The Wolf is a howling success

Liberty Theatre

The Wolf of Wall Street

****

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie. Director: Martin Scorsese.

Rated: R

Showing: Fri-Sat 2pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Sun 1pm, 5pm; Mon-Thurs 2pm, 6pm.

Runtime: 180 minutes

Biography, comedy, crime.

The Wolf of Wall Street comes shackled with impossibly high expectations.

It’s the latest film from Martin Scorsese (arguably America’s greatest living director), features two of the era’s most notable leading men (Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey) and runs three hours (Hollywood proof that this is “important,” people).

It also happens to be of the cultural moment, based on Jordan Belfort’s bestselling memoir about his days as a young, ruthless Wall Street warlord. As the country continues to struggle its way out of the 2008 financial collapse, there’s still interest in how it all might have gone down.

So it’s a relief and a pleasant surprise that Wall Street, despite some missteps and the need for an editor, mostly manages to live up to the interest generated by its kinetic trailers and the heavy hand of hype. While there are obvious similarities to such previous Scorsese films as Goodfellas and Casino, this freewheeling and often ferociously-funny film about a bunch of goofballs — pumped up on coke, crooked capitalism, testosterone and entitlement — stands on its own as one of the year’s most entertaining films. 

Neptune Theatre

I, Frankenstein

*

Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Miranda Otto.  

Director: Stuart Beattie.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 7:30pm; Sat 7pm, Sun 5:30pm; Mon-Thurs 7pm.

Runtime: 93 minutes

Action, fantasy, sci-fi.

Aaron Eckhart bears a distressing resemblance to the not late / not great Christopher Lambert in I, Frankenstein, a graphic novel movie. Gaunt, scowling, covered in scars and sporting fingerless gloves, a tattered hoodie and biker boots, this “I” is an avenging brawler, sort of “Blade” in a blender, with Underworld and Highlander elements tossed in. Rejected by his creator, we meet the Big Guy in a striking, Gothic past in which he avenges himself on Dr. Frankenstein. And just as he’s burying the guy, demons and then gargoyles show up to fight over the corpse — his corpse. The film, sadly, is non-stop battles and endless, tedious pages of exposition. 

Speciality Theatre

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

***

Stars: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley. 

Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 2:30pm, 6:30pm, 9pm; Sat 6:30pm, 9pm; Sun 2:45pm, 5pm; Mon-Wed 2:15pm, 6pm, 8:30pm; Thurs 2:15pm, 6:30pm, 9:15pm.

Runtime: 105 minutes

Action, mystery, thriller.

We all know you can’t tell a book by its cover, but can you tell a film by its release date? Where Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, is concerned, that becomes a bit of a trick question.

A glance at the calendar reminds us that this tale of espionage and derring-do starring Chris Pine as CIA analyst Jack Ryan is coming to theatres in January, the traditional elephant burial ground for major studio releases.

But before The Wolf of Wall Street dislodged it into 2014, Jack Ryan possessed a coveted Christmas slot all its own. So is this film a holiday gem slumming in the low-rent district, or a tawdry impostor stripped of ideas above its station? The answer lies somewhere in between.

As directed by Kenneth Branagh, who co-stars along with fellow Brit Keira Knightley, this Jack Ryan has the additional burden of being the fifth film celebrating the exploits of the wily operative previously played by Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), Harrison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) and Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears). 

Compared to those films, as well as the modern gold standard of the genre as represented by the Bourne epics, this one comes off as a reasonable facsimile, serviceable but not compelling, something that could pass for the real thing if you’re not looking too hard. 

Ride Along

**

Stars: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter

Directors: Tim Story. 

Rated: PG-13

Showing: Fri 2:15pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Sat 2:30pm, 6pm, 9:30pm; Sun 2:30pm, 7:30pm; Mon-Tues 2:30pm, 7pm; Wed 2:30pm, 8:15pm; 

Thurs 2:15pm, 6:15pm, 9pm. 

Runtime: 100 minutes

Action, comedy.

A little Kevin Hart goes a long way in Ride Along, a dull buddy picture engineered as a vehicle for the mini-motor mouth Hart and the perma-sneering Ice Cube. Cube’s pursuit of a mysterious villain named Omar is interrupted by his sister’s fiance. 

That would be Ben (Hart), a video game-addicted school security guard who longs to bring his wise-cracking / voice-cracking banter to the Atlanta P.D. James drags Ben on a ride-along just to convince the dude he isn’t cut out for police work and that he isn’t good enough for James’ supermodel sister Angela. 

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