Review 4: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio - Jay Gatsby
Tobey Maguire - Nick Carraway
Carey Mulligan - Daisy Buchanan
Joel Edgerton - Tom Buchanan
Isla Fisher - Myrtle Wilson

Synopsis:

A story-teller, Nick Carraway, is in a hospital because of his problems with alcohol. A doctor advices him to write about everything that have happened with him. And Nick starts. It all starts in the spring of 1922. Nick leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.


Review:

"The Great Gatsby" is an adaptation of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When I first saw a trailer for this film, I really was struck by its fantastic atmosphere, but I also had some fears toward `its beauty and bombast which could ruin the whole idea of the book. Unfortunately I haven't read this novel, but I've heard many good reviews. And having watched the film, I wasn't disappointed.

I can't but mention about the cast. It was really tremendeous and impressive. Leonardo DiCaprio played the role of Gatsby. I don't think that there is anybody who could play this role better than he. Nature of this character is contradictory and complex, and as DiCaprio has been choosing such controversial roles for the second decade, so that Gatsby is hundred percent of his role. It will be almost a crime if it do not remain unnoticed by critics and audience. One can endlessly talk about his work in this film, it must be seen in person. Tobey Maguire, to my mind, practically forever rememebered as Peter Parker, and Carey Mulligan,personally I haven't heard about her, help to tell the story of Gatsby, who he is and where he is from, what is his dream. Their characters become part of the life of the Great Gatsby.

And of course, it should be mentioned about music. The soundtracks are really a part of the film. They help to feel the atmosphere of that time, to imagine taking part in these parties. Although most of songs are modern, they still fit into the film.

There are many different opinions towards this version of 'The Great Gatsby', but as for me, I really liked it! I was really impressed by the and of this film, and of course, I was waiting for such ending, but still I really sympathize to Gatsby. And also I was impressed by the last phylosophical speech. It's, indeed motivating and making to overthink some aspects of your life. 

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The article 'Ray Manzarek of The Doors. His brilliant music will live on' was published on the website of 'The Telegraph' on May 21, 2013. It is written by Neil McCormick.

The aim of the article is to pay tribute to Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and founding member of The Doors who has died at the age of 74. Ray Manzarek was one of the most individual and influential musicians in rock history.

The author tells that Manzarek was the root of The Doors sound. He was a dazzling musician, who approached rock music as he approached life, as a vehicle for self-exploration and higher possibility.

Then Neil dwells upon the history of the group. rather prosaic band name was actually a reference to Aldous Huxley’s Doors Of Perception, itself drawn from a quotation by William Blake. The Doors were a finely balanced group, one of those special units where every member counts, even if they are chiefly remembered now for the beautiful, brilliant, tragic Jim Morrison, the shamanistic frontman.

After the end of the Doors' era, Manzarek had a frustrating time. There were two inevitably diminished albums as a trio, and various post-Doors projects involving the spoken word poetry of Morrison. There were solo projects and pick up bands, and many collaborations with guitarist Krieger, including some ill-advised tours effectively as a Doors tribute act.

Further the author notes that music isn’t everything. Whenever Manzarek popped up in the media, he came across as a fascinating, lively, well-balanced individual. He married Dorothy Fujikawa in 1967, and she was with him until the end. They had one son, Pablo, and three grandchildren. Manzarek died of cancer yesterday, in a clinic in Germany.

In conclusion, I'd like to say the Neil's own thoughts towards this group. To him, they are the group who really opened up the potential for rock as something more than just another form of pop. In their dazzling, visceral, intense, improvisational mix of blues, jazz and poetry, they used music as a vehicle for spiritual exploration, the possibility of climbing through the rhythm and melody to another plane of existence.

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The article 'Eurovision Song Contest 2013, review' was published on the website of the Telegraph on May 18, 2013. It was written Neil McCormick.

The aim of the article is to describe an annual ceremony. Eurovision is the pop show from another dimension, a big production international extravaganza celebrating the unifying force music at its most trite. He also notes that 26 songs is a lot for anyone to get through in one sitting, a double albums worth of power ballads, techno folk and cheesy europop.

The author begins the article with the announcement of the winner of Eurovision. And Neil McCormick

comments it as Denmark's winning entry Emmelie de Forest brings a touch of folk flavour to a bog standard techno pop ditty. Also he dwells upon British participant Bonnie Tayler, who was only 19th.

Then Neil McCormick underlines that staging is often more significant than the song. He gives an example of the Ukranian ballad. The most memorable thing was the giant in a Viking suit who carried the singer on. 

