The Great Gatsby (1974)

Director: Jack Clayton

Stars: Robert Redford, Mia Farrow and Bruce Dern

The idea of the American Dream is closely related with the statement that all men are created equal, but over the time the meaning has stately changed. Therefore, the movie The Great Gatsby (1974) an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel attempts to create an accurate view of it.  

The story of the movie revolves around a mysterious character, called Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is a rich business man who apparently likes to throw fancy parties at his mansion. However, his parties are very peculiar in the sense that none of his guests seem to know him personally.  So, as the story unfolds, the atmosphere becomes puzzled with questions and rumors about his identity. The action of movie starts in the summer of 1922 when Nick moves to West Egg on Long Island Sound, where he visits his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom. Then, Nick meets his neighbor, Gatsby and for the rest of the movie we observe what happens to those that pursue the American Dream and to those who are borne with it. 

In short, The Great Gatsby movie caught my attention in the sense that all the characters and the settings seemed very realistic and this truly made me connect with the atmosphere of the twenties.  

                                                                                                                                    by M.T.

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN 

The last Johnny English movie was different from the outstanding first movie of the famous Brittish Secret Agent, Johnny English.
Should you have seen the first film, the second one follows the pattern created in the first one. In addition, there is the monothematic issue like in the first one. The ridiculous Agent have to save the world from by using his "abilities". However, in this second movie, the Agent is more pathetic and even worse than how it was in the first one. From my point of view, the usage of too much burlesque scenes creates the feeling that it cannot be possible, and there is no Suspension of Disbelief here. So, I consider the film as a comedy/parody, but the main theme is boring.
Moreover, there are new elements introduced in this film, like the incredible Rolls V16 made just for this film under the will of Sir Rowan Atkinson. The avoidance of the Aston Martin of the first film and the similarities to James Bond are removed, but there is a similar line to Bond's movies, done in a bad way, in my opinion.
There are funny moments, specially the beginning when Johnny is training his Martial Skills, unsuccesful like always, so he pretends to be a better agent, but he falls just in the pretention because he is not going to be better. I find a parallesim between this idea of trying to be better than the first version between Johnny as well as the movie as a whole. However, it seems to me that they have failed in both aspects.

Finally, I recommed to wacth the movie, you are going to enjoy funny moments, like at the beginning when he plays with a cat, for me, it's the best 2 minutes of the whole film, but you cannot expect to have a really great time. However, I encourage you to watch the film and decide by yourself.

ESR