Recently Viewed Films - Reviewed

By tomorrow I hope you mean later on today, I'm waiting on this review. And what are you doing going to sleep at 5:30am on a Tuesday?

Went out with some old friends to watch Avatar and ended up playing multiplayer games all night. Good fun.

Anyway.

Avatar

So it's finally here. The "revolution" we've all been waiting for. The 3D spectacle of our lives. The hype for this title has been nothing short of insane and there was of course no way for it to live up to it. However, if one takes a step back from what people have been saying, and instead look at what has actually been made, the end result is far from the train crash some were anticipating.

The storyline is known to everyone I don't doubt, so I won't bother with a synopsis. Suffice to say it is easily summed up as Dances With Wolves in Space with a touch of Ferngully. This is a story that has been told countless times before with a cast of likable, if very familiar, characters. The Hollywood model is followed step by step and for anyone familiar with cinema it's pretty easy to predict every single scene as Cameron doesn't even bother to hide the fact that he brings nothing new to the table plot wise. But, as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! And Cameron knows what audiences want.

So the plot is solid, despite lacking originality. Next up is the acting. And once again Cameron seems content to let his stars simply do their job - there's nothing particularly outstanding going on here. Despite looking like a soldier, Worthington doesn't do anything that makes him seem like Hollywood's next big star. He doesn't slip up, but he doesn't shine either. Which pretty much sums up what all the other actors do too.

As for the dialogue, it's your typical Hollywood epic fare, switching between spine tingling and overly cheesy in the blink of an eye.

The visuals however are a completely different story, and it is clear that Cameron has poured his entire soul not into the script or the actors but into making it look awesome. And that it does. It looks mind bendingly awesome at times. The Avatars, while still a bit strange, look pretty good in action and the environment is simply put beautiful. It's the kind of graphics we can look forward to in videogames in a gen or two. And it all works, mainly because even the few things that aren't CGI have been processed to the max in post-production making the entire look of the film cohesive. Make no mistake, CGI is still CGI. But this film succeeds in making everything look of the same quality rendering it believable for once. While I'll still be personally lamenting the death of puppets and awesomely built sets, there's no denying that sci-fi has a lucrative future.

Finally there's the 3D, and in all honesty, I'm unsure what I think of it. On one side the effect was pretty breathtaking in some shots, and it was very cool to look into the film in a way never done before. But when the film first started I felt nauseous pretty sharpish, the image wasn't as sharp as without glasses and it was hard to focus on things other than the main motive. Throughout the first third of the film I kept thinking: "I wish we'd gone to the 2D showing", a sentiment echoed by both of my friends who complained of having headaches and pains in their eyes. Also the glasses are a nuisance, painful to have on for a short while, and after two and a half hours one is pretty much aching to take them off. So, ultimately, while the 3D was a very attractive gimmick and the experience might not have been the same without, I won't be investing in a 3D TV anytime soon.

So, for the bottom line. From what I've written so far it might appear that Avatar was merely an ok film. But what my analysis doesn't quite capture is how well it all works when put together. So the plot is unoriginal and the acting only decent, but when combined with a beautiful world and a searing score it's hard not to get dragged along for the ride. For that's what this is. An old fashioned "rollercoaster" movie which checks all the boxes and despite a few instances where disbelief needs to be very firmly suspended it does it's job gloriously.

Avatar isn't a revolution in my eyes. I view film as the ultimate storytelling medium and Avatar plays it far too safe, understandingly not wanting to take chances with its gargantuan budget. But we will see the results of Cameron's labour in the years to come, of that I am sure. The technology is now out there, for better or for worse, and 3D CGI is currently the future of the modern blockbuster. I think we can all wave goodbye to the golden age of Hollywood where ideas and originality were prized as this new technology comes with a hefty price tag and as a result studios will be even more careful with what kinds of stories they tell. Which is sad. But for every Avatar there will at least be a District 9 or a Moon and that thought cheers me up considerably.

But for now, rejoice. Cameron has created the ultimate spectacle and if you let yourself be whisked away to Pandora, you won't regret it.

8/10

Totally echoing what Major says, basically. Visual tour-de-force and a passable classical narrative make for stunning blockbuster cinema. 8/10.

Moon

8/10

Avatar 10, but Moon 8?

Lolz. Yep sorry. Moon was awesome, but Avatar was just too new to me to be critiqued fairly. Maybe I should see it in 2D...Might level out my opinion slightly if I'm not constantly flabbergasted by how it looks.

