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Reviews
Avatar (2009)
There is So Much to Say About James Cameron's AVATAR
I'm not sure where to begin with James Cameron's Avatar. I could start by saying I've been waiting 12 years for this film. I could start by saying Terminator 2 is my all time favorite movie, and I've watched it a thousand times since I was a kid. But I'm going to start with the most positive thing I could say. James Cameron is a special filmmaker. He revolutionized film-making in the 1980s with The Terminator and Aliens. He did it again in the 1990s with Terminator 2 and Titanic. So after 12 years of anticipation and hype, and all the reports of the record budget being somewhere between a mind-boggling $300 and $500 million, I expected Avatar to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
And sadly, it wasn't. Not even close. I will admit that the visuals in the film were stunning, and sometimes made you feel like you were dreaming. Cameron has definitely spent his time wisely creating a new universe all his own, and inventing a totally new world, one that leaves us in awe. However, for a filmmaker like Cameron, the whole IMAX 3D element of the film really wore on me. After a while, I couldn't wait to take off those uncomfortable glasses which helps us "see" the stunning visuals, as Cameron wants us to, which are quite nauseating, particularly for a movie that is almost three hours in length. I've never seen a film in 3D or IMAX before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But now that I've seen it, it begs the question, why? Hey Jimmy, you're James frickin' Cameron! You don't need 3D to make good movies, man! I feel like 3D is like cheating on a test that you've studied for your entire life. Why is Cameron trying to overcompensate for no reason? He can make superb films without any of this IMAX 3D CGI stuff.
As for the plot, well there is none. Avatar essentially features no plot, or story, other than the typical love angle, which can only be classified as being beyond cheesy. If there is a "story", you've seen and heard it many times before. A man sent in to infiltrate a band of aliens grows close to their ways and in the end turns against his own kind when the two sides battle each other out. You've seen it in Dances With Wolves, you've seen it in The Last Samurai, hell, I could even go all the way back to 1956 and cite John Ford's The Searchers as a movie which features characters who are pulled into another society or world only to become one of them. Now, before you go and crucify me and say "well every movie can be traced back to something else", which is true, you need to understand that James Cameron is a trend-setter. HE is the one that makes the most refreshing movies, HE is the one that everyone else copies. HE doesn't need to copy anyone else. HE used to create films with creative plots and likable characters, but there's nobody to like in Avatar. After all, it's not easy to relate to a CGI-made 10 foot tall blue alien.
I really expected more out of this film. The graphics were amazing, sometimes. Other times, it was just migraine-inducing. I wanted something to happen. And nothing really happened. Cameron could have made one of the all time great films if he had just put some more thought into it, and created a good story, with fleshed out characters, and a climax that doesn't come off as being a thoughtless, cookie-cutter finale. Armed with a budget of this enormity, and over a decade between narrative films, you'd think "the king of the world" would have come up with a better movie.
But I do think people will love most of the visuals, I certainly did. But after nearly three hours, it suddenly dawns on you, "is there anything else to this movie?" Because while staring at the Mona Lisa is a very thought provoking thing to do, eventually, you move on! And that's what this film felt like. A beautiful painting come to life, but one that eventually gets tired and predictable. Sadly, and despite what most of people will say, because they loved the visuals and have never seen anything like it, James Cameron's Avatar was extremely disappointing and I'm not sure if I'll ever forget this kind of disappointment for a long, long time.
I still love Terminator 2, and I still love James Cameron. But I feel like I've been waiting through a 12 year war for my loved one to return, only to see them come back a completely different person, one whom I simply don't know and can't trust anymore. Take this for what it is, an honest review from ONE viewer. Most will not be in favor of my thoughts, because it's not overly positive. But it is what it is. Avatar is not exactly a movie. It is something else. A $400 million cartoon perhaps. Or a $400 million live-action video game. It will probably be copied a million times over the course of the upcoming decade though. Maybe, hopefully, by the end of it, Cameron will return to making movies with real people again. Maybe then, everyone will copy him once more, and all movies will go back to being about real people again. I think that's something that we all want deep down inside, but, for some reason... we just won't admit it.
