The Great Gatsby (2013)

A magnificent spectacle, this zooms and leaps in its depiction of 1920s wretched excess set to 21st century rap music and jazz covers. If you don't know the story, read the F. Scott Fitzgerald book which Jack, a former English teacher, calls (I may be paraphrasing) one of the best crafted works in the English language. Suffice it to say that some fabulously wealthy folks party on Long Island and we learn that money can't buy happiness. But we enjoy watching "the privileged class enjoying its privileges" (quoted from The Philadelphia Story (1940)). Leonardo DiCaprio (last in Django Unchained) plays our enigmatic title character to a T. Tobey Maguire (Brothers) is the aw-shucks narrator Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan (Shame) the blandly calculating Daisy, Isla Fisher (Confessions of a Shopaholic) the brassy floozy, Elizabeth Debicki (new to me, she's been in only one other picture) as nice girl Jordan, and Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty) is getting the most props as the explosive Tom.

Director/co-writer Baz Luhrmann (Australia was probably his least popular movie, Moulin Rouge! (2001) his most and it was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture; I didn't see Strictly Ballroom (1992) nor Romeo + Juliet (1996)) is known for his zooming and leaping camera, even though he hasn't used cinematographer Simon Duggan before. Gatsby co-writer Craig Pearce collaborated with Luhrmann on the earlier three screenplays.

But the real stars here are the sets and costumes. Wow. Architectural Digest covered them in an article with some pictures on an attached link. You can also see some photos of the costumes on the movie's website (left column, five rows down). I predict nominations for Catherine Martin who headed both the Production Design AND Costume Design teams (she won Oscars for both for Moulin Rouge! as well as the Art Directors Guild Award that year, was nominated for art director for Romeo + Juliet and for costume design for Australia, and has had a producing credit on Luhrmann's movies starting with Romeo + Juliet). Oh, and Mulligan's and Debicki's haircuts or wigs or whatever are terrific as well.

With Jay-Z as another of the producers it's no surprise that there is contemporary music mixed in with the oldies. Here's a pretty good list as far as I can tell. You can hear clips on the movie's website in the video section, soundtrack sampler, right column, second row.

The critics are still complaining (51% average on rottentomatoes, though audiences are up to 72). I guess they were expecting Shakespeare. We liked it. And it finished its fourth weekend at #8 at the box office, #7 in total gross of movies playing now. You probably don't need to spring for 3D but you should see it on a big screen.