August: Osage County: A Truly Dysfunctional Family

I went into August: Osage County with exceedingly low expectations. I came out pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it helped that I knew nothing about the story of this Pulitzer-winning play. As a result, I was treated to two hours of a genuinely surprising, oftentimes hilarious story anchored by strong, powerful performances from some of the greatest actresses of our generation.

I won't discuss the plot of this movie/play extensively because you either know it or you don't; and if you don't, you're in for a treat. In essence, Meryl Streep plays Violet, the matriarch of the Weston family, who are all gathered together at the family home in Oklahoma during a crisis. In the ensuing days, family secrets bubble to the surface, animosities and resentments are flung about (along with some of the crockery), and the aftermath is alternately hilarious and depressing, entertaining and frustrating.

The cast is a who's who of famous faces that ensures you will never again flounder at a game of Six Degrees of Separation. The daughters of the Weston clan are played by Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, and Julianne Nicholson, an actress I have become particularly fond of after her remarkable work in Masters of Sex. Roberts is in fine form in this film, going toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep and flinging f-bombs with aplomb. Her husband is played by an initially unrecognizable Ewan McGregor, and their fourteen-year old daughter is played by Abigail Breslin, who gets into her fair share of trouble as the movie progresses. Margo Martindale is wonderful as Mattie Fae, Violet's sister who harbors a deep secret that you won't see coming. Chris Cooper plays her husband Charlie, who opens an infamous lunch scene by delivering a grace that made me laugh out loud, while Benedict Cumberbatch is utterly charming (complete with Southern accent) as her disappointing son, "Little" Charles.

This is an incredible story about family dysfunction, told with the blackest of humor. The screenwriter is the original playwright, Tracy Letts, and like with any play, the dialogue can get pedantic. But once the women are back to swearing at each other, things are on an even keel. I initially thought the award nominations for Roberts and Streep were mere kowtows to Hollywood royalty, but after watching this movie, I have absolutely no objections. These are some incredible performances that I won't forget in a hurry, and despite the dark subject matter, I truly enjoyed this movie. Every character feels real and fleshed out, and at just two hours, this is a shockingly zippy film. So watch August: Osage County - it is chock-full of dysfunctional surprises.

Inside Llewyn Davis: Making Music in Manhattan

I love the Coen brothers, so I expected to love their latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis. Instead, I can only say I liked it, though the soundtrack (produced by the divine T-Bone Burnett with input from Marcus Mumford) will stay with me forever. And perhaps that's the point - this is a movie about folk music, where the songs live on through the generations, while the singers and their stories mostly fade away from memory.

At the center of the film is, of course, Llewyn Davis, a struggling musician loosely modeled after real-life folk musician Dave Van Ronk. Oscar Isaac plays Davis, in a flawless performance that would have won multiple accolades in any other year but has sadly been eclipsed this year by a glut of Oscar-worthy performances. The movie opens with a haunting rendition of Hang Me, Oh Hang Me in a smoky cafe, with nothing but Isaac's voice and guitar performing live, as are all the other performances in this movie. It is a perfect introduction to this film that beautifully captures the wintry look and feel of Greenwich Village in 1961 and the burgeoning folk music scene.

Llewyn hasn't found his big break, and for one week, this movie follows him from performance to performance, as he sleeps on friends' couches and grows increasingly disenchanted with the life he has chosen. This character reminded me immediately of Larry Gopnik in another Coen brothers film, A Serious Man. Like Larry, Llewyn has trials and tribulations heaped upon him in unforgiving quantities. Every time he chooses a path, you feel an ominous sense of dread that he has yet again made the wrong decision. It is a testament to my eternal cinematic optimism that at one point in this film, I genuinely thought Davis had finally made it. Sadly, I was mistaken.

The supporting cast includes Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan as folk duo, Jim and Jean, as well as Adam Driver, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, and others who sail in and out of Llewyn's life. Inside Llewyn Davis feels more like a series of sketches, a dark catalog of failures that amounts to nothing much at the end. Perhaps what rankles most is that the music is so wonderful and Llewyn's songs are so moving that you can't understand why he isn't more successful. Sadly, that's the price of being an artist; talent is so rarely rewarded. The Coen brothers have escaped that fate, but Llewyn Davis does not. 

