Nick Carraway, a wannabe writer finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his super-rich millionaire neighbour, Jay Gatsby.

Gatsby? What Gatsby?

Before I begin, I’ve not read The Great Gatsby, so I’ll be reviewing this purely from a film perspective. Adapting famous and well-respected classic literature is no easy job. For every successful attempt, there are ten misfires that people quickly forget. The Great Gatsby fits somewhere in the middle, for everything good about it, there are easily five bad aspects of the film. Still, The Great Gatsby an enjoyable flawed experience.

Baz Lurhmann is known for his style, and he definitely doesn’t hold back in The Great Gatsby. The parties in particular are very impressive and pretty to look at; you watch eager to be a part of it. Everyone is dressed in 1920′s clothing, filling the screen with stylish women looking gorgeous. The setting of Gatsby’s house is beautifully detailed and filled to the brim with tasteful artwork, crafted outdoor porches and more. I applaud the balanced mix of wide angled shots that showed the crowd interacting with Gatsby’s house and close up dance moves. Having said that, the style did get a little much at times. Many of the car scenes looked fake with many of the buildings and trees looking a little too polished. The sometimes awkward editing didn’t help some of the more stylish scenes. I don’t think they stayed on the same shot for more than five seconds. Just bounding from one angle to another. So hyperactive!

I may criticise his overuse of style, but Lurhmann works best when he’s subtler. For example, there is one scene in a hotel room, after all that jazz, movement and colour, the movie just stops. There are no special effects in this scene, no dancing, no fireworks. It’s just a group of people talking, it’s almost as if you are watching a Broadway play.

Leonardo DiCaprio is remarkable as Jay Gatsby. Every single one of his personality traits, from the self-doubt to the romantic idealism, is visible in his subtle performance. DiCaprio’s Gatsby is a fragile being, a misguided dreamer, whose innocence and heart is stamped out by the dishonesty in his environment, an adolescent boy frozen in time. DiCaprio gives a performance of such vulnerability, it really breaks your heart. Gatsby is such a fascinating character, I found myself eager to know everything about him. I don’t been this interested in a character in a long time. Now we can’t talk about Gatsby without mentioning Daisy can we?

As for Maguire, bless, he does try, but he falls flat in his role as a narrative a guide. There is so much going on and so much of Luhrmann’s dreamworld to absorb that poor Maguire gets lost in it all. Without a compelling presence from Maguire, Nick was demoted from having a role as an interpreter of events to just being another character, who unfortunately is a bit boring and dull.

The rest of the supporting cast is actually quite impressive. Joel Edgerton is a little one-note at first, but he has one moment where his vulnerability comes out, it’s almost heartbreaking to watch, it makes his performance all that more striking. Elizabeth Debicki deserves a special mention, her performance, as Jordan was impressive as she gave her character a captivating essence, you find yourself drawn to her just as Nick is. Isla Fisher has one or two moments, which impressed. One of the film’s most impressive sequences involves her character Myrtle. I won’t spoil anything, but for those who have read the book, or even seen the film should know what I’m on about.

The soundtrack of The Great Gatsby has been both criticised and applauded. In my opinion, it mostly works having a huge influence on the movie and the atmosphere. The soundtrack features artists such as Jay Z, Beyonce, Florence and the Machine, Fergie and Lana Del Ray. Rather than falling into the cliché of using the music of the era, Lurhmann blends jazz, orchestra and modern music into the mix. There may not be a particular song that stood out for me (excluding Lana Del Ray’s Young and Beautiful); I still admire the soundtrack nonetheless.

In conclusion, The Great Gatsby is an enjoyable flawed experience. Lurhmann’s vision may be overwhelming and a little tiresome at times, but I still admire what he tried to do with it. It is a shame that any symbolic or larger goals get lost in the glossy extravagance. I for one will definitely be reading the book in the future.

Starfleet find an unbeatable force of terror within their own organisation, terrorist John Harrison. Captain Kirk leads a Federation mission to a war-zone to capture the criminal.

You have no idea what you’ve done. I will walk over your cold corpses.

As a big fan of Star Wars, Science Fiction is a genre I’m a big fan of; I love the endless possibilities of it and how creative it is. JJ Abrams’ Star Trek was impressive and definitely made an impression on people. Having said that, I wasn’t that excited for the sequel, while Star Trek was good, it didn’t make me eager for a sequel. Luckily for me, Star Trek Into Darkness was one hell of a ride and I enjoyed it on many levels, it even had a bit more substance to it managing to avoid sacrificing everything that made the first one so fun.

