Film review - The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann

The Great Gatsby (2013) (12A)
Director - Baz Lurhmann
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Clarke

Synopsis from IMDB - An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Long Island-set novel, where Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await.

I will start by saying two things, I read the book and wasn't overwhelmed, I thought I would love it but didn't really connect. I think the fact it is quite short and it told from Nick Carraway's perspective it is hard to really truly got to know the characters. Secondly I love Baz Luhrmann, he is one of my favorite directors along with Christopher Nolan.

So I knew I was probably going to like the style of this film if only because it is Luhrmann, which I did.

However, I thought the film was brilliant. It has been panned by the critics as being shallow but then isn't that what the film is all about? The characters are superficial and shallow, interested in money and what they look like on the outside. It is all about the glamour, the huge parties and the money.

Style wise it feels like Moulin Rouge! the modern day music and bold and bright colours, one big party. 

I really think Leonardo DiCaprio is a vastly underrated actor, he has been in so many good films and pulls it out the bag, hello Django Unchanined, The Departed and The Aviator, all worthy of an Oscar. As Gatsby he adds a damaged quality, you feel for him, the lengths he has gone to to get the girl he loves, almost as if he doesn't feel he is enough for her but has to have the bravado of being 'Gatsby'.

I have heard reviews that people feel Carey Mulligan wasn't right for Daisy but I think she is great in the role. The beauty and innocence that Daisy has, she is probably in love with the idea of who she was when she met Gatsby rather than him. Carey is tortured and torn, not quite sure what she wants in her life.

Isla Fisher, as always, is phenomenal I do love her.

The film is in 3d but I saw it in 2d and I don't think it took anything away from it. Also Leo looks nearly exactly the same as he did in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet back in 1996.

It is very true to the book which is good and I think made me understand the book a bit more and care a bit more about the characters,

If you love Baz Luhrmann and Leo you will love this.

Film review - Argo

What is Argo all about? Here is what it says on IMDB - A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.

At the Oscars it won - Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay and director Ben Affleck won Best director at the BAFTAs. However, Affleck was not nominated for best director at the Oscars....words escape me.

I had left it until it came out on DVD before seeing it, and I wish I hadn't as it is a brilliant film. More than brilliant, I don't just...I can't describe how good it is. 

I think as well because it is a true story you know if someone dies they actually died. So at the end when they are trying to get the fugitives out I felt so nervous and apprehensive and worried. Concerned for their welfare and willing them to get away. I also wasn't sure if they did get away as I hadn't read up on it so I was even more nervous and felt like crying at the end, just really emotional.

This is a no messing film it just gets down to business. It isn't over dramatic and doesn't drag, it just gets on with it.

Ben Affleck as always is great but I loved Alan Arkin, I think he is a splendid actor and was so good in Little Miss Sunshine. He has great comic timing and gets a lot of laughs. John Goodman is fantastic as well.

I don't know what else to say as I don't want to give away too much, but you should watch it as it is an amazing film.

It is such an emotional rollercoaster of a film and really deserves all the awards it has won. 

Film review - Oz the Great and Powerful

The Wizard of Oz is without a doubt my favorite film. I have loved it since I was a child and can sit and watch it from beginning to end without fast-forwarding or getting restless I love it.

So I am sometimes a bit skeptical when it comes to re-makes. I had no interest in seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber's remake of the musical. However, I did read Wicked and saw the musical and loved it. I suppose I don't mind re-imagining of the story before it is just the actual story I want left alone.

When I saw Oz The Great and Powerful was coming out I was looking forward to seeing it and thought the cast looked amazing - James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis, and directed by Sam Raimi which is quite interesting really as he has directed the Spider-man films and The Evil Dead.

It starts in black and white and in a square, just like the original 1939, and then when he gets to Oz is goes into glorious technicolour. 

The story is about Oz, a conman/magician in Kansas who gets swept up in a tornado and ends up in Oz. He is found by Theodora (Kunis) who believes he is the Wizard here to save Oz from the wicked witch. She brings him to her sister Evanora (Weisz) who doesn't quite believe the prophecy is true. On his travels he finds Glinda the Good Witch (Williams) they join forces to give Oz back to the people. He is also joined by a winged monkey called Finley (Zach Braff) and the beautiful China Girl (Joey King). 

There are a few laughs some from Finley. It is a brilliant, nostalgia, family film. 

James Franco is unlikable but likable at the same time. Mila Kunis is phenomenal, her transformation from naive Theodora to someone completely different and altogether wicked is brilliant.

I watched the film in 3D and unlike other films it didn't feel like it was in 3D for 3D's sake. It added depth and made you feel as if you are looking through a window. Really beautiful and bright and colourful.

If you love The Wizard of Oz I think you will like this as it is similar to it, almost a homage. This is a brilliant film, although I do think it is a little to CGI-ed. A lot of special effects, but still fantastic. Go see with the family.

Film review - Django Unchained

So lets get the boring details out the way: It is an 18 - expect bloody violence, but then it is directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is roughly about three hours long and stars Jamie Foxx as Django, Christoph Waltz as Dr Schultz, Leonardo Di Caprio as Calvin Candie, Samuel L Jackson as Stephen and Kerry Washington as Broomhilda von Schaft.

I suppose in essence it is a western with a little bit of a Southern slavery feel to it as well.

Django, a slave, is freed when bounty hunter Dr Schultz buys him to help him track down some brothers who he is after. However, rather than going their separate ways after the bounty is paid Django enlists the help of Dr Schultz to try and get his wife Broomhilda back after she was sold to plantation owner Calvin Candie.

This film is simply brilliant. If you love the humour of Tarantino will love it. It is one of those films that you think as it is about slavery it will be a bit heavy but the comic moments are fantastic. One in particular has Don Johnson, of Miami Vice fame, and Jonah Hill as members of a hooded gang who are having trouble with their cut out eye holes. Really funny!

Now many people who haven't seen the film say it is overly violent and that it causes people to be violent. This does get to me I studied this quite a lot at uni but that is for another post I think.

I suppose you could say the film is violent, people get shot, but the way it is portrayed it quite different. When someone is shot it explodes out of them, the blood is a very bright, and an unrealistic shade of red. The people continue to moan when in reality they would have died long ago. It is bloody but not graphic, if that makes sense.

There is one scene, however, that I did turn away as it was quite graphic a slave is ripped apart by dogs. Not very nice to watch but then this probably happened a lot during the slavery period.

Performance wise they all shine. Christoph Waltz deserved his BAFTA, and hopefully will get the Oscar on the weekend. He is just brilliant and full of humanity and comic genius. Leo DiCaprio is so unhinged but perfectly fantastic. I am of the generation that still sees him as a teen idol in Romeo and Juliet so to see him in another role so far removed from this is great. Samuel L Jackson is almost unrecognisable as Candie's man servant Samuel but is very sinister and underhand, you do wonder if it him that is in control of Candie rather than the other way around. Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington to are brilliant.

I simply cannot fault this film it is amazing and although long doesn't feel like it. If you have never seen a Tarantino film, firstly why not?! but maybe try this see how you get on and then if not try Pulp Fiction.

The legend that is Tarantino strikes again.