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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThe newest movie version of The Great Gatsby looks like a cartoon....
Like Sin City. Too stylistic that the style looks as if it will supplant the story.
The controlled dreamy look of the Robert Redford story is in contrast to the frenetic story book and that the style runs over the plot.
olddots
(10,237 posts)saw a spot for it on Jon Stewart ---
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,516 posts)By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
May 8, 2013, 3:30 p.m.
"The Great Gatsby" began on paper, with F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated novel, and on paper "Gatsby" sounds like quite the film. On screen, though, things start to fall apart.
Directed by razzle-dazzle impresario Baz Luhrmann, this "Gatsby" boasts the charismatic duo of Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan as romantic leads, 3-D as its format, a soundtrack rife with proven hitmakers, a Jazz Age setting and a theme of the American Dream gone sour that still resonates today. Whatever could go wrong? With some exceptions, a whole lot.
Though it is gorgeously written and often cited as one of the great American novels, Fitzgerald's "Gatsby" is in fact very much a slender reed, a tragedy in a minor key. What's problematic in Luhrmann's version is that while his screenplay (co-written with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce) takes pains to parallel the book's tale of Jay Gatsby's star-crossed love for Daisy Buchanan, his filmmaking point of view suffocates beyond resuscitation any dramatic interest the story might have generated.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(149,516 posts)sarge43
(28,940 posts)ballardgirl
(145 posts)one star by Rolling Stone mag. Their comment on the music: "nothing like hip-hop to add relevance to a retro classic".
From the New Yorker, "The Great Gatsby: Try Again, Old Sport"
Bombero1956
(3,539 posts)The film was first done in 1926 and then in 1949 with Alan Ladd, then 1974 with Robert Redford, 2000 in a made for TV film and now this year. Plus the soundtrack sounds stupid with Jay-Z, Beyonce, Nero, Gotye, Coco O. of Quadron, Florence + The Machine and will.i.am. Yup those people remind me of the Jazz Age.
AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Piece of crap, IMO. It also has the unfortunate title of "Bang Bang."
Fearless
(18,421 posts)tblue
(16,350 posts)Chris Matthews showed clips of the same scene from the three GG films, one after the other. See if you can google the clip. It was really a kick! I saw the Redford one in middle school and didn't care much for it. I have no interest in seeing the new one. Just not into it.
AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)"The Great Gatsby" is my favorite book, so I'm a little sensitive about film treatments. The Redford version was perhaps one of the worst movies I've ever seen. When I saw that Luhrman was directing, I thought that maybe -- MAYBE -- this one might have a chance. But given what I've heard and seen of the soundtrack and the clips, I just don't know.
I wish Hollywood would leave "Gatsby" alone. It is just one of those stories that doesn't translate well to the big screen.
To me, it looks like Moulin Rouge meets West Egg.
If I do go, it will be to wallow in the 1920s culture of fashion and living. I was born 90 years too late.
Locut0s
(6,154 posts)I'll definitely see how it does on rotten tomatoes before deciding. Is it just me or does Tobey Maguire seem to stick out like a sore thumb even in the trailers?
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)I think it looks entertaining. Don't understand the 3-D thing though. Are they going to have airborne pearls and cocktail glasses hurling through virtual space at the audience who are wearing those funny red and green glasses?
6000eliot
(5,643 posts)As an English professor, I feel it is my duty to see any film based on a literary classic. If you want to see a cartoon of a classic, BTW, rent Beowulf.
rug
(82,333 posts)6000eliot
(5,643 posts)It was really boring but did feature the kid who played Greg in The Brady Bunch. It's such a slight story, I'm not sure it would even make a good movie.
rug
(82,333 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)I usually pay very little attention to reviews. I would rather just see it for myself and decide or .
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)I think you either like his style or not. It's always pretty anachronistic and over the top. I'm not a big fan of it but my wife really enjoys it.
Because she likes his stuff so much I'll probably go and see it with her, she hates going to movies alone and doesn't really do that kind of thing with friends so I'll suck it up.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)It was over the top and a musical so it made some kind of sense.
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)I was so sure I'd hate it that I pre-conceived a disgusted diatribe and it never happened.
That's probably why I'm not all that opposed to seeing Gatsby in this form. It might not hurt matters that I never really enjoyed Gatsby as literature either. I've read it at least 4 times and I've yet to find the magic.
GCP
(8,166 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)yeah, I gathered that from the commercials alone. I'm not a fan of that type of music, and ODed on Leonardo DiCaprio a lonnnng time ago. Don't think this one will even make it to the Netflix queue!
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)performed in Clown Face Opera Style using B Sides of Random Hits from May of 1967 to January 1973.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)Loryn
(942 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)Loryn
(942 posts)I'll consider it when the DVD shows up in a remainders bin, or on Amazon, for $3.99 or less.
I just don't care for this director's work.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)exxo1111
(55 posts)I saw Moulin Rouge and thought it was a joke --- just awful!!! Not beautiful, or funny - just over the top. That's all I see, he's just over the top and mixes modern music with a period piece.
Oooooooh?!!!!! Shock, brilliant.
I don't get it at all.
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)I'm not going to go out to see it but I will definitely catch it on HBO.
elleng
(130,714 posts)I just DON'T like those people, as Nick says at the end. Don't think I'll bother with it again.