Baz Luhrmann repeats what he did with Rome + Juliet and creates a horrible moster full of FX and exaggeration. Still, the cast performs well.
An over the top portrayal of the classic novel, while at times excessive and tasteless, it truly hits home with the novels original critique on the excess of the time. The cast was **excellent**, the movie stayed true to the novel in all the most important ways. I personally feel the modern soundtrack wasn't appropriate in several cases, but a couple flawless executions.
See I don't know how to review this because I came into it hating the novel, and it's 2022, it took me over a decade to finally say "fine I'll watch the movie." And unfortunately they didn't improve things. It's still, well, pretentious. It's still a story of someone that is living above his means, and living a very shallow life, that the audience is supposed to relate to enough to either like or dislike him... ... and I just never could. Holden Claufield was pretentious, but the magic of the Catcher in the Rye is that everyone could relate to him in some way, everyone could connect in some way, even if you ultimately didn't like him. Jay Gatsby, you can't really relate to him. The best description for him is a false prophet, at least the most apt description of him is a false prophet... and that isn't a relatable protagonist. That isn't the sort of character that most people can connect with. And it carried over into this film. It's hard to get into the novel when the protagonist is unrelatable, and just as hard to get into the film. But, at the same time, it's done beautifully and Leo did nail the part. In fact, all the acting was pretty great.
To be fair to Baz Luhrmann, this is actually quite a difficult story to adapt for the big screen. On the face of it, there are many contradictions right from the start (not least that our relatively normal narrator - trader "Nick" (Tobey Maguire) lives next door to the eponymous and enigmatic millionaire (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Disney-esque castle). The story is told by way of a retrospective during which the now depressed "Nick" regales his psychiatrist with his tales of life in the fast lane that offered him the opportunity to mix with the rich and famous at the very end of the 1920s through his new neighbour. Simultaneously, he must cope with the unhappy marriage between his cousin "Daisy" (Carey Mulligan) and her selfish, womanising, husband - of old wealth - "Tom" (Joel Edgerton). The film starkly contrasts the wealth and profligacy of the "Gatsby" existence with those of the poverty stricken working class reeling, still, from the impact of the Great Depression. The film looks beautiful. The costumes and the dancing, the cars, the jewellery and the houses (fancy and less so) all add richness to the story and the performances - especially from DiCaprio, Edgerton and to a lesser extent Jason Clarke are really quite good. Maguire and Mulligan less so and I found that unlike in many other of his films, the use of a contemporaneous soundtrack whilst all are clad in the Upstate NY finery didn't work so well for me. The book is an interesting character study looking at just about everything from wealth and privilege to prostitution and mental illness - and for the most part this stays on track. Easily the best cinema adaptation of a flawed book - and well worth watching.
The new reality changes the usual life in the village of Babylon. Attempts to communize the small town are met with resistance from the rich people living in the town. The Red Army finally puts down the resistance. Amidst the resistance philosopher Fabian returns to Babylon and tries to prevent bloodshed, but he meets a tragic fate.
Movie Star Rating : 3 Read More
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
Movie Star Rating : 7 Read More
In a dystopicly polluted rightwing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.
Movie Star Rating : 6.1 Read More
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Movie Star Rating : 7.2 Read More
Quiet, withdrawn 13-year-old Rynn Jacobs lives peacefully in her home in a New England beach town. Whenever the prying landlady inquires after Rynn's father, she politely claims that he's in the city on business. But when the landlady's creepy and increasingly persistent son, Frank, won't leave Rynn alone, she teams up with kindly neighbor boy Mario to maintain the dark family secret that she's been keeping to herself.
Movie Star Rating : 7 Read More
Gino Monetti is a ruthless Italian-American banker who is engaged in a number of criminal activities. Three of his four grown sons refuse to help their father stay out of prison after he's arrested for his questionable business practices. Three of the sons take over the business but kick their father out. Max, a lawyer, is the only son that stays loyal to his father.
Movie Star Rating : 6.9 Read More
Dave, Sam and Jeff are about to graduate from Holden University with honors in lying, cheating and scheming. The three roommates have proudly scammed their way through the last four years of college and now, during final exams, these big-men-on-campus are about to be busted by the most unlikely dude in school. Self-dubbed Cool Ethan, an ambitious nerd with a bad crush, enters their lives one day and everything begins to unravel.
Movie Star Rating : 5.1 Read More
Six days in the life of Wilhelm: a detached man without qualities. He wants to write, so his mother gives him a ticket to Bonn, telling him to live. On the train he meets an older man, an athlete in the 1936 Olympics, and his mute teen companion, Mignon. She's an acrobat in market squares for spare change.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
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