Netflix pick for 8/17/15 – ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’

“The Wolf of Wall Street” is a wild movie, maybe one of Scorsese’s most over the top and insane in terms of style and story. DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street douche of the highest order, a financial villain, just one of the lousiest people ever, a man who had no problem with stealing from as many people as possible just so he could pay for his own over the top lifestyle, and he’s just pretty much the worst person. So why would you want to watch a whole movie about this guy? Because it was made by Martin Scorsese! That should be reason enough! But also the fact that it is a great movie should get you to queue this up right away.

When the movie came out in December 2013, there were a lot of dummies condemning this movie for glorifying this asshole and his life. To which I responded at that time:

But only focusing on the “fun” middle ignores the inevitable downfall, we see it coming from a mile away, we watch it happen in front of us, and then to pretend that this didn’t happen, the movie glorifies immoral behavior despite showing the consequences of that behavior? Nope, doesn’t work that way. Now, if this movie ended with the Belfort character telling the FBI to jump off a bridge, and they proceeded to do so, and then Belfort lived out the rest of his life happy and making money, THAT would be a glorification of his behavior. And if you see this movie and read the final shot as anything but a big downer for Belfort, then you are misreading the whole thing.

And one more thing, in regards to the folks wondering if Martin Scorsese is glorifying questionable practices with this movie – we do all know we’re talking about the same Martin Scorsese, right? The one who probably heard the exact same complains when he made that little masterpiece called “Goodfellas,” a movie which does glorify violence and crime and the mafia lifestyle, all the way up until the moment it condemns it. This is the guy who made a movie about a horny Jesus played by Willem Dafoe. He took EMTs and made them into drug-addled, stark raving lunatics. Just because this guy is in his 70’s and finally made his first family film in the form of “Hugo” doesn’t mean he’s slowed down any in terms of his cinematic ferocity. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is in your face, it is very loud, and it is proud of its excess and over the top appearance and irresistible charm just like Jordan Belfort himself.

Watch “The Wolf of Wall Street” here on the Netflix Instant and don’t let yourself get caught in admiring this guy. He’s a piece of shit. It is plain as day.