Who is this man Gatsby?

I'm told that this is a very good book. I haven't read it yet.

I liked the plot a lot- who is gatsby? Gatsby turns out to be some nobody that made his fortune in scams and other illegal ways. Talks like a gentleman and has connections everywhere. What makes Gatsby so great is his imagination (it's also his downfall). He mixes with the right people, throws great parties but does it all for the love of one woman whom he was in love with before he went off to war. When he got back she was married.
What I like most about the film is the old style scenery. It takes you from a modern world, back into a world with wooden billboards and old fashioned motor cars.
The film is Aesthetically pleasing. It's not over complicated, it just does enough to make it simple and interesting.

It's taken me time to like Leonardo Di Caprio. I didn't like Titanic and judged him on that... big mistake. What's eating Gilbert Grape? is another film that he's fantastic in. Django Unchained is another great and recent-ish film that he's starred in and been amazing in. This is no exception. I was amazed by how good he was as Gatsby and most importantly how well he managed to hold his upper class english accent.
I was also very impressed with Tobey Maguire, whom we all know for being spider-man in those three fairly rubbish films. He played his character very well, passively but with the right amount of sincerity.
It's definitely a film to buy and watch over again.

Film Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaBVLhcHcc0

Before Take the lead

There's a lot to say about this film... but most of it's not good.
So many films about dancing, and so many with the same theme. All old musicals have this kinda idea about them. Fred Astaire was constantly trying to mix up tap dancing will ballet and ballroom dancing. The idea about mixing together different styles of music isn't new. Why Baz Luhrmann who as we know is capable of making very good films (Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet) had to make this film is beyond me.

Synopsis
A ballroom dancer in Australia wants to try and fuse the ballroom steps with other styles of dancing and of course it is a massive scandal. No one would ever allow modern dancing to interfere with the art of ballroom dancing. Unfortunately he knows nothing about rhythm and the reason why his mixture of dancing is a mess is because he's out of time. His dance partner refuses to dance with him because his dancing wont win competitions, which is what dancing is all about (apparently). He gets a new partner who's a beginner and also latino. Her family teach them about rhythm and ultimately make them better dancers. They go to the competition and dance their way, no matter how hard the judges try to make them stop.


If you're into dancing films, then Take The Lead with Antonio Banderas is a much better film experimenting with the same thing. Incorporating street and hip hop dancing with ballroom dancing and they do it very effectively. They have a sense of rhythm and make it interesting which Baz fails to do.
I know that this was made before Take the Lead, but Take the lead is such a good film and strictly ballroom really isn't. You can buy it as part of a box set and to be fair, it's not as bad as Australia, Jumper or the Golden Compass... so it's not the worst deal in the world. Buying it in a box set is good cos you get moulin rouge and Romeo and Juliet which are actually worth paying for. I wouldn't recommend that you go out of your way to get hold of this film and watch it... it's not worth it. I've no idea why they made a musical of this film!

Drag queens in the desert

Possibly the weirdest film i've seen yet... although rocky horror picture show is a very close second!

Two drag queens and a transexual ride through the desert in Australia singing and dancing.
Mostly this film is about how long they spend stuck in the desert with a broken down van. They dress up and practice their dancing in the middle of the desert before finally reaching their destination and doing a show.

Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce are the drag queens. Guy Pearce plays the character that always goes too far. Doesn't know when to drop it and leave it alone, drinks to much and draws way to much attention to himself. He manages to get himself into quite a lot of trouble and picks fights with all the wrong people.
Hugo Weaving has a wife and son that he never told anyone about. His son decides that he's ok with his dad dressing up and dating other men, which makes everything ok and the show can go on.

It's a pretty humorous film and it's good to see actors broadening their horizons. Made in 1994, there's probably a reason as to why most people haven't seen this film. The idea of drag queens can be weird for some people. It's got great music and is very enjoyable, but it's not the best film ever made... but then I don't think anyone thought it would be.

You drink the Gin... and replace it with water.

If you're in for a life and are ok with drag queens, watch it, enjoy it... it'll change your life (i'm just not sure in which way).

The Original Tron

Tron. The original.

This is the film that later films such as I robot were based on. Computer programmers are programming, unaware that the master programme is taking over.

