Rating: 
Summary: for 10 pts MR. M!
Review: The 2001 movie "The Great Gatsby" directed by Robert Markowitz is almost identical to the book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Nick Carroway meets an overly wealthy, nice man by the name of Jay Gatsby, and they soon become great friends. Gatsby is in love with his cousin Daisy and sits outside every night looking at the green light coming from her dock. Nick falls in love with a woman by the name of Jordan Baker. Almost all of the characters are involved in an affair, including Gatsby and Daisy. Life seems to be going wonderfully until one day disaster strikes and all the fun is ended. Daisy's husband Tom realizes that her and Gatsby are in love and he puts an end to it. Then later on in the day, Myrtle, Tom's secret girl is hit by a car and dies. Gatsby gets murdered as a result of this and everyone seems to go on his or her own separate way. After reading the book you can almost quote every single line in the movie, that is how similar the book and movie are. The costumes are exactly what you would have imagined the characters to wear. The movie is one that is greatly enjoyed. Granted there are a few scenes that are a little different but the plot is exactly the same and the characters fit the description of the book perfectly.
Mira Sorvino, who does an excellent job on pulling off her character, plays Daisy. She is a witty intelligent lady that is unhappy with her life. She looks exactly like most that have read the book would imagine her to. Paul Rudd, also did a very good job on playing the part of his character. Nick could not have come to life by any other actor. His pose and style won the hearts of all and truly made Nick Carroway come to life through a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Lindsay's Review for Mr.M
Review: The movie The Great Gatsby was about a character named Nick who is a friend of the rich Jay Gatsby that is trying to get back his teenage love Daisy to love him again. He strives to get her attention, for her to love him, and for her to leave her Husband Tom for him. Although those are the goals, it doesn't come out that easy. Gatsby runs into many obstacles. These obstacles include Tom becoming suspicious and jealous and Daisy's being afraid to commit to Gatsby and leave her husband. Gatsby is obsessed with getting Daisy and impressing her with his money he bootlegged. This movie is about Gatsby's journey to get his love Daisy back and dealing with the obstacles that arise. I believe Nick played by Paul Rudd was perfect! He was beautifully chosen before he represented the ideal Nick. Paul Rudd showed Nick's patience and social awkwardness very well. Like Mr. M, I think Daisy's outward appearance was correct but Mila Sorvino wasn't the best person to play her. I pictured Daisy much more passionate towards Gatsby and more rude to her husband, Tom. Tom wasn't mean enough and I don't think he should've looked like how he did or dressed like he did. I thought this movie as a pretty accurate to the book! The theme of love was apparent in the movie, just as the book was. The characters for the most part were similar; plot, and setting were right on. The production was done beautifully, I thought the costumes and sets were so unbelievably close to what I imagined while reading the book. The music was very appropriate and represented that time period very well. This movie was very alike to the book and I consider it a good movie for The Great Gatsby.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book, Decent Movie
Review: The Great Gatsby is told though Nick, a man in his late twenties, who lives on one side of the Long Island sound. His next door neighbor, Gatsby, is a wealthy man who acquired his money by criminal activity. Gatsby is in love with Daisy, a girlfriend from the past who lives with her husband on the other side of the Long Island sound. An affair begins between Gatsby and Daisy, and tension grows between Gatsby and Daisy's husband Tom, who is aware of their relationship. Nick finds himself in the middle of this throughout the story. In the end, the love affair stops when Gatsby is murdered. Gatsby's death was triggered by many underlying causes. Nick is disgusted with the lifestyle he discovers in New York and returns home to the mid-west.While Paul Rudd, the actor who plays Nick does an excellent job portraying his character, Toby Stephens, the actor who plays Gatsby is cheesy and hard to believe. Nick is an honest and loyal man, and Paul Rudd really convinces the viewer that he possesses these traits. Toby Stephens makes an effort to bring his character to life, but overdoes the "charming grin" and abuses the phrase "old sport". Not once in the movie does he say "old sport" and the viewer can take him seriously. Toby Stephens portrayal is on the right track, but corny flaws here and there downsize his performance. Nick is exactly how you would picture him and his calm, soothing voice is excellent for narrating the story. For the most part, the movie is quite accurate to the book. Some details are flip flopped such as Gatsby being killed in the beginning then the entire story being a flash back. This worked well though and draws the viewer instantly. Some scenes that seemed important in the book are left out, like Nicks conversation with Jordan before he leaves. The story development is a little fast also, and they waist no time jumping into the meat of things. The direct quote selections were good and play a nice part for those who have read the book. The scenes are wonderful and the film being taken in Montreal is a great substitute for Long Island, New York. The shots of the gigantic mansions are superb, and the party at Gatsby's house is wonderful. The random flashbacks of Gatsby and Daisy, illustrating their past relationship, pop in here and there and give the viewer a good enough sense of what has already happened. The background music has a consistent tune that captures the mood. Mr M is the man.
