Avatar

Last night my wife and I went to see the new James Cameron movie "Avatar" in 3-D. Actually, it wasn't so much a "movie" as it was a "completely different experience." I have never been quite as amazed and awed coming out of a movie theatre as I was last night.

Now, this is not to say that "Avatar" is the perfect film. Rather, it is unlike anything else I've ever seen (although it obviously takes some elements from previous science fiction and fantasy books and movies). Using 3-D technology, Cameron was able to take the audience to another world.

But, before I start gushing, a little bit about the movie. Apparently, in the future, humans are mining some sort of high-energy ore on a planet called Pandora, which is worth a ton of money back on earth. The only problem is that the planet is already inhabited by a blue humanoid species which considers pretty much every nook and cranny of the planet to be sacred in one way or another. Enter Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine who has taken his brother's place in the "Avatar Program" - which allows humans to take control of an alien body and live through that body. The company in charge of the mining needs to get to a massive ore deposit which, unfortunately, lies directly beneath the natives' largest city (so to speak), and is looking for a diplomatic, but forceful, way of moving the aliens. Tensions rise between the scientific team researching the planet - led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) - and the business and security teams - led by Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) and Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) respectively. Long story short - too late! - the science team, using their avatar bodies, defects and joins the natives in resisting the human expansion. Sully manages to become the leader of the natives (in a manner reminiscent of the rise of Paul / Muad'ib in "Dune"), and - in a fantastically massive battle scene - manage to defeat the invading corporation.

The movie was well written. The plot unfolded nicely with enough twists and turns that it did not become predictable. Many story elements that were developed early on - such as, say, the territoriality of the native animals - played out nicely at the end.

It was hard to ignore the political message of the movie - there is no question left as to where James Cameron stands on issues like Manifest Destiny or, say, the Iraq War. But that aspect of the movie does not dominate the entire story or drag it down. Rather, it adds to the mystique of the plot and gives it a nice allegorical feeling without coming down too preachy.

This blog wouldn't be complete, though, if I didn't comment further on the 3-D experience. Seeing this movie in 3-D gave me a glimpse into the feeling my parents must have had when they first saw color television - something familiar taken to a completely different level. I didn't so much "watch" "Avatar" in 3-D, I "experienced" it. Cameron did a great job of using the 3-D technology to create a sense of realism and depth to the environment without falling into the usual 3-D traps of making something jump out at the audience.

I highly recommend seeing "Avatar" in the theatre. And, if you're already shelling out $11 to see it, I'd highly highly recommend paying the extra couple of dollars to see it in 3-D. (Unless you have a depth-perception problem, because the effects may be lost on you and you could have spent that money on overpriced candy.)

Be Kind Rewind

On a whim, I moved Michael Gondry's 2008 film "Be Kind Rewind" to the top of my Netflix queue. Although I don't regret the decision, I will say that I didn't have the best luck either.

In the movie, Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) are working at a little independent video store in New Jersey, when they accidentally erase all the tapes while their boss Elroy (Danny Glover) is out of down desperately trying to figure out how to save his business. Jerry gets the idea to "Swede" (independently re-make) as many movies as they can, with hilariously successful results. Business booms until a lawyer (a great cameo by the great Sigourney Weaver) representing several film companies puts an end to the fun. In a last-ditch effort to save the video store, the entire town bands together to make a new movie about a "local" jazz hero as part of a fund-raiser. Although the money raised falls woefully short of what is needed to save the store, the decaying town is brought together in the wake of their civic loss.

The movie had a lot of potential, but only ended up showing a lot of heart. But that heart carried a movie higher than it should have ever gone, considering the final product. The ending is a bit of a tearjerker at the moment when Elroy reveals that he's accepted the store's relocation to the projects and that the money is nowhere near enough, despite everyone's best efforts. The ending was touching, but, unfortunately, it was too late to save the drag of the rest of the movie. The first two-thirds of the movie were so slow, clunky, and awkward, that it was slightly beyond the salvage of the ending (or even the help of a Sigourney Weaver appearance!).

