The Great Gatsby

DRAMA, ROMANCE

Old Sport

9.0 out of 10 | MOVIE, DVD

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Rated: PG-13 Some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying and brief language
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes

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Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki

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SYNOPSIS:  A Midwestern war veteran finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor.

REVIEW: Baz Luhrmann, famed screenwriter/director of Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Strictly Ballroom, returns to feature films in a big way after a string of short films. Re-teaming with longtime writing partner Craig Pearce, they adapt the frequently remade story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire, Brothers) stares out the windows of a sanitarium, morbidly unhappy with his life. When the doctor tries to coax out of him a memory of a better part of his life, Nick reminisces about a man he once met that was filled with hope and vigor. That idealistic young man was named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained). Carraway describes Gatsby as being of the new wealth, meeting him in the summer of 1922 on Long Island, New York. Throwing more than lavish parties at his home for the greater populace, Gatsby holds a mystery close to his vest that Carraway wonders about. Carraway rents the smallish cottage next to the Gatsby estate where both of them are able to look across the bay at Carraway's cousin Daisy Buchanan's (Carey Mulligan, Drive) house. Spending most of his time trying to become a decent stock and bond broker on Wall Street Carraway soon finds himself swept up with the extravagant parties that Gatsby throws. Where did this man named Gatsby come from? What are his motivations? What are the mysteries behind the man who some say is a relative of the German Kaiser, an assassin, or a secret agent? And what is his fixation on the lovely Daisy Buchanan, wife of old money heir Tom (Joel Edgerton, Zero Dark Thirty)

Writer/director Baz Luhrmann, known for his inventive interpretation of Romeo + Juliet, takes on one of America's most treasured pieces of literature. Robert Redford and Alan Ladd have made their mark in versions of The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann uses his unique style of directing to weave an original tapestry of his own. Using the backdrops of the heady days of the early 1920s Luhrmann creates the gorgeous locales of Long Island and New York City, adding in wonderful costumes, and all the glamour and glitz that the Roaring 20s provided.

The cast is spectacular, spectacular! Although DiCaprio's Gatsby doesn't appear right on away in the story he does steal the show as the title character. With every slick back of his hair, every reference to his friends as 'Old Boy', and every glance or glare speaking volumes more than the elegant Fitzgerald dialogue, DiCaprio proves again why he is an A-lister. Joel Edgerton holds his own as he Errol Flynn-esque Tom Buchanan who Gatsby battles against for a specific treasure that he owns. Edgerton is both imposing and charismatic as a heir of old money. Tobey Maguire is the perfect choice of the young man Carraway trying to make his way to world caught between these two titans of wealth. The female cast is equal to the task as objects of affection and of objectification by these men and their boys club. Isla Fisher (Rise of the Guardians) is Myrtle Wilson, a kept conquest of Tom Buchanan who knows how to party to excess. Carey Mulligan, a busy young actress, sparkles with innocence and a secret knowledge of how the world works as the object of affection, Daisy. And rounding of the main cast is Elizabeth Debicki as the golf starlet Jordan Baker, poised and postured as if made of porcelain. 

As one who was never forced to read 'The Great Gatsby' in high school literature class I was able to go into the viewing of this film with complete innocence. Like Nick Carraway I was wide-eyed with wonder at the decadence and debauchery that came with money. I could go on about The Great Gatsby as a literary allegory for the 20s and the gateway to the Great Depression of the 30s, but I am more impressed with what I enjoy onscreen. From the cinematic spectacle of it all, to the musical score and use modern rap, pop, and R and B, to an incredible cast roaring with the 20s, The Great Gatsby enthralls with mystery, misdirection, lost romance, and the excess that preceded a depression that proved greater than Gatsby could ever become.

Old money or new money, it doesn't matter. No matter what social and economic circles we travel, there is always drama that exceeds our great expectations. The Great Gatsby is one of the best dramatic and visually appealing films so far this year.

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Drive (2011)

A Steady Idle, Then Full Throttle!

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Writers: Hossein Amini, james Sallis

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks, Oscar Isaacs

SYNOPSIS: Movie set stunt driver and part-time wheelman gets caught up in the lives of his neighbors, resulting in him being the target of a mob heist gone wrong.

REVIEW: Nicolas Winding Refn, director of the Pusher trilogy, Bronson and Valhalla Rising, returns to the screen with his first real American market mainstream movie Drive from a script from Hossein Amini (The Four Feathers) based on the novel by James Sallis. Can Refn make the leap from his acclaimed cinema roots to the mainstream with a film that could be in the same vein as Jason Statham's The Transporter?

