100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 39: The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Missi Pyle, John Goodmna, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, Beth Grant, James Cromwell, Joel Murray

Description: A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Review: In 1899 the first experiments to combine sound and film took place, but it was three decades later when the eventually executed this plan. In 1927 America was ready for it, with “The Jazz Singer”. The transition from silent film to a film with sound, forms the base of “The Artist”. It’s a modern day silent film, in black and white, about fictional movie star George Valentin. He can’t adapt to this transition and gets into trouble, but also eventually finds love.
Many Hollywood stars from the silent movie era, saw their careers end, because they seemed old fashioned or their voice didn’t match their image. In “The Artist” George Valentin is such a star. He is successful as an actor and makes equally successful movies.
His influence is that big, that the young, unknown Peppy Miller gets a role in his movie and eventually becomes a big star herself. George doesn’t believe in movies with sound and quits the studio to makes his own films. His first film is a huge flop, his wife leaves him and he goes bankrupt.
“The Artist” does a masterful job in mimicking the atmosphere of a silent movie from the twenties, without imitating other films. It manages to also feel modern and fresh, when you have the feeling you’re watching a classic film.
Silent movies always proof how essential music is for a movie. And facial expressions and body language. Because there is no spoken dialogue, the viewer has to depend on all this to follow the story. some dialogue is shown in written words, but it’s very minimal.
I’m so glad movie like this get a green light, Hollywood needs this. What “La La Land” did for musical in 2016, “The Artist” did for the silent film.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 129: The Wolf of Wall Street

Director: Martin Scorsese

Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Comedy

Runtime: 179 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumely, Ethan Suplee, Shea Wigham

Description: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

Review: “The Wolf of Wall Street” is based on true events, about the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort. He is an acrid, clever stockbroker who came from nothing to eventually own over thirty million dollars. Not long after Belfort had his first taste of Wall Street, the company he works for collapses. He is forced to search for something new and he finds this little, amateurish business. Because he is convincing and the extreme high commission, he gathers a loyal yet eccentric team and starts his own business. Belfort manages to sell worthless shares for a lot of money and his company, Stratton Oakmont grows and grows.

A film about capitalism, directed by Martin Scorsese and blessed with a strong cast. All the ingredients for a sharp film. “The Wolf of Wall Street” starts strong and sucks you in with some strong dialogues. Especially the lunch conversation between Belfort and his mentr Mark Hanna is masterfully acted. Matthew McConaughey is very intense and it’s hard to look away. Sadly for us, McConaughey is only seen for 10 minutes. Also great is the scene were Belfort meets FBI agent Patrick Denham, very subtly played by Kyle Chandler. It’s fascinating to see how the two man go from having a civilized and friendly conversation to a heated dialogue.

As the main protagonist, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a very impressive performance. Navigating between the calculated coldness, the manic urge to self-manifestation and the insatiable greed for money, drugs and alcohol all of which are typical for the character Jordan Belfort. DiCaprio really loses himself in the role. But Belfort never gets as interesting as movie archetypes like Gordon Gekko (“Wall Street”) or Daniel Plainview (“There Will Be Blood”). That’s because the character is very one dimensional and doesn’t have a lot of depth. Especially during those speeches he gives for his team, it’s hard to make that credible.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” isn’t all that original for Scorsese either. If you replace the mob for drugs, sex and greed, “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a lot like “Goodfellas”. Not only is the story told by the main character in the form of a voice-over, the accent and the way he talks also sounds a lot like Henry Hill in “Goodfellas”.

In the beginning the confronting scenes, sex orgies and drug escapades are shocking. Especially because of its satire. But after a couple of those hedonistic outbursts, you’re done with it. The movie looks like it’s on repeat. With that, the movie is way too long. A movie with hardly any likeable characters, is hard to watch for me. I can only sympathize Jordan’s foulmouthed father and FBI agent Patrick Denham. And especially Belfort’s spineless, white teethed business partner Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) is one of the most annoying and terrible characters I’ve ever seen. “The Wolf of Wall Street” also constantly shifts between admiration and social criticism. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is definitely a good movie, but it gets way more credit then I think it

deserves. There were many Scorsese movies that I loved more.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 11: The Monuments Men

Director: George Clooney

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 118 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Bob Balaban

Description: An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

Review: The most horrible stories about World War II have been told, but the loss of artwork during this period is an underexposed theme. For George Clooney enough reason to make a movie about it. “The Monuments Men” will be his fifth directed movie. We know Clooney best as an actor and he also takes on one of the lead roles. With him, big names like Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray and John Goodman form a dream cast.

When President Roosevelt tells curator Frank Stokes that, besides many lives, lots of famous art work were lost in the war due to the Nazis. With strong arguments Stokes manages to get permission to assemble a team of art historians, museum directors and curators to find those lost treasures. The team of seven men don’t all have experience in the army.

‘True Story’ is a wide term in Hollywood. In real life hundreds of men and women were responsible for finding the cultural heritage. This isn’t the biggest problem of “The Monuments Men”. It’s a mediocre script and that gives is us a lot of dull moments and it doesn’t have a central storyline.

The soundtrack is good, but not for this movie. It’s sounds like a comedy. It does have some comedic moments here and there though. The big amount of talent is underused. George Clooney and Matt Damon are doing a routine job and Cate Blanchett can’t really shine. Hugh Bonneville can easily keep up with his colleagues and Bill Murray’s dry humor is as always a pleasure to watch.

The cynicism works, but the rest is just mediocre. I really wanted to love this movie, for its theme and the wonderful cast, despite of all the negative reviews. But a dream cast is no guarantee for success. We still have to wait for the master piece by director George Clooney.

Rating: 2,5/ 5