s only been 3 weeks. I hope this is the only 3 week drought for me for the remainder of the year. It seems that this July has been a surprisingly very dismal month for movies. Let’s hope August is more promising.

Quentin Tarantino is back with his ninth movie with a story set in LA in the late 60’s into the early 70’s. One of the leading characters in the movie is Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) who happens to be a former Western TV Series Star and his long time stunt double and driver Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both men are struggling to make it in a Hollywood environment that they no longer recognize. Rick finds out he has a very famous neighbor…Sharon Tate. The story unfolds from there…

This movie is painfully long. I had no idea it would be 2 hours and 39 minutes. The story drags a bit, but there is a little bit of everything in this movie. There are parts that will make you yawn, parts that will make you laugh and parts that will make you sit up in your seat. The movie contains fiction as well as historical facts about Hollywood in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Quentin Tarantino has been known for making long satires, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is no exception.

This is a 3 ½ Star Movie!!

The Revenant

“The Revenant” is extremely harsh and brutal, but it was executed brilliantly!!

Based on factual events, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) a fur tradesman who is out on a fur expedition with a team of men gets mauled by a bear. The story centers-around Hugh’s brave and sometimes perilous survival in the wilderness of the 1820’s. The story unfolds from there…

“The Revenant” is definitely not my type of movie, but I had to see it since its receiving so many raves. It’s nominated for several Golden Globes and there is massive Oscar buzz about it and Leonardo Dicaprio’s acting in it.

DiCaprio was brilliant and he deserves any Oscar nod he receives. The movie is harsh and unforgiving. The story is told in painstaking fashion. All action is driven by revenge. The cinematography and camera angles are excellent.

If you can stand the harshness and brutality “The Revenant” is worth a look.

This is a 4 Star Movie!

The Wolf of Wall Street

“The Wolf of Wall Street” with a running time of 2:59 is the second longest movie I have seen next to Malcolm X which had a running time of 3:30.

Based on a true story in 1987, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) enters the world of stock trading at an entry level position. In the 1990’s Jordan who is still in his 20’s forms his own firm Stratton Oakmont. Together with his closest friend (Jonah Hill) and several other business acquaintances, Jordan Belfort makes millions by defrauding wealthy investors out of millions.

What Jordan and his cronies don’t know is that while they are partying, engaging in wild sex and recreational drug use, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is compiling evidence in their investigation that is going to bring Jordan’s firm down and rid him of his excessive wealth. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is very explicit in its dealing with the facts. There is a tremendous about of sexual content, drug use and pervasive language. It’s a no holds barred look inside the world of a Wall Street firm’s daily life. This is a Martin Scorsese film and that in its self is reason to see it.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is definitely not for anyone under the age of 17.

The Great Gatsby (2013)

“The Great Gatsby 2013” was not on my original “watch List”, but I decided to give it a look.

In 1922 Nick Carraway (Tobey MacGuire) a mid-westerner moves to Long Island NY. He finds out that he is the neighbor of Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio). He has long been fascinated by the lavious life style that “The Great Gatsby” lives. He puts pen to paper and writes about the wild parties that Jay Gatsby gives at his estate.

Nick Carraway soon becomes friends with his new neighbor Jay Gatsby. Mean while across the bay Carraway’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) is unhappy in her marriage to philandering aristocrat Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton).

As Carraway write about the life style that Jay Gatsby lives, it becomes clear to him that his cousin Daisy and Jay Gatsby share a past. The story unfolds from there…

Leonardo DiCaprio gives an intense performance and the movie is visually magnificent. Unfortunately that’s not enough. I don’t feel that Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton fully developed their characters and Tobey McGuire appeared a bit dry. This is a decent adaptation of the novel. The Cinematography and art direction are wonderful. The time period was captured magnificently.
But alas “The Great Gatsby 2013” plays like a bad daytime soap opera.
If you are a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio or your read the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, then you make want to take a look.

Django Unchained

In the “Deep South” 2 years before the Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave with a brutal history. Along comes German born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz who purchases Django and then frees him. Dr. King Schultz teaches Django how to be a “Bounty Hunter” because he needs Django to lead him to the Brittle Brothers; Django’s former slave owners who happen to be Dr. Schultz’s Bounty. They travel cross country to nab wanted murderers “Dead or Alive”. All the while Django is honing his skills because he wants to get revenge on who ever has his wife Broomhilda.
Django tells Dr. Schultz about his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who he lost to the slave trade long ago. They find out that Broomhilda is currently living on a very rich slave owner’s plantation. Dr. Schultz devises a plan to purchase her and free her. The story unfolds from there…
Well paced Story, but at times will make you angry. The movie is very intense, brutal and contains lots of action.
“Django Unchained” will keep you on the edge of your seat. Additionally the movie is very bloody and contains a lot of foul language. “Django Unchained” is probably the most “Brutal” movie that I have ever seen from Director Quentin Tarantino, but is worth the price of admission.