Avatar is a fantastic movie. It might be the best movie of the year. It certainly is the most groundbreaking. I still think Precious is the best this year, but I’d be hard-pressed to feel bad if Avatar won best picture. I don’t think it will, I think The Hurtlocker will, but still, what a great movie.
The film is directed by the great James Cameron who took a huge hiatus from mainstream films to pursue deep-sea diving and other documentary pursuits. Whatever, Titanic was big enough where the man deserved it. I don’t feel too bad for him though. Jackson followed up the seven year production of Lord of the Rings with big-budget King Kong.
Regardless, the wait was worth it. Cameron proves again that he is the best action director ever. Titanic was no action movie, but it had many action elements. All his previous movies are pretty formulaic action films, but action is his business and business is good.
Avatar‘s plot needs no explanation, but I’ll wrap it up the way a recent South Park episode did: “It’s just Dances With Wolves…with Smurfs!” Now that is a joke, but is inherently true. To think that Cameron dreamed this film up in the early nineties and wasn’t influenced by the film at least subconsciously, is naïve. The main character Jake Sully, played by the wonderful Sam Worthington, is a marine who was crippled in the line of duty. His twin brother, a scientist, was participating in a program to integrate humans into a tribe of aliens on the far off planet of Pandora. Cool. To do so, they would mix their DNA with the aliens and insert their minds into the being. Jake shares his brother’s DNA, so when his brother dies, bingo, he’s in. But yeah, basically Dancing with Wolves, in space, with smurfs.
The complaint is that the plot is too simple. Too broad. Hence, the Smurf analogy. But screw the complaints! Epic movies deserve to be summed up in a sentence. A Hobbit wants to destroy an Evil ring that will destroy the planet in the wrong hands. An unsinkable ship is sinking and a couple has to save themselves. An odd British guy joins the Arab resistance in Arabia.
There two sides to stories, make them really, really specific and they become universal. Make them really, really universal and they are still universal. Confused? Yeah, well it doesn’t make sense. But trust me, it is true. The heroes journey is alive and well in Avatar. The heroes journey is a formula. It has worked since the story of Gilgamesh for a reason. There is something very human in the arch of a heroes journey. It might even be anthropological.
Let’s talk special effects for a moment. This movie has the best. It was rumored to have a budget of around 300 million dollars, or even 500 hundred, depending what you read. It will make that back plus some more. I was a huge critic of 3-D, Cameron has silenced such critics and finally made it a must of the cinematic spectacle. There is a reason to go to the movies and this is one of them. Small dramas weren’t necessarily made for a widespread, theatrical release. Pay-per-view is a wonderful outlet for these movies. Big movies were made for the big-screen and holy shit is this movie big. The three dimensions establishes a depth to the image that will be the envy of every filmmaker for years. The image is still inherently one dimension, but sure doesn’t feel that way. Also, it has the clarity and crispness of a Disney World 3-D ride. What genius Cameron and his technical crew have. I walked out of Avatar as satisfied with a movie as I have been in years.
Release Date: December 18, 2009
Collin Says: A
You’ll Say: A
By Collin, on December 25th, 2009
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus almost didn’t get made due to Heath Ledger’s death midway through production. Ledgers death was unfortunate, but Gilliam should thank his lucky stars that he was making a movie that could adjust to such an occurrence. Unfortunately, the film is a failure. Most people won’t enjoy it, but admirers of Gilliam will see motifs from his former films that they might enjoy.
I ran into a Gilliam film for the first time when my father insisted I watch a weird movie that he liked called Time Bandits. Which I did. To this day I really can’t say what would possess a production company to make that movie. The film featured grand special effects, huge sets, bizarre characters, and fantastical elements. All of these elements are found again in Imaginarium, as well as all of Gilliam’s movies. But with the advent of cheap digital special effects, his imagination has been virtually set free.
