Not-so-great Gatsby
Pain & Gain
Michael Bay ( Transformers) steals a bloody page from Quentin Tarantino and his little English sidekick, Guy Ritchie, in this black comedy based on an unfathomably true story. Three muscle-bound morons decide they deserve the good life and hold a minor millionaire hostage until he signs over his worldly wealth. Because everyone in the movie is so cheap, selfish and loathsome, it’s almost a pleasure to watch things spiral down the toilet in slow motion. Yet, even when the action gets very black and violent, Bay and his all-star cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie manage to find the right, light touch to pull it off. Special features include ultraviolet content, combo packs and more. The Great Gatsby 1/2
Baz Luhrmann can turn anything into a retinal circus, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any good, or even all that dramatic. This take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic story of broken dreams and shattered love is a perfect example of Luhrmann’s cinematic talents as it explodes like a pyrotechnic spectacle, yet fails to communicate any meaningful emotion as Leonardo DiCaprio plays the self-made man who bought into the empty fantasy of wealth without realizing it’s not about the money, it’s about where it comes from. Gatsby’s tragedy is that he is believed in the American dream. Poor fella also believed in true love only to realize his object of desire, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), is a shallow, fearful and rather ordinary flower. The hollowness of the endeavour is the central idea, but Luhrmann clutters every frame with such silliness, Fitzgerald’s mournful tone is completely lost. Special features include The Greatness of Gatsby, Within and Without with Tobey Maguire, The Swinging Sounds of Gatsby, The Jazz Age, deleted scenes with alternative ending, Razzle Dazzle — The Fashions, Gatsby Revealed, 1926 Gatsby trailer. The Colony
When society breaks down following catastrophic climate change, a few ragtag groups of Homo sapiens take to living underground in order to survive. It’s a place without much food or medicine, and when someone gets a cold, they’re typically exiled to protect the core group. It’s a believable post-apocalyptic premise, which means The Colony had a lot of potential to scrape away at some primal fears as it shows us a small group of humans hanging on to their humanity, while a raging horde of feral Homo sapiens try to eat them alive. The movie finds some good beats thanks to Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton and Laurence Fishburne, but the suspense, as well as the script, starts to feel cheap and overly forced in the final act. Special features include digital transfer and more. Still Mine
Sidling up next to the likes of Amour and Away From Her, Michael McGowan’s new movie explores themes of mortality and aging — only from a slightly feistier perspective. James Cromwell plays Craig, a man pushing 80 who decides it’s time to build his wife Irene (Geneviève Bujold) a new house now that her health is failing. She can’t navigate stairs, not to mention her own memories. Craig has the land and the lumber, but when he starts framing up the structure, City Hall comes down on him hard with a long list of regulations. Slow and meticulously crafted, Still Mine wins points for finding the right pace to play out this story of old traditions versus new rules, youth versus decrepitude, and loving denial versus responsible acceptance. Yet, for all of McGowan’s care in turning the lathe of story at the right speed, the narrative lacks artistic shape. It’s designed like a long, narrow house, and we start in one room then move down a single corridor dotted with defining events such as inspections, accidents, visits from the kids and a very tender love scene. It’s a sweet embrace, but there’s something missing in McGowan’s mix, and it’s a sense of emotional immersion. Kon-Tiki
Going against the modern current of glowing computer-generated spectacle, Kon-Tiki is a bold throwback to a different era of cinema — and as such, a different view of technology, man’s place in the universe and the world as whole. In its very execution of the story, this U.K.-Norway-Denmark-Germany co-production understands that in order to truly understand Thor Heyerdahl’s incredible voyage from Peru to Polynesia, we have to orient ourselves to a different pace, and an alternative view of history. That’s why this movie gets points for being a little bit simple and adopting a matinee feel. It conjures a sense of innocence and awe, which is the perfect frame of mind to experience the most fantastic seafaring adventure of modern times, Heyerdahl’s 5,000-mile voyage on a balsa wood raft. Special features include The Incredible True Story, visual effects spotlight, fulllength film and Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Shadow Dancer
In today’s lexicon of ambient “terror,” trying to get a handle on the “troubles” that plagued Ireland for decades may be easier for an everyday viewer to grasp, but as James Marsh’s first dramatic features makes clear, there’s still a central disconnect when it comes to the intimacy of Ireland’s tragedy. The civil strife tore families apart as vested parties sought to protect loved ones by building unholy alliances with law enforcers. This chilling reel takes a scalpel to the denouement as it features Clive Owen as an MI5 officer trying to turn a family member against her own. Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion) and Owen make for a mind-blowing pair that keeps us guessing until the end. Marsh, the director of award-winning documentaries Man on Wire and Project Nim, brings a searing clarity to the action that makes the violence feel senseless, and all the more depressing. Special features include The World of Shadow Dancer, commentary by director James Marsh and writer Tom Bradby, and trailer. At Any Price
Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid play out father-son dysfunction against the backdrop of the changing American heartland in this Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart) story that deals with everything from genetically modified crops to the erosion of small-town America. Despite its palpable ambition to tell an important story about corporate monopolies, industrial farming and the death of the old-fashioned farmer, the film is too broad, and a tad too melodramatic to reach its emotional goals. Quaid does a bang-up job as the tough patriarch looking to get a lock on the GMO seed market, and Efron certainly goes the distance as the tortured son, but the action gets a little out of hand as Bahrani goes for giant brush strokes in what could have been a quiet, detailed portrait of a dying landscape. Special features include commentary with Bahrani and Quaid, Toronto International Film Festival Q&A, rehearsal footage, and Ultraviolet.