/lit/ - Literature

Sorry to divert from the topic, OP, but I wanted to know your opinions on Cloud Atlas, if you've seen it.

>>3867874

That photograph. HOLY SHIT. Who took it? Where, when?

>>3867887
Looks like D-Day.

By the way, I actually enjoyed the Gatsby movie.

>>3867887
Normandy
I believe after D-Day

>>3867874
Havent seen it, heard it was a bit dry

>>3867868
It was all skin deep with no actual substance.

I hate the visual style and the music. I hate the director, too. I was excited about the film until I heard the same shit that made Romeo + Juliet would be directing it. That's when I knew it would be shit and Lurhmann didn't disappoint.

>>3867932
At least he fulfilled your expectations.

>>3867887

Normandy Landing in D-Day June 6,1944.

>>3867932
can you be more specific?

>>3867915

I saw it last night, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. It was done well, given the huge clusterfuck of different stories, but there was this sense of tackiness, if that makes sense. I want to say that I really enjoyed it though. I think the whole theme of unity looping from story to story was kinda pushed too hard. An ol' case of a movie hemorrhoids.

>>3867945
it just seemed to me like they were far more concerned with flashiness and fashion and shooting a non-action film in fucking 3d than getting to the actual substance of the novel. it was pretty shallow, m8.

>>3867953

Haven't seen the movie, but that description matches what friends have said about it

People hate the movie because it isn't the book. Or at least that's for the most part. There may be some legitimate criticism, but the most vocal of haters tend to be those who just hate on anything Hollywood shits out.

>>3867874
It deviated too much from the book for me to really enjoy it. I think if I had seen it before I read the book I could have just enjoyed it for what it was, but the book was so much better in so many ways that the film was ruined.

>>3867932
I thought the music was the worst part of it. They should have put some music from the time it is supposed to be in it and not some mainstream hip-hop stuff.

>>3868279
Wait, they did what?

>>3867950
What is that pic supposed to mean? Businessmen are an eclectic mix of very individual people?

>>3868284
I think it's more of how a melting pot like America produces so many of the same type of homogenous people. Or it could just be a random surreal picture with no real message to speak of that the artist thought was cool.

>>3868281
You heard right, buddy, here is the OST:
1. 100$ Bill (Explicit / With Dialogue) - Jay-Z
2. Back To Black (Explicit) - Beyoncé & André 3000
3. Bang Bang - Will.i.am
4. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) - Fergie Feat. GoonRock & Q-Tip
5. Young And Beautiful - Lana Del Rey
6. Love Is The Drug - Bryan Ferry
7. Over The Love - Florence + The Machine
8. Where The Wind Blows - Coco O.
9. Crazy In Love - Emeli Sandé
10. Together - The xx
11. Hearts A Mess - Gotye
12. Love Is Blindness - Jack White
13. Into The Past - Nero
14. Kill And Run - Sia

>>3868292
Absolutely disgusting.

>>3868298
I know. It destroyed the atmosphere most of the time.

It focused too much on trying to capture the literary essence of Fitzgerald's writing. Because of this, the plot and characters suffered greatly. The audience was kept at an arms length while desperately trying to understand the motivations of the people on screen.

>>3868318
This. The shallowness of the '20s was emphasized so much with little regard to the characters.

>>3868306
It was awful.

Did anyone else cringe when Gatsby was introduced?

>>3868323
That was actually the best part. I enjoyed it the same as I enjoyed the emo scene in Spiderman 3.

>>3867868
Wolfsheim was played by an Indian.... The character int he book was a Jewish gangster based on a real life person. Making him an indian in the movie throws out an interesting historical plot point that anchored the movie into the roaring '20s.

This is one of the main problems with the whole movie. They throw out the original context and all this "anachronistic" garbage like the sound track. This isn't "art" it's just a rubbish filmmaker throwing in pizzazz to make an extra buck.

The whole thing is just a money grab instead of an actual attempt to do the original artwork justice. Don't agree? Why the hell was it shot in 3D.

>>3868257
you really should be watching film-translations of literature with the idea that the film stands on its own two feet and will likely posses entirely different merits and succeed in separate fashions than what the book accomplished.

>>3868338
>>3868323
>>3868306
>>3868298
>>3868292
>>3868281
>>3868279
It's supposed to be like that. Luhrmann is using contemporary hiphop party music to give us an idea of what jazz sounded like back then. I thought it was great, and a nice touch.

The movie was surprisingly faithful to the book too, and with a story as dry as Gatsby's, the stylish elements make up for the lack of substance, even if overdone.

the funniest part was when they put toby macguires face over the apartment building while he was thinking, i couldnt stop laughing in the movie theater and everyone else was quiet

>>3868350
are you trolling? wolfshaim was jewish in the movie (tom refers to him as a kike in the movie). do you mean he was played by an indian actor?

