Well, I actually just got back from seeing it, so I guess mine will be the first real review in a thread of 20+ responses.

I absolutely loved it. I'm a massive fan of Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite films and I also love Australia, Romeo + Juliet, etc.) and you can tell immediately that this film is distinctly his. It's visually gorgeous and innovative throughout, with lush production design and costumes - I'd be shocked if this aspect of the movie wasn't recognized come awards season. The performances are also stellar across the board. I thought the standouts were Leonardo DiCaprio, delivering an incredibly charismatic and soulful 'movie-star' performance, and Joel Edgerton, who is incredible in a scene near the end where he confronts Gatsby. Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire are also excellent, as are Joel Clarke and Isla Fisher in smaller roles. The film never drags despite being almost two and a half hours long - I was consistently interested and entertained throughout. I'll post more later but I'd definitely consider it a must-see and one of the best films of 2013 so far. A

I don't recommend this movie to anyone who isn't a fan of Baz's style though. If you didn't like his previous movies this isn't going to change your opinion of him or anything.

Well, I loved Romeo + Juliet. And it's the only other film of his I've seen.

I'm stoked.

What novels were you forced to read at school?

Great Expectations, The Lord of the Flies, and Beowulf.

I liked Australia, which means I probably won't enjoy this.

I am on my phone so I can't post much but this was so disappointing.

Fah real.

I read a review where the chick didn't like Leo, because he wasn't attractive anymore.

So I burned down her website. Because she's an idiot.

I quite liked it. To what degree I'm not yet sure.

I think a surprisingly good comparison to the film is Watchmen- this is a very literal adaptation of the book with some excellent music and performances, except Luhrman's job here was harder than Snyder's, since Fitzgerald's world here is endlessly interpretable and the whole film feels just as well realized as Snyder's. He and the production team get the otherworldly nature of the book down. The party sequences are just dazzling, and the soundtrack adds so much to making the film feel relevant. Dicaprio gets a chance to slowly peel back the emptiness of his character and does it splendidly. He gives a tremendous performance. My favorite scene in the film is him preparing Nick's house for Daisy's arrival.

There's more than a few pacing issues (the first half as a whole works better than the second) and I could have done without Nick's text covering the screen, but the fact that the film works at all is almost miraculous.

It's a good adaptation that sometimes borders on greatness.

Well it's picking up now woth 43% on RT. Way to go!

It doesn't compare to Romeo + Juliet or Moulin Rouge!, but I still enjoyed it.

Moulin Rouge! (A+)
Romeo + Juliet (A)
Strickly Ballroom (B+)
The Great Gatsby (B+)
Australia (B-)

Well he isn't attractive anymore. Never really was, but he's even less so now.

I don't care what anybody says, Leo is still one of the most gorgeous men in Hollywood. He is simply beautiful and seems like such a great guy. I wouldn't kick him out of bed.

Now that I'm home I can elaborate on my thoughts a little bit. I thought it was truly disappointing. I don't think I've been so disappointed in a film since Avatar. I loved the book (though I haven't read it since 10th grade) but this was such a mess and not in a good way. I actually really enjoyed Baz's direction for the most part. Especially in the party scenes where the music was great, the choreography was wonderful and the costumes were awesome. Leonardo DiCaprio was fantastic and Carry Mulligan was very, very good. I know he has been getting some good mentions but Maguire really stunk for me. He has some good line deliveries but his performance as a whole was just not good. The film itself just felt hallow. I didn't care about any of these characters and I couldn't wait for it to be over. It was so slow and it was dull about 90% of the time. It had some bright spots, but over all it just was disappointing. I didn't hate it, I'm just incredibly indifferent towards it.

5/10

That said, Algren really should stop. It's obnoxious how he is just laughing at the RT score. It's mixed. Whoever was expecting better reviews is a moron.

It's Carey .

This had waaaaaaay more similarities to Moulin Rouge than I expected.

For the most part I thought the movie worked really well and was a faithful adaptation. It's too long but I was never bored. Reading the book recently I didn't really see the actors in the part but I really thought the whole ensemble (surprisingly even Maguire) was great, especially Mulligan.

It's seriously almost like a spiritual cousin. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that hated MR.

Should I see this in 3D or no?

Shows that people don't care about Curry Milligram.

DiCaprio is great, Maguire is okay even though he has the ferocity of a 12-year-old girl (HEY, GET AWAY!), Mulligan is miscast - she's too young and she looks somewhat similar to DiCaprio which is creepy (did anyone else think she looked much more beautiful with the longer hair?) - and the visuals, while mostly impressive, aren't perfect, as there are one too many scenes where you can see the blue tint of the green screen against hair and skin (maybe it wasn't as noticeable in 3D? I saw it in 2D and outside of the credits and the first ten minutes, I don't see where the 3D would've been a help except to see Isla Fisher fly).

It's good. With two other leads with DiCaprio and maybe a little less blue screen it could've been something real special. It also could've used another 20 minutes. Some things felt too glossed over.



(B)

GREAT GATSBY

Caught this in 2D tonight. I was swayed into watching this because btt (YouTube) did audience reviews and all those folks gave it high marks. Well, I was mildly entertained. I did enjoy the performances of edger ton mulligan and dicaprio. When I first heard maguire speak I thought it was gonna be him as some 80year old but no. He just sounded like he was 80. He wasn't right for that part. As far as the story, it was just average for me. There was one riveting sequence for me and that was when GATSBY and Tom are confronting each other in the hotel suite. The dialogue and acting was very intense then but for the rest of the film nothing special generally speaking. I also thought Gatsby was just getting very delusional after that encounter. The music, costumes, set design. Was all good. The cg New York was well done. Overall it's passable but nothing special. Certainly not on the level of entertainment as Moulin Rouge.

Grade B

I didn't like the casting first but I enjoyed Tobey surprisingly. And I really liked Carey Mulligan, who I've never been that huge a fan of but I thought she was fantastic in this.

The scene where Tom and Gatsby are confronting each other is AMAZING. Easily the standout moment of the movie.

I loved it, obviously. Tragic. I thought Mulligan's first scene was tremendous, beautiful. And Leo was fantastic throughout, playing a man so much in love with a thought of a woman, it completely tears him apart.