The Great Gatsby Movie Review- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending The Great Gatsby screening in Atlanta. It was a fabulous event with wine, hor d’oeuvres, and some of Atlanta’s stars and media. Fun times!

Now down to the nitty gritty, like many of you I remember reading The Great Gatsby in high school and falling in love with the great American novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald, took us to a place where the 20’s were roaring and intrigue captivated our minds. When I read the book, I always wondered what it would be like as a movie so I was ecstatic when I found out this film was being made. I’ve been watching the production schedule for awhile, so when it was pushed back from the December release I was slightly disheartened. Moving forward to May 8th, 2013…

As I watched The Great Gatsby film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, with Joel Edgerton,Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke, I tried to go into the movie with no expectations… but let’s face it, this is one of the staples of American literature we’re talking about here, lol. So, I’ve decided to do this review in 3 stages from worst to best, I like to end things on a good note 😉

The Ugly and Bad:

This soundtrack had to be THE WORST idea ever, as I watched the imagery of flapper girls and 20’s style parties in New York I was disappointed to listen to Jay Z and Beyoncè’s ill fitted music disrupting the flow of the setting. When a soundtrack is made for a movie, it’s supposed to be an addition to the scene/setting and provoke emotional thought and connection… for me I found the music to be highly disjointed and more like a running commercial for The Carters. I have no problem with Jay Z or Beyoncè doing the music for the movie, I just think their execution was poor and slightly on the egotistical side. It’s almost like no effort was made to compliment the movie… I would have preferred OutKast do the full soundtrack in the style they did for Idlewyde. Overall, the music dragged the movie down a FULL 2-3 points in my book.

Da Vinci gives The Great Gatsby Soundtrack a 2/10

The Good

As a person who read the book, I can truly appreciate how this film was put together (sans the music). Co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, it was truly an artistic depiction of the novel. The imagery really makes you feel the storyline and for me it brought back the feelings of why I loved the book in the first place. Leonardo DiCaprio always delivers and does not disappoint as Jay Gats a.k.a Jay Gatsby. Tobey Maguire narrates as Nick Carraway, who is also Daisy’s cousin. Daisy is played by Carey Mulligan and of course Isla Fisher, who I LOVE plays Myrtle Wilson. The film is done in such a way that it’s able to really tell the important parts of the book, not much was left out. We definitely get to experience Gatsby’s turmoil, witness the taboo love affairs and travel into the slight sadness in the message of this book. I can’t say this movie is for everyone, but I do think anyone who appreciated the book can appreciate this film (once again sans the music)… and I think most who are looking for an artistic and well acted movie, they can appreciate The Great Gatsby film also. I’d say you have to check it out for yourself, if you haven’t grabbed tix yet you can right here.

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Da Vinci gives The Great Gatsby movie 7/10 Butterflies

Da Vinci gives The Great Gatsby movie 7/10 Butterflies
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