MOVIE REVIEW: Wall Street (1987)

I have to say it, this is what The Wolf of Wall Street could and should have been. A compelling look at the temptations and pitfalls of corporate capitalism in the big city. Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, our main protagonist who has just one goal, to get to the top of the totem pole. He meets Gordan Gekko, portrayed brilliantly by Micheal Douglas, a big fish on Wall Street who Bud quickly works out can help him get unfathomably rich. We also have Martin Sheen playing Bud's Dad Carl, a sweet touch to have him play both on screen and real life father to Sheen I thought. The story is one of greed, lust, betrayal and eventually, justice set in the cacophonous backdrop of New York City in the 1980's. What results is a very good film, full of entertainment value as well as deeper questions about this kind of big business.

It is one of the most fascinating questions of our age - can greed ever be a good thing? Within the context of the rise of capitalism in the second half of the 20th century, this is definitely a question that is worth asking. I think most people would say that greed is bad, yet much of our society revolves around it. We are taught to strive to reach our career goals without realising how quickly that can simply turn into entering a consumer driven rat race meticulously designed to make a lot of money and often, to make other people more money. The central themes of this film revolve around this idea of chains of greed. How your own greed can be used as a weapon by other, even greedier people, who want to use you to make themselves more powerful. Wall Street strives to tell a story about how futile such a philosophy is and just how quickly it can all come crashing down. 

The film works primarily thanks to the strength of its lead actors, Sheen and Douglas. I gained a whole new level of respect for Sheen after watching him play this slick, quick witted business man. If only he would have continued in this direction. It is not a mind blowing performance, and perhaps not as dynamic as DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, but nonetheless his character is more believable and relatable. Micheal Douglas steals the show though. Gordon Gekko is someone you would not want to cross in real life, with his palpable ferocity and persistence driving him to infinite lengths in the name of money. As he pursues his business deals throughout the film with razor sharpness, we start to understand why this man has amassed a such cult following on Wall Street. Gekko maybe leading Bud down a road toward betraying his father and friends, but he is visibly transfixed by Gekko. He has bought wholly into the delusion. The two have great screen chemistry, one of my favourite scenes being when Bud initially pitches his idea to Gekko, establishing a clear distinction of who holds all the power. He seduces Bud with the promise of unimaginable wealth, but more crucially, power. By the end of the film though, Bud has worked out what Gekko plans to do to his fathers business and sets out on a merciless path of revenge. This kind of character development is exactly what The Wolf of Wall Street lacked, and part of why this is a much better movie.

The story is engaging from the get go. I particularly liked how Oliver Stone took time to explore Bud's relationships with those around him, both in work and his personal life. It is clear that his Dad means a lot to him, and his main motivator is to make him proud. This gives Bud a certain level of basic humanity that Gekko appears to lack, and when that relationship is threatened by Gecko, Bud can't let bring himself to undermine his father's trust. There is a grave conflict in Sheen's eyes throughout the whole film, as he realises that to get to Gordan's level he must give up the most sacred of things, love and loyalty. This in essence is what the film is about. The psychotic and deeply narcissistic traits that are required to succeed in the upper echelons of business, themes explored more graphically in films like American Psycho and more glamorously in The Wolf of Wall Street. But unlike the latter, this movie knows when to reign it in and put it in perspective for the audience, showing both extremes of the human condition in similar measure. A highlight for many will be Gordan Gekko's infamous 'greed is good' speech. In it he discusses the relative merits of greed and how it captures the essence of everything that has made us who we are today. The film lets you make your own mind up about what Gekko is saying, and personally I think there is some degree of merit in his remarks, but fundamentally it is the mentality that breaks both of our main characters.

The rest of the cast of Wall Street also did a good job. I've already mentioned Martin Sheen as Carl Fox, who acts as the only real voice of reason in the entire thing as he helps to ground the movie in something deeper than money and greed. I really liked John C. McGinley as Bud's friend and colleague Marvin, who provided a fair share of comic value to the film. The love interest Darien, played by Daryl Hannah, fit nicely into the cast, and this whole section of the movie was interesting in what it had to say about money in relation to love as well as money in relation to sex. The only thing I would say is that they could have given her character a bit more depth, instead painting her as a pretty shallow person. But this in itself was probably intentional. Visually, Wall Street is classic 80's New York, with cramped offices with CRT computes and glamorous open plan apartments hosting colourful parties for the exceedingly wealthy. It is a nice looking film, but there is nothing amazing about the cinematography. It just does the job.

There is much more I could say about Wall Street but this review would end up 10 pages long. In summation, I really admire what Stone managed to achieve with this film in terms of tone and subject matter. It is not a terribly creative movie, or particularly flashy with its imagery, but what shines through is the real humanity in it. By that I mean the range of human emotions and motives that it is willing to explore. It does not lead you in just one direction, but instead leaves you to make your own mind up about the characters. There is no happy ending, just a sobering recognition that Bud must face the consequences of his unlawful actions. As the camera pans up to reveal the vastness of the city and Bud walking up the courthouse steps, we are reminded that he is just a mortal man after all.

