Discussing Film, Music, TV, Books, Video Games and More
Day three of the Best Of lists is upon us, bringing about our thoughts on the best and worst of what TV brought us this past year. Some shows returned stronger than ever, others stumbled slightly, all the while new shows fought the ratings to deserve respectable seasons. Through it all, the one thing that remained clear was that sitting in front of your TV screen was an acceptable excuse for spending a night in. [Read more...]
Will we see a CGI acceptance speech?
Avatar is currently the odds on favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Almost everyone enjoyed this film, but does it deserve to win Best Picture?
My expectations for Avatar were hindered from the beginning. Avatar’s various previews accurately depict its recycled plot and clichéd theme of the noble savage. I immediately dubbed the film ‘Dances with Wolves meets Fern Gully meets Aliens.’ I wasn’t even aware that Sigourney Weaver was in the film! Despite my hesitations, I was flat-out entertained when I eventually saw the film. The enthralling nature of the film can best be explained by Cameron’s storytelling abilities combined with the new technologies at his disposal. The facial motion capture far exceeded my expectations and Cameron’s new brand of 3D filming enhanced the experience. Sam Worthington’s acting is solid, but he and everyone else are overshadowed by the performance of Zoe Saldana. Zoe’s performance as Neytiri sells the film. Avatar is 162 minutes long but given its positive qualities the film never drags and seems much shorter.
I will admit it, I was one of those people who was more than skeptical about how much I was going to like this film after first seeing the trailer a while back. I just didn’t think I was going to relate to the plight of some blue, anorexic looking humanoids. And frankly, I was a little concerned about some roundabout cross-species love. But you know what they say about books and their covers.
James Cameron’s Avatar has been a long time coming, but the end product clearly shows that this time was used wisely. During this time, Cameron constructed a story of two conflicting species, the Na’vi who inhabit the planet Pandora, and the humans encroaching on their home in the hopes of harvesting a valuable mineral from beneath the tree they inhabit. Though the humans have tried negotiating with the Na’vi to gain control of the land, it is clear that patience is growing thin with trying to appease this “lesser” species and the military forces brought to the planet are more than willing to take a less subtle approach in order to complete the objective. With one last attempt at keeping consciences clean, Jake Sully, a paraplegic soldier, and many members of the science team are given avatars made to look and move like the Na’vi in the hopes of helping to bring the negotiations to an end.
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James Cameron’s Avatar is finally here and not only does it deliver the visuals effects we were promised, which are quite possibly the best ever put on film, but the story is engaging and entertaining, if familiar, with a third act that must be seen to believe.
In Avatar, James Cameron has literally created an entire world in Pandora that feels like we barely even break the surface of what Cameron has in his imagination for this expansive and deep universe. What is Pandora and why should we care about it? Pandora is a planet that earthlings have discovered contains an element that is valuable in its resource abilities back on Earth. The problem is Pandora is populated by a number of dangerous indigenous creatures and a humanoid race of people known to humans as the Na’vi. The project has been on going for years as the humans try to co-exist and mine for minerals while the Na’vi resist the encroaching on their land. Enter Jake Sully, a paralyzed marine who is recruited to replace his twin brother who was part of a program that trained humans to control a Na’vi avatar to help research the moon and work towards a peaceful resolution with the Na’vi to mine the minerals of Pandora. Unfortunately when Jake arrives tensions are at an all time high and the two species are on the brink of war and Jake’s path unknowingly will intertwine with the fate of the Na’vi. [Read more...]
Avatar Trailer – A longer trailer has been released that goes into more depth about the storyline of the film. Though I can’t say how I feel about the creature design, it looks like it will be an interesting film. Check it out here.
Dear John Trailer – For those of you who got all mushy over The Notebook like I did, another book by Nicholas Sparks has been adapted for the screen. Check it out here.
Prince of Persia Trailer Released – Looks like they are going to do a lot of justice to the game, especially with the effects. Hope the story and comedy of the games does not get lost though. Check it out here.
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