Star Trek Into Darkness begins on the planet Nibiru, where Kirk (Pine) is upto his usual mischievous acts. They soon return to Starfleet Headquarters where Kirk finds himself in trouble for the actions he displayed on Nibiru. However, things get worse when Starfleet is interrupted by a new threat: an unbeatable man named John Harrison (Cumberbatch). After losing someone close to him, Kirk leads the crew, armed with 72 proton torpedoes to catch the terrorist and discover the history between Harrison and Starfleet.

Captain Kirk really comes into his own in this film as a leader, Pine’s impressive performance shows us that he’s capable of doing more than just looking pretty. We still see him being his cheeky womanising self, but his character grows here making him more layered and likeable. What helps Pine’s performance is his easy chemistry with Zachary Quinto whom was also impressive easily demonstrating that he is the only actor around that can play Spock as well as he can. Quinto projects Spock’s struggle to get in touch with his human side, his resistance to show emotion proved difficulties between him and Uhura. I was a little disappointed with his relationship with Zoe Saldana, It might have something to do with how wasted Saldana was, which was a great shame.

The real star of the show is Benedict Cumberbatch, making a perfect villain. He made for a much more fleshed-out and memorable villain than Eric Bana’s Nero. He is intimidating in individual ways and managed to surprise me throughout. I also loved the way he executed his plan, it showed more cutting edge creativity than most modern blockbusters. Other supporting cast members are good with what they are given. However, I did have some issues with Simon Pegg, a likeable actor whom I sometimes didn’t see as Scotty, I just saw the actor himself. Still, he had some highlights in the film. With a great supporting cast, one will always stand out, no it’s not Cumberbatch – it’s Alice Eve’s cleavage. Wow.

J.J Abrams and his did a phenomenal job with how the film looked and sounded. Iron Man 3 has impressive visuals; Oblivion had breathtaking visuals featuring some beautiful scenery. Star Trek Into Darkness blows both 2013 films out of the water. The film features numerous memorable sequences that impress on so many different levels. Effects this great make you feel as if you’re in the action, I didn’t see it in 3D, but I can only imagine the film having impressive 3D moments. The sound is done to perfection with how it makes you feel as if you’re on the Enterprise. With the effects looking so good, it gave the action some dynamic shots giving the action more substance.

Abrams will now tackle Star Wars, a series that I deeply love. Do I think he’s the right man for the job? Absolutely! Abrams has turned into a very exciting director and what he did with both Star Trek films was more than impressive, I’m very excited to see what he can do with Star Wars. Bring on 2015!

In conclusion, Star Trek Into Darkness is a remarkable blockbuster that will entertain all ages. Abrams has created a sequel that evokes laughter, cheers and more. Featuring great performances by the cast, notably Cumberbatch and Pine and mind-blowing visuals. Star Trek Into Darkness makes me eager and excited for the next chapter.

This will only be a short review containing light spoilers (although I’m sure most of you know how it ends anyway).

The Bling Ring opens with a quote from Nicole Richie (shown above). It highlights our obsession with celebrities, no matter how ridiculous their lives may be.

Why are we so obsessed with celebrities and being famous? A notable quote in the script says, “I just think she wanted to be part of, like, the lifestyle. Like, the lifestyle that everybody kind of wants.”  Some may argue that you are a victim of our compulsive society. You only have value when you’re famous. You are a victim of our consumer ideology, which has to do with Reality TV shows and more. You may want to be famous because no one in the past paid any attention to you. You can be famous for your work in charity and education – something that has value.

Lost in Translation is my favourite Sofia Coppola film. A simple of story of two characters where Coppola keeps our main characters apart from each other in order for the audience to understand both Bob and Charlotte until they finally meet. I wasn’t a big fan of The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette. Still, what made me excited for this film was it didn’t seem like something Coppola would do.

The Bling Ring centers on Rebecca, and her new, loner friend, Marc. Marc is drawn to Rebecca, who befriends him for no particular reason, he’s not an interesting person, so it is puzzling why she became friends with him. In my opinion, I saw Marc as someone Rebecca knew she could control. It’s not made clear if the two have lots of money, some money or none. I’m assuming the film will make it clearer. It’s not long until they began raiding homes of D-list celebrities with the help of Nicki, Sam and Chloe.

What disappointed me most were the characters themselves. It’s difficult to criticise them as they are based on real people. Yes, we are fascinated by all of them, but we barely learn anything. I was hoping for more background information on them, but we don’t get anything. It got to the point where I was just waiting for them to get caught. You could argue that that the film doesn’t need to tell us more about these people as its just focusing on the events surrounding them. If the film ends up having a long running time, it will definitely suffer from that. The plot is also quite thin, I was hoping we’d see more of the court drama, but I found myself disappointed.

