 Baz Luhrmann sure knows how to bring the bombast to his take on The Great Gatsby, but in the end he’s just the latest filmmaker to fail in his attempt to bring the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald to life. Luhrmann, along with co-writer Craig Pearce, relishes in trying to both bring the period setting to the screen in glorious 3D and giving it a vibrant modern feel. Visually, they’re certainly successful, and much of what you see and hear is suitably garish and loud, but the screenplay just can’t deliver. The plot of the novel is there, but it doesn’t express nearly the same thing. Luhrmann isn’t at all interested in the decline of this particular American period of excess and often seems to be celebrating it instead. Luckily for him, he’s got a real good performance from Leonardo DiCaprio in his back pocket. I’m not as indifferent to this latest adaptation as some will be, but a Best Picture contender, this is not. It’s far too artificial and without an emotional center to be anything more. Read more on The Great Gatsby (**½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: 2013 releases, Amitabh Bachchan, Baz Luhrmann, Carey Mulligan, Craig Pearce, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby, tobey maguire
 After debuting a set of new posters, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Opening in May 2013, Luhrmann’s film stars potential Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio along with Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Isla Fisher.
The film was originally scheduled to come out on Christmas and then was pushed back abruptly by Warner Bros. last summer. Could this be a potential Oscar player for next season?
Check out the full trailer after the jump.
Read more on New Trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’…
What better way to start off the extended holiday weekend than stranded on with boat with a tiger in the visual and spiritual journey that is Life of Pi? We can also be thankful for the Rise of the Guardians as they band together against a world-wide threat. Then, be sure to avoid the Black Friday rush by ducking into a theater for a slice of Hitchcock. Read more on Weekend Openings: (11/21-11/23)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: ang lee, Animation, Anthony Hopkins, Armand Verdure, Chris Hemsworth, Dan Bradley, David McMahon, Entertainment/Culture, Helen Mirren, Hugh Jackman, Irrfan Khan, Isla Fisher, Jacques Audiard, Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck, Ken Burns, Kevin Richardson, Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Oscar, Peter Ramsey, Psycho, Sacha Gervasi, Sarah Burns, Scarlett Johansson, Thanksgiving
Rise of the Guardians (***)
Heroes are created by you and me, but for them to survive they require unwavering faith from us all. That is the underlying message in Dreamwork’s latest animated spectacle, Rise of the Guardians. A visual bedazzlement with 3-D utilized to its absolute best since Avatar, Director Peter Ramsey’s Rise of the Guardians works more as eye candy entertainment — with a whooshing speed of intensity that tickles the senses — than as an animated feature with bountiful substance. The story, adapted from William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood, tells of the greatest heroes in kiddy lore (known individually as “Guardians”) all coming together to fight evil — in this case, Pitch Black (Jude Law) A.K.A. “The Boogeyman.” The Guardians include Jack Frost (Chris Pine), North/Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and The Sandman. These procurers of childhood fantasy come together, “Avengers” style, to thwart the nefarious plans of Pitch, who plans on destroying The Guardians by kidnapping each of the Tooth Fairy’s helpers. By doing so, children would wake up and see that a tooth still remains under their pillow, without any kind of monetary reward to be found. Such a discovery would be catastrophic to The Guardians. If every child in the world stops believing they exist, The Guardians will die. Read more on AFI Fest: “Guardians” entertains but it’s “The Impossible” that is most Heroic…
Categories: Article Tags: Best Animated Feature, Chris Pine, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Juan Antonio Bayona, Jude Law, naomi watts, Peter Ramsey, Rise of the Guardian Oscars, Rise of the Guardians, Rise of the Guardians review, The Impossible, The Impossible Oscars, The Impossible review, The Sandman, TOM HOLLAND, william joyce
 Early last week I was lucky enough to be invited to another visit to one of the more upscale hotels in New York City for a roundtable interview, this time with some of the cast and the writer/director of the film ‘Bachelorette’. It’s a film I found to be better than I was expecting (my review is here), though clearly not a movie that’s for everyone. These events in Manhattan are always an interesting time, and this one was no exception. Rarely have I ever spoken with a livelier group of people, each one having a blast, sometimes amusing themselves, and always eliciting an energy that rubbed off on many of us in attendance. Sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that some people attend these events more for the free food and drinks or the swag that sometimes comes along with press days than anything else, but when you have a fun loving group like this, it’s hard not to just enjoy your job without the added perks. We had two separate interviews conducted, one with just filmmaker Leslye Headland, and the other with the trio of Lizzy Caplan, Kirsten Dunst, and Isla Fisher. Each a unique experience and one I’ll be regaling to you as best I can below. For now though, let’s dive in and dish on ‘Bachelorette’ with the women who made the flick happen!
