Oscars 2014: If We Picked The Nominees (Best Picture)

7. The Wolf Of Wall Street

From the mention of the film in two of these previous entries, you may have guessed at the inclusion of The Wolf of Wall Street on this list, the first film that overlaps with the Academy's list of the best films of 2013. Given the controversy the film met upon its release on Christmas, it's a bit surprising The Wolf of Wall Street did as well with the Academy as it did, but the criticism of the film by some that it glorifies the reprehensible (but true) behavior of its characters proved to be more of a galvanizing force for its admirers than anything else. In all honesty though, the film was likely to be successful no matter what, because for all its faults (of which they are definitely some), the film is such a whirlwind of a cinematic force that it demands to be noticed and appreciated. Based on the autobiography of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skeezy stockbroker of the late 1980's and 1990's who made obscene amounts of money running stock scams on unsuspecting victims, the film is an exercise in excess. We watch Belfort and his cohorts, led by his closest friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), as they take drugs, and have sex, and make money, and take drugs, and buy fancy toys, and take drugs, and throw lavish parties, and take drugs, and have more kinky sex, and then one more time just for the hell of it, take some more drugs. Despite this repetitiveness, a three-hour run time, and lack of any real narrative arc, the film is anything but boring and is actually pretty hypnotic. A lot of this is due to some terrific performances from a great cast that includes fine turns from Jean Dujardin, Spike Jonze, Rob Reiner, Matthew McConaughey, Margot Robbie, and of course at the center of it all, another brilliant performance from DiCaprio (who thankfully wasn't snubbed by the Academy again). Scorsese recently described the film as raw, and that it certainly is. Apparently heavily improvised from the script written by Terrance Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street has the feeling of actors just riffing on ideas and going for the most outrageous situations they can think of. Between this and Django Unchained, there seems to be a slightly distressing trend of enormously talented directors throwing all discipline to the wind and trying to make a movie just out of "the good stuff", but even with these formal flaws, both movies are still great because so many scenes of these films are just so damn memorable. The scene between McConaughey and DiCaprio, where McConaughey explains how things really work on Wall Street (probably my favorite), the scene where Hill's character explains how he married his cousin, the first real fight scene between Robbie and DiCaprio, and what will inevitably be the most famous scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, the infamous Quaaludes scene, are all terrific scenes that are hilariously acted and written, and although they add up to less than the sum of their parts initially, the totality of these scenes give the film more thematic resonance as time goes on. I also have to admire the film for being so reluctant to pass moral judgment on its own proceedings, which is exactly what so many seem to object to about The Wolf of Wall Street. While I find it hard to believe that many would not ultimately find the actions of the main characters reprehensible, except for those already predisposed towards that kind of behavior, any art worth its salt respects its viewers enough not to preach to them, letting the audience reach its own conclusions. Far too many don't share this belief anymore, but thankfully Martin Scorsese, Terrence Winter, and Leonardo DiCaprio do.