Watson looks to be the lead, but that’s not quite accurate. I’d say she’s the third main character, and from the trailer, you can tell she’s having a lot of fun playing Nicki/Alexis. You can tell that she really gets the character and knows what she’s doing. The only other character that sounds out is Rebecca, played by Katie Chang; I’m looking forward to her performance. Unfortunately for our other lead, Marc played by Israel Broussard, he is so bland and uninteresting; we don’t really care what happens to him. Which is a shame because he counts as the only likeable character.

In conclusion, The Bling Ring is fun, but I was hoping it would be more than just a group of teenagers robbing homes. Having said that, both trailers look fantastic and Coppola’s style will definitely help the film.

Heather Mills travels to Texas with her boyfriend and friends to collect an inheritance. However, things take a dark turn when they encounter a chainsaw killer picking them off one by one.

Family’s a messy business. Ain’t nothing thicker than blood.

I’m not going to waste my time writing a full-length review of this god-awful film. So instead, I’m going to rip it apart and have fun whilst doing so. This will contain spoilers.

The film opens with a twist, linking itself to the original film, a classic that I find incredibly overrated. We are even shown footage of the original. Some people from the town burn down the farmhouse of the Sawyer family for their role in keeping Leatherface alive, this ends with everyone in the family being murdered, apart from Leatherface, he manages to escape!!! Gasp! Oh, and a baby, Edith Sawyer is found by a couple and they raise the child.

Years later, Edith, now named Heather, from being in a house fire looks impeccable, is notified that her grandmother has passed away and left everything to her. So, Heather and her friends travel to Texas to check out the house her grandmother left her. They also pick up a hitchhiker, and when they see Heather’s beautiful brand new house, they go into town to get supplies, leaving the hitchhiker whom they have just met, alone so he can rob the house. Idiots! He is soon killed off.

Not much happens for a while, Heather’s boyfriend and best friend have sex in the barnyard while Heather sees a dead body or something upstairs and screams for help running down the stairs. She runs into Leatherface in the kitchen, wouldn’t he have heard her upstairs screaming? Is he deaf?! This soon leads to Heather running her life (yes, she falls many times) into a Graveyard (I know, I know), she decides to hide in a coffin of all places. I’m not even going to discuss how stupid the moment is. Heather is stuck in this coffin, and instead of being silent, she acts like a moron and whimpers and screams. Yes, Leatherface hears her; luckily her friends save her.

Heather, her boyfriend and slutty friend manage to get in a van and drive off. Heather warns her idiot boyfriend that the gate is electronic and they need to wait a couple of seconds for it to open. Instead, he attempts to drive through the gate. It fails. The van fails on them. Leatherface is catching up. The van doesn’t start. It starts. It ends up tipping over.

Okay, where are we? Heather ends up escaping and ends up running into a carnival. SHE’S SAVED! No wait, she isn’t. Leatherface can give no fucks and chases through the carnival after her. It’s not really clear why her? Everyone is running away from him. His secret is out. My head hurts. I watched it in 2D, but even I noticed the tacky use of 3D aka pointing things towards the screen.

So, Heather is screaming and trying to escape. It’s okay guys, she clings onto the Ferris wheel, and he can’t get her now. Except the Ferris wheel comes back round, and there he is waiting for her.

Ugh, everything after is messy and she ends up in a police station. The Mayor and Sheriff go into another room to talk to a cop who is investigating Heather’s grandmothers house. Side note, they leave Heather with a classified police file with her family’s history in it.

A cop investigates a blood trail going into a house, showing the mayor and the sheriff wants going on via videophone. The Sheriff can clearly see this blood trail and its danger, but decides to watch instead of getting backup for the poor cop who is about to be murdered. The cop even says, “I got a baaaad feeling here!” He even comes across dead bodies and other body parts. The blood trail is a little OTT.

Moving on, Heather finds out Leatherface is her cousin and is soon captured by a police officer. It’s okay though – she has a knife! When he opens the car she can protect herself. Oh wait, she shows him the knife in the car, so he knows she has a weapon. Stupid bitch. The quick process of her going from this sweet girl to crazy chick is a bit messy and rushed.

For some reason when she is tied up, she has no shirt off, just a jacket. When she escapes, some buttons are done up. Surely that would be the least of her worries? Or maybe I’m just a pervert who wanted to see some more boob action. She comes back to rescue her cousin, Leatherface, this scene features the film’s worst line where she throws Leatherface his chainsaw and says, ”Do your thing cuz”.

It ends with her living with Leatherface. Happy ending…I think.

In conclusion, Texas Chainsaw 3D is just awful. There is nothing redeemable about this film, its sloppy, badly acted featuring zero scares. Please, I beg you, give this one a miss.

I know this isn’t a proper review. I just had to write/make fun of it.

* First Time Viewings: 19

What did you watch this month?