Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

jimbo-53-186511 Young and ambitious stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) hits the big time when he ends up going under the wing of ruthless, but highly successful stockbroker Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Gekko takes Fox under his wing and helps Fox to become a wealthy and successful stockbroker, but do wealth and power ultimately come at a price? The first 15 minutes or so of this film are explosive and extremely fast-paced and Oliver Stone certainly helps to give us an insight into stockbroking and the world of commodity sales etc. On the one hand this is interesting and sets the stage well for things to come, but on the other hand (to someone like me who knows nothing about the world of stockbroking), the rapid fire dialogue and early segments of the film make it difficult to ascertain what's actually going on? Does any of this have any relevance to the story or is Stone merely showing off? I'll let you be the judge of that.Another problem with the rapid fire script is that it doesn't really allow the characters much room to breathe (both Gekko and Fox always felt a bit one-dimensional to me and the script never seemed to allow much room for development). As a result of these things I found Wall Street to be well-made but also quite an alienating experience. If this had been presented in a less 'showy' manner then this could have proved to have been an interesting character study, but as mentioned before the flashy script never manifests itself in this manner and it ultimately leaves Wall Street feeling a bit superficial at times.The performances between Douglas and Sheen are both excellent and do make the film a little bit stronger; Douglas at this point in his career almost felt born for this role. The father/son dynamic between the Sheens was OK, but again probably would have been stronger if it had been given a bit more focus. I also thought that the ending was good and from a 'moral' perspective I felt that it was probably the best way to wrap it up.Wall Street is by no means a terrible film and does offer some interesting commentary by the time the credits roll around, but Stone's presentation in the main is a little too flashy and at times the film comes across as being a bit pretentious. It's an easy film to admire, but it's a little too cold and clinical to be enjoyed from an emotional perspective.

Jawbox5 Oliver Stone has always been a director willing to tackle social and political subjects within his films. Whether it's the evils of war, corporate evil, political conspiracy or the influence of mass media, he takes on all of these subjects with intelligence. His first film after the success of 'Platoon' was to look into the shadiness and corruption within stockbroking. It is the story of rookie stockbroker Bud Fox who comes under the wing of Gordon Gekko, an affluent corporate raider whose determination is unparalleled. From this premise the film builds as Bud becomes more involved in Gekko's suspicious business plans whilst getting to experience both the highs and the lows of such dealings.What is most impressive (and positive from an entertainment aspect) is how you don't have to know much about trading or the stock market to enjoy the film. I myself know very little on the matter, yet the film manages to make some rather complicated issues understandable and the dialogue is very snappy throughout which makes it easy to swallow. The dialogue manages to do something very notable, which is make almost everything said sound equally naturalistic and quotable. What the characters say carries enough authenticity to make it sound like something they would actually say, whilst retaining a flair that allows it to be memorable. Gekko's famous ''Greed is good'' speech is a perfect example of this. Bud's conversations with his father and witty interactions with his workmate Marvin provide a nice contrast to the corporate elements. Michael Douglas won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Gekko and it's easy to see why. The character has become synonymous with the business world and the corruption of the stock market. Douglas himself strikes the perfect balance between hammy and intense. The character is very slimy and cunning but he's also magnetic and interesting, and Douglas captures all of these sides without diluting the part. Charlie Sheen also deserves some praise for his solid performance as Bud. It's not an easy role to play given he isn't as brash as Gekko and has play around the characters naivety, yet Sheen leads the film fine and his rigid acting style fitting the role surprisingly well. I think Sheen could have had an interesting career had he stuck with more serious roles.The film is quintessentially 80's and I mean that in the nicest possible way. The fashion, the technology, the cars, the décor, it's all stylised to large degree. The surprising thing is that the film doesn't suffer from feeling dated. I think that this story is so strongly linked to the time period that it manages to suit the stylisation perfectly. Adding to this is Stone's exceptional direction and some very slick editing. Stone's films always have a fluidity and energy to them, which can make even the slowest moments engaging. He also has a good gage how long a scene should go on for and when it is time to move on, none of the scenes here outstay their welcome. The editing also stands out, as with many of Stone's later films everything moves along at a swift pace without coming at the price of any story or character development.I think all the characters are well developed and have clear motivations. The supporting roles are especially important. The always interesting James Spader, Stone's regular John C. McGinley and the great Terence Stamp are all excellent actors and add credibility to their small roles. Martin Sheen as Bud's honest working-class father playing off against his real life son creates an interesting contrast and actually gives the relationship added realism. The only blemish is the wooden Daryl Hannah whose vacant performance is lost here as Bud's girlfriend. Elsewhere, Stewart Copeland provides a very complimentary score. Filled with a lot of ambiance and clattering yet subtle rhythms, it gives the film an edge and works well with many of the visuals.Wall Street is a very memorable film and one that always come to mind when you thing of either the stock market or excess within film. It has retained its power after all these years. I think this is in large part down to the success of its director and cast. Stone proved that once and for all that he was a director of great understanding with this film, whilst the performance of Michael Douglas has pretty much become synonymous with 80's greed and corruption. It isn't a completely flawless film, but it is one that understands its own story and importantly the message it's trying to get across. Throughout the film we ask, will Bud turn out like his greedy mentor or his honest father? It is this dilemma that keeps us gripped and guessing.

gavin6942 A young and impatient stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.Looking back on this film over twenty years down the road, it can be looked at one of two ways: either as an indictment of the 1980s and its consumerism. We learn, of course, that "greed is good", which may sum up the Reagan years. Or we can see it not so specifically and see that this is Wall Street, whether the 1980s or 1990s or beyond. Indeed, a sequel was made, and while I have not seen it, I suspect this is very much what we would see: the same bad behavior still going.That being said, this film ages really well. Just as it was an instant classic in its day, it is every bit the classic now (2015).

