THE GREAT GATSBY

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A+

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher

Screenplay by Baz Luhrman and Craig Pearce

Directed by Baz Luhrman 

The works of F. Scott Fitzgerald hardly seem like prime fare for 3D summer blockbusters - it almost seems like something you'd see on The Simpsons.  It is, to say the least, unusual. But so is Baz Luhrman.

The man responsible for a hyper active Romeo+Juliet set in "Verona Beach" and dancing waiters singing "Like A Virgin" in Moulin Rouge! may not be everyone's cup of tea, but love him or hate him, you have to acknowledge his  unique vision. When the song "My Way" was written, it might as well have been dedicated to Baz.

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a Yale graduate and WW I  veteran, is a depressed and disillusioned alcoholic staying in a sanatorium for treatment. When he struggles to articulate his thoughts, his doctor suggests writing it down, since writing is what brings him solace.

We flashback to the summer of 1922, where Nick moves to New York, where he takes a job as a bond salesman. He rents a small house on Long Island in the (fictional) village of West Egg, next door to the lavish mansion of Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a mysterious business magnate who holds extravagant parties. Nick drives across the bay to East Egg for dinner at the home of his cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), and her husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton), a college acquaintance of Nick's, who is more than a bit of a cad and makes no secret to Nick that he has a mistress (played wonderfully by Isla Fisher.).. 

As the summer progresses, Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties. Upon arriving, he learns that none of the guests at the party, though there are hundreds, have ever met Gatsby himself, and they have developed multiple theories as to who he is. Nick meets Gatsby, who is surprisingly young and rather aloof, in person. Gatsby seems to take a liking to Nick and the two become mutual friends.  Nick later learns that Gatsby knew Daisy from a romantic encounter in 1917, and is still madly in love with her. He spends many nights staring at the green light at the end of her dock, across the bay from his mansion, hoping to one day rekindle their lost romance. Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle and wild parties are an attempt to impress Daisy in the hopes that she will one day appear at Gatsby's doorstep. Gatsby now wants Nick to arrange a reunion between himself and Daisy. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without telling her that Gatsby will be there also.

If you've read the book, you know where things fo from here, and if you haven't, I'm not going to spoil anything.  Suffice it to say, with both Fitzgerald and Luhrman, it's at least a much about the lourney as the destination. Luhrman's sumptuous visual style mixes perfectly with Fitzgerald's lyrical writing style, and it's a match made in heaven. The use of modern music, ranging from hip hop to a remix of U2's "Love Is Blindness" is used to great effect; Luhrman wishes to capture the decadence of the Jazz age and by mixing modern elements makes it feel edgy and exciting in the way it was then, rather than the cleaned up, seemingly stodgy portrayal that comes in most modern portrayals. This also applies to the 3D, which is used to great and often genuinely beautiful effect, and we experience the excitement of the era in a way that I would argue captures the feeling much better than a more literalist take ever could hope to portray.

The performances are strong all around, with Mulligan shining brightly as Daisy and making it easy to see what it is that captivates Gatsby. But the triumph here is DiCaprio, and his portrayal of the classic character is nothing short of definitive, and should be remebered at Oscar time (a much better use of the great young actor than we've seen in recent years.).

The other advantage of the 3D is that it forces Luhrman to hold back just a little on the more frenetic elements of his visual style, and this may be his most successful over all film. This is not a movie for everyone, but I found it to be genuine work of art and believe it will stand as one of the summer's very best.

The Great Gatsby is Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sensuality.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Bendict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldanna, Karl, Urban, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller and Alice Eve
Screenplay by Roberto Orci & alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof
Directed by J.J. Abrams

For once, the geek out movie of the summer is is not about a superhero.

 As many of us saw in the ten minute teaser before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the latest chapter of the quintessential science fiction franchise begins as t he USS Enterprise has been sent to a planet in the Nibiru system to observe a primitive civilization, and Spock in trapped inside a volcano which is about to erupt. Captain Kirk violates the Prime directive in order to rescue Spock, and is therefore demoted and ordered back to the academy. However, Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), reinstated as commander of Enterprise in Kirk's place, talks his superiors into offering Kirk the position of first officer of the Enterprise.

The two attend an emergency meeting at Starfleet Command to discuss the bombing of a secret installation in London, part the top covert agency  Section 31 (familiar to fans of Deep Space Nine.). The bombing appears to have been perpetrated by former a Starfleet agent named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of the BBC's Sherlock.). After a second attack, the crew of the Enterprise are sent to hunt down Harrison, who is hiding on the Klingon homeworld of Kronos.

Star Trek Into Darkness moves at a break neck pace while managing to preserve not only character and story, but more than a little bit of political subtext. The Federation in the years following the destruction of the planet Vulcan is clearly post 9/11 America, and this film could have been called Star Trek Into Zero Dark Thirty, the parallels are so clear. Fortunately they are also motivated, insightful and poignant; this isn't a cheap, lazy trick like the WMD's in Prince of Persia. In fact, truth be told, in many ways this movie goes more in depth into serious and thoughful questions about right and wrong in dealing with the unthinkable than Kathryn Bigelow's Academy Award nominee, though in fairness, being not only fiction, but science fiction, it has a lot more leeway to do so.

