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 The Great Gatsby (2013) 

What grade would you give this film?
A 36%  36%  [ 5 ]
B 29%  29%  [ 4 ]
C 29%  29%  [ 4 ]
D 7%  7%  [ 1 ]
F 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 14

 The Great Gatsby (2013) 
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
I might see this again today. I want to.

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Thu May 23, 2013 8:43 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
The Great Gatsby is the Speed Racer of 2013... And I mean that in the best way possible. Like Speed Racer, The Great Gatsby is an overstuffed visual feast that, at it's best, utilizes it's sweeping camera angles and candy-coated visual phantasmagoria to reinforce the characters emotional and psychological turmoil. Some have complained that the central romance rings hollow, but they seem to miss that the affair between Gatsby and Daisy was a critique of Gatsby's need to absolutely absorb Daisy. When narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire turning in fine vocal work in an otherwise thankless role) tries to tell Gatsby that "you can't repeat the past" Gatsby refutes, "But of course you can." This interchange highlights the tight rope this movie walks as it paints a surreal portrait of the 1920s complete with anachronistic needle drops. While more literal viewers may be bothered by the way director Baz Luhrrmann and Jay Z have cross pollinated music, it serves as an effective bridge for modern audiences to hear just how much fun the roaring 20s were.

It's also the first movie of the year that justifies the 3D surcharge, further reinforcing my belief that the illusion is best left in the hands of true visual auteurs and to be avoided when slapped onto mega franchise sequels hoping to inflate their international ticket sales. Which is not to say that The Great Gatsby isn't saddled with the excess and bombast of big summer movies (the film's $100 million budget is reportedly closer to $190 million when one takes account of the generous subsidies Australia provided to shoot on-location.) Rather I believe The Great Gatsby, like Speed Racer, shows the potential for art to emerge through even the most extravagant of remixes. If there is one single sticking point for me, it would be the film's inability to truly differentiate Gatsby's greatness from the Tom Buchanan's and other rich scumbags of the time. The constant fidelity to Carraway's narration may have preserved the language of F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnus opus but it occasionally means the film tells us what is happening when it's already clearly showing. Then again no one ever accused Baz Luhrmann's films of being subtle.


Thu May 23, 2013 1:38 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
I indeed saw it again today. I just love this film. Every frame, every performance, is so alive and beautiful.

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Thu May 23, 2013 10:23 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Love the review MovieDude :thumbsup:

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Sat May 25, 2013 3:42 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
I really really liked it. Baz is just a perfect fit, perfect. After my reaction to the book (years ago, mind you) was "Am I supposed to give a fuck about these people and the plot cause I don't", I really fell in love with these characters/story/themes in the movie version

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Tue Jun 11, 2013 2:02 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Baz Luhrmann leans heavily on a signature visual and audio style that jumps off the screen. The dangerous part of the surface standing out so much, is keeping the emotional heart of the film, of making the plot and characters the centerpiece. In other words, of avoiding the dressing overwhelming the meat and potatoes.

A compliment I have for Baz is he’s usually avoided this pitfall. The best example is Moulin Rouge!, a film having as much going on in the surface as any film, but even despite that the real reason most love it is the Christian and Satine story and emotion.

The Great Gatsby is a great film for similar reasons. On one hand Baz is a perfect stylistic fit, bringing this world and its people to life in a vibrant, booming way. The film is beautiful and moves with a unique, impossible to replicate energy.

But its real core is the heart of its characters. When I read the novel, I didn’t enjoy it because it felt cold and removed. As if for Fitzgerald, the story just a necessity to prop up his symbols and themes. It’s this movie adaptation that made me fall in love with these characters and the story. It nails the pain of Gatsby believing he could fill the hole in him by moving upward, then idolizing the lost past instead. Daisy for her turn away at the end, had real emotions and love for him and a real loss of her innocence, as pragmatism replaces dreaming. Tom’s emotion seeing Myrtle’s body or fear when it seems Daisy may leave, also shows his complexity and ambiguity. Carraway is the least interesting of the leads, but he is more mirror and guide than anything – and a likable guide, mind you. Because of the charisma and complexity of these characters and Baz’s executions, a storyline I had considered dull in the novel version, felt riveting this time.

The Great Gatsby is a superb film, a hybrid of visual and audio beauty and a journey for its complex humans that is enjoyable as it gets. For me it’s an instant classic and will be one of 2013′s best.

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Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:52 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Nice review.

I have seen this three times. It truly is sensational.

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Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:55 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Every movie adaptation of Gatsby is going to be at least moderately crummy because there is no movie to be found in that book. The plotting is weird, motivations are odd, incident is lacking. Fine in the novel, but why its a draw to filmmakers, I have no idea.

Lurhmann makes it pretty, adds a few nice sequences and touches, but its still not very good because the foundation is rotten. There is no good movie to come from a slavish adaptatation of this material. This is about as good as you can do it, yet its not very good at all.

And in contrast to the handful of things that do work, Maguire, in the most important role, utterly tanks it.

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Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:37 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Johnny Dollar wrote:
Every movie adaptation of Gatsby is going to be at least moderately crummy because there is no movie to be found in that book. The plotting is weird, motivations are odd, incident is lacking. Fine in the novel, but why its a draw to filmmakers, I have no idea.