Characters: 80
Narrative: 85
Visuals; 70
Music: N/A

Overall: 78/100

MOVIEW REVIEW: The Intern (2015)

I didn't expect to like this film very much, but I'd heard good things about it so I decided to give it a shot. I think we all know by now that Robert De Niro is reaching the tail end of his career. In a weird way this film actually explores that, constantly reminding us that his character is struggling to find his place in the modern world, much like De Niro is having a hard time capturing his old magic. I have to say though, it was De Niro that carried the majority of The Intern, with the help of Anne Hathaway, who also gives a surprisingly good performance. This isn't a great film, but it could have been a whole lot worse than it was.

The movie starts off kind of slowly as it glides around trying to set up this world and its characters. The introduction to De Niro's character, Ben, was handled ok but a lot of it just seemed like pretty useless information about him and his past. By the end of it, we get the picture, he's old and out of touch. It all took a bit of a nose dive for me after he gets the intern job at a tech company and comes in to the office for the first time. It's your typical new age office; all the men are wearing loose fitting shirts and have hipster glasses, all the women look they just stepped off of a vogue photoshoot and they are all provided with brand new MacBooks. The CEO, Jules, rides around the office on a bike. Yeah, they went there. This is where it felt like The Intern was turning into The Internship, that god awful film from a few years ago. I get that they were trying to contrast this ultra sleek modernist aesthetic with what Ben would have been used to, but it's just not an visual style that I'm very fond of having shoved in my face every 5 seconds.

Jules is a feminist's wet dream. She has built her company from the ground up, growing its number of employees ten fold in a year, is married to stay at home Dad, Matt, who looks after their beautiful young daughter Paige. She is just an all round winner and she knows it. I may be against third wave feminism and movies that perpetuate its self fulfilling agenda, but I don't think this film did that all that much. I am all for strong female leads as long as they are given some depth beyond their gender. I think The Intern did a good job with this. Whilst it vaguely explores some feminist ideas, it never feels overdone or forced. Above that, it is not what the film is about. Jules begins the film clearly very stressed out. She has no time for herself and as a result, her family is suffering under the strain. It takes getting to know Ben to finally realise this and begin to change it.

Ben's character is interesting because he is at the exact opposite stage of his life to Jules, but somehow wants to recapture the ambition he had in his youth. This makes the relationship between them feel meaningful as they both have something to learn and something to admire about the other. As the film progresses we see Ben sympathising with Jules and doing everything he can to help her. For this to work the director had to have De Niro play Ben very straight. He's depicted as a very honourable gentleman who is also extremely likeable. Deepening Ben's character in any way and including darker, more sinister motives would have ruined this warm-hearted feeling the film managed to concur up. This is one of the real successes of The Intern, the fact it realised its limits in terms of its characters and chose to focus on very simple themes of human relationships, love and friendship. The reason the film worked pretty well for me was because of these two characters. I ended up almost seeing Jules' life through the sentimental eyes of old Ben, and that made it far more pleasant and revealing. By the end, I felt some kind of kinship with both of these characters. A character who began the film a little bit bland and stale is turned into someone we can all relate to through Ben's unmotivated friendship and guidance.

Obviously another main theme is the reality of getting older in an ever changing world full of MacBooks and liberal values in the workplace. The underlying message of The Intern is 'don't let your age hold you back', a bit of a cliché but still a positive notion. Ben's desire to get back out in the world is a noble one, and something we could all learn from. Again, the overall likability of his character helped tremendously in driving home this message. I suspect many people will see this as the main theme of the film, and perhaps it is, but one must look at the other extreme too, what the older generation can teach the younger generation, and how we are more similar than we are different. The scene with Jules and Ben in the hotel room symbolises this in a touching way.

Both the lead actors, De Niro and Hathaway give pretty good performances. Lets be clear, this was hardly a stretching role for either of them. In fact, in De Niro's case, it's hard to pick out many examples of an actor looking more comfortable in a leading role. But I think considering the context, he did a good job. He gives off a sustained warmth throughout the movie and remains interesting with his wistful quips and nostalgic sighs. This is exactly the kind of role an ageing De Niro should be taking on. In regard to Anne Hathaway, I can't say I've ever been a great fan of hers in the past. Nonetheless she does a good job in this, carrying off the arc of her character with genuine nuance. Perhaps she overacts a little in some of the business related scenes, but nothing that has me cringing or rolling my eyes too much. The other characters in The Intern were mostly background noise though, to be honest. There were a few that had me chuckling, like young intern Jason, played by Adam DeVine. Unfortunately though, most of the surrounding cast of characters are not much more than light relief or narrative props. This is a shame, and it could have been a richer experience if some of the characters, especially those close to the main characters, were fleshed out a little more.

Overall, The Intern is very easy to watch and an enjoyable experience for the most part, but only succeeds within its rather timid limits. If you want a film with a warm heart and a few laughs however, this could well be for you. There is very little to hate about it, and it does no harm to watch movies now and then that make us feel good. Just don't expect Goodfella's level De Niro Ok? Those days are well and truly over. At least its not Dirty Grandpa..

Characters: 60
Narrative: 70
Visuals: 50
Music: N/A

Overall: 60/100