Boats Against the Current: Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

I've seen Baz Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby five times now. I'm not even ashamed to admit it. If I were to somehow become Alien out of Spring Breakers, it wouldn't be Scarface I'd have on repeat, it would be The Great Gatsby. Anything remotely Gatsby I snap up - whether it be reblogging my 100th gif of Jordan Baker or changing my cover photo on Facebook or finding something pretty to adorn my bedroom walls with.

Despite all this, I don't actually like The Great Gatsby as a film all that much. Let's put all of this into context: last term I did this huge research project about modern adaptations of classic films. Now, I won't bore you with the gory details since that thing ended up being like, 40 pages long, but The Great Gatsby was my main focus. This was because I had never seen so many people around my age go absolutely nuts for this one movie. Admittedly, this was mainly because of the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio is descended from angels and we're all materialistic magpies that will swoop in on anything that glitters (so you can imagine the field day we had with this). Let's just say, I wasn't the only one reblogging, cover photo-ing or adorning everything Gatsby.

A Conversation with Rango

As you can see, this is my second post of the night...I have a huge backlog of reviews to catch up on, and while it's the holidays, I'll probably be doing two posts a day until I've caught up. I'm sure you're all looking forward to double Stevee every day! (That was a joke, by the way).

Anyway, it's time for a fan-favourite...old Christopher is interviewing the very awesome Rango this week, so it looks like he's back in the middle of nowhere. (NEWBIES: This series probably peaked with the 'Conversation with Whomever Voted at the MTV Movie Awards'. But that isn't the best example of what I'm trying to do here, as when a movie is 'interviewed', I transform myself into the movie and I'm interviewed by a fake interviewer Christopher. Again, this Christopher fella isn't based on anyone living or dead...I just want a ginger cat called Christopher - yes, named after Christ Nolan)

CHRISTOPHER: Well, this is new. I've never interviewed an animated feature.
RANGO: I guess those PIXAR movies are just too high-shelf for ya, huh?

C: Well, I have interviewed such films as There Will Be Blood and L.A. Confidential...
R: And The Room.

C: Yes, and The Room. But I'd say other than that I only interview the best.
R: Get your dirty, webbed phalanges off of my boots!

C: I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going...anyway. Tell me a bit about yourself.
R: The name's Rango. *in the distance there's a dramatic gasp for extra effect*

C: Oh really? I wasn't aware of that.
R: Don't you sass me, sir.

C: What I meant was, tell me some plot points...
R: You're funny looking.

C: Well? You're funny looking too.
R: That's a funny looking shirt.

C: That's a funny looking animation style.
R: You got funny looking eyes.

C: You got a funny looking face!
R: You're a stranger. Stranger's don't last long here. *turns to walk away*

C: Oi! Would you just stay here?! I wanna finish this interview!
R: I'm going to slice your face off and use it to wipe my unmentionables!

C: Would you just remember for once that you're a kids movie?!
R: I know I am a kids movie. I'm a fun kids movie. I'm the kids movie that every kids movie wants to be. Because, you know, most of them don't have Johnny Depp, do they?

C: No, they don't. Let's try rephrasing this question: what's so special about you that would make Johnny Depp lend his voice?
R: He was begging for forgiveness after The Tourist, obviously.

C: That's true. He succeeded there.
R: Okay okay. I have an awesome story and I am an awesome throwback to some great movies, with all of my pop culture references. Anyway, I follow the story of an ordinary chameleon, Rango, who is thrown out of his car and left on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. What can this poor little chameleon do? He walks a while and manages to find a little village called Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West. It's actually great that he turned up, because now he is the new sheriff of this town. Even though he ain't ever had any experience as a sheriff in his life.

C: Sounds interesting. So being set in the Wild West, does this mean you're a bit of a western?
R: Yeah, I have a few western in-jokes. I have a really good western feel, which is inevitable considering I'm stuck in the Wild West. Let's just say, there's plenty of horse riding and other stuff of the sort. Oh yeah, and I should mention that the 'Spirit of the West' looks a lot like Clint Eastwood. I guess he's begging for forgiveness after Hereafter, too.

C: Considering you're an animated film, I can't really talk to you about your acting. But I did notice that everything sounded very authentic.

R: You know, when the actors were doing all the voice work, they were actually given space to act everything out. I thought that gave me a more authentic sound. Plus, the actors are all good at what they do. Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, Ray Winstone...all good citizens, aren't they?

C: Yes, you have a very impressive vocal cast. In fact, you're a pretty impressive movie, probably one of the best of 2011 so far.
R: Yeah well, Gore Verbinski did the right thing, didn't he? He left the latest Pirates of the Caribbean to someone else to make me. Ain't no shame in that.

C: I certainly hope that Verbinski tries some more animation in the future...his style here and choice not to go with 3D was brilliant. Anyway, got any last words for our readers?
R: Stay in school, eat your veggies and burn all the books that ain't Shakespeare.

And my rating for Rango:

Rewind--The Lookout

or: Memento with Joseph Gordon-Levitt

One word to sum it up: Twisty

Here I am, writing this review more than a week after I saw it, and catching up with a queue of blogging now I have faster internet that actually works properly. If this review is a little scratchy, it's because The Lookout isn't that fresh in my mind. But maybe this will give me a chance to randomly ramble about the amazingness of Joseph Gordon-Levitt??

An admired high school hockey player with a bright future, Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a part of a car crash, which leaves him with a brain injury that prevents him from remembering many things for extended periods of time. To compensate, he keeps notes in a small notebook to aid him in remembering what he is to do. He also lives with a blind friend, Lewis (Jeff Daniels). Obviously, with the mental incapacitation, he is unable to have meaningful work, so he cleans a bank. It is there he comes under the scrutiny of a gang planning to rob the bank. The leader, Gary (Matthew Goode) befriends him and gets him involved with a young woman, Luvlee (Isla Fisher) who further reels him in. After they get close and after reeling him in with his own failures, the bank plan unfolds. Confused but wanting to escape his current existence, he initially goes along with the scheme. After realizing he is being used, he attempts to stop the robbery, which of course immediately goes wrong.

The Lookout sets out to be a clever heist movie, mixed with a psychological mind flip thriller, but ultimately comes across as an intricate modern day film noir. It draws plenty of valid comparisons to an earlier noir called Brick, which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This is because, like Brick, The Lookout has some amazing, yet very realistic characters. The Pin always haunts the back of my mind, as does Gary Spargo from this movie. The script never lets down on these characters, and seems to make sure that we know how well developed they are and that some of these people could be in our lives. At some points, these characters become a little too well-focussed on and we kind of lose the story, but Scott Frank's assured direction makes sure we never lose sight of the film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt again proves that he has everything a leading man needs, even though this is a small independent thriller of sorts. Oozing with talent and a real emotional connection, he kinda reminded me of a Leonardo DiCaprio-in-training...I mean, you saw Inception, right? JGL totally owned in that movie, just as Leo does in most of his movies. If more movies could be clever modern film noir like this one, and all starring JGL, then we would have a very happy film industry, wouldn't we? Also, I can't go on without mentioning a fantastic Isla Fisher, who, in my mind, is a bubbly natural comedienne, but did extremely well in a dramatic role. More of these and Isla might be able to rustle up some awards for her efforts.


THE VERDICT: A fantastic independent film noir, which is made great thanks to it's realistic and colourful ensemble of characters. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stands out in a film similar to his previous work Brick.

7/10