8 out of 10 stars
Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio.....................Jay Gatsby
Carey Mulligan...................Daisy Buchanan
Joel Edgerton.......................Tom Buchanan
Tobey Maguire......................Nick Carraway
Elizabeth Debicki....................Jordan Baker
*****WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*****
When I went to go see this movie, I didn't know what to expect. In fact, I set the bar pretty low. A couple people I know had seen it before me and I received mixed reviews. Some said it was fabulous and one of the best movies they'd seen in a while. Others said I would probably hate it so it wasn't even worth watching.
Now I read the book The Great Gatsby in my English class in school this year, and if there is one thing about me that people don't often know is that I am a huge appreciator of the classics. Of course, I don't know if Gatsby is considered a classic yet to most, but to me, it is. So I decided to go watch the movie.
And I must say, I was surprisingly satisfied with it. However, if you saw the old Great Gatsby with Robert Redford, I can't guarantee that you'll like this one. My English teacher, who saw the old version, strongly disliked this movie, but my parents, who also saw the old version, rather liked this version as well.
So you may wonder why I gave it only 8 stars if I liked it so much. Well the only thing I didn't like about the movie was that I feel like the creators tried to make it too "visually stimulating." It was too artsy at some points. Of course, at some points, like during Gatsby's parties, I appreciated the wild colors, but at other points, it was just too artsy and it was a bit distracting.
However, I felt that the actors did a fabulous job in portraying all their roles.
Contrary to my English teacher's belief, I thought Leonardo DiCaprio did a fantastic job playing Jay Gatsby. The way he played the role was exactly how I pictured Gatsby to be. And it wasn't just the suave, smooth party-guy that DiCaprio played well. He also did a marvelous job in playing the hope-filled romantic who is doing everything just to win Daisy's heart over.
In fact, it surprised me how much I liked Leonardo DiCaprio in this movie. Typically, I don't like Leonardo DiCaprio's characters in films, especially when he's one of the leads. I don't know why, don't ask me, but I just never really liked him. But I loved him in this film. He did an amazing job.
I don't know that I've ever seen anything Carey Mulligan has been in before, but I've heard her name. I think the first thing that threw me off was that I wasn't expecting Daisy to be blonde. I don't know, that was just weird for me the whole movie.
But I thought Carey Mulligan did a nice job of playing Daisy. Now I know that you're not supposed to like Daisy, but in the book, i really did like her. In the movie, however, I didn't like her as much. Don't get me wrong, Carey Mulligan pulled off Daisy's role wonderfully, but I didn't like her character.
Mind you if you remember some of my previous posts, you'll know that I am starting to like Joel Edgerton. In this movie, I absolutely hated his character. Of course, you're kind of supposed to hate Tom Buchanan so I guess it all worked out. Joel Edgerton, though, did a great job of playing Tom. He portrayed Tom's snobbish, narcissistic personality. I think he did a great job.
So before this movie, I did not like Tobey Maguire one bit. I didn't like him as Spider-Man. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't like him. However, this movie slightly changed my opinion of him. I guess I just needed to see him in another role. I thought he did a good job of playing Nick Carraway. He showed Nick's kind of lost, go-with-the-flow personality really well. I still don't know if I like Tobey Maguire yet, but I certainly don't hate him anymore.
When I first saw Jordan Baker in this film, I was convinced that I had seen her before somewhere. Turns out I haven't. I've never even heard of her. But I do think Elizabeth Debicki did a marvelous job of playing Jordan. She really captured the smooth, slick personality that Jordan has, and how Jordan obviously thinks very highly of herself. However, I did feel that the movie didn't do her complete justice. Jordan's character is a pathological liar and they didn't really show that in the movie. Of course, Jordan isn't really a main character, but I thought it would've been much more interesting had they shown that part of her character.
The movie did leave out a few pieces from the novel, like the fact that Jordan and Nick had a brief relationship. It is understandable, though, that the creators of the movie would leave some parts out.
I was rather impressed with how much I liked this movie. But I do think that I understood it much better because I read it in my English class. And in class, we analyzed the book quite a bit. If I hadn't read the book, I don't know that I would've liked it as much. I think I would've just seen is as some movie about a girl who can't make up her mind about who to be in love with. So I suggest reading the book before you go if you haven't already read it.