Lurhmann makes it pretty, adds a few nice sequences and touches, but its still not very good because the foundation is rotten. There is no good movie to come from a slavish adaptatation of this material. This is about as good as you can do it, yet its not very good at all.

And in contrast to the handful of things that do work, Maguire, in the most important role, utterly tanks it.

Great review!


Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:57 am
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Post 
The Great Gatsby

I thought it was amazing. I was glued to my seat. It's a marathon of powerful acting, moving imagery and great tunes. It's basically art. But not an art-house flick, it's big-budget art, like Oblivion, and it's absolutely delicious. I actually went in with low expectations as Luhrman hasn't impressed me with his previous efforts (only seen Australia to be fair, and it was good, but Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge look so darn unappealing).

The great thing about The Great Gatsby is how it holds your interest to a story that is essentially just a simple romance that is featured in many other films and books. But this film teases you with the promise of many things, and then spends the next 2 hours giving them to you in small doses. Like when they didn't show DiCaprio for about 20 minutes....that was a great reveal and a deserved one. The pace and flow of the film is what sets it apart from many other movies. It goes along like a music video, and the music is brilliant. It's set in the 1920s and the music is from the 2000s, but because the camera angles, atmosphere and general aesthetic are all modern and cutting edge, the setting being almost 100 years old seems unimportant and the two merge perfectly. It was produced by Jay-Z, so no wonder the music was modern (and his songs were included). It was a perfect blend of music and style.

This movie certainly is not style over substance either. DiCaprio acts perfectly, and Maguire wasn't bad either, in fact he was very good, a rare treat. I've really fallen for this film.

I loved the ending when Maguire writes 'THE GREAT' before 'GATSBY' to make the title of the film/book. Neat touch.

A-

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Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:03 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
I am very glad you enjoyed it. :)

DiCaprio's introduction is such a fantastic movie-star moment. It cements in a way how iconic and venerable he has already become, the way the revelation of his face can function as, can justify, a grand visual and musical flourish.

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Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:56 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
There are a few continuity errors in the movie, but it really doesn't bother me. However this is why I felt I couldn't grade it an "A".

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Thu Sep 05, 2013 6:24 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Errors as in a glass of wine being full in one shot, then half full, then full again?

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Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:11 pm
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Yes and no. The continuity error was where Daisy was stood next to the tree with Gatsby, and the camera flips from rear view to front view and when it flips, she is at a different angle on each shot. Not a big deal.

The big deal comes when at the start of the movie people are like "nobody has ever seen Gatsby, they don't know what he looks like", then later on they show you how he got rich and he's on the cover of newspapers. Again, I don't mind because the rest of the movie is so great, but it's worth noting.

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Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:06 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
David wrote:
I love the moment when Nick adds "The Great" by hand to the title of his typed manuscript. A final gift to his enigmatic dead friend who so longed to be great, to be grand and special, by every measure.

I took a different view of that scene, old sport. I loved it, but for a different reason. At the start of the film, Gatsby is a mysterious, slightly-negative reference, especially how Nick is describing his events, and then by the end, after he's talked about his story, he can see that Gatsby is in fact a great human that did all he did for love. He convinced himself throughout the reminiscing that he is 'Great'. I totally see your side too.

I love how the film showcases a man's love. Real world love. I do not believe that any guy acts like men do in other romantic movies. Nope. These men are merely ideal manly cut-outs created by women. Gatsby was a crook, but he could not forget his love for this girl, and he thought it was still able to be resumed. His own ego is drenched over the whole affair, blinded by reality...I've been there, and so it connected with me.

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Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:41 pm
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Post 
The Great Gatsby

I went to see it again. Fabulous film, and ths Daisy character is incredibly similar to modern-day girls. The lure of security and being torn between love and loyalty. It's great to watch. Perhaps she could have hammed it up a little, but it didn't matter too much as Joel Edgerton was on-hand to provide that acting chops, which was delightful to watch again. Leonardo DiCaprio is now in the top ranks as an actor/star for me. I like him as much as I like Christian Bale after seeing it for a second time. I enjoy every movie he's in, and in fact, I will go back and watch Inception to try and enjoy it more now that I have this new-found respect and adoration for him. I already enjoyed it a lot, but I never came in my pants over it like most on KJ do, so perhaps on a rewatch I can enter the 'Stained Pants Brigade'.

I want to go back and watch the 70s version now, and I'm also contemplating reading the book in order to fill in the gaps. Anyway, The Great Gatsby of 2013....

A-

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Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:28 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
:wub2:

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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Its good, first half much better than 2nd half.

Stunned at how flat Daisy's character was. The ending was really bad. Nick's realization that Daisy wasn't worthy of the ideals Gatsby placed on her (which ultimately got him killed) is totally looked over. We're supposed to loathe Daisy for being so morally corrupt and valueless. I thought the actress did a fantastic job during the film, but the editing or screnplay really botched the ending.

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Wed Oct 16, 2013 7:43 am
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Post Re: The Great Gatsby (2013)
B

I really liked it, though didn't love it :(

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