First he took us into the mind of John Malkovich. Then he worked with the anxious writing process of Charlie Kaufman before sailing off to find where the “Wild Things” were. Whatever the project is, Spike Jonze has always seemed to warp reality to suit his needs. Now he’s at it again as writer and director with “Her” (released widely Jan. 10), a romantic dramedy with a science fiction twist about a relationship that defies all normal boundaries of convention. Chock full of wonderful performances from an all-star cast, a solid soundtrack and eye-popping cinematography, the movie affirms Jonze’s place (right next to Wes Anderson) as one of Hollywood’s masters of quirk and charm.

Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Joaquin Phoenix (pictured) gives a strong performance as Theodore Twombly in Spike Jonze’s “Her.” Twombly falls in love with his computer operating system, which is voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

In the near future, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), an unsociable, mustachioed and melancholy wearer of colorful shirts, writes love letters of unfathomable beauty for a living. However, his own life doesn’t reflect the pathos in his work due to his estrangement from his wife and childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara). She is mostly seen through silent flashbacks that hold more of an emotional punch than you’d think. As Twombly, Phoenix completely becomes the role, giving a heartbreaking performance as a decent guy down on his luck, feeling alone in the world; he’s like a futuristic, awkward Woody Allen type. It’s a complete about-face from his portrayal of the volatile Freddie Quill in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.”

Unable to cope with his loneliness and sick of calling hilariously perverse sex hotlines, Theodore purchases an artificially intelligent operating system that is designed to grow intellectually with each passing day. If Hal 9000 had a hot sister, it would be this OS, which chooses the name Samantha. The system is voiced by Scarlett Johansson (she replaced Samantha Morton) who gives a surprisingly tender performance considering that she plays a disembodied voice; yes, the Siri comparisons are endless!

Eventually, human and machine begin to fall in love with each other. This causes the plot to take a turn for the weird. If you ever wondered what it was like to have sex with your computer, this movie might serve as a helpful guide. Still, it also has a certain appeal and imaginative flare that have characterized other movies about inanimate objects coming to life such as “Lars and the Real Girl” and “Ruby Sparks.” The chemistry between Johansson’s crooning vocalizations and Phoenix’s shy teenage demeanor is electric . You can’t help but smile as they share intimate moments together (many of them wordless), separated by nothing more than a corporeal barrier, packing more meaning into a simple pronoun than you’d ever think possible.

Despite being a little pretentious at times, there’s a reason that Jonze’s script won best screenplay at the Golden Globe Awards. It’s a heartfelt character study that is smart, funny and borderline philosophical as he raises profound questions about human consciousness and how we relate to one another. Despite the presence of A-list celebrities like Olivia Wilde and Amy Adams, it seems that Jonze was able to maintain an overall indie vibe with this latest picture. It’s quieter than a blockbuster, yet more intriguing and meatier than an artsy endeavor.

While taking place in Los Angeles, parts of the movie were filmed in Shanghai to achieve a more modern and futuristic look; Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography treats us to beautifully lit panoramic views of the cityscape from Theodore’s apartment. Still, most of the sets are minimalistic, only hinting at a larger, more expansive world. Rather than letting the sci-fi aspect take control, it’s all about the characters. Fortunately, the movie only introduces a small amount of them. There is Theodore’s enthusiastic co-worker Paul (Chris Pratt) and his longtime friend Amy, played by Amy Adams, who shows a lot more restraint in both wardrobe and performance than she does in “American Hustle.” Even Olivia Wilde relishes in a small role as a drunken blind date.

As “Her” moves along over its two hour running time, the subtle electronic soundtrack by Arcade Fire and others serves only to enhance the overall product. What stand out are the bewitching piano pieces that Samantha composes in order to capture special moments with Theodore, in lieu of the photographs they are unable to take together.

My only criticism of the movie is its pacing. At times, it can be incredibly slow as Jonze indulges in sad shots of Twombly lying in bed, wandering sullenly in the streets or trudging through snow. Like “The Return of The King” it also has a lot of false endings. Personally, I think that there were a lot of wasted chances to end “Her” on a better, more meaningful note. Nevertheless, what is most impressive is the director’s vision of the future. It’s not the bleak, impersonal futures found in a Philip K. Dick novel or Spielberg’s Kubrickian “A.I.” On the contrary, Jonze’s perspective is optimistic and fun, full of bright lights, carnivals and foul-mouthed video game characters. Unlike replicants or terminators, the OS’s are benevolent entities, interested in discovering more about the mysteries of the universe than enacting vengeance on their creators. As “Pleasantville” assured us that change isn’t such a bad thing after all, “Her” helps to quell our modern fears of alienation in a world where technology is becoming more and more omnipresent. Through a story about a lifeless machine, Jonze pulls apart the wires and programming to reveal our humanity.

Photo Courtesy Paramount Pictures
Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured) stars in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” as Jordan Belfort, an ambitious, charismatic and wildly successful salesman who is also the narrator of the film.

In their fifth collaboration, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a movie that makes “The Great Gatsby” look like a kid’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Released Dec. 25, the biographical dark comedy was adapted from a memoir of the same name by Jordan Belfort, a former New York stockbroker who made millions of dollars in the late 1980s and early ‘90s through securities fraud, stock market manipulation and worthless penny stocks. After his first family-friendly film, 2011’s “Hugo” (his personal love letter to moviemaking), Scorsese returns to perfect R-rated form by drawing themes and storytelling tactics from “Goodfellas ” and “Casino.” With the screenplay written by “Boardwalk Empire” creator Terence Winter, the final result is a riotously funny satire of American capitalism (and the hedonistic lifestyles we all wish we could live) that is both offensive and provocative.

