The Great Leonardo!

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2014)

I have been using IMDb for years & have never posted a review but after seeing TWoWS I felt I needed to finally enter the domain of amateur critics.
I've always been a fan of Scorsese's since I was young, some of most memorable cinematic moments come from his earlier works but for me, when he teams with Di Caprio, it's a match made in the highest reaches of movie-making heaven. 'The Departed' is undoubtedly one of the best crime thriller's to ever hit theater's with outstanding performances from multiple cast members but 'The Aviator' was the role that took Di Caprio to that next level, Scorsese provided him the stage to perform and carry the movie to what I feel will go down as one of the greatest artistic portrayals on film.
Everyone did not share my love for 'Aviator' but it looks to be a different story altogether with TWoWS with the film already receiving fantastic reviews and praise despite the controversy about the extraordinary excess portrayed. For those who haven't seen it and are sitting on the fence due to the criticism remember one thing, this is a Scorsese movie and you are almost always certain to be a part of a truly visceral experience, Scorsese is used to pushing the boundaries of what is usually acceptable to a mainstream audience and this is no different.
At 3 hours the film never feels overdrawn, the characters are fantastically written (which is attributed to Terrance Winter's screenplay) and some truly memorable performances (Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughy are both excellent) but it is Leonardo Di Caprio's execution of one of the most sincere slime balls ever portrayed on film that you MUST watch this film for.
The best achievement I attribute to it is that without him, for this movie to be ANY BIT as good as it has turned out, you would only be looking at a very select few actors in the business.
Will he finally get an Oscar? That remains to be seen..