THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Leonardo DiCaprio

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013). Director: Martin Scorsese.

"Their money was better off with me. I could spend it better."

The "true" story of crook Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), who ripped off numerous clients with his firm Stratton-Oakman, then had the gall to write a book about his exploits after he was imprisoned. The movie shows how he began it all, how he justified his actions, and the sex-and-drug lifestyle he became addicted to. While Wolf is admittedly fast-moving and sometimes funny, it's still basically three hours of looking at the life of a bigoted, self-important loser who barely deserves five minutes of our time. The movie doesn't necessarily condone his actions -- it just lets Belfort via DiCaprio [Inception] damn himself with his words and deeds -- but one could easily argue that Scorsese has offered Belfort a self-serving platform, covering up for him, and is just offering up another portrait of lowlives as he did with his mafia movies. Belfort acts as if his schemes are so brilliant, but a really smart person could have achieved his goals honestly. DiCaprio is okay and there are some good supporting performances from Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, and Matthew McConaughey [Killer Joe] and others, but surely Scorsese [Shutter Island] can come up with better subjects than this?

Verdict: Vastly overlong study of a complete loser but generally well-acted and well-made with perhaps more entertainment value than it deserves. **1/2.

IRON MAN 2

IRON MAN 2 (2010). Director: Jon Favreau.

Antony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) returns as the armored hero in this sequel to Iron Man. The plot doesn't really matter, but Stark mixes it up with the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), all of whom first appeared in the Iron Man comic books. The Widow pretends to be an employee of Stark Industries, Hammer has a sinister plot afoot involving dozens of Iron Man clones, and Whiplash is really Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist who uses electronic whips to slash automobiles in half. However, the best sequence has a drunken Iron Man [Stark is a reformed alcoholic in the comics] battling his pal Rhody (Don Cheadle) as the latter is dressed in his own armor as War Machine. Iron Man 2 is colorful and has some exciting sequences, although it's too long and drags at times. Downey is fine as Stark; ditto for Gywneth Paltrow as his assistant Pepper Potts [whom he makes head of Stark Industries] and the rest of the supporting cast. Mickey Rourke looks fairly grotesque but he nearly steals the picture with his intense portrayal of Ivan Vanko. Nice theme music by John Debney.

Verdict: Noisy and splashy and at times entertaining. ***

IRON MAN

IRON MAN (2008). Director: Jon Favreau.

This big screen version of the long-time [since about 1963) Marvel comic book character comes very close to being an opulent bore, but at least it has a fairly exciting climax. The movie tells how munitions manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is injured by one of his own weapons in Afghanistan, has to wear a special device over his heart, and develops a super-suit with many devices to not only escape, but later to save lives and battle his adversary, former friend Obediah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who objects when Stark decides to get the family company out of the weapons business. The movie takes forever to get going, is slow and tedious for a good hour, until finally the revamped model of Iron Man makes its appearance and things finally pick up. The climax is a battle between Iron Man and Stane in an even bigger mechanical suit. The FX are fine, the acting isn't bad [Bridges absolutely walks away with the movie as the loathsome Stane], but one has to hope that the sequel will be a whole lot better. Terrence Howard is Rhodey; Gwyneth Paltrow is Petter Potts. Downey plays Stark like an overgrown frat boy. Stan Lee, who created Iron Man, has a cameo as Hugh Hefner! The film is not very well directed for the most part.

Verdict: Read the comic books instead. **1/2.