Australia

[solotwit 0]

That would be a good one with Gatsby coming out. Weird special effects and Kidmans plastic face.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

This movie was just tonally schizophrenic, like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. I got dragged to this on Thanksgiving night by my then-roommate, who made a once-in-a-lifetime admission to making a bad decision afterward, so it even failed on a chick flick level. Anyway, the first third of this thing kind of felt like a goofy 40's romantic comedy before becoming a Western in the middle, which I actually kind of liked, and then tried to be "Gone With the Wind" for the final stretch, failing hilariously. I mean, it kind of would feel like one of those epics, at least in the sense that it was marking off the period drama checklist, but then the aborigines would appear to remind you (in case you forgot) that you were in Australia. It was awfully distracting. i just can't stay mad at Hugh Jackman though. I just can't...

[RyanSz 3140]

What kind of bad decision?

[seanotron 2307]

I love Baz Luhrman and his insanity. Can't wait for his version of Gatsby. At the very least, it's guaranteed to lack the sterility of the Redford version.

 

That being said, Australia was not his greatest achievement.

[BagguhMcGuirk 104]

I think The Great Gatsby could be good, but I think directors need to cool it with the CGI. If people like Paul Thomas Anderson & Wes Anderson can make beautiful period pieces without any CGI then I don't see why Luhrman needs to have CGI for Gatsby.

 

Even action movies have gotten out of control with CGI with the last Indiana Jones movie being a perfect example. When you look at it compared to The Last Crusade it is amazing how much better Crusade looks because it was almost all shot in these incredibly beautiful, breathtaking locations.

[seanotron 2307]

I think The Great Gatsby could be good, but I think directors need to cool it with the CGI. If people like Paul Thomas Anderson & Wes Anderson can make beautiful period pieces without any CGI then I don't see why Luhrman needs to have CGI for Gatsby.

 

Even action movies have gotten out of control with CGI with the last Indiana Jones movie being a perfect example. When you look at it compared to The Last Crusade it is amazing how much better Crusade looks because it was almost all shot in these incredibly beautiful, breathtaking locations.

 

I definitely know what you mean (I thought Kingdom of the Crystal Skull looked like garbage), but I think it works for Gatsby as the story is all about excess in the first place.

[sillstaw 414]

I think The Great Gatsby could be good, but I think directors need to cool it with the CGI. If people like Paul Thomas Anderson & Wes Anderson can make beautiful period pieces without any CGI then I don't see why Luhrman needs to have CGI for Gatsby.

 

I think the need varies from movie to movie. The lack of CGI works for, say, "Moonrise Kingdom," because it's a movie set in a fictional, lakeside town, so they just needed to find a bunch of houses that didn't look modern and were conveniently located. Additionally, most of the movie is set in the forest, which looks pretty much the same whether it's in the modern day or hundreds of years ago. And with "The Master," lots of scenes are interiors, and lots of exteriors are either limited in what we see (a field, a boat in a dock), or again use old-fashioned exteriors.

 

I haven't read "The Great Gatsby" all the way through, but from what I recall in the trailer, it looks like it's at least partly set in New York City. That's a big place, with a big skyline, and it's not a place that's been frozen in time since the 1920's. The CGI seems necessary to fake that kind of thing.

 

Whether that excuses ALL the CGI in the movie is up to debate, but I think there are legitimate reasons to use it. (As for "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," yes, a lot of the CGI in that was stupid and unnecessary. After all, we didn't see Indiana Jones commanding elephants in the previous movies, so why do we suddenly need Shia LaBeouf to meet CGI monkeys?)

[seanotron 2307]

After all, we didn't see Indiana Jones commanding elephants in the previous movies, so why do we suddenly need Shia LaBeouf to meet CGI monkeys?

 

*Ahem*

 

[sillstaw 414]

 

*Ahem*

 

 

Bad example/phrasing. I guess what I should've said is that Indiana Jones movies before "Crystal Skull" never used animals as, essentially, a pointless joke. I eagerly await being proved wrong on this.

[BagguhMcGuirk 104]

I do agree that CGI is probably neccesary for Gatsby, especially because they're trying to recreate olden times NYC, in Australia no less, I just hope they don't go overboard. For outside scenes I can understand, I just hope they don't use it to much for interiors. I also hope it looks better in the finished film than how it's looked in the trailers. I don't know if it's shot on film or not but it has a glossy look that I don't like, but in the context of the film it probably works better than it looks in the trailer.

 

I also hope they don't try to stay to true to exact dialogue from the book. The Great Gatsby is a beautifuly written book but that doesn't necesarily translate to film in every instance, so I hope they're not afraid to change some of the wording while staying true to what they were saying.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

What kind of bad decision?

Well, a bad movie decision. I'm not sure she was regretting her decision of being my roommate or anything. Huh, actually this was BEFORE that. Jesus, I moved in with a girl that made me take her to "Australia"? I should have known it would be a disaster!

[RyanSz 3140]

Could have been worse, she could have taken you to "From Justin to Kelly."