After Earth's Great Epic Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY

ROMANCE/DRAMA

PLOT:  A remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel.

                The novel has been around but they made a movie in 1974 starring Robert Redford and now this one with Leo DiCaprio.  Gatsby is a mysterious guy and he is in love with a married woman.  I never read the book but it’s more to it than that.  Director Baz Luhurmann has made the most visually beautiful film I have ever seen.  It is well acted and well made but it is slow.  Females made this movie a hit because of his love for the married woman.  I would recommend it for couples and romantics.

AFTER EARTH

SCI-FI/DRAMA/ACTION

PLOT:  A father and son crash land on future savage earth.

                This movie is better than most M Night Shyamalan films and the story is from Will Smith.  Many fans and critics think it was a vanity project but how many people in Hollywood would give a young black actor a starring role in a futuristic drama?  Another thing many folks are upset about is Will Smith as Cypher Raige, a no-nonsense general.  He is very, very serious in this role and many people are not used to that.  It also has every cliché in the book as young Jaden Smith must save him and his father.  Wait until video, it will do better.

EPIC

ANIMATION/FANTASY

PLOT:  Teenaged girl gets trapped in a secret world in the forest where she has to save it.

                Every 3D animation is the same-great special effects and top named stars that lend their voices such as Beyonce, Colin Farrell Josh Hutcherson  Christopher Waltz and Steven Tyler(yes that one from Areosmith) but it has to have heart and humor which it does thanks to Azia Ansari as a wise cracking slug!!  Young girl has to live with her father who believes there is a world of little creatures.  She finds it out and she has to protect and save it.   I didn’t want to see it but it is great for kids and for grown up who want to be kids again.