Sunday, December 27, 2009

Review Session: Avatar

Avatar

Budgeted at nearly $270 million, “Avatar” spends every cent to create a world so rich and lush, so textured, real and surreal, you give yourself over to it and then lose yourself in it. Computers long have driven films, but not at this high a level and not with Cameron’s legions of gifted artists working behind the screens. At nearly three hours, the movie is long, but the trick is that the storytelling is brisk, with Cameron focusing the bulk of his film on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine paralyzed from the waist down and now confined to a wheelchair. How a team of scientists get him out of that chair and on his feet is unconventional, to say the least, but the year is 2154, after all, and apparently anything is possible. Besides, getting Jake mobile is critical to the movie. Doing so involves the use of a scientifically created, 10-foot-tall avatar modeled after the Na’vi, an alien race that lives on the planet Pandora, which has the misfortune of possessing a mineral called Unobtainium that could save Earth from its dwindling energy reserves if enough of it is mined. And so it will be mined--by force, if necessary, though the idea behind these manufactured Na’vi is to allow for assimilation in an effort to move this race to another part of Pandora, where the Unobtainium isn’t present.
Through sleep and science, Jake becomes his avatar--long and blue and lithe of limb, it’s a thrill to watch him run again--and soon he’s off to Pandora with Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, nicely channeling Ripley from Cameron’s “Alien” franchise) and a handful of others. Once there, the beauty of Pandora shields a wealth of dangers. Anything can and does happen, with Jake eventually being separated from his crew and stumbling upon the cat-like Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who mocks him, nearly kills him, and whose parents lead the Na’vi. Naturally, in spite of all her hissing, Jakes falls for her. Since the film’s pleasures go beyond the brilliance of its visuals--Cameron’s strength always has been his ability to mount one mother of a climax, which he does here--the final battle scene is pieced together like that of a cardiothoracic surgeon. Extravagant, yet not over the top, the film winds down to be one hulluva finale. Safe to say that the supporting cast (Stephen Lang, Giovani Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez) is solid; but there really is no outstanding performance in the film by a supporting actor playing a human.
James Cameron has come back home ladies and gentlemen. Cameron is back, bigger, badder, and more mature in his crowning work of his career. Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Titanic do not even compare anymore. This is the film that can blend the fans of those two films together and lock Cameron into your heart. He's a definite spoiler for a directing bid for the Academy Awards. You have to admire the raw, natural talent the man has. How could you ever conceive such an experience and put that much effort and work into it and have it pay off? The box office success will surely keep him in the minds of voters for various critics' awards. His screenplay, leaps and bounds better than 1997's Best Picture Winner, is primed, developed and ripe for the taking. Though, you do acquire the tacky and atypical dialogue you expect from a science fiction director of this caliber, you can appreciate the effort and the honesty of it all. James Cameron is everything Michael Bay wishes he was, to put it bluntly. Avatar is one of the best films of the year. The most exciting, thrilling, and superb work you'll feast your eyes on in any theater this century. Cinema, forever, will remember the benchmark that James Cameron placed not only for himself, but for any man, daring to change the game, the way Cameron did. Avatar is a movie experience to be remembered, and please experience in a movie theater first.


Rating = 9.2

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Top 25 Albums of 2009

25. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
24. Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz
23. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
22. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
21. White Denim - Fits
20. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
19. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
18. Various Artists - Dark Was The Night
17. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
16. Real Estate - Real Estate
15. St. Vincent - Actor
14. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
13. Florence + The Machine - Lungs
12. Passion Pit - Manners
11. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
10. The Antlers - Hospice
9. The Horrors - Primary Colours
8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillon
7. Girls - Album
6. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart -
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
4. The xx - xx
3. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
2. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Monday, December 14, 2009

Top 25 Songs of 2009

25. So Bored by Wavves
24. The Whale Song by Modest Mouse
23. Lust For Life by Girls
22. The Strangers by St. Vincent
21. French Navy by Camera Obscura
20. Daylight by Matt & Kim
19. Beach Comber by Real Estate
18. What Would I Want? Sky by Animal Collective
17. Island, IS by Volcano Choir
16. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II) by Sunset Rubdown
15. Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine
14. Stillness Is The Move by The Dirty Projectors
13. Little Secrets by Passion Pit
12. Silver Trembling Hands by The Flaming Lips
11. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) by Florence + The Machine
10. Crystalized by The xx
9. Daniel by Bat For Lashes
8. Young Hearts Spark Fire by Japandroids
7. 1901 by Phoenix
6. Young Adult Friction by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
5. Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear
4. Anonanimal by Andrew Bird
3. Knotty Pine by The Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne
2. My Girls by Animal Collective
1. While You Wait For The Others by Grizzly Bear

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Films of the Decade


25. Children of Men (2006)

24. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (2008)

23. Crash (2005)

22. The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers (2002)

21. The Lives of Others (2006)

20. The Prestige (2006)

19. Inglorious Bastards (2009)

18. The Pianist (2002)

17. WALL-E (2008)

16. Gladiator (2000)

15. The Dark Knight (2008)

14. MILK (2008)

13. The Incredibles (2004)

12. The Royal Tenebaums (2001)

11. No Country For Old Men (2007)

10. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

9. The Departed (2006)

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

7. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

6. Amelie (2001)

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

4. There Will Be Blood (2007)

3. Memento (2000)

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

1. City of God (2002)