Blue Jasmine: A Woman on the Verge of Something

I can't claim to be a Woody Allen devotee but ever since he left New York behind to shoot movies in other locales, I've found myself far more engaged in his work. Heresy, I know. Blue Jasmine is set in San Francisco, with flashbacks about Jasmine's old life in New York. However, this is an Allen film where the location doesn't really matter. Instead, the focus is squarely on Jasmine.

Played by Cate Blanchett (who is almost a lock for the Best Actress Oscar this year), Jasmine Francis arrives in San Francisco to live with her adopted sister, Ginger (the wonderful Sally Hawkins). Jasmine was a glittery Manhattan socialite, married to Hal (the reliable Alec Baldwin), a wealthy businessman whose empire came crashing down when he was arrested for fraud. Jasmine is now completely broke, suffering from acute mental distress, and has arrived at Ginger's doorstep to get back on her feet. The sisters aren't especially close–their lives diverged widely and Jasmine was too self-absorbed to have much time for her working-class sister–but Ginger is a kind woman who wouldn't dream of abandoning Jasmine in her time of need.

Blanchett's performance is a dream to watch. At first, Jasmine seems like a woman to root for, someone who has suffered a great deal and requires the audience's sympathy despite her penchant for histrionics. However, more is gradually revealed about her past and her extremely flawed personality. Rather than being the heroine, she's revealed to be the villain, a woman who has failed spectacularly and dragged everyone down with her. And yet, she remains oblivious, convinced that she is a victim of fate who has no personal responsibility for her downfall.

The supporting cast is filled with several well-known actors, including Bobby Canavale as Ginger's stereotypical working-class boyfriend, Chili, and Louis C.K. as a rival for Ginger's affections. Peter Sarsgaard puts in a very un-Sarsgaardian appearance as a wealthy man who might be the answer to Jasmine's troubles, and their relationship winds along merrily to its inevitable conclusion. But everyone pales in comparison to Blanchett, whose trembly, arrogant performance steals every scene. As much as you hate Jasmine, you can't help but feel a sneaking admiration for her steely resolve and selfishness. Despite her many troubles, this is a wily woman, and you keep wondering if Jasmine will claw her way back to the top.

Woody Allen has clearly modeled Jasmine Francis after another flawed and fallen woman, Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire. She is a complicated, frustrating, fascinating character and a wonder to behold throughout this movie. The various subplots and shenanigans of Blue Jasmine are less than memorable, but Jasmine is a woman you will never forget. The next time you hear the familiar strains of Blue Moon, you'll say to yourself, "Oh, I remember this was playing when I first saw Jasmine..."

The Book Thief: Literary Larceny in Nazi Germany

I recently read Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief, an absorbing story about a young girl in Germany on the brink of World War II. She is adopted by foster parents who teach her to read using books she steals in strange and often tragic situations. Narrated by Death, this is an initially odd and ultimately moving tale about a brave family that shelters a Jewish man and the various tragedies they experience alongside the small joys of their ordinary lives. The book is a sprawling 560 pages, but now it has been condensed into a two-hour movie. It's a serviceable effort, but fails to capture the much-needed nuance and delicacy of the novel.

Sophie Nélisse puts in an astonishing performance as twelve-year old Liesel Meminger. Liesel is a mere child who has to grow up quickly as she learns of the horrors of Nazi Germany. Nélisse's face captures every shifting mood and emotion that the young girl experiences over the course of the film, tumbling from joy to despair with credible ease. Her foster father, the kind and charming house painter Hans Hubermann, who teaches Liesel to read every night, is played by an incredibly warm Geoffrey Rush. Emily Watson plays his wife Rosa, a foul-mouthed woman with a heart of pure gold. Oftentimes, the movie fails to do this character justice because all you get is her outer coarseness and not enough of her inner warmth.

Ben Schnetzer plays Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man whose father fought alongside Hans in World War I. When he arrives at the Hubermann's doorstep, they do not hesitate to give him shelter from the Nazis. Max and Liesel have a wonderful connection - he's stuck in the basement all day so he relies on Liesel's daily descriptions of the world outside. In return, he writes her short fables and stories to help with her reading. Of course, these relatively idyllic conditions cannot persist and the Hubermanns have to face a perilous reality as World War II gets into full swing.

The Book Thief features a great cast and wonderful production design. The only trouble is that the script cannot capture all the subtlety and complexity that makes this story so compelling. It feels a bit clinical, a little too neatly told, rather than the oftentimes messy and tangential narrative of the novel. It's the opposite problem of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, where the writer had expanded a short story to a long movie. Here the screenwriter, Michael Petroni, has turned a long book into a short movie, and it doesn't entirely work. This is by no means a bad movie, but it isn't a great one. If you refuse to read the book, you could perhaps get away with watching the movie, but you would be missing out on a truly engrossing tale.