>>3867868
all references to the main character being gay were removed

as a professional cocksucker this highly offended me.

its a movie
based off of a book
do you even have to ask?
(i liked it as well btw)

>>3867868
I didnt like toby mcguire as calloway, couldnt they have casted someone better than him?

It was exactly as I expected it would be. The themes were pushed too hard,. The characters were over the top; even their movements were exaggerated. Overall it's a little gaudy, just like Baz's adaption of R + J was.

My biggest peeve was that they made Nick Carraway out to be some sort of damaged basket case so that they could overlay the narration. I don't know if that's taken from Fitzgerald's personal life, but it was still sort of lame. It's the film equivalent to telling and not showing, and I don't really see how someone who isn't in love with the book is supposed to take anything from these over-dubbed lines of purple prose.

I don't think Gatsby really lends itself to film anyway. Most of the beauty of it is the subtle aesthetic, and big budget films don't typically go for that. I think something like the film adaption of Norwegian Wood (sans all the Japanes-ness) would be much more fitting. Low key, real characters, true to the time period.

With all that said I still enjoyed it visually and I was entertained. The music was odd but it was congruent with the general interpretation the director was trying to paint; so in that sense I didn't mind it. But ... it's not the novel.

sucked diq.
book is better

>>3868292
> vomits

>>3867868
The movie had the best cast out of any other Gatsby movie, but Baz and Jay-Z bent over Fitzgerarld and rammed his literary genius with their soundtrack.
I get that it was meant to make the parties more vibrant to us but it's like the new Annie being black.
There's just some things you don't change.

>>3868292
Florence and Rey fit the movies idea but should have been in the credits with actual 20's music playing during the movie

>>3868631
I think he was a least bi-sexual.
It would fit because the roaring 20's were all about libertines. Smoking and drinking in public, promiscuous sex, even woman wearing their hair short were just then becoming somewhat socially acceptable.

God awful music, shitty CGI, some weird tone changes from the book kind of ruined the first half. Loved the second half though.

We're aware of why it was done, don't think we aren't. Just because there is a clear intention behind something doesn't make it good. Great Gatsby is one of the undisputed Great American novels. It is the ultimate period piece. And they let Jay-Z have hid ungodly, ear raping way with it.

>>3869615
Meant to respond to this guy: >>3868386

>>3868386
I see what they were going for with the music, but I still don't approve.

>>3869615
The Jay-Z rapping - while not good - at least made for some interesting idiosyncratic anachronisms that served to highlight the decadence and hedonism portrayed in the film, do you not agree?

>>3868386

>to give us an idea of what jazz sounded like back then.

I FUCKING hate the GODDAMN PLANET if this is why. That is fucking retarded. No longer can people simple appreciate a bygone time period for what they valued, it has to be spelled out to them in their own plebian terms, that's fucking disgusting. I hate any individual who can't understand, can't fathom the importance, and instead of thinking 'oh I see how that could have been controversial in that day and age' thinks 'nope! hur durr, don't get it! that shits dull!'

people wonder why this country sucks, it's because shit like this lowers the bar so the proverbial fat kids can reach it. Survival of the fittest and let the weaklings die!
(To answer the main question, I liked the movie for the most part, but I thought DiCaprio didn't do as well as he could have, perfect casting call, imperfect performance. On the whole I respected the decision to attempt to make a statement with the music styles, but for artistic sake, not the aforementioned horseshit.)

i never read the book, loved the film though

gatsby reminded me...of myself.

>>3872469
An almost 40 year old leonardo dicaprishi?

>>3871699
Not interesting ones, but yes, it made them. Doesn't make it worth it

>>3867868
Jay Z did the sound track and the characters weren't developed at all, the whole thing seemed to miss the point.

I only saw it because my girlfriend wanted to watch it. Maybe it was because I had really low expectations, but I ended up actually liking it. Which isn't to say there isn't a lot wrong with it (fucking hip hop), and it's not very true to the novel, but as a film it was pretty good.

You can never expect a movie based on a book to be anywhere near as good as/the same as the book so I've learned to stop comparing. I guess that's why I was able to tolerate the Gatsby film.

Baz Lurman seemed to really like the parties that are described in like five pages total and not like the defeat and failure and hypocrisy in all the rest. >>3872574 has it right with that fucking imbecile missing the whole point.

>>3872320
I feel ya bruv. I'm currently reading Amusing Ourselves To Death so I'm not high on my opinion of the masses atm.