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Here's a look at the second big offering of summer.

The Great Gatsby
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carrey Mulligan, and Joel Edgerton
Synopsis: Baz Luhrmann is a fascinating director. He has a unique and fascinating visual style, and his films always have a lot to wash over the audience. To me, the best of his films — 1996’s “Romeo and Juliet” — also had a rich source material to draw from that allowed him to put a glossy sheen over a story that works. When it comes to “original” stories, it’s a bit rougher. Many people were taken with the eye candy and pop sheen over “Moulin Rouge,” but I wasn’t one of them. Then few people were taken with his opus, “Australia,” which felt like three movies crammed into one. With Luhrmann’s latest — an adaptation of the F. Scot Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby” — he again puts a gloss on a rich literary tale. But this time, it just doesn’t work. Luhrmann, whatever his faults, is a master at visual storytelling. The colors, the look and the sequences in “Gatsby” are incredibly bright and eye-catching. That really helps draw you into this film. He also brings a unique style to the film — with a story set in the 1920s but the movie boasting a modern soundtrack selected by — and frequently featuring — Jay-Z. It is a combination that is meant to stir audiences. Originally this film was set to be released around Christmas in 2012, but it got pushed back. Having seen the finished product, that makes sense. “Gatsby” feels more like the kind of eye candy and breezy production that brings people out en mass during the summer months rather than a serious award contender. But that’s also the problem with this film. “The Great Gatsby” is a big piece of literature that has a deep story and themes. All that gets lost in this lip-gloss version. Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby” feels a bit like a piece of candy, it’s delicious but totally empty calories. It didn’t make me care about the characters or the story the way it should, which is a common failing of Luhrmann’s movies. This film has a great cast — led by DiCaprio, Maguire and Mulligan. All of them are fine actors who’ve been nominated for awards. All of them do their best with the material, but the film doesn’t have the gravity of the novel. It follows the same sad and destructive trajectory, but it lacks emotional heft in the way it’s put together. In the end, “Gatsby” is a shiny film that has a lot of bells and whistles, it just doesn’t have a strong motor.
Rating: PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying and brief language.
Verdict: Two stars out of four.

Upcoming Releases:
Friday, May 17 — "Star Trek Into Darkness"
Friday, May 24 — "Fast & Furious 6," "The Hangover, Part III," "Epic"
Friday, May 31 — "After Earth," "Now You See Me," "The Purge"