Rating:
Summary: Gatsby Review (for Mr. M!)
Review: This movie, in my opinion does an excellent job of recreating the novel, "The Great Gatsby". I'm sure that Fitzgerald would approve. Although a few scenes are brief, or entirely skipped over, this is necessary for almost all conversions of books to movies.
The movie, like the book, starts out introducing Nick and the two "eggs", West Egg and East Egg. From there you are introduced to Daisy, Gatsby, Tom, George, Myrtle, along with the other characters. The movie follows the same track of explaining Gatsby and Daisy's past together and Gatsby obsession with her. Just like the book, Gatsby is murdered by Tom in the end and Nick ends up moving out of West Egg and back home, but before he does this he realizes the lifestyle that people live and the true nature of theses people's character.
I believe that there were some really excellent actors in this movie. But the two that I believe really reenacted the original novel characters the best, were Daisy and Nick. I was pleasantly surprised after seeing the movie, because I realized that Nick was exactly how I had pictured him. From his attitude to his appearance, he really embraced and acted excellently, the narrator role of Nick Carroway. Daisy was in this same way wonderfully cast. The actress did a great job showing her careless ways and her obsession with material things in life. Throughout the drinking, the infidelities, and the love, Daisy did an admirable job playing the role.
I believed that the movie was actually incredibly like the book. I recognized most of the dialogue as direct quotes from the book. If not all speech was direct from the text, then at least all memorable scenes and phrases where.
The dreamy scenes and the lifelike flashbacks, I thought, were excellently displayed. With a book like Gatsby it must have been difficult to put many of the feelings and scenes onto a screen. The directors did a great job portraying the emotions that were felt in the book. Through the directors camera angles, costumes, and soundtrack I believe the moods were wonderfully and accurately shown.
Personally, I enjoyed this movie because of its accuracy. It is a pet peeve of mine when books like The Great Gatsby are made into movies and not done right. In this case, the movies do not even do the books justice. Normally, books are much better than movies, it is an inevitable fact. But after viewing this movie, I was pleasantly surprised with the well done screen play and accuracy to the original writing.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Gatsby & The Great Mr. M!
Review: The adapted movie of The Great Gatsby was defiantly worth watching. The movie was very similar to the book throughout its entirety. Starting with Nick Carroway, played by Paul Rudd, narrating the movie about why he was here and about how Gatsby met his end. Then we met Daisy Buchanan (Mira Sorvino), Tom Buchanan (Martin Donovan), and Jordan at the Buchanan's where the mentioning of Gatsby first starts. But it is at a party where we meet Jay Gatsby (Toby Stephens). After that, the story escalates, and then drops abruptly. Nothing is what you think it is. Especially if you haven't read the book (even though I did).
The movie's accuracy the book is about as close as any movie could get and still be interesting. The theme of the movie is just as you would have expected it. It symbolizes love, lust, controversy, and the dream of living in the past. However, the tone of the movie is slightly more upbeat than the tone of the book, which is a good thing. Because if the tone was the same, I'd have fallen asleep. But don't worry, I didn't fall asleep. The characters, on the other hand, were excellent in every aspect of their relating to the characters in the book. Not only were the characters accurate, but the setting and costumes were accurate as well. The Setting of the two eggs, houses, and even the car was perfect to the detail. There was a lot of effort put into making the look of the movie, exactly like the book. Such costumes in the movie were just like it would have been. And the appearance was just right.
