Baz Luhrmann

(Warner Brothers)1. It's a fairy tale - Master showman writer/director Baz Luhrmann is nothing if not bold, and his vision of roaring '20s New York City is simply spectacular. Beginning by framing the first shots of the film with art deco staging, it's clear Luhrmann is taking us on a journey to fantastic world. Watching the film through this lens makes it easy to be whisked away as Luhrmann's camera swoops and dives on the Big Apple, rollercoastering sharply from the top of the Empire State...Read Full Story

(Warner Brothers) The Bottom Line Should you see it? Yes. Why? Despite its departures from the novel, this is a unique vision of a story everyone knows. It's also a visionary depiction of a golden era. This auto-tuned soap opera writer/director Baz Luhrmann is calling The Great Gatsby is a visual rollercoaster, a melodramatic fairy tale, and a wistful ode to romance. It's also predictably transparent when it comes to the classic American novel's weighty themes. Luhrmann does get credit...Read Full Story

Samuel Richardson explains why glitter, diamonds and tacky lack of substance are suddenly unpopular. It’s a fickle world we live in, isn’t it? One minute you’re the champion of the world, the next you’re being kicked and slapped all around the ring whilst the crowd cheer your swift fall from grace. And as the referee starts the count, your mind flashes back to that not-so-distant past where you were the one lapping up the applause of the baying crowd, light bulbs flashing all around you and...Read Full Story

“The first one came along and they rang me, and while I love the pictures and the books now, then I thought, ‘What’s that?’ And said, ‘Well that sounds interesting, but I’m thinking of doing a reinvention of the modern musical’, and that was Moulin Rouge. So I’m an obvious idiot, because I should have taken Harry Potter.” — Director Baz Luhrmann on how, in another life, he might have directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I can see it now. Before Moulin Rouge the only movie he’d...Read Full Story

bill bodkin was not a fan … If you read our review of The Great Gatsby, which was published on Sunday May 12, you would have read our film editor Daniel Cohen heaping praise upon on Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. The review, as with all of Dan’s pieces, is a fantastic and detailed account of why he loved the film and it is definitely worth your time to read (as is all his reviews, but I’m biased). However, I’d like to offer you an alternative review of the film...Read Full Story