Brittany Murphy, yikes

...was my first reaction. They're just being swept away, it seems. It's nuts.

"DANCES WITH WOLVES IN SPACE"

...a good friend texted me this evening.

So true, so so true.

Review: Avatar

Hot through the pixels—is Zoe Saldana hot, or is James Cameron? BOTH.

I had this spiel I would give, for a few weeks now, on why Avatar might fail to live up to the hype. What this primarily concerned, was director James Cameron's multifaceted ambition—most notably, to break into the frontier of 3D, to achieve an unparalleled pinnacle of C.G.I., and all the while creating a whole new universe just as epic as your Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. Well, guess what, he did all that, and while I wouldn't say my expectations were 'blown away,' I will say they were met. High expectations met with high rewards.

Salvaged from the wreckage of Terminator: Salvation, budding star Sam Worthington heads the epic entertainment experience as Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine thrust into action on the Earth-like Pandora—a lush, vibrantly-exotic world populated by freakish creatures and a humanoid, hunter-gatherer species known as the Na'vi. Yet, this is no ordinary tour of duty. Sully is sent to the science department instead of the kick-ass one, headed by everybody's favorite Biology teacher, Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, resurrected-again!), where he is instituted into the Avatar program. Fusing the DNA of humans and the native Na'vi, Sully is given the means to control another physical body—a fully replicated Na'vi—called an Avatar. The program is meant to facilitate a "diplomatic solution," as explained by supreme-corporate-sleazeball Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi, playing Paul Reiser's Aliens part on steroids), for the purpose of uncovering some macguffin mineral named Uber-tanium or something. The other option, is war, represented by literally-scarred head of security Colonel Miles Quaritch (a showstopping Stephen Lang). And that's just the beginning, folks.

Shot in 3D, this lavish and complex world comes to life off-screen, but not really on it, if that makes sense. The 3D does seem to detract from the core material; half the time I was so awestruck that I found myself losing track of what was actually happening, almost an alienating (no pun-intended) feeling. And for as smart as a filmmaker (and person) James Cameron is, the world of Avatar seemed a bit slim, not to mention having a simply weak/weakly simple story. Everything was an evident distortion of something we already know; there were no "Whoa" Keanu Reeves-Matrix moments even with the C.G.I. and 3D in mind. It was more of a steady stream of awe. More of an experience than a movie.

The Na'vi, conveniently (i.e. embarrassingly) made up of a bunch of non-white actors (Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, Laz Alonzo, CCH Pounder) are nonetheless played well, and surprisingly played period. This is where Cameron's delusions of grandeur come strictly into focus. The C.G.I. is like no other, and the performances are there and they're real and they're simply a joy to watch. Worthington effectively holds his own in the lead and doesn't mess it up, not letting the grand scale of the picture get away from him. It's nice to see Sigourney again—never has a role been so tailor-made—she fits it perfectly. As I mentioned, Lang practically steals the show as the main villain, but is kept at bay long enough not to overwhelm it. Ribisi is hammed up to the extreme but at least worth a laugh. Michelle Rodriguez's part feels vastly underwritten; a plot device and nothing more. But it's Zoe Saldana who really comes through. She's the heart and soul of this sometimes soulless epic, and I genuinely think she's worth a supporting look come awards time.

With all the technology, the preparation, the money, the hype, the expectations, everything, James Cameron has really done something special, making his case not only for best of the year, but for the best of the decade, as well. With District 9 still making waves, the ultimate sci-fi showdown since Star Wars v. Star Trek should come to a head this Spring, and I've got my popcorn ready. Each end-of-the-decade entry has changed the cinema as we know it, taking the rest of the genres by the hand and crossing them over into a new frontier. Either way, Cameron's has done it; he's changed things in the biggest and best way imaginable. Colonel Quaritch was right. We're not in Kansas anymore. We're in Avatar territory now.


***1/2 out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Reaction Action Roundup: "Been over this all before..."

...with the trailer, and probably the movie as a whole as well, but you have to admit, Dolph Lundgren is still pretty badass:



And this is new trailer, by the way. Supposedly.

In other news, "I told you, you weren't going to get that back." [I'm starting to laugh each time I see/hear this in the theater...when it finally comes out, I may have to be put down]. Poster's pretty rockin' though:



In reboot/remake/sequel/adaptation news, some legit grit is finally added to this pussyfest. Got me a little excited. Just a little (my boy Nimrod got the hookups!).