Frozen: Disney Princesses Learn a New Lesson

The first thing you need to know about Frozen, Disney's latest animated princess movie, is that it was written and co-directed by a woman, Jennifer Lee. Thanks to her perspective, Disney has finally produced a movie with princesses who discover that "true love" doesn't always require a handsome prince.

Frozen tells the tale of two princesses in the kingdom of Arendelle, Anna and Elsa (voiced by the amazing duo of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel). Elsa is born with the magical ability to create snow and ice, a skill she uses to make snowmen and create a winter wonderland whenever Anna demands. However a terrible accident leads to Anna being frozen by Elsa's powers. Her parents rush her to a group of trolls who are able to reverse the magic and remove all of Anna's memories about the incident and Elsa's powers. From that moment on, Elsa is too terrified to play with Anna and her parents decide it is best to keep her isolated in the castle as she tries to control her ever-growing powers.

A few years later, it is time for Elsa's coronation and the kingdom's gates are opened for the first time in years for the festivities. Unfortunately, Anna and Elsa get into a serious argument, causing Elsa to lose control and freeze everything around her. Unable to stop, Elsa flees from the castle into the mountains, but not before Arendelle has been enveloped in a perpetual winter. What follows is Anna's quest to find her sister and reverse the wintry conditions. On the way she meets various sidekicks who help her trace Elsa's whereabouts. A series of misfortunes suggest that both sisters might meet a tragic end. But there's a wonderful twist, where the people who would traditionally come to the rescue are revealed to be useless, while the princesses are in charge of their own fate. It's a witty, slyly subversive take on classic Disney tales, and ultimately a surprising and heartwarming story.

Frozen features impeccable animation, with a blend of hand-drawn and CGI imagery that will leave you shivering in your seat. It is highly inventive and features a haunting score inspired by native Scandinavian music. The soundtrack is composed by Christophe Beck (composer for the scintillating Paperman) and the movie opens with a traditional Sami song, which will instantly transport you into this world. The voice acting is excellent (Josh Gad as a silly snowman is particularly hilarious) and Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel are marvelous singers. The songs written by Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez are hilarious and inspiring, giving the audience the full Disney experience.

Like Brave, Frozen highlights a new trend of giving young girls better female role models who are less concerned with finding a boyfriend and spend more time focusing on the importance of family and becoming your own person. It's still a princess movie, but it's another step in the right direction and I can't wait to see what Disney gives us next.

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty: A Simple Epic

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was a short story by James Thurber, published in the New Yorker in 1939. A simple tale about an ordinary man who likes to daydream about being in extraordinary situations, it takes all of ten minutes to read. And yet, director Ben Stiller has turned this short story into a two-hour spectacle, filled with comedy, wistfulness, and epic splendor.

Stiller plays the eponymous Walter Mitty, who in this movie is a negatives assets manager for Life magazine, which is about to publish its very last print copy. Walter has a special connection with one of Life's photographers, Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), a man he has never met, but whose work he admires. Sean sends Walter some negatives and claims that #25 should be on the cover of Life's final issue. The new bosses (including an ominously-bearded bully, Ted Hendricks, played by Adam Scott), are eager to see #25, but there's just one problem. It's missing.

In the meantime, Walter is also trepidatiously wooing Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), a woman who recently joined the magazine and caught his fancy. He can't seem to speak to her though, so he resorts to creating an eHarmony profile to send her a "wink." However, his attempts at online romance are foiled because his profile is completely blank - he hasn't been anywhere or done anything noteworthy. The eHarmony customer representative (delightfully voiced by Patton Oswalt) is bemused by Walter's tame existence and it doesn't look like our hero will ever figure out how to get the girl. However, in a rapid turn of events, Walter decides to hunt down negative #25 and embarks on a journey that takes him from Greenland to Iceland to the Himalayas. Not bad for a man whose previous notable trip was a layover at the Colorado airport.