Ryan Gosling, fresh off his success with Crazy, Stupid, Love, stars in Drive as the leading but nameless Driver. Part-time movie set stuntman, part-time mechanic, part-time five-minute wheelman for hire, the driver leads a solitary life, only socializing with his mechanic and stuntman boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston) for movie gigs, repair work, and fast cars. Along the way, though, the driver encounters Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos), realizing that they are his next door neighbors in his apartment building. Yearning for a life beyond what he is accustom to, he clumsily reaches out and befriends both mother and son. When Irene's husband Standard (Oscar Isaac - Robin Hood, Sucker Punch) is released from prison with a protection debt hanging over his head which endangers the safety of Irene and Benicio, the Driver steps in as the wheelman for Standard and his impromptu partner Blanche (Christina Hendricks - AMC's Mad Men) to help in a pawn shop robbery. Things soon go wrong with the robbery, leading to more violence and drama.

First, an education about the combustion engine. You turn the engine over and the car comes to life and idles. Press the gas pedal and the engine rumbles (unless its a 3-cylinder) but goes nowhere. Put the car in gear and you can peel rubber and roar down the boulevard, squealing around the corners and racing down the straightaways. Gosling's Driver is similar in nature. Without anything to fuel his life, he sits idling - unsure of what direction he should be heading. Once he has a task, direction or cause, he roars to life with competence and confidence. He doesn't speak much when in social or intimate situations, causing many awkward moments between he and Irene (and for the audience), but Gosling's Driver gets every point across with a thin upturn of the corner of his mouth or shine in his eyes.

The supporting cast is excellent, both sublime and larger than life. Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Mulligan, and Hendricks all play their roles to perfection. Only Perlman's Nino is over the top at all times, but in a good way! Even Kaden Leos' Benicio interacts with the Driver with precision and perfection.

Nicolas Winding Refn brings an art house sensibility to Drive. At times Drive is a nostalgic 80s feel with the Brushscript fonted titles and 80s-era music stylings whose lyrics denote the tone of the story at that moment. At other times Drive is an uber-violent mob flick akin to something that Quentin Tarantino may have put out or endorsed in his youth. The flow of the story idles, then accelerates, then slows down for the next sequence. Stop and go, you may be wondering when something will happen, but when something does happen, it hits you like a sideswipe through an intersection.

WORTH: Matinee or DVD

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Time, Money and Frailty

[Shia LaBeouf, Michael Douglas, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan]

image from moviefone.com

RANT: The boys from work and I finally got a chance to get to the movie house to see the "Wall Street" sequel. There were a couple of other groups of people in the audience. You know what I hate? I hate it when you are watching a movie, and an old lady who is hard of hearing needs to explain an obvious plot point. The rest of us know that the viewing of an ultrasound reinforces the fact that someone was earlier announced to be pregnant. You would think that the older set would have more movie decorum.

SYNOPSIS: Gordon Gekko, released from prison after a 8 year stint, tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter Winnie. Her boyfriend Jake, reeling from the collapse of the investment bank he was employed and the suicide of his mentor, looks to get even with those he believes to be responsible.

Oliver Stone returns to direct the sequel of his 1987 "Wall Street". Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, Michael Douglas returns as Gordon Gekko, the Wall Street inside trader who finishes serving 8 years in federal prison and emerges to the fanfare of no one. Almost 8 years later, Gekko is on the speaking circuit and peddling his new book. Enter Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf), a Wall Street trader trying to look for the next "bubble" with fusion energy development and dating Gordon Gekko's daughter Winnie.

When rumors start about the stability of Moore's investment house at the start of the Wall Street collapse, Moore's mentor Louis Zabel (Frank Langella) loses control of the investment bank to Bretton James' (Josh Brolin) firm, and eventually commits suicide. As Jake tries to make sense of how his job has become obsolete and how Zabel could end it all, he attends a seminar with speaker Gordon Gekko. Confronting Gekko afterward, they begin a barter system where Gekko tries to reassert himself into his daughter's life in exchange for Gekko providing Moore pointers and inside information against the man he feels responsible for the downfall of his career.

I could go on and on about the plot points of the film, but the real star of the movie, aside from Gekko, is the subject matter. So relevant to the current economic climate, the issues of the recession runs deep. "Wall Street" brings to light how fragile and fluid our futures are, based on the speculations of a chosen few. Jake tells Winnie in the middle of the film that Americans are sold and believe the fairy tale, but want the truth. With the oh-so-real collapse of the US and world economies, the bursting of the housing market bubble, and the general knowledge that what used to work when it came to the financial markets doesn't work anymore, we face a uncertain future and the next generations face an even more uncertain future.

Oliver Stone weaves the return and fate of Gekko with the breed of a new generation of Wall Streeters in the image of Jake Moore. He exposes the integration of investment banks, the US Treasury, and massive bailouts. He uses the music and style of the original film with the sequel, showing us that no matter the decade greed is always greed, excess is always excess, and the best intentions usually have the most severe consequences.

Worth: Matinee

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!