The Wolf of Wall Street // Review

To most people, the New Year is a time for resolutions. This usually involves winding down the pace and behaving yourself. In tinseltown, however, it signifies the beginning of award season, and believe you me, the party is just getting started. 

This brings us to The Wolf of Wall Street, the latest film from Martin Scorsese. Anyone who knows anything about films knows Scorsese, but for years he appeared to have been shunned by the Academy - masters of shiny object giving - despite making such classics as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. He remained statue-less until in 2006, he won an Oscar for The Departed (not that he didn’t show his gratitude, he then made Hugo, a film about how cinema is awesome) but now he’s back, and he’s up to his old tricks.

The Wolf… is about stockbroker Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) who swindles his way from humble beginnings to money laundering toe-rag before ultimately exploding in a shower of dirty money. It’s perfect. Who better than the guy who showed us gangsters being businessmen, to show us bankers being criminals? The movie’s tone is more comic than previous work, but still as dark and satisfyingly disturbing.