Tag Archives: W

Wolf Creek 2 (2013)

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I didn’t think it was possible, but Greg McLean has managed to create a sequel to “Wolf Creek” that’s even more despicable than the first. Almost ten years later, Greg McLean has seemingly come up dry in the realm of new ideas for his character Mick Taylor, and apparently fulfills a contract, judging by the quality of this long in development follow up to his terrible 2005 horror film. Not only does “Wolf Creek 2” drop the pretense of a narrative, but it reduces the entire film to nothing but a string of really violent deaths, turning Mick Taylor in to a maniac who kills just because he has nothing else to do. Director McLean revels in cruel and disgusting murders that are repetitive and senseless and lacks any and all ability to provide scares, tension, and a genuine sense of unease. It’s just a large maniac running around destroying people left and right, and nothing else.

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The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

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One of the main aspects about “The Wolf of Wall Street” that I loved is that through and through Jordan Belfort is an unapologetic amoral hedonist. When we see him in the opening, right until the final moments of the film, he’s barely apologetic and really misses the days when he swam in money, women, and recreational drugs. Because deep down he felt be earned what he sewed, and right until his downfall, he loves the man he was. Deep down no matter how much he changes, he’s still the same Jordan Belfort, a man who is addicted to satisfying his base pleasures no matter who he hurts.

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The We and the I (2012)

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What Michel Gondry does is take some of the most realistic and unique teenagers from the South Bronx, plants them on a public bus, and creates what is basically his own “The Breakfast Club” with the aimlessness of “Dazed and Confused.” Every character is put on to the bus by circumstance and come to some sense of realization by the end of the ride that will likely have no effect on their personal lives. In the end, every character in “The We and the I” are victims of peer pressure and their home lives, and are just ships passing in to the night. Filled with a cast of young actors that were cast right out of the South Bronx and honed to work with Gondry for their characters, “The We and the I” is a pretty excellent dramedy about the modern teenager that never sugarcoats their dynamics.

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The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu) (2013)

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“The Wind Rises” is such a beautiful note for Hayao Miyazaki to leave us on. It’s a bittersweet affair as a film and an animated feature, mainly because Miyazaki hasn’t lost his ability to tell stories. He’s the most incredible animator working today, and his retirement is heartbreaking because the man has many more years left to deliver lucid, entertaining and thought provoking stories to his fan base. “The Wind Rises” is not an explosive, fantastical exit for Miyazaki, but a respectful and quiet bow out. One that really does stick with you long after the credits have ended.

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The World’s End (2013)

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Director Edgar Wright finishes his “Cornetto Trilogy” (the first two being “Shaun of the Dead,” and “Hot Fuzz”) finally with “The World’s End,” a film very much in the tradition of the first two installments. Wright and co. dwell on the prevalent themes that have fueled the first two stories. They’re tales about xenophobia, alienation, conformity, coming of age, the fear of progress, and the dangers of nostalgia. Much in the way Woody Allen did with “Midnight in Paris,” director Wright warns about nostalgia and how our memories can lie to us and become a crutch, preventing us from growing up and moving on with our lives.

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The Wolverine (2013)

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Man, Wolverine is a boring character. Never has that been made more apparent than in “The Wolverine.” Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine with the personality of a waffle, and rather than playing the character as a man in his element, like in the comics, Wolverine is a fish out of water. He can’t speak Japanese, nor can he understand it. So he needs a Japanese character to hover around him lest he become trapped in a hilarious misunderstanding. Like the scene where he’s being scrubbed by a group of bath women.

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The Wrong Man (1956)

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Imagine waking up one morning to run your errands, and you’re then stopped by police who insist you’ve committed a horrible crime? And what happens when everyone else you come across swears you’ve committed this horrible crime, and you know yourself that you’ve never even held a gun? How do you convince everyone that you’re an innocent man, when people can identify you as a criminal, and present evidence that contradicts your claims? What happens when you’re about to go to jail for a crime you have committed and can’t prove that you didn’t commit it? That’s the nightmare Manny Balestrero, a family man, finds himself in, in Alfred Hitchcock’s gripping and awfully horrifying thriller that sees a wrongly convicted man who has no chance of proving he’s committed the awful crime he’s been accused of.

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