One of the perks of retirement has been the ability to go to the movies and watch all the possible Oscar nominees. I was moved by 12 years a Slave, Fruitvale Station, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyer's Club and American Hustle. These movies have great moments of acting and direction. They are all true stories also. This is definitely the year of the TRUE story. The racial perils that Oscar Grant (Fruitvale Station) faced in Oakland, California. There was a definite parallel to shooting of Trayvon Martin and this summer's acquittal of George Z. We were reintroduced to the early world of HIV in the Dallas Buyers club. I had forgotten how difficult it was to obtain medicine for the patients infected in the 1980's. The Somali pirates in Captain Phillips were terrifying and yet we as an audience developed an understanding of their desperation even though they were terrorists.
American Hustle was loosely based on the ABSCAM case in New Jersey. The FBI basically entrapped several political figures in the late 1970's. All the acting in this film is terrific. Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams deliver fantastic performances! It was my favorite film yet. I couldn't believe that fake comb-over that Christian Bale had!
By far the most appalling true story is the Wolf of Wall Street. While watching the movie- I just kept thinking to myself- is this guy ever going to get caught? The excess money, drugs, sex, disregard for the working class people being scammed really hit me. I thought the movie was about 40 minutes too long- but the fact was it was a true story and I do have to say that the quaalaud scenes brought back memories of some of my college pals.
Why did this movie cause to have physical anguish? Maybe it was that 25 years ago there was a lesson to be learned from Jordan Balfour. He wrote a book and admitted to all of his debauchery. He confessed to how he convinced his clients to buy worthless stocks and pocketed all the commissions. He had no empathy for the regular folks he was fooling. He went to jail for 22 months and played tennis- for Christ's sake. Have we not learned anything? It seems that the crash of 2008 may have been caused by slightly different "Wolves", but the basic white-collar crime still had the same fallout- very few of these thieves were punished. I think Martha Stewart served a bigger sentence for insider trading. Isn't this an embarassment? What does this say to the rest of the world? If you are rich, and you cheat people there is a very good chance that you will get away with it. I think that Martin Scorsese wanted people to be retrospect by giving us all the visual excess in this movie. I think that he is a brilliant director and historian- has anything really changed since the days of Tammany Hall (Gangs of New York)?
I can't wait to see Philomena, Nebraska and August Osage County. Also- I thought Saving Mr. Banks was a lovely movie. I hope that Emma Thompson gets an Oscar nod. We have had a wonderful year for films. Go see a movie! Tell me what you think. Momma T
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