So all in all, I do believe this is a movie I would recommend to people. Just do your best to get over the fact that the background looks like a Bob Ross painting half the time.
Sources
Images-Google
Cast-IMDb
Now I read the book The Great Gatsby in my English class in school this year, and if there is one thing about me that people don't often know is that I am a huge appreciator of the classics. Of course, I don't know if Gatsby is considered a classic yet to most, but to me, it is. So I decided to go watch the movie.
And I must say, I was surprisingly satisfied with it. However, if you saw the old Great Gatsby with Robert Redford, I can't guarantee that you'll like this one. My English teacher, who saw the old version, strongly disliked this movie, but my parents, who also saw the old version, rather liked this version as well.
So you may wonder why I gave it only 8 stars if I liked it so much. Well the only thing I didn't like about the movie was that I feel like the creators tried to make it too "visually stimulating." It was too artsy at some points. Of course, at some points, like during Gatsby's parties, I appreciated the wild colors, but at other points, it was just too artsy and it was a bit distracting.
However, I felt that the actors did a fabulous job in portraying all their roles.
Contrary to my English teacher's belief, I thought Leonardo DiCaprio did a fantastic job playing Jay Gatsby. The way he played the role was exactly how I pictured Gatsby to be. And it wasn't just the suave, smooth party-guy that DiCaprio played well. He also did a marvelous job in playing the hope-filled romantic who is doing everything just to win Daisy's heart over.
In fact, it surprised me how much I liked Leonardo DiCaprio in this movie. Typically, I don't like Leonardo DiCaprio's characters in films, especially when he's one of the leads. I don't know why, don't ask me, but I just never really liked him. But I loved him in this film. He did an amazing job.
I don't know that I've ever seen anything Carey Mulligan has been in before, but I've heard her name. I think the first thing that threw me off was that I wasn't expecting Daisy to be blonde. I don't know, that was just weird for me the whole movie.
But I thought Carey Mulligan did a nice job of playing Daisy. Now I know that you're not supposed to like Daisy, but in the book, i really did like her. In the movie, however, I didn't like her as much. Don't get me wrong, Carey Mulligan pulled off Daisy's role wonderfully, but I didn't like her character.
Mind you if you remember some of my previous posts, you'll know that I am starting to like Joel Edgerton. In this movie, I absolutely hated his character. Of course, you're kind of supposed to hate Tom Buchanan so I guess it all worked out. Joel Edgerton, though, did a great job of playing Tom. He portrayed Tom's snobbish, narcissistic personality. I think he did a great job.
So before this movie, I did not like Tobey Maguire one bit. I didn't like him as Spider-Man. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't like him. However, this movie slightly changed my opinion of him. I guess I just needed to see him in another role. I thought he did a good job of playing Nick Carraway. He showed Nick's kind of lost, go-with-the-flow personality really well. I still don't know if I like Tobey Maguire yet, but I certainly don't hate him anymore.
When I first saw Jordan Baker in this film, I was convinced that I had seen her before somewhere. Turns out I haven't. I've never even heard of her. But I do think Elizabeth Debicki did a marvelous job of playing Jordan. She really captured the smooth, slick personality that Jordan has, and how Jordan obviously thinks very highly of herself. However, I did feel that the movie didn't do her complete justice. Jordan's character is a pathological liar and they didn't really show that in the movie. Of course, Jordan isn't really a main character, but I thought it would've been much more interesting had they shown that part of her character.
The movie did leave out a few pieces from the novel, like the fact that Jordan and Nick had a brief relationship. It is understandable, though, that the creators of the movie would leave some parts out.
I was rather impressed with how much I liked this movie. But I do think that I understood it much better because I read it in my English class. And in class, we analyzed the book quite a bit. If I hadn't read the book, I don't know that I would've liked it as much. I think I would've just seen is as some movie about a girl who can't make up her mind about who to be in love with. So I suggest reading the book before you go if you haven't already read it.
So all in all, I do believe this is a movie I would recommend to people. Just do your best to get over the fact that the background looks like a Bob Ross painting half the time.
Sources
Images-Google
Cast-IMDb
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