The Box (2009)
Who Are The People Who Control The Lightning?
Where do I begin? Where. Do. I. Begin? It seems as if Richard Kelly's The Box has left me in a temporary paralysis, and I'm afraid any attempt at getting out of it might prove to be futile. You might have heard of Kelly's past work and witnessed his capacity to shock, to awe and to literally twist your brain into such a scrunch that you walk away with a feeling like you just woke up after a long night drinking with the worst hangover of your life. Donnie Darko, Kelly's first effort, was released in 2001 and to very heavy criticism. Although, after finding a cult following during its DVD run, Kelly became the next big thing to watch for. In 2006, he screened his quasi-completed follow-up at the Cannes Film Festival. Southland Tales, a futuristic sci-fi/fantasy film, was loaded with more weirdness than Darko, a musical number led by Justin Timberlake, and a cast primarily made up of former WWE wrestlers and former SNL cast members. The film was met to a poor reception, and received the lowest graded score in Cannes Film Festival history. The final version of the film was released in the theaters in late-2007, but tanked at the box office, and critics and fans alike wrote it off as an incoherent and babbling satire with no plot or direction.
However, Kelly did get another shot at directing after signing on with Warner Bros. just before the release of Tales. So that brings us to present day. After months of postponement, Kelly's third film has finally been brought to the screen. And what a film it is. Or is it? If something moves you in a certain way, moves you to tears, moves you to question your existence, moves you to question life itself, does it still belong in the category of being simply a "film"? When you look at the Mona Lisa, do you see just a painting? Or do you see a timeless work of art that just leaves you astonished? When you visit the Eiffel Tower, do you stand there and shrug your shoulders, thinking that it is just another free standing tower? Or do you marvel at the sheer beauty and structure of it? With a film like The Box, one could say the same thing. It is beyond film. It is beyond art. It reaches into another level of mind, body and soul.
Set in Richmond, Virginia 1976, the story revolves around a couple who are met by a severely deformed stranger with an odd proposition. Placed before them is a box. Inside this box is a button. If they push this button, two things will occur. One, someone, somewhere, will die. And second, the young couple will receive $1 million in cash at their doorstep. The characters, who currently find themselves in debt, consider pushing the button and taking the money. However, once this initial conundrum is introduced, the story goes from slightly mysterious, to weird, to one of the craziest, most peculiar films of our time. Eventually, "the box" in question becomes the last thing that is essential to the film. The primary points that the movie touches upon are life, death, God, space, time, morals, greed, heaven, hell and everything in between. Kelly expertly deals with each subject carefully and thoughtfully, leaving you absolutely speechless.
Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, who play the married couple both give strong performances, and Frank Langella, who was nominated for Best Actor at this past year's Academy Awards, also gives a chilling turn as a sinister man on a puzzling mission. Part of Langella's terror was that every time he was on screen, you are forced to look at his horrifyingly deformed face which was created with some nifty CGI. In the back story, it is discovered that Langella's character was struck by lightning some time ago. Near the end of the film, he finally reveals who the masterminds are behind this ritualistic game of offering couples such bewildering opportunities. His answer? "The people who control the lightning".
But what makes The Box stand out most is its ability to bend the minds of audiences into a twizzler shape, and at the same time invent and re-invent the structure and narrative of the film medium in general. Kelly is not afraid to use his movie to take you out of this world and transport you into another one. The result is a bizarre, surreal, dreamy and nightmarish opus. While the trailer, which was cut by Warner Bros. makes the film out to be a mainstream thriller, it is actually a blend of genres that surpasses the majority of films released in recent years. It is not a perfect film, and in spite of some small short-comings, The Box is still a magnificent work of existential art that the movie industry has been short on producing for ages.
