American Hustle (17 Jan 2014)

Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Elisabeth Rohm, Michael Pena, Jack Huston, Alessandro Nivola, Shea Whigham, Paul Herman

Director: David O. Russell

This movie is about a sting operation master minded by an FBI official (Bradley Cooper) on two con artists (Christian Bale, Amy Adams) who con people of hefty commissions in lieu of fake financial investments. Interestingly, with the aid of these very two con artists, in a matter of time, the operation grows multifold. Each new emerging target turns out to be more powerful than the last one. Resultantly, the operation ends up encompassing mayor, mafia as well as senators in its tentacles! 

The setting is that of 1978 i.e. the late 70’s and therein resides the beauty of treatment of the movie. Revelry of the urban population in the modern high society, the royal manner of listening to a record player, amateurish presentation of food, power dinners amongst business associates and their spouses, trend of maintaining an angel faced but dull wife and tramp looking but smart mistress (both wearing almost equally revealing outfits), you name it and it’s there in the movie. The director has brilliantly woven the entire story amidst the 70’s backdrop. Not for a single moment, you will miss the jingle of the 70’s or the pulse of the movie! The movie is well researched and made to appear funny and not serious.

The three main protagonists have done full justice to their roles. Christian Bale as one of the con artists is so natural that you don’t even realize that he is acting! It is hard to believe that he is ‘the Batman’ of the modern day movies. He has put on considerable weight for this role and guffaws through it pretty efficiently. Amy Adams has given a very liberated performance. She has candidly played the character of a woman, who is kind of, in love with two poles apart men, as well as vengeful towards them both! Bradley Cooper has seamlessly blended from the role of an honest official to that of a ruthlessly ambitious one! Remaining cast has performed good as well. There is guest appearance by Robert De Niro (mafia head) sans any impact.

The Wolf Of Wall Street ( 3 Jan 2014)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cristin Milioti, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jonah Hill, Rob Reiner, Joanna Lumley, Brian Sacca, Henry Zebrowski, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, P.J. Byrne, Kenneth Choi

Director: Martin Scorsese

An economy is supposed to happen when a section of the population indulges in various stages of creation of different products or deliverance of different services to the other section in lieu of a fixed or fluctuating price. In short, when a consumer pays a price, he/she actually gets something in return. Sadly, this is not the case with the modern world economy, wherein mammoth speculations and manipulations in the world of shares and equities, make people part with their money on a day to day basis, on the pretext of a handsome return, which is nothing but a pure myth created by share brokers and share companies to ensure free flow of their brokerage from share transactions and commission from share distribution. So, in the latter case, a consumer pays a price but gets only false hopes in return, or you can say that he/she pays the price for an imposed dream which will never come true!

The movie shows the con facet of the equity industry like never before. Starting from – putting a client portfolio in unnecessary transaction loop, to selling them nondescript company’s shares by fabricating it’s portfolio, to rigging an IPO, to manipulating a script’s price by selling it’s majority shares from various personal holdings, you name it and it’s there!

The movie also beautifully shows the complete journey of a personnel from this industry who is initially guided and who also chooses the path of malpractice to attain unlimited wealth, power and success, and ultimately ends up paying the price for the same. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is simply amazing as the protagonist. His acting is flawless and dialogue delivery is just perfect. Be it his scenes as a wannabe broker, or as an upcoming one who is over zealous while nailing his client (read striking a deal) over the phone, or as a spoilt power figure who unabashedly uses women and narcotics to ease off his day long stress and later his ever present stress, or as the one in huge dilemma, his takes are well planned between funny and brat like. Never once he appears to be vulgar or repulsive! And not crossing this thin line is not easy. He may not be mindful of the country’s economy, but the sole purpose in his life is the growth of his company and it’s people. If he is brat like, then he also ensures that there is enough fun and freedom like environment in his office. Meaning to say, that his character may not appear rightful, but it damn well appears interesting and lovable. All the other actors have done full justice to their characters as well.

Best thing about Martin Scorsese’s direction is the amazing continuity in all the characters. Also, the dialogue delivery is not theatrical, but very natural throughout the film. Martin has managed to direct a huge room full of people, all at once, talking about the same script (share) on different telephones to different people. And it all looks so real! This kind of execution requires mammoth planning and a very keen eye for detail. Hats off to Martin for pulling this off. His different presentation of a narrative like tale gives an altogether different edge to the movie.