Further the author speaks about some particular participants from France, the Netherlands, Italy. France opened proceedings with a dirty little left-field pop rock ballad, delivered by a scruffy blonde whose idea of choreography was to jerk about like a mime artist experiencing a nervous breakdown. The Netherlands were even more audaciously restrained, sending an actual singer-songwriter, who warbled a kind of wayward Sondheim-meets-Joni-Mitchell orchestral ballad about a bird who can’t fly with the casual flair of a beatnik poet in the backroom of a coffee house.

In conclusion, the author again told about British participant. Though Bonnie Tayler was very confident on stage, Neil consideres that next year it should a young talanted pop-singer. 

It was very interesting to read the foreign opinion toward international contest. So that I conclude that not only Russians sometimes couldn't understand the principal of choosing singers to this contest.

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The article 'Rolling in the awards: Kelly Clarkson and Adele take top honours at the Grammys' was published on the website of the Daily Mail on February 12, 2013. It was written by Amelia Proud.

The aim of the article is to tell about the ceremony of Grammy Awards, about its winners and nominations.

The author describes the beginning of the 55th Grammy Awards opened with inimitable British chantreuse Adele walking away with her ninth award from the coveted ceremony. Also Ms Proud notes Kelly Clarkson and Adele take top honours at the Grammys as pop's glamour girls Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Rihanna go home empty-handed. As Adele was honoured for Best Pop Solo Performance for Set Fire to the Rain (Live), while Clarkson received Best Pop Vocal Album for Stronger.

Further the author tells about bands. Mumford & Sons, who came out to perform their smash hit, I Will Wait. They won the coveted Album of the Year Award for Babel, and an another for Best Long-Form music video for Big Easy Express.

Amelia Proud dwells upon the most interesting and outstanding nominations. Beyonce won for best traditional R&B performance, Mumford & Sons took their first Grammy, winning along with Old Crow Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros for their long form video documentary Big Easy Express. The Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album then went to Frank Ocean for Channel Ocean. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration went to No Church in the Wild with Jay-Z, Kanye West and The-Dream. And Record of the Year went to Somebody That I Used to Know performed by Gotye and Kimbra.

During the whole the article, the author tells not only about the winner but also about the people who went on stage and sang. The most outstanding performances was made by Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, Frank Ocean and Elton John.

In conclusion of the article it was given the whole list of the winner. To my mind, this article is really useful not only because of the information towards the nomintaions but also it gives a detailed information about the whole Grammy with the help of innumerable photoes.

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The article 'Stockholm, Sweden: Abba museum preview' was published on the website of the newspaper 'Telegraph' on May 5, 2013. It was written by Tamara Hinson.

The aim of the article is to tell about the opening of ABBA's museum. The Museum is located on the island of Djurgården.

The museum is located in a building known as the Swedish Music Hall of Fame, a hotel and a restaurant, but the Abba museum will undoubtedly be the star of the show. Exhibits include a replica of the cottage on the island of Viggso where the group wrote many of their songs and a mock-up of the changing rooms at Edmonton Ice Hockey Arena, where they performed during their final world tour. There will also be a dressing room area where visitors will be able to try on some of Abba’s most famous costumes, and fans who’ve dreamt of joining the band will be able to appear on virtually stage alongside them.

The author tells about an unusual audio guide produced by Catherine Johnson, who wrote the screenplay for the film Mamma Mia! The Abba museum has got plenty of bells and whistles. There is a stage on which visitors will be able to appear alongside holograms of the band, and entrance tickets which can be scanned and used to access footage created during the visit. But it is a museum which doesn’t take itself too seriously. “It’s very hi-tech but combined with warmth and humour,” explained Ulvaeus.

In conclusion, the author gives brief information where fans can stay, eat and drink. To my mind, this museum is really wonderful thing. It helps people to remember such a star band as ABBA. 

Review 3: Ed Wood

Ed Wood (1994)

Director: Tim Burton
Cast:
Johnny Depp - Ed Wood
Martin Landau - Bela Lugosi
Sarah Jessica Parker - Dolores Fuller
Patricia Arquette - Kathy O'Hara
Jeffrey Jones - Criswell

Synopsis:

Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Ed Wood. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau.

Review:

The film is a biography of the director Ed Wood. The film is focused on the apex of his career, which was in the mid 50s. At the beginning of his artistic career, he was a young and ambitious, not popular director. Ed met once in the store emaciated old man with a cane in his hand. He recognised in the old man Bela Lugosi, his idol and an actor. They quickly became friends. Overjoyed, Edward decided to star Bela in his films, such as 'Glen or Glenda' and 'Bride of the Monster'. These works were awful, but Ed was not discouraged. Bela soon died, and Eddie decided to turn his deathbed footage in the film 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'.  Ed Wood was really an unusual and original person, but at the same time a purposeful man.

