Money Never Sleeps, Kid

Sunday is always a day of relaxation, or at least an attempt.  New Jersey has apparently forgotten that this month is December.  The temperature is 50 degrees and rain is falling diagonally.  I cannot wait to walk my dog in a half hour.

Yesterday I sat down and watched Oliver Stone’s Wall Street:  Money Never Sleeps.  Before the film even started I had two issues with the administration behind the movie.  First, the byline; couldn’t you just call the film ‘Wall Street 2’?  Money never sleeps is a terrible caption.  In addition,  Michael Douglas uses this notorious line throughout the movie, taking away from it’s usefulness and adding to the cornyness.  Second, Shia Lebouf should not be in a leading role yet.  He is good in a supporting position, but as a lead, Lebouf is not ready.  Had the movie focused more on Douglas then it might have been more entertaining.

The film could have been better, but it could have been worse as well.  Starting with the good, I am always a sucker for high definition, wide angle New York City cinematography.  The hustle and cut throat nature of Wall Street was accurately portrayed along with the backwards nature of rumors, insider trading, and the recent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.  The movies premise is that Douglas, Gordan Gecko, has just been released from prison after 8 years.  Upon writing a book, he is attempting to make a comeback in the financial services industry and re-establish his name in the new world of equities and investments.  Michael Douglas, was as always, on point with his monologuing and egotistical musings.

The film had some weak points, at times the interconnections between the characters became convoluted, and a few moments of corny script writing took away from the overall seriousness of the movie.  A random action scene with Street Bike riding was thrown it, which was completely unnecessary.  Finally the ending seemed unsatisfactory.  There are certain movies that have double endings, where the writer could have left the plot at the cliff hanger, and saved the story, rather than look for resolution.  This is one such movie, and rather than spoil it for you, I’ll just say that Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps could have ended about 20 minutes earlier than it did.  I give it a 6.0


Going the Distance
Last night I was talked into watching “Going The Distance”  starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long.  Romantic comedy’s tend to disappoint, and this one was no different.  It feels as though writers of these movies use the same formula over and over.  The comedy seemed forced, and overly dirty although Long, and Barrymore both performed well.  If you would like to see Charlie Day (Charlie Kelly, the guy from Its Always Sunny with the high voice) as the exact same character in a different movie, than you’d be into this flick.  The banter between the friends was funny at times, but ended up being more of the same.  The only thing that saved this film for me, is the fact that I am in a long distance relationship. It was easy to relate to some of the conflicts that the characters were facing.  To conclude, if you are in a similar pickle, then this movie might help you feel better about it, otherwise don’t waste your time unless you are really bored and have watched every other good movie in your possession 934509823589234958 times already.

On an extremely positive note the movies soundtrack was stellar.  Through the film I was able to discover a band named The Boxer Rebellion, Check them out here.  They are your better than average indy band living in California from across the pond; UK.  100% worth the listen.   

They have some more up-tempo stuff, but this song was in the movie.

Also if you are into Dexter, which I am, then you know that the season finale is on tonight. 101.9 RXP, the best rock station in the country right now, interviewed Michael C. Hall about the series this past week. Here is the interview, I enjoyed it on my way to work that morning