Neighbors

There's always that one movie that comes out in the spring of each year that makes me say "I'm surprised this movie wasn't horrible." Neighbors takes the cake for 2014. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne do battle with the young men of Delta Psi Beta, who are lead by Zac Efron and Dave Franco. As much as the "next door neighbor rivalry" theme has been done, this movie felt refreshing enough.

To start off, Seth Rogen does essentially play himself in this movie, as per usual. But have we ever seen Seth Rogen as a dad? Because, while he's a terrible parent, he's a hilarious one. As crude as the humor may be, it might be a step above his usual stuff. Byrne plays opposite Rogen very well, both as the caring mother and the out-of-touch Australian.

The main appeal to this movie is that there's a lot more heart than you'd expect. You think it's setting you up to hate Greek life or take shots at older new parents, but I ended up sympathizing with nearly every major character in this movie. What makes it, is there are no flat characters. You're able to see the faults and strengths of Efron, Rogen, Byrne, and Franco, which makes the movie a lot funnier when you can relate to it.

With that said, Efron and Franco had some career jump-starting performances. Franco has been building his the past few years, but Efron needed a boost. It's been nearly a decade since his High School Musical breakthrough, and Efron finally found a role that can show his abilities as an actor. I sincerely hope that he can grab more roles from this, because I was getting really tired of not liking the guy. Franco is no longer playing "just a douchebag" which is a good step in the right direction. I was done with seeing Cole from season 9 of Scrubs in movies.

I still have to say something negative.Ike Barinholtz fits really well into the movie, but Carla Gallo doesn't seem to have a purpose except to look crazy and flesh out Ike's character. Their sub-plot of a sub-plot doesn't really play out like the film wants it to, but the audience doesn't really care, because it doesn't take them out of the movie.

As played out as the concept of neighbors fighting sounds, this movie just felt more original than your usual summer comedy. There are a few familiar scenes (i.e. trying to catch someone doing something illegal with a hidden camera), but there were so many things that I can say I've never seen before, even some of the most basic jokes came off as genius.

As predictable as this movie seems, it takes some different roads that gave it a different tone. These weren't douchey college kids just not caring about their neighbors; they were a friendly group of people who were misunderstood by the equally misunderstood older couple. All of the interactions just hit on a deeper level to where the audience can understand the inner thoughts of each character, while still being absolutely hysterical.

Overall, Neighbors might end up being the best comedy I'll see this summer (we'll see how A Million Ways to Die in the West turns out). After my Amazing Spider-Man 2 review, I've decided to stick with the double rating system. The first rating will represent the niche or genre, while the second will represent the film in comparison to other films. If you like the potty humor, you'll like Neighbors.

Summer Comedy About Feuding Neighbors: A

Average: B

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese brings us his latest epic crime film, The Wolf of Wall Street. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) slowly builds his fortune through a series of less than legal practices as a stockbroker. After his original firm goes belly up working legally, Belfort teams up with Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) to start living the high life by screwing over hundreds of working class people, and he soon finds himself under investigation by FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler).

To get a point across quickly, DiCaprio should get an Oscar for this. End of story. Hill should be nominated. Scorsese will be nominated, could win. So now that the Oscar talk is out of the way, let's get started.

This movie has easily the best written dialogue in any film this year. DiCaprio's monologues are all bullshit, but they're inspiring at the same time. Belfort feels like a man in control of his own destiny. He feels like a representation of the American dream if that dream were to fuck bitches, get money, and do enough drugs to sedate New York for a month. He's a man that makes you feel like anything is possible as long as you have money. And for the most part, he's right.

Matthew McConaughey is in this movie for about 10 minutes. He gives one lengthy monologue, but everyone is so invested. He'll have you beating your chest and humming in that rhythm as you walk out of the theater. Jonah Hill is clearly at his best, comically and dramatically. You can tell he's still getting used to dramatic roles, but this was about 95% comedy for his character.

Like in most of Scorsese's films, everything comes together and is wrapped up nicely. The narrating lead character goes through changes and eventually deals with them. Belfort is a criminal that you can sympathize with. He may be victimizing less fortunate people, but he also helps people to whom he is the closest. He has troubles at home with his wife (Margot Robbie), and he has the worst drug problem depicted since Scarface, while there are better examples this one comes to mind.

If I had to describe this movie in terms of other movies, I would put it this way. It has the structure of Goodfellas, the quotability of Pulp Fiction, the setting of Wall Street, and the drug depiction of Scarface (maybe worse). I had a smile on my face for the first two hours of the movie.

It slows down in the last hour or so, because Belfort has built his empire, and he now has to sustain it. It doesn't get boring or tedious to watch, but it's significantly different from the first two thirds of the film. For some of my reviews, I take notes on what I like, dislike etc. But this film was gripping my attention so tightly for its entirety, that I couldn't bother to look down.

Many things are over-the-top and just louder about this movie. The trailer captures it fairly well. It's like The Great Gatsby except it probably deserves an NC-17 rating. Between the drugs, the language, and the amount of softcore porn, this film barely squeaked by the MPAA and it will make many couples uncomfortable. When you see DiCaprio blowing cocaine into the asshole of a prostitute, you know you're getting into something you weren't expecting.

Scorsese has mastered pacing long movies over the course of his career. This is a three hour movie that feels like two or two-and-a-half. He keeps you invested by keeping everything upbeat and fun to watch. Even in the film's darkest moments, you're still enjoying it. Jordan Belfort is the man that men should aspire to be in terms of attitude and ambition. This film will be winning Oscars come February. I suggest you go see it, just don't bring a date. 

Rating: A+