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Russell loves Announcing His Themes Aloud Over And Over, which is tiresome. Lawrence is way too young for her role, and the scene in which she kisses Adams is classic Russell women fetishization--- it's almost like he heard people's complaints about Silver Linings ogling Lawrence and pairing her with a guy super-undeserving of her affection and doubled down. Cooper definitely is the boldest here, but this time around it felt more hammy, particularly in his coked-out scenes (odd that we don't ever see him do coke, since that's obviously the implication). The constantly moving camera also is tiresome-- at times, it suits the energy of events, but other times when people are just standing around talking, Russell is Steadicamming around the room pointing this way and that for no particular reason other than because he wants to.
Finally, it sentimentalizes and glorifies these awful people in a big way, which is especially odd since Wolf of Wall Street, which doesn't, is being accused of glorification. Obviously these aren't real people, so it's different, I understand-- but tonally it's still really peculiar. This is a super-unearned happy ending.
It's still better than Russell's last two outings... but man, if in a terrific movie year this ends up winning the Oscar, what a fucking historic embarrassment that will be. You'll have 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and Captain Phillips up for Best Pic, yet this is likely the front-runner at this point. Sheesh. Do the right thing, Academy. My movies: http://russellhainline.com My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/ My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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