As for the cast, it was really good! Burton made a great job, having found such ptototypes. Johnny Depp starred as Edward Wood. He was really great true, without false.  I would never have believed that the worst director was so charming and charismatic. Oscar for best supporting actor went to Martin Landau (Bela Lugosi). Martin played a strong and complex role, and so true, that I believed him since his appearance on screen. Also I did not expect such a good play from Sarah Jessica Parker.

Impressions of this film are mixed. In 'Ed Wood' there are strong and tragic episodes. What should a person do when his friend died? But there are many comic moments also. For example, the scene with false teeth or a scene with the octopus. And of course, Ed's passion for dressing up in women's clothes was decribed with irony.  So 'Ed Wood' is not only a biography film but also it's witty tragicomedy about a bright person.

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The article 'Cannes 2013 lineup: a programme of heavy-hitters and unexpected gems' was published on the website of the newspaper 'The Guardian' on  April 18, 2013. It was written by Peter Bradshaw.

The aim of the article is to tell about Cannes Festival 2013. From Roman Polanski to James Franco, from the Coen brothers and to Steven Soderbergh, there's plenty to look forward to at this year's festival.

As Peter Bradshaw notices the announcement of the Cannes competition list is the first sign of spring; always an exciting moment and even more so as in recent years Cannes has consolidated its primacy among the film festivals of the world. There is the expected parade of heavy-hitters and some former Palme d'Or-winners: Roman Polanski, Nicolas Winding Refn, Paolo Sorrentino, Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Payne, Joel and Ethan Coen, François Ozon.

Then the author writes there are the competition openers, shrewdly chosen, surely, with an eye to delivering the red-carpet glitz that is so vital for international media coverage and big-ticket sponsorship. Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby features Leonardo DiCaprio as the charismatic and mysterious Gatsby himself. The trailer will feed both the hopes and the gravest fears of those who have followed Luhrmann's career so far.

The Coen brothers are among this festival's favoured auteurs, the equivalent of the Mafia's "made guys", and it is no surprise to see their new movie 'Inside Llewyn Davis' on the competition list. Oscar Isaac plays the difficult, talented folk singer in 60s New York, and Carey Mulligan and John Goodman co-star.

Also this is a great festival for Japan, and two very different Japanese auteurs are represented. Takashi Miike's Straw Shield is a high-stakes crime thriller about a police squad tasked with protecting a murderer who has turned himself in after the grandfather of his victim has announced a billion-yen reward for anyone who kills him.

As it was noted the actor-writer-artist James Franco is appearing at Cannes as a director, with his As I Lay Dying, a version of the William Faulkner novel, adapted by Franco himself. Franco rubs people up the wrong way a bit, but no-one can doubt his energy and creativity.And back in Competition, the actor Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi is appearing as director, with her A Castle in Italy, about a family forced to sell their ancestral home.

To sum it all up, Peter Bradshaw tells what a fascinating festival lineup, and as ever the best stuff will almost certainly be the unheralded movies that we don't even realise are there. I cannot but agree with Mr. Bradshaw. I wish I could watch all these films.

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The article 'The Place Beyond the Pines – review' was published on the website of the newspaper 'The Guardian' on  April 14, 2013. It was written by Philip French.

The aim of the article is to give some description of the new film 'The Place Beyond the Pines'. It is directed by Derek Cianfrance. As the author says it's a new movie from the director of 'Blue Valentine' is a modern morality tale underpinned by outstanding central performances.


Production year: 2012
Country: USA
Runtime: 140 mins
Directors: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Eva Mendes.


This film is a trilogy or triptych covering the relationship between two families, one blue collar, the other middle class, whose paths cross over two generations in Schenectady, an upstate New York town near the state capital of Albany. In the Mohawk language, Schenectady means "the place beyond the pines", and the title gives the film both a free-floating poetic resonance and a historical anchorage.

Further Philip French tells that the film is divided into three parts. The film's first part centres on Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a charismatic biker doing a dangerous wall-of-death stunt act at a travelling fair. He's a strutting, chain-smoking, much tattooed drifter who is transformed by the discovery that he's the father of Jason, the six-month-old son of Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress in a suburban Schenectady cafe. In order to be near his son he gives up his transient life and takes a poorly paid job with a rural car repair shop run by the roughneck Robin (Ben Mendelsohn).