The soundtrack (composed by Theodore Shapiro with contributions from the fantastic Jose Gonzalez) and music is uplifting and beautiful. The cinematography is spectacular and the locations are breathtaking. As Walter climbs snowy mountains and dives into oceans, you can tell Stiller went all out to inspire a sense of awe. Back in New York, his chemistry with Wiig is charming, as are his interactions with Shirley Maclaine and Kathryn Hahn, who play his mother and sister. This movie is a gorgeous visual treat, whether you're gazing at an Icelandic panorama or suddenly salivating over a slice of Mrs. Mitty's clementine cake.

However, as grandiose as it is on a cinematic scale, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a very slight movie in terms of story. Which is to be expected, since the original tale was just about a man driving around New York with his wife and daydreaming. There are moments when the movie feels indulgent and the story is being stretched thin. It doesn't neatly fit into any genre, sometimes leaning towards epic fable, other times to romantic comedy. But all the threads come together at the end and I wasn't bored for an instant. This is a charming tale, ambitiously told, and like Walter Mitty, it may not be perfect, but it's certainly endearing.

Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues: Nick Hornby Discusses the Finer Things

The great thing about an essay collection is that it's easy to read when you're on the go. You can quickly read one essay on the bus, scan another at your desk between meetings, catch up on a few before bed. Unfortunately, if the writer happens to be Nick Hornby, you'll be so delighted with the tales he has to tell that you'll just read the entire collection from cover to cover in one sitting.

Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues is a 2013 e-book that collects some of Hornby's best non-fiction pieces over the years. You can read collections of his brilliant "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns he wrote for the Believer (I read More Baths Less Talking recently and highly recommend it if you want intelligent and humorous commentary on literature and life, as well as a stack of book recommendations), but this collection spans more than just books. It includes musings on music, filmmaking, sports, and highly amusing autobiographical anecdotes. There's much to love here, and each reader will find their own favorite piece, so I'll just highlight some of my favorites. 

Naturally the essay about P.G. Wodehouse was a corker (I made my dad read it the instant I was finished). Hornby perfectly captures why we love Wodehouse - the complexity of language, the intricate plots, the chance to just unwind and enjoy the image of a daffy Earl doting on his prized pig. Hornby's essay about the process of adapting and making the movie, An Education (for which he received a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination), is a wonderful insight into the creative process and the challenges of screenwriting, producing, casting, schmoozing, and traipsing around film festivals. You'll want to re-watch the movie as soon as you're done reading about how it made the journey from his pen to theatres. If TV's your thing, there's an excellent essay about The West Wing, that serves as a loving ode to the show in particular, and a comparative critique of the merits of American and British TV in general. At the time of writing, Hornby seems to despair of British TV, contending that it has been beaten by the burgeoning quality of American television. I wonder what he would say today.

However, the essay that made me laugh loudest was a hysterical tale about Hornby's part-time job at the English branch of some well-known South Korean corporation. He started out as a weekend English tutor to help the Korean salesmen but slowly finagled a job that would let him work in the afternoon and write in the mornings. This supposedly cushy job quickly devolved into a series of weird scenarios where Hornby was subjects to the caprices of the company's South Korean chairman, who would announce in Seoul that he wanted to re-create Hampton Court or purchase an equestrian center to train the Olympic equestrian team, and these lofty demands would be filtered down to Hornby, who would have to research their practicality. A complete wastrel at heart, Hornby was astonished at how seriously his colleagues took these requests, requiring that equestrian centers be purchased within a week instead of waiting six months and forgetting all about it as he envisioned. It's a wonderful clash of cultures, work ethics, and personalities, and guaranteed to make you burst out laughing. 

As you may have noticed, I haven't singled out any music-related essays. Hornby is a music fanatic (this is the man who wrote High Fidelity after all) and his music essays are written with obsessive love. Unfortunately, music journalism is not my thing and I tended to skim those pieces. But if you love articulate, passionate critiques about songs, artists, and decades of musical change, you'll love what Hornby has to say. Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues has enough material to whet the appetite of any reader, regardless of your interests. Some essays may be more relevant to you than others, but they are all equally insightful and hilarious.

Her: Love Is Complicated

Her, the new movie written and directed by Spike Jonze, is a work of genius. In this year of sequels and adaptations, it's incredible that the fully-realized world of Her springs from an original screenplay, and I am already certain Jonze will take home an Oscar for this script. A deeply romantic and bittersweet tale about a man who falls in love with a Siri-like operating system, this story feels plausible, heartbreaking, and magical.