The quality of the film was the best. From the scenes to the angles, the effect of the movie and the feeling it gave you when it was over was everything it should have been. But it did have a repetitive "don't." That would be the soundtrack, it felt as though the same song was repeating itself over and over again. And while that had a very dramatic effect, it got to be kind of boring. However, it was everything else that more than made up for it.
Because everything else was great, it is only right that the performances of the characters were great as well. It was Nick, played by Paul Rudd, that first got my attention by his accuracy to the character he was playing. His blending in as a plain person worked, because that is what Nick was like in the book. The second person that got my attention, was Daisy, played by Mira Sorvino, because I hated the character in the movie just as much in the book. So that means that the actor acted the way she was supposed to. The was one of the better movies I've seen. It's definitely up there in my top 10.
Rating:
Summary: Review for Mr. M
Review: This movie was surprisingly much better than expected. The cast was overall really good with one exception. Gatsby was not portrayed well by Toby Stephens. After reading the book, I can say that Gatsby was not shown at his full potential. Paul Rudd did an excelent job of playing Nick Carraway. The plot was very close to that in the book, and the script was nearly identicle. The setting was good, although some of the set looked a little modern for the time period. Some parts went into more detail than the book, which is a nice surprise seeing that most movies do the opposite. All in all this was a great movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who has read the book.
Rating:
Summary: The great gatsby movie review
Review: The Great Gatsby Movie Review My English teacher Mr. M made us watch the movie The Great Gatsby is about a man named Nick who moves to Long Island on the West egg. The movie shows the different adventures that Nick experiences while living there. He knows Daisy, and Tom of the East egg, and quickly meets Gatsby that is his neighbor on the West Egg. Nick experiences, and witnesses many things while living on the East coast, such as love, obsession, betrayal, and following a hopeless dream. I'm a critical person once I've read a book, and then watch the movie. I usually always wind up thinking that the book was better. This is a natural thought of mine basically because the actors, or actresses in the movie aren't as well represented as they are in the book. To my surprise though, the movie The Great Gatsby had a great cast, that I thought did an excellent job at playing their parts. Paul Rudd as Nick was fabulous, he was just as I pictured him. He was nonchalant, humorous (unintentionally), and observant. The only thing that threw me off with this actor, was that I had seen him in another film (Clueless) which made it a little harder to take him as seriously as desired. Toby Stephens played the role as Gatsby, a part in which the character had to be just right. Personally, I had pictured Gatsby as an older man, a little bigger. But Toby Stephens played the part better that I think anyone else could. He had the charm, the smile, and his acting ability was superb.
The movie accuracy to the book was well done. I feel though that the book tried to make more of a point of how the American Dream was similar to Gatsby's dream of having Daisy back, and the movie made it more of a deep love tale. Maybe I got the wrong impression while reading, but I expected the movie to really stress on how people have dreams but will never really be able to obtain those dreams. Everything else though, such as characters, themes, symbolism, and setting were correct . The movie seemed to play the same settings that were in my mind while reading. You could tell how much work was put into this movie in order to make it as relevant as possible.
The production of the film, such as costumes, pacing, camera angles, and music were fine. I feel that they are all very important factors in order to have a successful movie production. The costumes were correct for the time period. The camera angles captured the perfect moments. The music that was played in the background made it so I could feel more emotion, and really feel for the characters pain, or happiness.
I'm very glad that Mr. M allowed my English class to watch The Great Gatsby because I really thought it was a great movie. The characters, settings, themes, everything was exactly how it should have been.
D.P.
Rating:
Summary: Movie Vs Book
Review: Mr.M:
The movie, The Great Gatsby was about a love...square was it? A man who has been given the name, Jay Gatsby, lives in East Egg, New York. He is obsessed with money, and so are all his neighbors. Five years before the story takes place in the 1920s, Gatsby met a lady by the name of Daisy. They fell in love, but Gatsby had to got to war. Daisy couldn't wait for him, so she married Tom, a wealthy man, yet has been cheating on her with Myrtle. She is a lower class, rather fanatical women who is married to Wilson. This whole story about how money corrupts people and their loves, is told by the perspective of Nick, who becomes Gatsby's closest friend.