In the film's second part, the limelight switches from Gosling to Bradley Cooper. He's Avery Cross, a complementary figure: a college-educated uniformed cop and son of a well respected ex-judge. He too has a small son. Suddenly he becomes a police hero in somewhat dubious circumstances. Riddled with guilt, he's drawn into a web of corruption and professional intrigue that wraps itself around the local criminal justice system. Three crooked colleagues bring his life into collision with those of the working-class Romina and Jason on the other side of the tracks.

For the third part of the triptych, Cianfrance leaps forward 15 years. At this point the focus shifts to Luke's son, Jason, and Avery's son, AJ, their circumstances unknown to each other and both highly disturbed. In a contrived and perfunctory way they suddenly become high-school classmates in their senior year, and the sins of the fathers are visited on them when they're in trouble with the authorities as consumers and dealers of drugs.

Concluding, Philip French tells that 'The Place Beyond the Pines' is an engrossing, extremely well designed and acted film. As for me, I'd like to watch this film and to make a decision if it's really a good film.

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The article 'Bafta shares the love at film awards' was published on the website of the newspaper 'BBC News' on February 11, 2013. It was written by  Emma Saunders.

The aim of the article is to tell about of British analogy of Oscar BAFTA. The author describes 2013 British Academy Awards. 

Emma Saunders compares BAFTA with Oscar, and tells 'this year's Baftas proved to be a night where not one film dominated as some big hitters, including Lincoln and Life of Pi, failed to win big'.

So, first of all, it was said that 'Lincoln' picked up just one award - predictably for Daniel Day-Lewis as best actor. Ang Lee's adaptation of novel 'Life of Pi' only won two out of a possible nine awards - best visual effects and best cinematography.

Further musical 'Les Miserables' was the biggest winner of the night with four awards out of a possible nine. But three of those were in the less weighty technical categories: production design, sound and make up and hair. And Anne Hathaway was a favourite to win best supporting actress.

It was 'Amour''s Emmanuelle Riva who was the big surprise of the night, winning the Bafta for best actress. It was just a shame she couldn't be there to collect it. 'Amour' also won best foreign film but again, director Michael Haneke was absent.

'Argo' continued apace with Ben Affleck - controversially overlooked for a best director Oscar nomination - winning the equivalent Bafta, with his movie also winning the best film prize. But it wasn't just the Americans having all the fun. Bond movie 'Skyfall' won both outstanding British film and original music in the series' 50th anniversary year. Quentin Tarantino also picked up the original screenplay Bafta for his western slavery epic, 'Django Unchained'. And Pixar's 'Brave' won best animation, which could point to an Oscar win later this month in the same category.

The author notes David O Russell was rewarded with the best adapted screenplay prize for 'Silver Linings Playbook'. Russell, who made the film for his son who has bipolar disorder, said: "I know it personally from the inside... (it's about) removing the stigma." Host Stephen Fry, who has spoken publicly about his own experience of bipolar disorder, paid tribute to Russell after he left the stage.

Summing it all up, I'd like to say that there are many awards for actors, actresses and directors except Oscar, and which are also wide-world respected.

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The article 'The secret of Daniel Day-Lewis' success' was published on the website of the newspaper 'BBC News' on February 25, 2013. It is written by Genevieve Hassan.

The aim of the article is to find out the secret of the Day-Lewis's success career. The author uses opinions of film experts, such as Robbie Collin ('Daily Telegraph'), Nick James ('Sight and Sound'), Michael Rosser ('Screen International') and Stephen Frears (director 'My Beautiful Laundrette' (1985)).

Genevieve Hassan tells that Day-Lewis won his first Academy Award in 1990 for My Left Foot, his second in 2008 for There Will Be Blood and has now made it three for Lincoln. And it is noted that only the inimitable Katharine Hepburn won 4 best actress Oscars. The actor's sister, Tamasin, told the BBC her brother had been "amazingly lucky in his career... and he's made incredible choices."

Further, the author quotes Robbie Collin, who characterised Daniel Day-Lewis as: 'His unique selling point, as far as the hype around his films is concerned, is the enormous amount of preparation he puts into every role and his commitment to staying in that role when filming begins.'

Another film expert  Nick James says: 'The seriousness in which he takes his profession is beyond imagining - we know how dedicated he is. He's the perfect mix of English classical acting and American method acting, he merges the two perfectly.'

Hassan also quotes Michael Rosser: 'The choice of who he works with is clearly a significant factor when it comes to recognition that those roles get.' and Stephen Frears: 'He can play heroic characters. Even when he was starring in My Beautiful Laundrette, he turned it into a heroic character and that's not a very English quality.'

Summing it all up, I dare say that Daniel Day-Lewis is indeed an outstanding actor of the present, and his 3 best actor Oscars prove it. Though I haven't watched any film starring with him, but having read this article, I will watch one of them soon.