DiCaprio is at the top of his game as Belfort (the film’s protagonist and narrator), in a performance that showcases his licentiousness, charm and impeccable comic timing. Like Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill in “Goodfellas,” DiCaprio’s character narrates through gratuitous voiceovers, often breaking the fourth wall to address the audience directly. In 1987, he starts out as a naive fledgling Wall Street broker with aspirations of becoming rich. At an unconventional and hysterical lunch scene, his boss Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) declares that the only way to survive the job is a healthy diet of cocaine, prostitutes and masturbation.

Unfortunately, Belfort loses his job on October 19, 1987 (also known as Black Monday), when stock markets crashed around the world. He finds asylum in a Long Island call center, where he sells worthless penny stocks to poor schmoes who don’t know any better. Here, we see Belfort’s true calling as a natural, smooth-talking salesman, selling thousands of dollars of garbage stocks, assuring his customers that their only regret will be that they didn’t buy more. Leo’s acting chops couldn’t be better along with his jet black hair and New York accent as he lays on the B.S. like melted butter on hot toast, reminding us of the con man he portrayed in “Catch Me If You Can.”

Soon, he opens his own firm, Stratton Oakmont, with Donnie Azoff, a sleazy children’s furniture salesman who quits his job to join the enticing world of finance. Azoff, based on the real life character of Danny Porush, is portrayed by Jonah Hill, who reaches new comedic heights with a Long Island dialect and set of fake pearly whites. Harkening back to “Goodfellas” and “Casino,” Azoff is the Pesci to Belfort’s De Niro. Along with the help of a ragtag bunch of lowdown pot dealers, Belfort turns the firm into a billion dollar company (illegally, of course), starting in a garage, but eventually expanding to a bona fide Manhattan headquarters thanks to a predatory sales blueprint. This aggressive battle plan gains him the moniker “The Wolf of Wall Street” in a Forbes article that drives the popularity of his firm through the roof, causing ambitious young brokers to throw their resumes at him. He even recruits his father, “Mad” Max: a rib tickling Rob Reiner as an angry old Jewish man who doesn’t enjoy late night calls. Still, some of the movie’s best moments involve Belfort giving rousing speeches to his underlings, allowing DiCaprio to go a little off his rocker, ranting about Willy Wonka and wrecking balls. At these points, he’s like Gordon Gekko on steroids.

From here, “Wolf” goes absolutely berserk with marching bands and strippers celebrating successful weeks of selling stocks. Like any classic Scorsese flick, there’s a good dose of drug abuse and infidelity as Belfort snorts copious amounts of cocaine while cheating on and divorcing his wife (“How I Met Your Mother” newbie Cristin Milioti) for Naomi (Margot Robbie), a blonde bombshell who draws faint parallels to Sharon Stone’s Ginger from Scorsese’s “Casino.” Belfort also develops an addiction to Quaalude, which lends itself to a great scene involving Belfort and a small set of stairs. A usual Scorsese picture would involve murder, but this one has people getting laid. Walking the thin line between an R and NC-17 rating, the movie features an inordinate amount of sex scenes with just about every character in the movie, in just about any location: in the office, on airplanes, in Las Vegas hotel rooms, etc. A whole sequence is even devoted to Belfort explaining different categories of prostitutes. There’s also such an abundance of cursing that you may feel the need to wash out your own mouth with soap after your viewing. Then again, when has Martin Scorsese ever been known for restraint when it comes to his movies?

Overall, the film is a little “vignetty,” stringing together little episodes of what Belfort does with his money. Thankfully, “Wolf” doesn’t really go too deep into the complex economic minutiae involved in selling stock and securities fraud. Every time he starts to go into a long winded discussion, Belfort confides that no one cares about such particulars. And, in a way, he’s right. We just want to watch him have fun, spending more money than he knows what to do with: buying yachts with helicopters and renting dwarves so they can be thrown at targets. Things heat up when he is pursued by Patrick Denham, an incorruptible FBI agent played by Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”).

As usual, Scorsese garnishes each scene with a decade-specific song from artists like Billy Joel, Cypress Hill, The Lemonheads and Plastic Bertrand, which perfectly fit each moment. Filmed digitally, Rodrigo Prieto’s (“Argo”) cinematography is as crisp as the bills that DiCaprio stashes in Swiss bank accounts with the help of Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”). It’s filled with epic, sweeping, one-take shots that are trademark Scorsese while Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing is as manic (in a good way) as one of Belfort’s drug-induced states.

Before the film’s release, the trailer only gave a small inkling of how crazy this movie would be as DiCaprio walked onscreen to Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead.” Clocking in at a whopping three hours (the original cut was supposedly six), “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a tour de force that never seems to drag on or run out of steam, but instead gains momentum with each passing moment as each set piece tries to top the next with crazier and more hilarious scenarios. Despite being 71, Scorsese has proven that he and his movies only get wilder with age, going straight for the jugular, unafraid to tackle the taboo and uncomfortable subjects we try to hide from every day. With this feature, he’s proven himself to be “The Wolf of Hollywood.”

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