Stock footage introductions (colorized even!) are understandably primitive, and replication of vintage optical effects are equally dulled. ![]() Shots meant for heavy 3D also waver in an effort to splurge on exaggeration. Street races segue into sprawling New York vistas, their digital heart unable to be conquered whether surface level or in the air. It’s conducive to anything Luhrmann touches. Source photography will beckon inconsistency, from noise ravaged, digitally manipulated faces and extensive green screen fixes. Warner’s AVC encode tackles complexity with a handful of challenging shots, including a confetti toss where even bitrates pokey enough to handle everything else still abandon perfection. Luhrmann’s 2.35:1 frame is overloaded with 1080p spectacle, enriched with fierce close-ups oozing pure, unfiltered definition and – despite dreamlike softening – dazzling scenery, few shots finding themselves marred. Shining with sequined dresses, amazing with hearty color saturation, and astounding further with flawlessly rich black levels, all around clarity suits this absurdly gorgeous production. ![]() Given a stunning, glamorous digital gloss, Great Gatsby is paraded around on Blu-ray for its (mostly) demonstration worthy depth and fidelity. Rushed to strike at the novel’s spirit and spaced to invite perceptibly foolish waste, Warner’s Gatsby interpretation may latch onto Fitzgerald’s thematic center better than any other, if not his characters. Graced with softened, sensual cinematography and depicted allure of brash capitalism, Great Gatsby wears Lurhmann’s dizzying composition proudly. However, said source material remains a strikingly relevant peer into the emptiness of wealth, and it is easy to point at Luhrmann’s bloated production zest as symbolically over reaching. Sonically and visually, Luhrmann’s unbalanced – some would say pretentious – application of distinctly modern methods wash over Fitzgerald’s encompassing fiction to nearly overtake this classic’s methodical character construction. This is unquestionably a 2013 production, not only for its reliance on sopping screens with computer generated effects, but also for music selections which infuse pre-depression jazz with modern lyrical hip hop. Flamboyance holds itself to determined Oscar-worthy costuming and production design, connecting to earlier pizazz in a calmer manner. ![]() Animosity becomes a fuel for aggression, and with exceptions made for brutish racing sequences, Gatsby is unusually controlled visually as characters cement themselves. Great Gatsby thus becomes about contrast, from vividly loud wide angle fireworks to dour moodiness as pacing gradually settles. Here, with debatable execution, it suits the wastefulness and overbearing glamor Gatsby is reaching for. Unmistakably signed with Baz Luhrmann’s penchant for overdosing on visual charades, Great Gatsby swirls curtains, inundates itself with green screens, splurges on choreography, and hacks together exhaustive edits to produce a loud, boisterous extravaganza of excess. Carraway is an impassioned observer who becomes a relied upon confidant. Infatuated with now married Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) brushes with reckless, testosterone driven conflict in a quest to restore previous romance. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is harnessed thinly as source material, cropped into a film capped at 130 minutes, stringy events excised to patch screen time together with romantic flare-ups. Carraway becomes magnetized to exposition surrounding the build-up of this reclusive specter, saturating himself with mysticism and awe regarding Gatsby’s financial origins. Gatsby himself is delivered to audiences on a triumphant throne, occupying magnificent luxury and jazzy, questionably ethical late night parties. ![]() Brandishing narrative framework of a whittling Nick Carraway (Tobey MaMaguire) writing a novelization under guidance from psychiatric doctors, Gatsby’s superfluous lavishness and openly acknowledged anachronisms provide refreshed insight into this story of shallow American dreams. Never impoverished for content and often anxious with first act pacing, Baz Luhrmann’s visually arresting Great Gatsby is a speed demon of embellished character.
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