Recent Stories with tag avatar

It's the most wonderful time of the movie year.  Finally.  After a year full of dreck like Transformers 2 and The Ugly Truth, the moviegoing audience gets six whole weeks of delicious high-quality adult cinema fare, all in time for the Academy Award nominations next month.  You've already seen our Avatar review.  Here's more recent releases of note that are in Seattle theaters this season, along with my verdict (yea or nay) as to whether the film is worth your holiday time and money:

Precious - Yea.  I saw this film nearly a year ago at Sundance--before Tyler Perry and Oprah signed on as producers, back when it was still called Push--and even then it was clear that this was something special. Harrowing yet hopeful, courageous, assured, and uncompromising, and just aching with elation, despair, and soul, Lee Daniels' directing debut is dangerously visionary and approaches the level of film as social act.  Mo'Nique is the biggest lock this Oscar season to win Best Supporting Actress for her brutal portrayal of Precious' monster of a mother.  Meanwhile, Gabby Sidibe (as the titular character) in her first film might just snag a Best Actress nom.

Invictus - Nay.  Sure, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon win over post-apartheid South Africa with the power of rugby, but we never get a good look at who exactly these men are, nor exactly what are the rules of rugby.  Even worse, much of the film's bloated running time is devoted to faux-drama around Nelson Mandela's personal safety.  Spoiler alert:  Nelson Mandela is not assassinated. 

It's Complicated - Split Decision.  As expected, it's great to see Meryl Streep be Meryl Streep, Steve Martin be Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin be Alec Baldwin, but the tone in Nancy Meyers' film is off in places, with the mood skewing sentimental instead of funny.  In all, it's a glorified Lifetime movie.  Only recommended for moms. 

The Young Victoria - Yea.  The Young Victoria is also recommended for moms, but without reservations.  Emily Blunt is appropriately regal to play the just-turned-eighteen Queen of England, while Julian Fellowes' script and Jean-Marc Vallée's editing and direction keep the period piece from being stuffy. ...

(more)

No, that is not Jar-Jar Binks.

[ED: Audrey and Seth took in one of the first showings of Avatar last night. (Don't worry, the "six inches and a Bible rule" was followed). Audrey's review is below, with Seth's comments in italics.]

Shall we talk about the em-effing Avatar? (Yes, let's.) As you may recall from yesterday, I was feeling negative and schadenfreudey about the film until the 11th hour, when positive reviews convinced me it might actually be awesome.  Having seen it last night (with me! and first-night weirdos!), I can say Avatar is indeed fairly awesome—but it's not the Best Thing Ever.  And liking a film for what it is, when it took $350M to make, just ain't enough.  At that pricetag, every man, woman, and child in the theater deserves a religious experience. (Wait, I still pay $10, right? So who gives a shit how much it cost James Cameron to make?)

Ok, but first off, I have to laud the technical achievements and the level of time and work that went into creating the photorealistic future found in this film.  James Cameron has done some movie-making that is beautiful and transcendent and the best damn CGI you've ever seen. (Eh, don't care.)  It is enjoyable to merely gaze upon the flora and fauna of Cameron's world.  Every inch of the screen is chockful of beauty and rich colors and strangeness and luscious detail. (This is moved and seconded.)

And of course, there are big-time action sequences in which you can actually tell what's going on—because it is very important to know who is fighting whom on the banshee pterodactyl dragon things.  Avatar is all about the WOW factor, and in that regard, it is often fucking stunning. (I wouldn't say "stunning," that implies you'd be staring in disbelief. I found myself drawn into the world Cameron created, my eyes darting all over the screen to try to take everything in.)  It's a groundbreaking blend of digital and live-action, and you walk away thinking that you've never seen anything like that in a movie before. (Except the forest fight scenes, which gave me Endor flashbacks.)...

(more)

Oh, Avatar.  Ever since news of James Cameron's decades-in-the-making, technology-expanding, this-is-the-future-of-cinema-revolutionizing, nearly-three-hour epic sci-fi extravaganza was announced, I have wanted it to fail.  When the underwhelming first images and trailers came out, it looked to be as bad as my greatest expectations, and I was rubbing my hands together in glee. I was fully prepared to see it (because I HAVE to see it) and hate it.  But then something happened. 

The reviews started to trickle out...and they were good.  Better than good, in fact, like, borderline rapturous.  The write-up that really gave me pause was Choire Sicha's non-review over at The Awl, where he discusses how he wasn't expecting much out of the movie, only to have it end up as his top film pick of the year.  And he's a cranky fag.  So, ummmm, what if I like this movie after all?  UH OH.  Be prepared for a paradigm shift.  Like all the other nerds, I'll be seeing it tonight, and I'll have a review up here tomorrow.  Bring it on, Cameron!