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus take place in the present and follows an immortal man named Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his theater group, which travels and tries to convince individuals to enter a mirror on their theater carriage. When they enter said mirror, they’re transported into a world of imagination, which Parnassus can more or less control. These powers were won from The Devil in a previous wager. However, The Devil comes to collect on a previous agreement that if Parnassus should ever have a child, the first-born would go to The Devil.
If the plot set-up sounds confusing or annoying to you, this movie probably won’t interest you. The above description highlights my biggest problem with the film. The story is stupid and self-indulgent. The movie isn’t about anything. It is a series of vignettes containing wonderful special effects sequences. Yes, this might be an unfortunate consequence of losing a main actor, but that doesn’t mean the core story had to be so confusing. The character Tony (Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell) is never fully explained. There is no reason given that The Devil would bring him into the deal between him and Parnassus. Too many stories in Hollywood are stripped down into simplistic stories about simplistic characters, but complicated plots don’t mean they have to be difficult to follow.
Another thing I didn’t like about this movie was its pacing. I never check the length of movies before I see them because I don’t want to know when the ending is coming. This movie took forever to get through. The scenes of imagination are very good, but when they’re over I found myself just eager to get back into them.
As for all the different actors playing the character Tony, all I have to say is that it works. All the actors do a good job of playing the same whacky person. It is the unfortunate truth that I liked Ledger the most. Gilliam has said that he thought the film was cursed as Ledger died during production, one of the producers died only only months after completion, and only weeks after shooting Gilliam got clobbered by a car. A lot went wrong with this production and loads of sacrifices were made to get this film made. It has enjoyable special effects and the joy of fantasy is visceral, but it is slow, confusing, and ultimately pointless. All by design? Maybe. But that doesn’t make something fun to watch. Snuff films are by design.
I couldn’t help but feel there was a good film somewhere in there. Just too much went wrong. Moreover, I encourage people to go see Gilliam’s greatest film called Brazil. It is a classic, which contains the same grand special effects as Parnassus, but is driven by a thoughtful, clear, provocative story.
Release date: December 2009
Collin says: C -
You’ll say: D
By Collin, on December 19th, 2009
Nine
I heard many complaints about producers fiddling with the work of directors while I was in college. I always agreed. How dare they? As I get older, however, I’m starting to sympathize more and more with the plight of a movie executive. This movie cost 80 million dollars according to Wikipedia. Poor bastards. They’re doomed.
Movies like Nine really help change my mind. What a fuck up. When I was watching the trailer I commented that the movie has no audience. Who has really seen 8 ½? Nine was aimed at middle-aged women and up. For the record, the theater I was in was packed wall to wall with gray-haired old ladies. They most certainly couldn’t have liked it. This movie sucked. I mean really bad. Coming from me, who likes almost every stage and film musical ever made, that is saying something.
This movie is an adaptation of a musical that won a Tony for best musical, which itself was an adaptation of Federico Fellini’s great autobiographical film about himself. Now going in, I’m guessing some of the old ladies in the theater had heard of 8 ½, but had never seen it. But I figured it didn’t matter. The music, story, and performances would be great, enough at least to keep them entertained. The story is based on Federico Fellini and his struggles with dealing with the women in his life, an upcoming film he can’t seem to make, and having writers block, or “filmmakers” block. The film is packed with celebrities and stars: Daniel-Day Lewis Judi Dench Nicole Kidman, Marion Cottillard, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Fergie.
First off, the music was bad. There wasn’t one great song. Nothing I could hum or become emotionally attached with. This despite the fact there were great themes to deal with as well. Fergie comes the closest to having a hit. She performs the song with range and sexual tension. “Be Italian” is a very good song, but it isn’t great. Moreover, “My husband makes movies” has moments that are extraordinary, but still falls down into a category of okay, not great. Not to mention Daniel-Day Lewis has finally proven he can do poorly in a role. He was not made for this movie. His voice is ordinary and I imagine that Rob Marshall was so psyched to have one of the best modern actors in his movie, he just settled. I’d read the stage version starred Raul Julia. Now that guy would have been fun to watch. Moreover, no one really fit well into their characters because they were never given to us as characters, just celebrities. There are curious moments where the songs feel contrived, inserted into a non-musical adaptation of 8 ½ and hoping the audiences didn’t notice the awkwardness. It felt almost Bollywood, but without the charm. If you’ve never seen a Bollywood movie, musical numbers are often inserted into dramas out of nowhere. Moulin Rouge was supposed to be an American Bollywood film. Rouge was an extraordinary movie, Nine’s song just felt out of place.
