Geek of Oz

For his latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese adheres to the old adage: ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The diminutive maestro has been cranking out epic crime films for the past forty years. The Wolf of Wall Street is draped in debauchery and proudly indulges in oodles of sex, drugs and naughtiness whilst still acting as a searing indictment of what damage Wall Street traders were able to do throughout the late 80s and into the 90s. This is the kind of film which will either make you hate corporate corruption or go out and buy some shares. Based upon Jordan Belfort’s autobiography of the same name, the film tracks his rise to prominence off the back of some ingenious yet shady loopholes within the stock market. On the way up the corporate food chain, Belfort brings along his closest friends Donnie (Jonah Hill), Brad (Jon Bernthal), Chester (Kenneth Choi) and Nicky (P. J Byrne), all good New Jersey boys who blindly follow the charismatic Belfort through thick...

Now, I want to tell you about this little film i saw the other day, but you’ve got to promise me that you’re not going to get too excited about it. Just play it cool, like I’m telling you some innocuous story about my aunt or something. The thing is, the world of cinema can seem like a river of light brown sludge; snaking its way through lands of predictability and sameness. Every now then small gems wash up on the banks of this river, which wait patiently for cinephiles to discover them. Spectacular Now is a beautiful little film which i hope finds its way in the big bad cynical world. Let me reiterate, this is really small film with plenty of heart, i only stress this because i fear that this film may suffer the backlash as experienced by films like Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty and Little Miss Sunshine . I appreciate that these films were critically acclaimed and achieved box office success, but it’s when people come to these films after all the hype that you hear response...