Once again, director J.J. Abrams and his writing team have made a blockbuster action film that will please non fans of the iconic series while throwing several huge bones to die hard Trekkers. References to past films and TV episodes abound, and while the film is still pretty  fun if you don't know Star Trek, it's an absolute blast if you do. And other science fiction references can be spotted, in particular a blatant but respectful homage to Ridley Scott's classic, Blade Runner.  The cast members seem to have settled into their roles, and the interplay between Chris Pine's Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock is superb. Cumberbatch proves to be an extremely powerful presence, even if his ethnicity and physical build don't fit the role he's playing, and at times he really owns the film. There's no doubt he's going to get a career boost from this one. Alice Eve is charming as a character that will be familiar to fans, and Peter Weller, the original Robocop, makes a great Dick Cheney.

Star Trek Into Darkness will easily compete for the title of most entertaining film of the summer, and it's hard not to walk out of it giggling at the prospect of Abrams next directing gig helming Star Wars: Episode VII.

The film is rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and some sexuality.

IRON MAN 3

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: B +
Robert Downey, Jr., Gwynneth Paltrow. Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley 
Screenplay by Drew pearce & Shane Black 
Directed by Shane Black

Let's be honest: at this point, MARVEL STUDIOS doesn't make movies. They make the most expensive, spectacular TV series of all time, and they release a new episode on the big screen every six to twelve months. They are in serious danger of over saturating  the market in much the same way that the Star Trek franchise did toward the end of the 90's, when it was impossible to look forward to more Star Trek because there was always a version around in one form or another.

As such, I wasn't hugely excited about Iron Man 3.  As great as Robert Downey, Jr. is in the role of Tony Stark, the character wasn't particularly engaging in Iron Man 2, which was really just a two set/commercial for The Avengers, which came just last summer. There simply hasn't been any time to miss him. And with a sequel to the megafranchise of all time coming in the near future, there's the inescapable feeling that nothing too major can happen in any of the individual Avenger character films, because they are saving the big stuff for when they get together.

However, whether it's MARVEL, or merely writer/director Shane Black (the man who created the Lethal Weapon franchise), someone hit upon the idea that if this is going to be a glorified, big screen TV series, let's have some fun with that. In the same way that individual episodes of The X Files or Doctor Who can vary wildly in tone - one week you have horror and the next you have light comedy - Black has created a departure from the norm while still maintaining largely true to the material, and the result is a wild, if frenetic, ride.

As the film opens, Tony  recalls a New Years Eve party in 1999, which plays like a Thanksgiving episode of Friends.  Tony is busy flirting with scientist Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), inventor of Extremis—an experimental regenerative treatment intended to allow recovery from crippling injuries - and as such has little time for fellow scientist Aldrich Killian, who offers them a place in his company Advanced Idea Mechanics. When Stark promises Killian that he will meet him on the rooftop, Killian waits on the roof but, alas, his hero never shows up, and he is faced with the sad fact that he is essentially the same character Jim Carrey played as Edward Nigma in Batman Forever, right down to the glasses and bad wig.

Years later, Stark's experiences during the alien invasion of New York are giving him panic attacks. Restless, he has built several dozen Iron Man suits, creating friction with his girlfriend Pepper (Gwynneth Paltrow.). Meanwhile, a string of bombings by terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley)  has left intelligence agencies bewildered by lack of forensic evidence. When Stark Industries security chief Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau, who directed the first two Iron Man films and shows tremendous class by showing up to play a supporting role here) is badly injured in one such attack, Stark overcomes his stupor and issues a televised threat to the Mandarin, who responds by destroying Stark's home with helicopter gunships, and as far as anyone knows, Tony Stark is killed.

It's here that the film really takes off and becomes something utterly unique, as Tony's suit is severely damaged and he is forced to rely on his own ingenuity, and the help of a young boy (Ty Simpkins). The interplay between Downey and Simpkins is hilarious and is worth the price of admission alone. From here, the movie is equal parts science fiction and zany comedy, going so much wilder and sillier than the previous film that I found myself thinking of Gremlins 2 at more than one point.  There are also heavy doses of the 80's buddy cop style action formula to remind us that this is, after all, Shane Black. With this much fun going on, the movie can be afford to be a bit short on coherent plotting. If Samuel Goldwyn were alive today, he's say this film had a lousy plot but a great story, and he'd be right. The story of Tony Stark and his efforts to focus his world and face his demons, and to figure out where to go next, is truly terrific, and makes up for the rather sloppy plot of Aldrich Killian's revenge scheme.

In the end, Iron Man 3 is just another super hero movie, albeit with some delightful twists on the genre. But much like Tony Stark, the film, and perhaps the entire Marvel superstructure, finds a way to make that more than enough, and frankly, more power to them. Well, not really. They don't need any more power. Please don't give them any more power.

Iron Man 3 is rated PG-13 for a surprising amount of violence, mild profanity and sensuality.