Review: ‘Wall Street: Insider Trading Edition’
“Greed is good” and “Lunch is for wimps” became the two catch phrases that helped turn Oliver Stone’s [[[Wall Street]]] into a smash hit. The feature film also debuted at just the perfect moment as Wall Street blazed across the headlines with a serious financial collapse. The film cemented Michael Douglas as the leading man of the decade and gave us a stellar cast of newcomers, most of who have gone on to do other good work.
In time for the unexpected sequel [[[Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps]]], 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released [[[Wall Street: Insider Trading Edition]]] and it’s a greedy cash grab without delivering the ultimate edition for fans. Several features found on the standard DVD, 20th anniversary edition, and the Blu-ray release are absent, which is a shame since “Greed is Good”, the nearly one hour documentary is worth seeing.
On this standard DVD set, you get the complete film on the first disc (with Stone’s so-so commentary track) while the second has the Fact Exchange, which is the entire film with a bonus trivia track. There is a constant running commentary placing musical cue and cultural references into perspective. After all, newcomers today may not recognize the early reference to former baseball slugger Dave Winfield. So, this is a nice, welcome addition.
We don’t get the deleted scenes or “Money Never Sleeps: The Making of Wall Street” but do get a trailer for the new film, [[[Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps]]] – A Conversation and “Fox Movie Channel Presents: Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman”. These are fine but are aimed at the new film so the featurettes that help explain why the original is so well-regarded should have been here.
Wall Street depicts an energetic New York City, filled with rich and fashionable and those desiring to be rich and fashionable. The offices of Gordon Gecko are sleek and scream money as does his home and suits. He is knowledgeable, charismatic, and cut-throat, typical of a class of businessmen Tom Wolfe called “Masters of the Universe”. His stratospheric career is enticing to young account exec Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) who allows himself to compromise his morals and principles just to breathe the same air as Gecko. In so doing, he uses insider information from his dad (Martin Sheen), a 24 year veteran mechanic for a small airline. Dad is centered and content with his place in the world, always having a few bucks to lend his constantly strapped son, who is never content. Gecko and Fox the Elder are competing father figures with Bud lost between them.
Gecko has his own rival in a fellow ruthless wheeler and dealer, coolly played by Terence Stamp. Their enmity plays out across the film and while they say its just business, it’s also clearly personal. Stone plays with the characters and the Wall Street business world with verve, drawing from his experience of watching his father survive in the financial sector. The film is filled with actors such as James Spader, John C. McGinley, Saul Rubinek and others who have gone on to their own fame and fortune. On the other hand, this was one of the final strong roles for Daryl Hannah before she withdrew from an active acting career.
While the film is well-worth watching, owning yet another version is not called for. The $14.98 list price, though, makes this worth investing to fill the void in your library.
I found myself interested in seeing 
Rarely are Philip K. Dick’s stories appealing and accessible to mass audiences. You need fights and things blowing up and Arnold Schwarzenegger to really attract a crowd because the thought-provoking subject matter doesn’t always translate well from the printed page. As a result, it was a major mistake to release [[[A Scanner Darkly]]] on July 7, 2006, in the midst of the summer blockbuster season. The movie was certainly appealingly cast and was nicely marketed, but it opened small, never caught on and vanished from the public discourse. Instead, its competition the same weekend was the seasonal popcorn favorite [[[Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest]]].
Jordan Mechner’s Prince of Persia has been an acclaimed video game and he is one of the fortunate creators to be intimately involved in the adaptation from game to feature film. Mechner managed to write the screen adaptation, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton. The Disney feature was released to middling reviews and so-so box office in May and comes to home video tomorrow. Disney provided us with this conversation.
I was too young to buy the 1962 Topps trading card series, [[[Mars Attacks]]], and grew up hearing about these wonderful cards and was delighted when a facsimile edition was released in the 1990s. Others, though, were clearly inspired by them and when he was in a position to do pretty much whatever he wanted, director Tim Burton said he wanted to use the cards for a loving tribute to the goofy SF movies of the 1950s.
When [[[The Matrix]]] burst on to the scene in 1999, we were wowed. Not only was it visually dazzling, but it seemed like a delightful science fiction concept that made you think. The backstory seemed fascinating and viewers wanted more, which Warner Bros and the Wachowski Brothers delivered. Now we know to be careful for what we wish since the two sequels really didn’t live up to the expectations. And maybe they couldn’t since there was just enough background material conceived to make the main story plausible. The Wachowskis clearly didn’t have a sequel in mind and when asked to fabricate one or two, they had to not only top the thrill of the first, but make their imaginary realm come alive.
I should have loved 
when it debuted on CBS in the fall of 1965. At seven, I was the prime audience for this family adventure about the Robinsons and friends who are literally, hurtling through uncharted territory. Instead, I never warmed up to the show and much preferred ABC’s [[[Batman]]] when that arrived in January 1966. I found the science fiction lacking, the acting over-the-top, and the robot one of the few interesting aspects.
When [[[Smallville]]] debuted on the WB network in fall 2001, it was a revelation, a serious and well-considered examination of Clark Kent coming to terms with his alien origins and super-powers in a modern context. It was a perfect fit for the teen-skewing network and apparently they hit pay dirt casting Tom Welling as Clark and surrounding him with a strong ensemble. The real secret early on was the writing staff, fronted by Jeph Loeb and Mark Verheiden, who said more with less and kept you coming back for more.