S Kerk You might think Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas are the stars of "Wall Street." But Gekko is just a lizard, cold-blooded. A lizard is low, stays low, and gets even lower. If he wants to try to fly to the cold, cold moon, let him. It would be a good place for him. He doesn't have a goal: he already reached it. He's like a cat playing with a mouse he already killed to see if he can get it to move. In one brief moment Gekko catches sight of the rising sun, and it stirs him more than any artwork he could buy. But that sun was shrouded in clouds, indistinct, blurry—not enough to warm his blood. Like a vampire he cannot take the light for long. Even his exercise is in a windowless hardball court. His office is as spacious as a house, but there is no joy in it. He's dead. Notice, at lunch, he doesn't even eat; he doesn't have to. He runs as a machine and by machines–one keeps constant his blood pressure. His days are formulaic: pick one winner a day out of 100 presented to him. He's all numbers: inhuman. He might as well be a chart. He has a wife, but she is strangled by possessions, with thirty strands of silver round her neck rather than one. And who could stand their kid: He's just a possession. When he whimpers like a normal kid whimpers he gets sent to a nursemaid: get him outta here. Gekko's cold hardness is the atmosphere,echoed in the skyscrapers. Unregulated capitalism has run amok. Industry, once industriousness, is now run by greed and abstractions. Nobody makes anything but money. The premise is: we cannot be someone we are not. You cannot get away from your roots or you die. We are anchored where we come from; only then can we blossom from a bud. Sheen's name is Bud —he has not grown up yet, but he will. Gekko has no past—we do not even know where he is from. He remains true to those roots: he was and is nothing. He had "an ethical bypass at birth." He is an unchanging constant. The plot concerns the fates of the two contenders who dance upon the ground of that premise: father and son. Son wants to blossom, father wants to pass along the wisdom of the warm blooded Owl, the name of the bar. Foxes are warm blooded. Gekko is cold, like steel. Bud wants to flower; in the end he does. He flowers into a man who takes responsibility for his actions. By turning state's evidence, he does his part to bring humans back to earth, not figments of imagination who think they can fly to the moon. Bud got caught in the fever of unrestricted financial bounty, and he thought he wanted to flower into a money maker. When we saw him with a warm blooded girlfriend in the beginning, he moved right away from her nakedness to his computer screen to gaze at numbers. He wanted to go up and up and up—as up go elevators in high rises, crushing people. His work buddy said, "She has a pulse, doesn't she?" Bud joked back, "Don't bet on it." Look into the mirror, Bud: you didn't either. He made better love to Fortune Magazine. Plot point #1: Bud takes the bait of the devil. Sell your soul, become inhuman, like me. Bud looks back into the limousine and says, "Deal." The Fox was trapped by the smell of numbers. Act II is a long sandy stretch of how the rich folks, Bud a misplaced flower among them, do anything for and with money—but it's not nourishing. With trophy girlfriend Darian he cooks a meal in their opulent coop, but it's a meal too perfect to eat—and they say so. This life does not nourish. Nothing satisfies these cravings. Darian says she wants "the best of everything." "Why stop at that?" he asks. "I don't." She likes her little bud, but not enough to stop two-timing him with the lizard. The opulence suffocates the bud: after making love, he goes to the window as if to try to breathe. You can't be who you are not—you can't be a man who eats spaghetti and calls it pasta. It's spaghetti. He does not yet know that he's run by that natural law that states you have to be who you are, but that's the sneaky way natural laws operates: it operates despite our ignorance. What he really wants is to grow up and be recognized as an adult. Unlike a real father, the lizard coaches him to be ruthless, illegal, and cold: to participate with whores thinly disguised as women, to buy expensive suits to make him seem to be what he is not. To die. At plot point #2 he discovers Gekko's plan to liquidate Blue Star Airlines. He'd have to go against his flesh and blood. Of the father, Gekko says. "He'll never have to work another day in his life." But Carl Fox lives to work. With the option of fully uprooting himself and his father, Bud awakens from the stupor of money. Dignity was, in the final analysis, passed from father to son. Now we see Bud leaning against a tree in Wall Street. A tree! A tree amidst all the concrete! He returns home to sit on the floor, get grounded, and eat pizza from a box. He's back down to his roots. Out goes the girlfriend, buh bye goes the lofty apartment, and bud is ready to blossom. The tape to his chest is his umbilical cord; he tears it off when his birthing is done. The prison cell, a temporary womb, will spawn him into a new being, a human one. A father raised a son. He blossomed in the park.They both got what they wanted.