Shit man I know where the money is (look to see where the money is).

And finally, tonight's the night...probably not as big as The Dark Knight, but it should be something. Something or another. Review to follow.

"Awesome destructive power"

What an article. Other than the original Bad Boys, I still don't think I can come to appreciate his films on really any level, but if I were to be convinced, this might just do the trick. Obviously--again--it's Matt Zoeller Seitz, who sometimes seems to practically write this blog for me.

Source: The House Next Door

Very Dark Knight

Almost too much so:



The font is nice, but it needs an accompaniment. Skyscrapers = uninteresting; something else should be happening in the sky. And the Nolan 'fro has just got to go. Just kidding.

Source: /Film

Too significant not to post

What a speech, or rather a series of them.

With all the buzz, this has that air around it--something monumental--something that could actually inspire some sense of change in this fear-driven industry.

I can't say enough how comforting, how refreshing, and how just plain great it is to hear someone speak like this, even if, after all, she is a critic. Go Manohla.

The original article: Women in the Seats but Not Behind the Camera

Source: Movieline

Kind of badass

Just a little.

Source: Kung Fu Cinema

Review: Armored

Watching Armored with blank indifference...

Somewhere between the legacies of Reservoir Dogs and RoboCop is Armored, though more 'middling' than in the middle. A simplistic heist makes for a simplistic movie, unfortunately, and instead of going for the gold, writer James Simpson goes for silver and ends up with such: what could've been B+ material ends up being strictly B, nothing more, nothing less.

A young, decorated Iraq war veteran (Columbus Short) returns home to support his only remaining family, in an artistic brother named Jimmy (Andre Kinney). His only other tie, Godfather Mike Cochrone (Matt Dillon), gets him a job as an armored-truck driver, amongst a colorful cast of co-workers (Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, Skeet Ulrich, Amaury Nolasco, and an underutilized Fred Ward). After a souful, very blue-collar first act, the group eventually embarks on a self-heist of sorts for a lofty $42 million—which is the first of many mistakes that Armored makes—you couldn't imagine these guys having anywhere near that much money. They should've shot for something smaller, just like in the yarn Mike preaches to inspire the others to get on board.

As the lead, Short stumbles through awkward dialogue stretches the best he can. Dillon tries to hold down the fort but maybe tries a little too hard and ends up coming off bland. Fishburne is not given enough to work with as the most unpredictable of the bunch. Amaury Nolasco's character is near-embarrassing in its execution, simply because, again, what worthwhile character was there to begin with? Jean Reno, get an agent, and Skeet Ulrich, well, he was cool to see again but for no real reason. This throwback cast is a welcome gesture, but it's left to die by an incredibly underwritten script with little or no sense of heist ingenuity.

For once, it's the writer that ruins perfectly good direction, instead of the other way around. Director Nimród (what a name) Antal definitely has talent, but can't fuse the uneven sections. His little visual flourishes and expertise with a modern color palette make me excited for his future projects (i.e. Predators). He's one to watch.

In the end, Armored has little going on under its titular shield. It even feels bottled-up, like they backed off a bunch of things that could've been included to make it more interesting. A few, sporadic moments of wonder ("All you gotta do is open the door," the villain's second wind, the ending) can't hold the picture, and ultimately Armored fails to meet its already-low expectations. The soul of the picture doesn't last long, but one thing the opening gets right is this: The bad economy is everywhere; it almost seems natural/expected now. The last thing we need are bad movies to go with it.


** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Restless

IFC keenly listens in on my apartment

I was practically having this exact same discussion just a few hours ago. IT'S SO FRUSTRATING. I want some guts in my movies, and not just guts for the sake of guts but guts that stand for something. 1989 had guts. 1999 had...a lot, maybe not always guts but it had a lot. 2009? What? In terms of the mainstream, we got, District 9, maybe? At least it was something fresh. And just not fucking Rotten Tomatoes fresh but actually fresh, something new, a chance at change, stir up the pot a little. Fucking crock pot if you ask me, nothin's cookin.'

Shit man what happened to the '90s? I ask myself this question every day!

Time to go to bed!

Source: The House Next Door