To top it all off, Antonio Banderas was turned down for the role of Guido. What a waste. He is a fantastic singer, has loads of sex appeal, and would at least look Italian…ish. But still, I’d probably be complaining that this movie had no good numbers for such a great performer. Hopefully a good musical will come around that I can watch Banderas in and a great character drama I can watch Daniel- Day Lewis in.
Release date: December 2009
Collin Says: D-
You’ll Say: F
By Collin, on December 6th, 2009
Brothers
Remakes of films are fun. Especially if you love movies. Filmmakers hate having their art messed with, especially when great films are remade for an American/English audience that can’t stomach subtitles or stomach actors they don’t instantly recognize. Abel Ferrara, the director of the original Bad Lieutenant, threatened Werner Herzog, hoping the cast and crew burnt in hell. Filmmakers are crazy and remaking someone’s film takes ball. However, remakes are a great examples of what a director’s influence can have on a film.
For just a moment Brothers, a new film by Jim Sheridan, flashes credits that it is a remake of a Danish film. Most Americans will never see the original and can’t be bothered. But I hope they do seek it out. The original is a wonderful movie. Influenced heavily by the Dogma movement that went on in Danish movies. The Danish version is gritty, stripped of Hollywood crispness and glamor. This doesn’t make the movie better. Just different.
The new film stars a Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal as the brothers Sam and Tommy, respectively. I remembered instantly that when Maguire messed up his back during Seabiscuit and was considering not returning for the second Spiderman, that Gyllenhaal was going to replace him. I don’t know why that seems relevant, but it is. They’re very much alike and very believable as brothers. Believing that these two are brothers is very important and, ultimately, is what is at the core of this very good movie.
Moreover, the film begins with Tommy being released from jail. Sam picks him up and they have a dinner to welcome back their son or to say goodbye to Sam, who is being deployed to Afghanistan. The film isn’t subtle about showing the genuine contempt the family has for Tommy and how they beam with pride over Sam who is a captain in the marines.
Sam leaves and not long after Sam’s wife (Natalie Portman) is informed that Sam has died in a helicopter crash and is presumed dead. Devastated she consoles in Tommy, who is also in mourning. They grow close and share a kiss. But wait, Sam is still alive! He returns traumatized by something he did in Afghanistan, of which, I will not mention here. However, I will say that I didn’t agree with either film’s decision to show what Sam had done. Instead, I would have much rather enjoyed having the audience wonder, like Sam’s family and friends, what had occurred whilst at war. Dramatic irony is a story telling technique described as, “a device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters” This is a powerful tool and is often considered to be the most important in Hollywood. It is too bad that the audience wasn’t left in the dark about Sam’s secret and least until the Third Act.
Tobey Maguire is so good in this movie. He’s never been required to show serious depth, but here he is showing the highs and lows of a man damaged by violence and bloodshed. The movie might have been awkward or hammy had the right actor not stepped up. Maguire has upped himself into the category of elite performances this year. Moreover, also important was the performance of Sam’s daugthter, played by young actress Bailee Madison. She is so cute and vulnerable, but shows emotional subtlety unusual for a girl her age. Only ten years old she could have a wonderful career ahead of her if she stays interested.
In conclusion, Brothers is very good. It’s ending comes to all the right conclusions but feels a bit forced. It is a good film which takes a look at the people scarred by war and what can happen to the relationships surrounding individuals not involved in battle. The film arrives at all the right places but I wish the getting there would have been a bit different.
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