As a comedy, this movie really fell flat. There were only a few "laugh out loud" moments which were overshadowed by far too many "awkward chuckle" sequences. The "sweded" movies are not funny crappy re-makes, but, too often, just crappy re-makes. Jerry and Mike are not a silly-type of stupid (think Andy Bernard from "The Office"), but the characters are literally stupid - the implication being that their intelligence may be correlated to their home proximity to a power plant. As a result of this, there's a feeling of guilt whenever they do something stupid - as though you probably shouldn't be laughing at them. Over the course of the movie, this feeling wears thin and uncomfortable.

Ultimately, the ending of the movie serves as a perfect allegory for the movie itself - a lot of heart, but not enough to save the entire operation.

Ghostbusters

I went to see "Ghostbusters" and the local "indie" theatre last night, and somehow it took me by surprise at how good of a movie it actually was. Even after 25 years, the jokes are still fresh, the characters still seem real, and even the effects have held up pretty well.

The four main Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Akroyd), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), and Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) are perhaps the most believable team of Ghostbusters that could have possibly been assembled. Stantz and Spenger represent the heart and the brains of the operation (respectively), with Venkman being the salesman who can actually deal with the public. The small details of their characters are perfectly formed, and their interactions throughout the film do not seem forced but feel as though they've been friends and colleagues for years - except for Winston, who fits in well as the new guy who gets caught up in the storm. The hardest character for me to believe this time around was Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) - she comes off as too cold and simple, and misses some of the finer touches of a well-defined character.

On the big screen, I noticed some interesting details that I had never seen before. In the kitchen scene (when the eggs cook on the counter), a bag of Stay Puft Marshmallows can be seen on the counter. Later, when panning the city skyline, a billboard for Stay Puft Marshmallows can be seen on the side of a building. Although these details are largely unnoticed, they subtly set the stage for the climactic appearance Gozer the Destructor in the form of The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

To say that I grew up on this film (and its many franchises) would be a gross understatement - I just recently got the video game for Wii, fulfilling a life long dream of blasting ghosts! I look forward to watching this movie again and again, through its fiftieth anniversary, and warmly embracing any new additions to the series.

Alien

I re-watched the 1979 science fiction / horror movie "Alien" the other day, and it only reminded me of what a great movie it actually is. Sure, it's not "Casablanca" (and Sigourney Weaver is sure no Humphrey Bogart), but it definitely has all the small things right which helped turn it into a cult classic.

Watching it this time around, I was struck by two things: 1) The quiet of the movie, and 2) the great use of plot twists.

I was surprised how closely the movie stuck to it's tagline - "In space, no one can hear you scream." In fact, the movie itself is eerily quiet, considering that it features an acid-bleeding monster and several death scenes. There's no major explosions, no huge gun fights, and very little screaming. Instead, the movie lets the silence seep in and absorb you, which makes the occasional loud noise very striking and haunting. For example, in the scene in which the captain, Dallas (played by Tom Skerritt), is tracking down the alien in the ventilation system, the "blip" on the motion monitor of the alien running at him is much creepier than booming footsteps or horror movie music. The same goes for the scene in which Ripley has set the ship to self-destruct, and the alarm system constantly blares in the background for five minutes - without any other sounds, the alarm becomes eerily ambient.

In regards to the plot twists - this movie hits all the great ones, including the classic chest-bursting sequence. There is also a great moment when Ripley, taking command, checks the ship's computer to determine how to handle the situation, only to find that the science officer had received orders to bring the alien back to earth alive as the primary objective with the note "Crew expendable" (at which point the camera pulls back to reveal the science officer standing right behind her, reading over her shoulder).

Although this movie spawned (no pun intended) many sequels, the chain went significantly downhill after the second film ("Aliens"), and this progenitor stands out far above the rest.