Reel advice: Iron men and women

In theaters

Literary revisionist filmmaker Baz Luhrmann had one good movie in him, and it's not The Great Gatsby (WB/Village Roadshow). Strictly Ballroom, Luhrmann's very original feature length debut introduced us to a filmmaker with great promise 20 years ago. He's been a disappointment ever since.

Poor F. Scott Fitzgerald. As if Hollywood wasn't already cruel enough to the Great American jazz age novelist, here is yet another misguided attempt to adapt Fitzgerald's (perhaps still unadaptable after all these years) masterwork The Great Gatsby. In Luhrmann's hands, Gatsby never achieves greatness, although Leonardo DiCaprio, as the titular Jay Gatsby, gives the best performance in the movie. Like all of Luhrmann's cinematic work, The Great Gatsby looks magnificent (although the 3D is overkill).

Set in the early 1920s – the post-war, pre-Great Depression years when, in spite of prohibition, liquor flowed in great waves and money wasn't just dirty, it was filthy. Nick (Tobey Maguire), a young and ambitious Wall Street type, not only had the good (?) fortune of being the next door neighbor of the mysterious and moneyed Gatsby (DiCaprio) in West Egg, but also the kissing cousin of one Mrs. Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). Daisy and her super-rich polo playing hubby Tom (Joel Edgerton) lived across the bay in East Egg. That was, by the way, no coincidence.

Gatsby, who was crazy in love with Daisy five years earlier (before she married Tom) built his castle where he did with a clear view of the Buchanan mansion. A thrower of the most spectacular and decadent parties, Gatsby did everything to excess in the hopes of attracting Daisy's attention. What luck, then, that Nick should happen to be a member of Daisy's family. Once the two of them are reunited at Nick's for tea, Gatsby sets about to lure Daisy away from Tom. But Tom, who wasn't the most faithful of husbands, wasn't going to let Daisy go without a fight.

There you have the central conflict. It's one of many that crop up amidst the glitz and glamour. There are posh parties with guests attired in the most divine fashions of the period. There is singing and dancing (although, thankfully, the characters aren't singing to each other). There are scandals involving shady deals (Gatsby's constantly taking calls from Chicago and other places) and backroom casinos and gambling. For all the celebration and hope of love rekindled, a pall of tragedy and dread hangs over the proceedings like gauzy fabric or discarded stockings. But no one (other than maybe DiCaprio) is actually acting their part here. Mostly they mug and pose, squint and snarl, languish and loll. If Luhrmann was attempting to draw a parallel between the nouveau riche of Fitzgerald's jazz age and those of today, it's a fuzzy as these characters after a night of partying.

The real star here is the soundtrack. Featuring nouveau riche talents, such as Jay-Z (his "100$ Bill" kicks off the soundtrack) and his wife Beyonce (transforming Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" into a duet with Andre 3000), the fourteen anachronistic cuts echo what Luhrmann did with music in his Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet. From party – "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) performed by Fergie, Q Tip and Goonrock – to post-party Florence & The Machine's "Over The Love," it's the music that stays with you after the screen fades to black.

At home

Liz & Dick (eOne) follows the notorious couple from their famous first love scene through the beginning of the affair to their scandalous headline-making relationship. We see Richard force Elizabeth to choose between him and Eddie. We watch Elizabeth swoon as Richard recites poetry for her. But mostly we watch them get drunk and fight. They make up, he buys her expensive gifts (usually jewelry, once a jet) and the drinking/fighting cycle begins again.

Eventually, they divorced their respective spouses and finally married each other. They made movies together, including the acclaimed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but they're a (movie) star-crossed pair if there ever was one. Love may conquer all, but jealousy, insecurity and alcohol give love a run for its money. In 1974, the tempestuous relationship eventually crumbled under the weight of tragedy (Burton's brother Ifor's injury and death), infidelity (Burton cheats) and, of course, all that alcohol. They foolishly remarried more than a year later, only to divorce again after nine months. Still, when Taylor learned of Burton's death in 1984, she fainted dead away. For a visit to his gravesite (she didn't attend the funeral out of respect for his family), Taylor is naturally emotional.

But, wait, you don't care about the familiar story (and any liberties taken). You want to know if Lindsay Lohan an actress as troubled (if not nearly as talented) as Elizabeth Taylor did a decent job portraying the titular Liz. Let's just say it takes more than good (and probably gay) hair and make-up artists for a transformation of this scope. Lohan, who gives it her all, simply wasn't up to the challenge. There are definitely times when she comes close to pulling it off, especially in the scenes from the earlier years. But as time (and the movie) wears on, Lohan as Liz becomes less credible and more comical. Bowler has an easier time with Burton, which might have more to do with the accent than the bad hair pieces, although he flirts with caricature over character on more than one occasion.

Perhaps the movie's greatest sin, far worse than casting Lohan as Taylor, is its title. Elizabeth Taylor remarked on more than one occasion, including an interview with Barbara Walters, that she hated to be called Liz. Liz & Dick is not the tribute that Taylor or Burton deserved. It's also not the comeback that Lohan was probably hoping it would be. But for all of its flaws, the scenery chewing is still fun to watch and worth seeing if you have 90 minutes to waste. DVD bonus features include interviews with Lohan, Bowler and more.

Anyone the least bit familiar with the sassy Southern belles of Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias, on screen (the Oscar-nominated 1989 version) or on stage, shouldn't be at all surprised at how smoothly it could be updated or even revised for an African-American cast. What's more, the new cast, including Queen Latifah, Phylicia Rashad and Alfre Woodard, not to mention newcomers Adepero Oduye (who was so brilliant in the queer film Pariah) and Condola Rashad (daughter of Phylicia), doesn't disappoint.

Sally Robinson's teleplay for the Lifetime remake of Steel Magnolias (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) honors and expands on Harling's original script. You may find yourself trying to compare the performances in both filmed versions, but that will probably be a short-lived exercise, because these actresses do such an admirable job of embracing and embodying the characters they are playing that you will only care about what you are seeing in front of you.

Beauty shop regulars and employees M'Lynn (Latifah), Clairee (the senior Rashad), Ouiser (Woodard), Truvy (Jill Scott) and Annelle (Oduye), are practiced in worrying about diabetic Shelby (the junior Rashad). "Drink your juice, Shelby" is a common mantra. But her stubborn insistence on starting a family after marrying Jackson (Tory Kittles) complicates matters and her health, qualifying Steel Magnolias as one of the great tearjerkers of all time. Queen Latifah not only exceeds her past film work but also manages to surpass the capable cast with her mind-blowing performance. A garden of tears and laughter, Steel Magnolias blooms again on DVD. Although there are no bonus features to speak of, the DVD does include UltravViolet version so that you may stream it on various devices via The Cloud.