Nerd in the 'Noke

The Revenant (2015), R, 156 minutes - There was a time when I couldn't care less about a new Leonardo DiCaprio film being released.  That all changed when I saw 2002's Catch Me If You Can.  In all honesty, I was only willing to tag along with my then roommate to that film because of Tom Hanks' involvement.  What I learned with that film was that there was a lot more to DiCaprio than the teen heart throb reputation that I had pigeon-holed him under previously.  Since then he has shown great diversity in his roles and has become a personal favorite, an actor whose new projects I make a point of checking out as soon as possible.  The Revenant is the result of his collaboration with Tom Hardy and reigning Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu (Best Achievement in Directing/Best Writing, Original Screenplay) to bring this story - based on events described in Michael Punke's historical novel 'The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge' from 2002 -...

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), R, 180 minutes - Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.  As far as I'm concerned, that's all you needed to tell me to get me into the theater to see The Wolf of Wall Street, negative reviews be damned.  Their track record together says it all: Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island.  You better believe I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, and we watch his meteoric rise to billionaire status thanks to some grooming from Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), a lot of smarts, and a fair share of questionable (morally and legally speaking) business tactics.  He's joined on his journey by Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) who quits his job and offers to work for Belfort when he is shown a pay stub for a single month that clears seventy grand.  Belfort collects a handful of other friends that have the drive to make big money and behind his brains they launch their own firm.  Success ...

Django Unchained (2012), R, 165 minutes - There are a few followers of this blog that already know this, but for anyone new or just passing through, here it is: I enjoy westerns.  Unfortunately it is a rare genre in this day and age.  I have also become a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work over the years.  So, as one could imagine, Django Unchained (the D is silent) is a film that I've been pretty excited about for a while now.  It snuck onto my ‘ Most Anticipated Films of 2012 ’ list earlier this year as an honorable mention entry (it would have been much higher had there actually been an official trailer released at that point), and my excitement only grew throughout the year. Django Unchained is a wonderful mash-up of a well made spaghetti western and Tarantino’s style of storytelling and violence.  It takes place two years before the Civil War and follows Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave who is purchased by a bounty hunter by the name of Dr. King...

I enjoy Westerns.  I enjoy Quentin Tarantino films.  I enjoy most films starring Jamie Foxx,  Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, or Jonah Hill.  Tarantino has rolled all of them into his latest effort.  It is pretty safe to say that I am eagerly anticipating Django Unchained . It will be very interesting to see how Tarantino's violent, explicit styles mesh with the western genre.  I like the role reversal that Tarantino is using with DiCaprio and Waltz (DiCaprio as the villain and Waltz seemingly being an accomplice for good).  Samuel L. Jackson's almost obligatory appearance in a Tarantino film is always appreciated as well. If the movie itself plays half as well as the trailer does, I think we'll be looking at another excellent outing from Quentin Tarantino.  While I've never been one to run out to the theater on Christmas afternoon (and I don't really see myself making an exception in this case), you ...

  J. Edgar (2011), R, 137 minutes - It has been a while since I last updated the good old blog here (about 3 months as I was so kindly reminded by a  former co-worker/blog follower), and as anyone who knows my taste in films, what better way to return to posting than by reviewing Clint Eastwood's most recent directorial effort? J. Edgar is Eastwood's biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, long time Director of the FBI (and architect of the FBI as we know it today).  While the film covers Hoover's life from shortly before he took the position with the FBI up until his death, it really is more of a character study of his relationships with family and co-workers as well as how he viewed himself.  If you are looking for an action filled story about major crime busts that Hoover oversaw during his years in office, you won't find it here.  What you will find is a film that shows how his own paranoia about just about anyone and everyone led to trailblazing improvements in how...

Inception (2010), PG-13, 148 minutes - Inception is the latest drama/mystery/thriller from the mind of Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Memento) and deals primarily with security and the dream state of the human mind. The basis for Inception is that our subconscious is more susceptible in a dream state than if we are awake. The idea being that if someone could enter your dreams that they could extract information from you that you wouldn't normally give up willingly. This is where Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao) come in. Cobb, according to himself, is the best there is at extraction (entering the minds of others and stealing thoughts and ideas). He is hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant an idea into Robert Fischer, Jr's (Cillian Murphy) head. This is known as inception. Cobb's associate Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) says that it's impossible but Cobb claims to have done it before and...