Two Movies in 24 Hours

I have seen two movies in 24 hours which is very unusual because I can't remember the last movie I actually went to see one in a theater.  Probably it was Runaway Slave.  Maybe True Grit before that.

Steve and I went to see Lone Survivor yesterday and today I went to see Wolf of Wall Street.

We wanted to see Lone Survivor because we'd both read the book when it came out and well, what a story it is!  I thought the movie was very good and it made me even more appreciative (if that's possible) of our military and what they are willing to sacrifice for this country.  Simply amazing.  I was sorry that the movie deviated from the book in the final scenes; wasn't the real story intense and dramatic enough without making up events?  That being said, it was well worth the time to see.  I highly recommend it if you get a chance.

I went to Wolf because my 22-year old son wanted to see it and asked me to go with him.  Yeah, it's not really a movie to see with your kids, no matter how old they are, but there we were.  I have mixed feelings about Wolf.  I thought that artistically the movie was well done, especially with regard to how it represented the eighties.  But there was an awful lot of gratuitous naked people and sex that could have been left out.  The three hour movie could easily have been done in 2 hours if some of that was trimmed.

My other problem with Wolf is that it seems the older I get the less tolerant I am about glorifying criminals.  The guy needed to be in jail (not a federal country club) and needs to be held to his restitution agreement.  I'm all for freedom of artistic expression and I know a lot of people enjoy movies like that.  I have certainly watched my share of Godfather movies and own a copy of Scarface.  I can't really put my finger on why this one bugs me; maybe it's because this real person defrauded other real people and so far doesn't seem to have paid much of a price.  Maybe it's just that I don't like Belfort.  There's nothing likable about him.

Leonardo DiCaprio probably did a fine job in his role of Jordan Belfort (although I think I would have preferred it if he and Matthew McConaughey had switched roles.  McConaughey would have been excellent in that role.)

I am content now to sit back on the couch and stick to reading books.  And considering the previews I've seen, that's probably going to be a very wise decision.