Dance Party, USA (2006)
A Typical "Mumblecore" Film
Dance Party, USA is not a bad addition to the Mumblecore family in any way. It does feel cheap and kinda amateurish, but since I know thats what these movies are supposed to feel like, I won't take it out on the filmmaker.
If you even know what this movie is and are aware of this new Mumblecore movement of late, then you'll probably want to check it out. It's got some good moments in it, but for the most part its kind of boring and pointless. But again, thats really what all Mumblecore movies are, so I didn't think it was too bad.
A final note; these kind of movies really make you want to go out and make your own film. It makes you believe that all you need is a digital camera, some friends and a 70 page script and you're done. Its a bit more complicated than that, but Mumblecore is something new and something different. I can definitely see these movies becoming the new face of Independent cinema, because guys like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith have made it very difficult to make Indie films along the same lines as their work.
Southland Tales (2006)
A Wonderfully Electric Misunderstood Masterpiece
I'm just gonna go right out and say it. Richard Kelly's visionary epic "Southland Tales" is one of the best movies of 2007 and one of the most unique films ever created. However, to my (and yours as well) dismay, any attempt to synopsize this film would be an almost impossible task.
What Richard Kelly achieves with "Southland Tales" however, is unprecedented. He basically shows audiences what movies are really all about. They are a universe unto themselves. And the writer and director of that movie is the God of this universe and can do anything he or she pleases. And that's exactly what Kelly does. He uses the film to speak his mind about the things that people of this country and of this world stand for and believe in. He satirizes politics and our government, our involvement in the Iraq war, our obsession over movie stars and Hollywood in general. And he pokes fun at our religious beliefs as well, at our fears and wants of destruction and mayhem all at the same time.
He creates scenes filled with action, with drama, with comedy, with despair, scenes filled with music and dance, with dreams and nightmares, with science fiction and our perception of reality. If only people could let go of their obsession with common sense and realism, and appreciate it for what it is-a unique blend of fantasy and art that has never been achieved before. Yes, it is a film that is truly "out there", so much so, that it doesn't even come close to being anything audiences have seen before or will see again anytime soon. But therein lies the biggest appeal of the film, the fact that Richard Kelly had the guts to make a movie no one else wants to or can make.
The ending is a bit ridiculous, I must say, in its outrageously prophetic view of the apocalypse and coming of the messiah, but everything that comes before it is almost too amazing for words. The backlash that "Southland Tales" has received is unwarranted but certainly welcome. This film reminds me of the failure that "Blade Runner" once was, when it was released in the 80s, and how Kelly's first feature, "Donnie Darko" was a box office bomb in its initial run as well. Today though, both pictures are considered to be cult classics, and two of the best sci-fi films of our time.
The key to enjoying "Southland Tales" is not taking it too seriously. With character names like Boxer, Krysta, Serpentine, Nana Mae, Zora, Soberin, Starla, how can you? The movie takes place in present day, but looks like a despotic futuristic world, one in which nothing is coherent and everything is on the brink of obliteration. But that's what makes it so special. It's unlike every other film out there, and I'd go so far as to say that Richard Kelly thinks more outside of the box than any other filmmaker since the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick.
Kelly decides to ignore all conscious reason of what's possible and what's not. It's as if the film speaks to you, saying "everything is possible in the future". "People can be called Zora and Boxer, and other absurd names that are usually only given to household pets." Or the film might speak out to you and say "religion is a joke. The presidential election is a joke. Hollywood is a joke. YOU are a joke. And so I will continue to make a big joke out of all of that and more and you're not going to like it at first because it's the truth, but one day you will, and one day you will appreciate everything I have to say".
I'm sure that if people can eliminate their pre-conceived notions of what a movie is supposed to be structured like, and what it's not supposed to be structured like, then audiences and critics alike would enjoy this film and the ambition of its director. Richard Kelly, I applaud you, and one day, everyone will too. And Darko fans, rest assured, and I'm only telling you this because I know you've been through this once already, but the infamy this film acquires today will lead it to its immortality tomorrow.