Her is set in the Los Angeles of the "near future," a place that looks both futuristic and familiar. Unlike future films of yore that featured flying cars and jetpacks, this vision of the future just feels like downtown Tokyo, brightly-colored and teeming with technology. In this setting we find Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a melancholy loner who writes love letters for a living. Yes, in the future, people outsource their love letters to BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, where writers like Theodore dictate letters that their computers "handwrite" for people who can't express themselves on their own. Adept at composing beautiful letters for strangers, Theodore is unable to articulate his own emotions very well, which is why he is currently in the midst of a divorce from his childhood sweetheart, Catherine (Rooney Mara). To feel less lonesome, he purchases a new operating system (OS) programmed with artificial intelligence that will allow it to grow and adapt like a human being. He picks a female identity for his OS, and in few short minutes, "Samantha" comes into his life.

Voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Samantha is charming and intuitive. Both she and Theodore are initially hesitant, unsure of what role she needs to play in his life. His old OS would read him his e-mails, remind him of meetings, and generally just do as it was told. But Samantha is so much more than that. She actually has conversations with him, senses his mood, offers opinions and suggestions. Created by over a million programmers, she has a command over multiple personalities but gradually starts to discover a personality of her own. Initially content to organize Theodore's e-mails and help him play video games, Samantha's sense of consciousness keeps expanding, until she starts experiencing actual emotions, and yearns to know what it feels like to have a body. And before long, she and Theodore have fallen in love.

It seems strange and remarkable to read about it, but believe me, there's nothing strange or remarkable about their relationship as you watch it develop in the movie. It seems perfectly natural, and the wonderful thing is how the people around Theodore also accept it as a perfectly legitimate relationship. Just like the world of this movie feels both real and surreal, this relationship is so grounded in truth and humanity that it contains the barest twinge of fantasy.

Her is a beautifully constructed commentary on relationships in the modern age, anchored by a stunning performance from Joaquin Phoenix. And Scarlett Johansson's voice is enough to make Samantha a three-dimensional character - you can picture her and the love she shares with Theodore; she's never just a disembodied voice. This movie also deserves multiple accolades for its production designer, K.K. Barrett. Every piece of technology, fashion, architecture, and design has been meticulously crafted to lend authenticity to this world and you won't want to look away. Her is a triumph of modern film-making, and most importantly, it is a film about a future that feels tantalizingly real. 

Dallas Buyers Club: How to Fight Back

After watching How to Survive a Plague, I had some idea about the struggles HIV-positive individuals experienced to obtain drugs that may or may not help them combat their disease. A common source of black market drugs was a "buyers club," where people imported drugs that hadn't been approved by the FDA yet but were being used in other countries with varying degrees of efficacy. Based on a true story, Dallas Buyers Club looks at one man's attempts to circumvent the system and save his own life.

Matthew McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, a Dallas electrician who embraced a wild lifestyle that encompassed drugs, alcohol, and unprotected sex with multiple women. After a workplace accident landed him in the hospital, he was informed that he was HIV-positive, in the throes of full-blown AIDS, and had 30 days to get his affairs in order. This is a role of a lifetime for McConaughey who will shock you just by his emaciated appearance as the HIV-ravaged Woodroof. The character undergoes an incredible transformation - initially a raging homophobe who refuses to believe he has AIDS because that's only a disease for gay people, Woodroof educates himself, learns more about his illness, and proceeds to fight back. 

When Woodroof learns that enrollment in the hospital's AZT trial won't guarantee that he will receive AZT instead of a placebo, he bribes a janitor to sneak the drugs to him. When the AZT decimates his body due to its high toxicity, he seeks refuge in a Mexican hospital with an unlicensed doctor. There he learns about alternative unapproved therapies and his health rapidly improves. That's when he hits upon the scheme to return to Texas with these drugs and establish a buyers club for the other HIV-positive individuals in the area. To help him find customers, he teams up with an unlikely partner, a trans* woman named Rayon, who is played magnificently by Jared Leto. Leto completely inhabits this character and it is beautiful to see how the relationship between Rayon and Woodroof develops from a business arrangement to a genuine friendship.

Apart from McConaughey and Leto's star turns, Jennifer Garner offers up a warm and compassionate performance as Woodroof's doctor, Eve Saks. She is increasingly concerned with how the drug companies and FDA are handling HIV treatment research but has her hands tied by the system. The film also sets up how intelligent and resourceful HIV patients had to be, taking matters into their own hands when it came to treatment, but it doesn't shy away from revealing how that was a double-edged sword. Woodroof nearly died from self-medicating with unapproved drugs and his vehement opposition to AZT was never wholly justified.

