Gatsby in 3D

   Aside from enjoying movies, occasionally I will read a book. I was an English major in college and so that's where that comes in. But anyway I was so excited when I found out that a new movie version of the Great Gatsby was being directed by Baz Luhrman. Wait a minute you ask, who's Baz Luhrman? If you were thinking shortstop for the New York Yankees you were dead wrong. If you were thinking dictator of the New World Order, well first of all there's no New World Order, secondly you are wrong.

     If you said Australian director of such films as Australia, Romeo+Juliet, Simply Ballroom, and Moulin Rouge, you would be right. So that guy who loves bright painfully bright colors is directing a movie that has about five gazillion (3 or 4) refrences to a bright green light sounds pretty good so far. He's beloved by all the usual demographics: women, Nicole Kidman, effminate gay men, just regular effeminate men, opera fans, squirrels, bull-fighters, second graders, and all those other people who just really love colorful things or who have ever wondered how it feels in the arms of some strong Australian dude (it feels pretty dreamy by the way).

    Now here's the rub: Baz said he was doing it in 3D. Yes you heard me--3D. One of the most beloved books of all time done in the same style as Piranha 3D and My Bloody Valentine. Now some of you are probably saying, "Hey Avatar looked pretty good." You would be correct, but that was because there were spaceships and weird Pteradactyl things. What could possibly be improved by adding 3D to Gatsby? A Rolls Royce that goes through the screen? A wicked long dance number that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie? Yeah I could definitely see these things in the Great Gatsby and especially Baz Luhrman's Gatsby, but the problem that you get is that you focus to heavily on the glitz.

      Yeah, it's no secret that Baz Luhrman loves glitz. It's comparable to saying that Michael Bay loves explosions or Quentin Tarrentino loves cheesy seventies movies or Martin Scorcese loves guidos or Jim Jarmusch loves hipsterism. Different directors have different styles and for all those who love the gritty realistic feel you have a Baz Luhrman who is about as opposite from gritty realistic as you can get. Gatsby is lyrical and there are a lot of colors, but I hope that Baz doesnt get carried away with himself. You also have to remember that there is a lot of pondering and I wonder if Baz ever considered that the 3D would distract people from the pondering, which is of course part of the point in the Great Gatsby.

      Of course, Baz is going to do what he wants. He's Australian and known for doing things that shock people like having a Romeo and Juliet with guns or jumping into a shark tank (okay he didnt do that, but some Australian  probably has). All I can do is hope he doesn't screw it up so badly that I vommit in the theater. At this point, I'll settle for one that's about as good as the 1974 adaptation with Robert Redford, which looked stunning but wasn't particularly that enchanting cinematically. Anyway, I sure wish that someone more like a David Fincher would take this off Baz's hands ( he did wonders with Fitzgerald's short story, Benjamin Button). But alas I guess I will have to sit through the Baz Luhrman  3D version. Oh well.