The Great Gatsby (Blu-ray+DVD+UltraViolet Combo Pack)

3-D Splendor: Luhrmann's "Gatsby" Is An Opulent And Over-The-Top Assault On The Senses
No one can ever accuse Australian auteur Baz Luhrmann of playing it safe! Subtlety and restraint are not qualities that the director embraces. In fact, his motto appears to be "the bigger, the better." His previous pictures (both good and bad) are chaotic, frantic, excessive and over-the-top in every way imaginable. I don't necessarily mean that as an insult. I enjoyed both "Strictly Ballroom" (a lot) and the anachronistic "Romeo + Juliet." But it was "Moulin Rouge" that really stole my heart. I appreciate this musical mash-up so much because it simply shouldn't work. It's too much, everything about it. Yet for all its ADD attitude, it's a dazzlingly original piece of work with real heart and passion. It was my favorite film of 2001, while his follow-up "Australia" was my biggest disappointment of 2008. Expectations were high when Luhrmann announced a re-imagining of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." The prior film interpretation, with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, was a...

Excellent film, and yes, supplementary to readers.
Though this is supposed to be a product rating and not a movie review, I wanted to comment on Matthew's review titled "Old Sport." as a separate review because commenting on his post would merit less views, and I don't like misconceptions.

So yeah, rap probably wasn't the music Fitzgerald had in mind for Jay Gatsby's parties, but that doesn't mean that kids in school studying the novel this movie is based on won't find this movie helpful. In fact, it might be more helpful than any movie adaptation made before it, for this reason: it is largely contemporary. I think it sticks to the story quite well. It is only told differently - that is, it doesn't attempt to stiffly adhere to some notion of antiquity. It tells the story in a way people today, and probably especially those the adolescent age of students studying the book in school, will understand. Maybe jazz in the 20's evoked a feeling different from what it evokes now. And so the soundtrack used in the film expresses...

The Great Gatsby - Best film of 2013 gets an Ok Blu-ray Release
My favorite film of 2013, the severely underrated, The Great Gatsby finally arrives on Blu-ray 3D this week in a nice, full featured set.

Movie

I don't think I've ever read The Great Gatsby. I know it is required reading in a lot of High School English Lit classes, but I'm fairly certain, surprisingly enough, that I didn't take English Lit - not even in College (I took French and Spanish instead). Always the practical one, who knew that I'd end up being "forced" to read all the classics anyway?

After a string of misfires (I hated Shutter Island and Inception) Leonardo DiCaprio returns to form. He is perfect as Gatsby. He deserves an Oscar nomination for this performance. Gatsby is a complicated, yet simple man. His entire existence is his desire to get the girl, Daisy (Carey Mulligan) that he foolishly let go of.

This is a role that was tailor made for DiCaprio. If DiCaprio wasn't already an A list mega star, this movie would have made him...

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