2014 Golden Globes

It's that time of year again, Christmas has barely passed us by before awards season is upon us. Having said that, there is probably nothing better than seeing a host of celebrities in my favourite designers to inspire me to work harder and get that beach bod.

Whilst the Golden Globes are primarily known for being an indication as to what films will perform well at The Oscars, as well as being great opportunity for us to review some gorgeous celebrities in gorgeous outfits (see our gallery of Hits and Misses here: http://goo.gl/RfgK64), this year offered us some great moments to remember exactly why we love some of our favourite celebrities. 

First up - Leonardo Dicaprio. Oh Leo, how we love thee, even more so now that he left his stunning 21 year old, Victoria's Secret model girlfriend at home in favour of walking down the red carpet with his Mum, what's a cutie! Leo was up for his 9th Golden Globe nomination an whilst he should have won each of those awards he yesterday won his second for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy for his performance in The Wolf of Wall Street. Let's hope he finally gets his much deserved first Oscar!

JLaw being JLaw - by any account she is by far one of the most down to earth celebrities around and last night just reaffirmed our love for her even more. First there was the Taylor Swift photobomb after which the actress told the pop star she wanted to push her down the stairs. Next she was seen at her table, well just being the JLaw that we know and love, goofing around and giving beau Nicholas Hoult a big kiss after winning her category, finally confirming that they are indeed back together. Finally, whilst she has been panned for her choice of outfit, it has spawned a whole host of Internet memes and it wouldn't surprise is if she had chosen the dress having for seen this.

Emma Thompson and her shoes. Not only did that star arrive to present an award with her Louboutins in one hand and a martini in the other but she then proceeded to throw the shoes over her shoulder - queue a round applause from women everywhere who now breath a sigh if relief to know it's ok that they feel pain after walking in the for more than an hour. 

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. What a duo, their agents are surely very busy people right now. Whilst Gervais was known for his steely and awkward jokes at the expense of his audience these two however, poked fun at their guests without ever being inappropriate. Some of the best jokes included 'Gravity shows us that George Clooney would rather float in space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his age' and 'Like a supermodels vagina, let's all give a  warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio'. Pure Comedic Gold.

Reviewing the Great!

The saying goes, 'a good book makes for a terrible movie', if the reviews of Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby' are anything to be go by, then this old adage would appear to be true. F Scott Fitzgerald’s original book is considered a literary classic, a fact that Americans in particular feel very strongly about and in essence it is a tale of the American Dream, with Gatsby himself representing the prototype of a self made American man.

The problem faced with adapting a novel of this stature, in this day and age, is that you need to appeal to fans of the books whilst attracting a contemporary audience who may have no prior knowledge of the novel. Having read the book (admittedly not for a while) I think that Baz Luhrmann has done a terrific job and stayed true to the original with only a few minor changes. The key thing to bear in mind is that this is an ADAPTATION, and as an audience we should expect changes. What Luhrmann has done is stick to the original novel whilst appealing to the modern audience and retaining is signature style of over the top opulence.

Luhrmann's use of 3D is one thing that has been heavily criticised, however it is exactly this that makes the movie, in my opinion, as good as it is. Let's not forget that the story is set in what Fitzgerald called 'The Jazz Age', and the use of 3d only served to highlight this fact, everything shone as bright on the screen as Fitzgerald wanted us to imagine it. In addition, the OTT nature of the movie highlighted for us just how grim the Valley of the Ashes is in contrast to the rest of the locations featured.

Furthermore the score, produced by Jay-Z, complimented the movie in a number of ways. The rap artists 'No Church in the Wild' featured in the television trailers, I had been begging friends to see this with me for weeks and most of them said no. This track gained their attention and made many of them see that this might actually be a movie worth watching. Had the score been compiled from a number of tracks from that era, then the appeal to a modern audience might have somewhat been diminished.

Next there was the casting, I don't think that anyone can disagree that Leonardo DiCaprio was the perfect choice for the titular role. He was the perfect embodiment of the Gatsby in the novel. I found that his late introduction in the movie (even though we all knew it was him) set a mode of anticipation so grand that you could feel the audience on the edge of their seats waiting to see him. The fact that he introduced himself amidst fireworks only reinforced just how great Gatsby really was. DiCaprio's acting was great and his erratic behaviour perfectly portrayed the characters obsession with Daisy. Daisy (portrayed by Carey Mulligan) was one of the two characters I was unsure about. Personally I didn't feel as if she was a character that was worthy of Gatsby's obsession in this movie, and her vulnerability only made it harder to believe that she would so callously leave town after the main events had transpired.

Toby Maguire's portrayal was another I had issue with. I felt that this portrayal was weak and I found him somewhat unbelievable as someone suffering with fits of rage and alcoholism as outlined in the beginning of the movie (Despite the issue of age, I imagine Josh Brolin would have played a great Nick). I did however find it interesting how they made this character into someone who was writing a book as a form of therapy, and his character was perhaps made into a composite of the Carraway in the novel and of Fitzgerald who, in real life, suffered from these ailments.

My favourite actor in this movie had to be Jordan Baker, played by Elizabeth Debicki. Whilst her character differed in the movie in that there was no romantic link between her and Nick Carraway, I found her acting to be a delight to watch. Her tall waif figure moved so ethereally and she held the audience’s attention without really trying. I can’t help thinking that perhaps she would have in fact been the better actress to play Daisy.

All in all, I think the movie was a 9/10. Luhrmann did exactly what he did best, as did DiCaprio. As an adaptation critics will always find fault with a movie of this kind. If we enter the movie with all our preconceived ideas at the door, and separate the book from the movie, then this truly is an Oscar worthy picture.