The Great Gatsby

It must have been a giant pain in the ass to clean all of that confetti out of the pool.

I have a bad habit of putting things off until the last minute.  I finished Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald's* novel, which was great, about half an hour before we left for the theater to see Baz Luhrmann's new movie of the same name.

If you haven't read the book, it's about a rich guy named Gatsby who is in love with a woman named Daisy, who unfortunately is already married to another rich guy named Tom, who is an asshole.  Gatsby has a mysterious past full of secrets.  Women frequently resemble flowers.  Expensive cars are driven very fast.  Jazz is played.  Adultery is committed.  Alcohol is consumed in great quantity.  No spoilers here but... things probably aren't going to end well.

I was afraid that the movie would be disappointingly different from the book.  Instead, it was disappointingly... similar.  Luhrmann's faithful and abiding love for Fitzgerald's text is kind of the worst thing about this movie.  It was as if he took a Word file of the novel, chopped out everything that wasn't dialogue and emailed it to his gigantic and well-funded design team, then handed the dialogue to his actors and said, "say this."

Iron Man 3

Since this was a Marvel film, it should go without saying that there's an Easter egg at the end of the credits.  While my boyfriend and I were waiting for it, some dude came around handing out t-shirts that had been suction packed into those little hockey puck package things.  It was very exciting.

Ah, what a pleasant, relaxing series of witticisms and explosions!  If you've seen the previous three films featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, then the world of this movie will require no explanation or setup.  If you haven't, then that's too bad as no explanation or setup is forthcoming.

Don Cheadle is still Rhodie, Gweneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts once again puts up with more romantic and professional bullshit in two hours than one person should have to deal with in a lifetime, and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is still the sweetest, most charismatic wealthy douchebag that anyone could possibly hope to regret having slept with.  These characters were fun to be around before, and they're still fun to be around.