Read more on Chatting with the cast of ‘Bachelorette’!…
 One way that a comedy can usually be sure to lose me is to have the characters and even the film in general just be mean-spirited. That’s an issue I’ve had with a some black comedies, but somehow ‘Bachelorette’ manages to avoid my wrath. The reason? I actually bought into these characters organically being the way that they are, not because writer/director Leslye Headland simply decided. In adapting her own play, Headland has assembled a talented cast (including Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson, Adam Scott, and James Marsden) and allowed them to go all out in being unlikable while still keeping a firm grip on things. It’s a dangerous tightrope to walk, and ‘Bachelorette’ isn’t a great film, but it manages not to trip and it turns out to be a good comedy with a number of laughs. I can see a number of people hating the flick, but I also know of a few who liked it more than I did, so reactions are going to be all over the place. Those who recognize these characters will probably have a visceral reaction to their appearance onscreen.
Read more on Bachelorette (***)…
 Big news has dropped today folks. Early on in the year ‘The Great Gatsby’ was thought by just about everyone to be gunning for a whole lot of Oscar love, and it still might, but it’ll have to wait a year. Yes, The Hollywood Reporter writes here that Warner Brothers has moved the 3D film to the summer of 2013 and out of a coveted Christmas Day slot. I don’t think any of us saw this coming, and it definitely shakes up the race a great deal, as you can take the film, Baz Luhrmann’s direction (plus the adapted screenplay he co-wrote), and the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, and Isla Fisher out of the equation, not to mention the below the line possibilities. Perhaps this is a sign that Warner is extra confident in the likes of ‘Argo’, ‘Cloud Atlas’, and ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’? After the jump I’ll share with you WB’s reasoning, but it’s time to update those Oscar predictions and take Gatsby off of them. Read on for more below about this very surprising development…
Read more on Warner Brothers pushes ‘The Great Gatsby’ to 2013!…
 They say that movies always come in pairs. Examples include ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’ (a highly underrated flick in my eyes), ‘Dante’s Peak’ and ‘Volcano’, and so on. Now you can seemingly add ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Bachelorette’ to that list. It looks like a very different type of movie (more indie, less overtly funny), and after the jump you can see the Trailer that’s hit for the film. ‘Bachelorette’ stars Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Adam Scott, James Marsden, Lizzy Caplan and Rebel Wilson (who could again steal the show)…and it doesn’t look bad. Not great, but not terrible either. Anyway, you can decide for yourself below…
Read more on Here’s the Trailer for ‘Bachelorette’!…
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Written by: Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Amitabh Bachchan, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Jason Clarke, Brendan Maclean, Callan McAuliffe
Synopsis: Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby’s circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy. (Provided by IMDB.com)
F. Scott Fitzgerald had his novel “The Great Gatsby” published in 1925. He began writing it two years earlier and in his wildest dreams could not imagine, the effect the book would have not only on the literary world but its many attempts at translating it to the world of cinema.
Read more on Awards Profile: The Great Gatsby…
Categories: Award Profile, Editor Tags: Awards Profile, Baz Luhrmann, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar hopeful, The Great Gatsby, tobey maguire, warner bros
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