The movie was very closely related to the book, even using some of the same dialogue in parts. Yet the book seems to have more foreshadowing than the movie. Events such as when the car crashes in front of Gatsby's house after a party of his is not included. The casting has its ups and downs as well. Characters such as Daisy and Gatsby shined in their performance. Daisy had a flowing, yet somewhat ditzy attribute about her that made her perfect for the role. Toby Stephens has a tricky role to play being Gatsby, yet he pulled off the ambitious, prosperous character. One character that was not cast correctly was Tom. In the book he is described as a huge, muscular man who is forceful and rough. Martin Donovan was not much larger than Gatsby, and did not have the stature of a football player.
The director, Robert Markowitz, must have done his research on the 1920s, because even the music had its place. The jazz background music brought to life the scenes, which were all very colorful. Gatsby's house had rich colors, such as gold and red, to portray all the money he had. The dressed that the women wore were just right. Myrtle did not wear the type of dress that Daisy would have. This was right on because Myrtle was part of the lower working class, and Daisy was an upscale woman.
All together, I was very impressed with the movie. It was closely related to the book, which would make it easy for one to understand, even if they hadn't read the book...yet. The movie kept my attention throughout the entire time I was watching it, it never became boring or repetitive. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has every had interests in well directed, suspenseful dramas with a bit of action.
Rating:
Summary: Give me a 10 Mr. M
Review: The Great Gatsby is about a man named Jay Gatsby who chases his past love Daisy. Gatsby lives in West Egg on Long Island and Daisy lives in West Egg across the bay from East Egg. Nick Carroway also lives in West Egg and he is the one telling the story. Nick gets Daisy and Gatsby to meet at his house and they renew the love that they once had five years ago. Tom, who is having an affair with a working class women and wife of George Wilson, Myrtle, finds out about Gatsby and Daisy. One day they all take a trip to New York and Gatsby and Tom get into an argument about Daisy. They all leave but Gatsby and Daisy go ahead. Tom comes back to find that Myrtle was hit by Gatsby's car and she was killed. Daisy ends up staying with Tom whereas George shoots Gatsby and kills himself.
Daisy's performance was intriguing and delicious. Why Tom would cheat on her, I don't know. Because she had convinced me she was such a good person and lover, I mean. Nick had a good performance too. He was a narrator and made it sound like he had in the book, or at least to me. He portrayed a good Nick in my mind.
The movie was quite accurate to the book, of course it left some things out, but I accepted it. One thing I found weird was that Myrtle was not as attractive in the movie as I had been led to believe in the book. Also, Pammy, what the hell? I hope that girl who was playing wasn't getting paid? How the...? What the..? No! It was unrealistic that Daisy had a daughter of Pammy's proportion. I must dwell on this point. What is this little girl doing with an afro on her head? That puzzles me for hours. I have sat down for an extended length of time trying to figure out the genetics behind Daisy and her offspring. I am no genetic scientist, but it doesn't make any sense. The movie had no big problems until Pammy walked on screen. My English class with Mr. M responded with a disgusted " Ah!" It was rather shocking. Other than this and other small differences between the book and movie, it was all good.
The production was grand. One thing that bothered me was the inflatable cushion that Gatsby was sitting on in the pool. I thought it was too futuristic for the time. The soundtrack was rather lame considering the used the same song ten times. The camera angles were good though, not what I had pictured, but good. The costumes were excellent and depicted the 1920's very well. It was well produced for the most part.
Rating:
Summary: The Book or Movie???
Review: Although this movie was an excellent screen adaptation of the book, the film didn't convey the same depth of feeling that F. Scott Fitzgerald used. Jay Gatsby, played by Toby Stephens, didn't seem to show how much he really wanted Daisey; he didn't have that feeling of looking for his life-long dream. I would agree with Mr. M when he said that Daisey wasn't just glowing, the prettiest girl around. Although her voice was to sound carefree, she didn't come off as the bell of the ball, with that extra little something. Overall I think that the book showed more tone and feeling, but the movie was very enjoyable.
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