Saturday, May 15, 2010

Wall Street 2 Review from Cannes

By Roger Friedman

Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” sequel, subtitled “Money Never Sleeps,” is a hit. It’s a formula Hollywood movie in the great sense. For the first time in a long time, the formula works.

There are many good things to say about “Money Never Sleeps.” The script sings and zings with excellent dialogue and memorable one liners. It’s a simple story of greed and morality, with a twist you can see from the beginning. But the players are winning, and Stone doesn’t get bogged down. He plays the 2008 financial crisis like an end of the world movie. It’s “Deep Impact” but the falling Dow Jones averages are meteors hurtling to Earth.

Michael Douglas returns as Gordon Gekko after 23 years. It’s a slow starter performance, deceptively sly. I kind of prefer him this year in “Solitary Man,” but don’t be mistaken: as he says in the film, Gordon Gekko is back.

Lots of great supporting performances: Shia LeBoeuf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, John Mailer, Susan Sarandon are all great. Eli Wallach is just perfect as the head a sinking Wall Street firm. He’s 93 and better than ever. Charlie Sheen has a welcome, winning cameo as Bud Fox. Sylvia Miles returns as the cranky real estate agent.

Read the rest here.

3 comments:

  1. its about time...been eagerly waiting for this movie for over two years now...since the crisis started.

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  2. Interview at Cannes :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTSTSZ3Cdqo

    this is part 1 of 5. please refer end of the video, where oliver talks about wage growth...surprisingly knowledgeable and raises important points.

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  3. Now this a film I'm really looking forward to. The first one is unreal and I think Shia will add a lot to the film as well. I'm so glad the stars are back for this one.

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