Posts tagged crime
The Wolf of Wall Street – Movie Trailer
Jan 1st
Martin Scorsese directs the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort. From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s. Excess success and affluence in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
“American Hustle” Shows Never Con a Con Artist
Dec 28th
“Never Con a Con Artist”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
American Hustle is so good that don’t be surprised if during some awards ceremony it sweeps an award in all the major categories.
In fact, it is so good that Robert De Niro appears in it as an important character and doesn’t even get listed in the credits.
However, appearing both in the movie and in the credits are Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence, and most if not all of them are going to come out winners during the next awards season.
The movie is based on one of the most stunning scandals and sting operations in the late Seventies, and it begins with a title that says, “Some of this actually happened.”
We are introduced to Irving, who is a con artist with such an elaborate comb-over that he not only combs his long hair over, but also glues it to his bald scalp.
Irving says, “I learned how to survive when I was a kid,” and we see how he broke the law in order to send more customers to his father’s business.
As an adult, however, and even though he owns some legitimate businesses, Irving prefers to make most of his money by charging people a nonrefundable $5,000 fee in order to get them a loan, but then he never comes back with the loan.
Irving’s partner in crime and in love is Sydney, a woman whose dream was to become anyone other than who she was, and her role in the scam is to pretend to be British royalty with bank connections.
Unfortunately, one man they try to con turns out to be Richie, who is an FBI agent with dreams of exposing and bringing down dirty politicians, and when he reveals himself to Irving and Sydney, he promises not to arrest them if they will help him in his own sting operation, which eventually involves a New Jersey mayor who wants to relaunch the casino industry in Atlantic City, a sheik who might provide the money, and mobsters from Miami who might provide the connections.
So, can you see how those involved in the operation might be in over their heads, especially when they are still keeping secrets from each other?
And all this time Irving has been married.
American Hustle is a truly enjoyable comedy.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Kick-Ass 2” Thankfully Ends
Aug 24th
“Thankfully Ends”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Kick-Ass 2 is the sequel to the 2010 Kick-Ass, which was a surprisingly and thoroughly enjoyable movie about a nerdy teenage boy who wanted to be a superhero who fights crime and sorta, woulda, coulda almost did.
This movie is not, except for the part about the nerdy teenager, etc.
However, even that part starts out differently, as we hear the teenager, Dave Lizewski say at the beginning, “I’d given up being a superhero, because it was way too dangerous.”
On the other hand, the little sweetheart from the first movie, Hit-Girl, is still fighting crime successfully, and she is doing it by ditching school, where her alter ego, Mindy Macready, has just started high school as a freshman.
Both Dave and Mindy go to the same school, and Hit-Girl’s success causes Dave to get his old costume out, and he suggests to Mindy that they should team up and fight crime together, just like Batman and Robin.
However, Hit-Girl has been grounded by her guardian, but she agrees to train Dave in what she knows about martial arts, and they train every day for three weeks.
Mindy also tells Dave, “If you’re scared of dying, one thing is certain: You’re going to die.”
Meanwhile, the rich kid from the first movie, Chris D’Amico, is still around, but he has given up his desire to be a superhero, too, and instead he designs a costume and wants to be the first supervillain, giving himself a name that can’t be repeated here, but it sounds a little like The Mortarforker.
So, when Dave discovers that he is still not good at fighting crime alone, he learns about and joins a gang of other wannabe superheroes called Justice Forever, which is led by Col. Stars and Stripes, played by Jim Carrey, who is almost unrecognizable and thankfully tones down and doesn’t try to steal the movie with his usual outrageous antics.
Not to be outdone, Chris pays top dollar for every hired hitter in town to form his own gang of villains to support him.
Meanwhile, there is a side story of Mindy wanting to be a part of the cool kids at school, but this ends with extremely bad taste, and the movie turns ugly.
Kick-Ass 2 ends, thankfully, with a Big Fight substituting for the Big Game conclusion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
