This Week at the Movies

Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” is one-half of a decent movie. The director brings his trademark style to the proceedings, complete with anachronisms, popular music, lavish sets and slapstick behavior.   

Often, this style works to great effect – take, for example, Luhrmann’s debut, “Strictly Ballroom,” or his Oscar-nominated “Moulin Rouge.” Other times, such as the case of “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,” it’s a more mixed bag.  

The problems of “Gatsby” are mostly on display during the film’s completely over-stylized first half, during which some significant liberties are taken with Nick Carraway’s story and 20s-styled versions of current pop tunes, such as Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” play as the film’s characters take part in all manner of indulgence.   
For the first hour of the movie, I couldn’t help thinking how Luhrmann’s manic energy that he often brings to his pictures was getting in the way of the storytelling.    

It’s not until the second half of the movie that the story settles in and it’s easier to appreciate the artistry.   

And Leonardo DiCaprio deserves commendation for bringing life to the particularly tricky character of Jay Gatsby, a cipher whose outward persona is the result of much myth-making.   

Those hoping to see a faithful telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece might be outraged. But Luhrmann’s “Gatsby” is not the disaster you may have expected. It’s a flawed – and occasionally imaginative - retelling of a classic story that has yet to be translated with complete success to the big screen.   

If you think Jay Gatsby is difficult to decode, then good luck with getting into the mind of Richard Kuklinski, a notorious New Jersey-based contract killer who bumped off at least 100 people for the mob in the 1960s and 1970s.   

In "The Iceman," Kuklinski is played by Michael Shannon in a startling paradoxical performance. On the one hand, we learn very little of Kuklinski, other than that he was highly protective of his wife and two daughters and that he seemingly felt nothing when shooting, stabbing or strangling his numerous victims.   

And yet, Shannon’s skillful acting makes the guy a riveting subject from start to finish.   

We first meet Kuklinski in 1964 during his first date with future wife Deborah (Winona Ryder). He lies to her, saying that he edits Disney films when, in fact, he cuts adult films for a mob-connected lab.   

His path crosses with that of gangster Roy Demeo (Ray Liotta in a solid supporting performance), who is impressed by Kuklinski’s ice-cold nature and eventually brings him on as a killer for hire.   

Kuklinski earned his nickname after police found the bodies of his victims, which had been frozen to prevent investigators from figuring out when they had been killed.   

The film’s matter-of-fact depiction of the true story’s events leaves little room for thoughtful interpretation. In other words, what you get is what you see.  

However, “The Iceman” is most compelling in its juxtaposition of a gritty – and often gruesome – crime story with a domestic tale of a man obsessed with taking care of his family. It may not be a mob classic, but it’s a tense and often fascinating picture.   

If only “Sightseers,” another tale of murder and mayhem, were as watchable.   The horror-comedy is the third film from Ben Wheatley, whose dour kitchen sink crime drama “Down Terrace” and hitman/horror freakout “Kill List” impressed me.

Unfortunately, the director’s latest is – in my opinion, which appears to be in the minority – a significant step down.   

The movie follows a nerdish British couple who packs up their caravan for a trip through the British Isles. Along the way, the pair decides to pick off annoying types – a litterer, a drunken bachelorette and a man who insists they clean up their dog’s droppings – in gory fashion. This is a comedy, by the way.   

There’s humor to be found in this story, I’m sure. Bobcat Goldthwait’s “God Bless America” tread similar ground and was equally unsuccessful. But the concept holds promise.   

The biggest problems here are that our lead couple becomes significantly more unsympathetic as the film chugs along and, secondly, their victims start becoming more random. Problematically, I think it’s safe to say that the filmmakers and writers are firmly in the protagonists’ camp and expect the audience to be as well.   

It also doesn’t help that the film, which I’ll once again mention is a comedy, just isn’t that funny.   

“The Great Gatsby” is playing at UA Court Street 12.  “The Iceman” is screening at Manhattan’s Sunshine Cinema and “Sightseers” is playing at the IFC Center.   

“The Iceman” opens May 17 at Kew Gardens Cinemas.