The More Things Change

New York, 1922. The delirium of bull markets gone wild. The newly rich Jay Gastby (Leonardo DiCaprio), in the aftermath of the First World War, and a blurry past, throws the biggest parties in town, all to catch the attention of the object of his affections – Daisy (Carey Mulligan) – wedded to old money and deep-rooted pride - Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). The Great Gatsby would be remembered for exceptional cinematography, costume design, perhaps even special effects. What I cannot grant it is creating an exceptional cast of convincing characters that truly capture the essence of their inter-relationships, and the capricious spirit of their time, at a level of skill that does true justice to the iconic novel

11.5/20

This Series Hereby Sleeps

Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps – has the tough task of measuring up to its legendary predecessor that was anchored by two extremely strong leads – Charlie Sheen (featured in the current movie in a cameo is a shockingly aged incarnation) and Michael Douglas (not quite his former self in this edition, as an out-of-prison Gordon Gekko). Lead Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) is a level-headed investment banker, with a reasonably modest existence (by IB standards of course) and a penchant for the ethical and for clean technology. Jake works through the meltdown and the collateral damage of looking to marry Gordon Gekko’s daughter – is Gekko now a changed man or the same marauder that he was in the 80’s? With strong overtones of the fall of Bear Stearns and the continued survival of the likes of Charles Schwab, this movie is a bit of a mishmash between high street finance parleys, and good old family values. Generally entertaining without being edge-of-the-seat, and marred by shoddy cinematography and editing in some degree, this is an entertaining movie but cannot hold even the merest hint of a candle to the original

11.5/20