Flynn, a programmer is trying to hack into the master programme to steal back some programmes. The man at the top of the company, whom everyone thinks is the head of the company was once a programmer on the same level as Flynn. He stole Flynn's programmes and passed them off as his own, rising above all the other programmers and making a lot of money and becoming famous in the process. Flynn is looking for the original file which has his name on it. He hacks into the master programme every night searching for it.

When he gets into the master programme, the master programme becomes so fed up with him that Flynn is sucked into the master programme and becomes a character, part of the game. He is the only user to be part of the game and meets up with a programme, Tron. Tron is unbeatable. He also meets up with his programme and together they start to find ways around the system, trying their hardest to get to the master programme. Tron and Flynn eventually succeed and Flynn discovers his file and is also sent back to the human world.

I haven't yet seen the other Tron films but I know that they have kept Jeff Bridges and the main cast the same, which means that the films have a very good chance of being brilliant!

This film was made in 1982... you can tell, it has a kinda Pokemon/Zelda/Tetras feel about it, which is to be expected. It has a great storyline and is super easy to watch. It's not a film that takes much brainpower and we all have no doubt that Flynn and Tron will complete their mission.

If you lived with Tetras and Pokemon, you appreciate and understand the colour and the games shown in the film. Every task that they have to complete kinda resembles the most basic games. The colour scheme is like Pokemon and when they ride motorbikes and fight against the enemy, it reminded me of snake! Made in an era of great games, this film is great to bring back original gaming. I loved the film, I just wonder why it took them so long to make another one?

The Artist

A film that won a lot of awards.

In a world full of technology, when we can do almost anything with a film... Along comes the artist in something like 2010? and gives you a trip back to the 1920's. 

Silent movies in colour is something you rarely watch, but this is a genius film. We're used to silent films, the kind that you see in Singing in the Rain or the original Phantom of the Opera, but to see a silent movie created in the 21st century is very uncommon. 

An artist, an actor, star of silent movies makes his fortune as a star of silent movies. He falls in love with a woman that he does a silent movie with. After a while this woman becomes a big star and is recruited to do the first movie with speech!

Not many actors of the silent era made it to speaking... it's a completely different style of acting. This guy certainly doesn't! Unlike Singing in the rain, he can't make the change and starts to lose all his money. He ends up with no work and sets fire to his apartment. His dog (who is the best character (in my opinion)) gets a policeman to come and drag the artist out of his burning house and he is taken to hospital and then to the women's house. He holds on to the film he was originally in with this woman and she helps him recover.

It takes him a while but eventually he agrees to do another movie with her, a speaking movie and in doing so his career is re-born!

I can see why it won so many awards. Not only did it take the world by surprise, instead of moving forward with the groundbreaking technology that they used in Avatar, they have taken us back to original films, the kind you would associate with Fritz Lang!

Hitchcock

Grace Kelly proves the type of Actress she was!
REAR WINDOW
(if anyone is a fan of the YU-GI-OH spoof of 'Bad Romance' you'll be singing it all the time you watch the film!)

Having only seen her in High Society, I was amazed to see her in a hitchcock film. I was also amazed to see a hitchcock film that didn't involve a shower and lots of dead bodies.

Not much happens in this film. A guy sits in a wheelchair at his window watching his neighbours and soon becomes aware that one of his neighbours has 'misplaced' his wife. Being a journalist, he refuses to dismiss the idea that the wife is just sick and hiding indoors.
Of course he turns out to be correct. Grace Kelly sneaks into the apartment and discovers the wife's wedding ring. She of course then gets arrested for breaking into someone else's house, but she takes the ring with her and so the man can't get back the proof that his wife is dead and not sick.
The man arranges to meet the journalist and attempts to kill him... that tells everyone, if they hadn't guessed it already that he was guilty.

This film isn't as capturing as Psycho or other Hitchcock horror films, but its still watchable and quite enjoyable. You can't beat Hitchcock... he's still one of the best movie makers ever, along with the likes of Spielberg.

It's been a while since I watched the film... I think I watched it some time last month and have watched about ten films in between watching Rear Window and writing this post.
I know I've been slow with it all, I haven't really been around. I also apologise that all the posts are coming from me- Est hasn't really been watching the films and so hasn't posted.
The post on 'The Artist' is LONG overdue- It will be next. I'm scheduling it so that a new post should go up everyday.. to try and get back on track with all the posts.