Dallas Buyers Club is a poignant movie about the AIDS crisis in general and an engaging character study in particular. Featuring incredible performances and an elegant script by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, this is a moving story about the power of an individual to effect tremendous change, both within himself and his community. 

How to Survive a Plague: Awe-Inspiring Activism

Last week, PBS' Independent Lens aired How to Survive a Plague, an Oscar-nominated documentary about the early years of AIDS activism and the work of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) to get the US government to respond effectively to the AIDS epidemic. Director David France was a journalist during that period, and by compiling material from over 700 hours of archived footage, he has created a moving and searing documentary about the failures and successes experienced by the LGBT community during this dark time.

The documentary tells the story of ordinary people who came together to do truly extraordinary things. There were men like Larry Kramer, who could not idly stand by and helped found ACT UP to pursue political action in the midst of the AIDS crsis. There were women like Iris Long, an unassuming housewife with a science background, who decided that the members of ACT UP could have more of an impact on public policy if they received basic training in how grants were funded and drug research was conducted. These novices educated themselves, becoming experts who identified flaws in the ways that HIV drugs were being tested and proposed alternate streamlined processes that were ultimately adopted by the National Institutes of Health.

The buyers clubs are also featured, where drugs that weren't FDA-approved were smuggled into the country and sold to HIV-positive individuals who were taking all manner of drugs in the hopes of finding a miracle cure. The desperation of the time is starkly captured, with one of the buyers club members sarcastically commenting that he has every drug available, none of which will help fight AIDS. Even after AZT was approved as the first drug to target HIV, people couldn't afford its exorbitantly high cost, and members of ACT UP and its offshoot, TAG (Treatment Action Group), began to partner with pharmaceutical companies, in the hopes of developing affordable and less toxic treatments.

How to Survive a Plague chronicles the progress of AIDS activism year by year, grimly revealing the number of AIDS deaths as each year passed by without any effective therapy in sight. Many of the people featured in the documentary were HIV-positive individuals who died before more drugs and the power of combination therapy were discovered. Those who survived provide moving tributes to their fallen comrades, but they also suffer from significant survivor's guilt. However, many of them are still activists today, determined to keep up the fight and ensure that people stay educated and informed. The level of political engagement and influence they reached during those chaotic years is bewildering, and these everyday heroes literally helped to save millions of lives. They were articulate, passionate, and intelligent people and this documentary is a long overdue tribute to their tireless advocacy and refusal to accept the status quo.

American Hustle: Conning Congress

David O. Russell's latest movie, American Hustle, is a look at the players involved in the Abscam scandal, when the FBI arrested several prominent politicians on corruption charges. However, the FBI was aided in this operation by joining forces with a con man, a complicated proposition that came with its own risks.

Russell has assembled an all-star cast from his repertoire, all of whom deliver pitch-perfect performances. Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld, a con man who is busted by the FBI for low-level fraud but offered immunity if he will help ambitious FBI agent Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper) catch some bigger fish. Amy Adams plays Sydney Prosser, Irving's mistress and partner in crime who pretends to be an English aristocrat in order to lure unsuspecting marks. Complicating matters is Irving's nervy wife, Rosalyn, played by the reliably excellent Jennifer Lawrence, who knows her husband is up to no good, and threatens to expose him as the scam gets increasingly complicated.

What starts as a small operation develops into a political minefield, and once the Mafia gets involved, Irving starts to develop cold feet. Luckily, he's a con man, and you'll be on the edge of your seat as you watch him and Sydney try to con their way out of this dangerous situation. This movie will probably resonate more with that portion of the audience that actually remember the Abscam scandal, but it is entertaining even if you weren't around during the actual events depicted in the film. The playful soundtrack, elaborate perms, and outlandish outfits set the scene immediately and the movie proceeds at a quick clip, efficiently establishing the various players and the intricate details of this complex operation.

American Hustle is an excellent caper film, full of twists and turns and ever-escalating stakes. The performances are stellar, with a cast that is clearly at the top of its game. David O. Russell's direction is deft, the script packs a punch, and the movie just looks and feels authentic. This year has featured many movies based on actual events, and American Hustle is yet more proof that the truth is often stranger than fiction.

