Brilliant. Maligned for no good reason.

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2013)

Here's another film that's been torn apart by critics for absolutely no good reason whatsoever. In fact, I delayed seeing it because I'd heard so many bad reviews that I didn't bother until I could find it online. I figured that if they couldn't make a good Gatsby film with Robert Redford, Baz Luhrmann didn't stand a chance, even with Leo DiCaprio. What a mistake.
Mind you, it's not entirely perfect... I'd have done just a few things differently, and the choice of integrating modern music into a period film like this can be jarring, especially in the beginning. But after the first twenty minutes or so everything really does come together, and it becomes a beautiful, colorful, and engrossing film. The performances are absolutely wonderful, especially DiCaprio, who is spot-on and captures the Jay Gatsby character perfectly.
I really was shocked and amazed at how incredibly good this turned out to be. I wish that I'd have seen it in the theater.