Letterboxd — Your life in film

The Great Gatsby, huh? Well, maybe if you refer to him in the ironical sense! You see, this movie paints Gatsby as some sort of tragic hero. I liked him well enough and think he is indeed a tragic character, but he's also terribly foolish! While Tobey Maguire (my favorite part of the movie) seems to think Gatsby is somehow above all the shallowness of the 1920's party era, I'd say he falls right in line with it. I don't find Gatsby's crazy obsessions with Daisy, social status, and wealth to be commendable traits at all! It's been a while since I read the book, so maybe F. Scott Fitzgerald had a different take on the character, but the film really plays up the notion that Gatsby is somehow acting very noble. Overall it feels like a lot of teenage-romance melodramatic baloney, and I don't remember getting that from the book.

Unlike "To the Wonder," Iron Man Three was not at all what I had been expecting! The trailers for this movie were purposefully misleading, and I like that. I'm glad Iron Man 3 didn't just turn out to be a Dark Knight ripoff, but I also wish the story had been a little more straightforward. The jokes are basically just people saying, "Yeah, I'm in a superhero movie. Pretty much!" It's the same obnoxious sense of humor that characterizes all of the Avengers films. Unlike the other Avengers though, I think Iron Man actually had a good first movie and was an interesting character. However, the sequels squander this in exchange for some cheap laughs! But Iron Man 3 is a still fun movie and I liked it for all the crazy and unpredictable stuff that happens in it.

The Place Beyond the Pines was an interesting movie, but it was also a little too long if you ask me. The characters don't really seem to learn any lessons themselves, but I guess if you want to take something away from this movie, they are good examples of how not to behave.

If I had watched this film knowing nothing about it or Tree of Life, I probably would have liked it a whole lot less. But thanks to reading some helpful reviews beforehand, I knew what I was getting into, and so To the Wonder was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. In fact, I was so prepared for this movie, I was surprised it was already over by the time the credits started rolling!

Knowing there was going to be very little dialogue, I just sat back and enjoyed the imagery, WONDERing to myself what ideas the director might be trying to convey. When I watched Tree of Life two years ago, I remember being very confused. But with To the Wonder, I found that I could usually understand what was going on just by watching the characters' body language. Not bad! Anyway, I liked the movie and it offers some nice ideas to ponder over.

While not as good as the original, I would be hard pressed to find a more disgustable film!

A truly terrible disappointment that did not live up to its Power Rangers-ish predecessor. There are only two good sequences in the whole movie, for which I awarded it two stars.