The Wolf of Wall Street: A Riotous Bacchanal

The opening scenes of The Wolf of Wall Street feature a bunch of coked-up stockbrokers taking bets on a game in which they toss dwarves onto a target. That tells you everything you need to know about how the next three hours are going to play out.

Based on a true story, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker who starts out in a lowly position on Wall Street and proceeds to use his greed and ambition to build an empire. By selling garbage stocks to gullible investors and engaging in all manner of shady deals, he quickly amasses millions for himself and his employees, many of whom are old childhood friends. As Jordan's wealth grows, so does his ego (which was pretty massive to begin with) and he embarks on massive coke-fueled orgies, popping Quaaludes like candy, and treating his staff to a parade of hookers, booze, and other esoteric entertainments, like the aforementioned dwarves.

This is Scorsese's longest film to date, and the reason is that he presents lengthy scenes where the characters are allowed to deliver intense, hilarious monologues that highlight the excesses of the Wall Street lifestyle. Belfort delivers impassioned speeches to motivate his employees and is a dangerously depraved maniac throughout. You'll be astounded by DiCaprio's physical comedy skills in one scene when Belfort is knocked out by some particularly potent Quaaludes. Jonah Hill, who plays his right-hand man, Donnie Azoff, is equally hysterical, reveling in his wealth and utterly oblivious to any twinges of morality. And Margot Robbie, who plays Jordan's second wife, Naomi, does a wonderful job portraying a woman who marries Jordan precisely for his opulence and gradually begins to experience its dark side. This cast is going all out to replicate the hedonistic mess that this man created in the 90s, and Scorsese has filmed a cinematic assault on the senses that will leave you reeling.

At the beginning, Matthew McConaughey has an Oscar-worthy cameo that quickly sets the comic tone. The Wolf of Wall Street is marvelously entertaining and debaucherous, yet the actual story is tragic. Here's another greedy, unscrupulous man who willfully defrauded thousands of people and lived like a king off his ill-gotten gains. And as you can imagine, his punishment is less than adequate. At the end, you can't help feeling sickened at the glorification of such abject criminals. Sadly, Wall Street stockbrokers will watch this movie and see Jordan Belfort as their hero. While the rest of us just stare at our screens in horror.

Death Comes to Pemberley: The BBC Does It Right

While American TV shuts down for the holidays, British TV is positively bursting with Christmas specials and miniseries. If you're all caught up on the latest episodes of your favorite UK series, I have a little gem of a recommendation for you: Death Comes to Pemberley. This three-episode BBC adaptation of P.D. James' 2011 novel is a cozy way to spend three hours, watching the characters from Pride & Prejudice trying to solve a murder.

First off, let's be very clear that this is not high art. Death Comes to Pemberley is essentially a piece of fan fiction, albeit written by a very well-respected author. The murder mystery is nothing more than a plot device designed to get all these characters under one roof again, and as such, don't expect this adaptation to blow your mind with impressive mystery-solving and detection. (Watch Sherlock for that.) But do watch it to see yet another incarnation of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. The famous literary couple are played by Matthew Rhys and Anna Maxwell Martin, an utterly charming pair who are having a grand time playing out this fairy-tale romance. It's Pride & Prejudice after "The End" and it's tantalizing to behold how their relationship has evolved six years after their tempestuous courtship.

Aside from the main couple of interest, we have the return of George and Lydia Wickham. Jenna Coleman perfectly captures Lydia's clueless hysteria, establishing that this woman is well on her way to emulating her equally hysterical mother (played by the wonderful Rebecca Front). And Matthew Goode imbues Wickham with all the twinkly-eyed roguish charm that the character demands. Here's a man who is clearly up to no good, yet surely he wouldn't commit a murder? Rounding out the cast is Eleanor Tomlinson, who plays Georgiana Darcy and is facing a mini-Pride & Prejudice dilemma of her own when it comes to choosing between a young lawyer named Henry Alveston (James Norton) or her cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam (Tom Ward). One way lies love, the other points to duty - how quintessentially Victorian.

Because this adaptation is only three episodes long, Juliette Towhidi's script effectively condenses the plot (not that there was much to begin with) and weaves in plenty of humor and in-jokes that will delight Austen fans. The production design is superb as always, and Chatsworth House, the stately home that represented Pemberley in the 2005 movie, again features as the Darcys' magnificent abode. All told, Death Comes to Pemberley features a sterling cast, entertaining script, and beautiful production values, and it is a deliciously diverting piece of holiday television.