It's A Wonderful Life

What can one say? No wonder this is hailed as the ultimate Christmas classic! And what a blu-ray remaster! Had me crying like a baby.... simply beautiful! Pure cinema.

10/10

Ultimate Christmas film. No other festive flicks come close but Bad Santa is second for me.

Serendipity

Shit, but shit you can still watch.

2/5

Breakfast At Tiffany's

Haven't read the book, but I hear it's a little more uncompromising in its portrayal of Holly. Overall a very curious but intriguing piece of cinema that exists in a sort of purgatory between old-timey and modern Hollywood. It's arguably a little too implicit of aspects of each character, but maybe it's not that self-aware. Great dialogue and well cast, but the glamour can sometimes undermine its more interesting aspects.

3/5

I always laugh at how stereotyped that landlord in Breakfast at Tiffs is.

I couldn't believe it was Mickey fucking Rooney. "You do dad again, I call the poreece!"

Avatar - Pretty much agree with Major. Visually it was incredible and despite the predictable plot it all work together really well. Pandora is an amazing feat too.

After seeing avatar in 2D, I realize how underwhelming it is forgetting completely about how pretty it is in 3D, based on everything else it's probably more of a high 7/low 8 I'll listen next time. Stupid 2D...

Why did you watch it in 2d? Thats ridiculous, its designed to be seen in 3D.Like that flaming lips album you have to ply 2 discs atthe same time, listen to one of the discs, its pointeless.

The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Dances With Wolves

Been many years since I last watched this... seeing it on blu-ray was pretty spectacular. Shame Costner has never managed to equal his performance in it.

9/10

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Fantastical Gilliam film which ticks all the right boxes. As a storyteller it resonates even stronger with me. Lovely seeing Heath again, what a versatile actor.

8/10

Bruno

Cringeworthy and rarerly funny. But it's worth watching with the commentary track on, it's intriguing to hear all about their near-death experiences making it!

5/10

The Passion of The Christ

Undeniably moving and intriguing cinema. It might actually be more of an interesting watch if you're an atheist.

7/10

North By Northwest

Exciting and immersive Hitchcock thriller... the man really did know how to make 'em!

9/10

Waterword

Hardly the disaster it's been made out to be, Waterworld is an entertaining adventure film with great sets and lots of cheese.

6/10

DanglyBrasco wrote:Why did you watch it in 2d? Thats ridiculous, its designed to be seen in 3D.Like that flaming lips album you have to ply 2 discs atthe same time, listen to one of the discs, its pointeless.

One of my friends refuses to watch 3D movies in 3D. Says it's an expensive gimmick that is wiping out low budget movies. Meh.

That's ridiculous... low budget movies will never die out no matter what Hollywood does. Idiotic.

That Flaming Lips album I believe had 4 Discs and the point was that you could play as much or as little of them as you like or experiment with stop and start times to effectively create an infinite combination of permutations. Particularly as one channel has specially designed frequencies that are supposed to induce a feeling of being unwell, so you could mute that particular disc.

Or merge the four tracks together into one track for your MP3 player like I did.

As for Avatar, I saw it in 2D because I had to for the 3D was sold out and it was the only real opportunity. I don't buy into the idea that a film HAS to be seen in 3D because it's the POINT. I'd rather a film be able to stand up on its own merit rather than requiring a trick of the depth perception to sell itself. Avatar was brilliant and absolutely gorgeous in 2 dimensions.

I know this can open up a can of worms, like why have sound or why have colour (answer: because it's the director's intention to get across his vision) but I think 3D is becoming a bit overused in films at the moment and I'm worried if it's being seen as a shoehorn instead of an actual quality addition.

... and yes, I plan to see Avatar in 3D too.

Oh i didnt know hat about the album, whats it called?

A bar near us had this night, and they invited everyone to bring their own CD player and spekers, and they had loas of opies of it, and they were all going t play it at the smae time, multiple layers. I missed it though

Avatar, without going into the whole can of worms, i dont think the point of Avatar is the 3D aspect of it, though i would argue that it is part of the articstic vison. So to see Avatar as it was meant to be seen would be to see it in 3D. Its like loking at the Mona Lisa on a TV screen, if you get the loose metaphor? And yeah, i see your point about it being overused, but the ratio is still far, far in favor of 2D films, and people said this about CGI animation back in the day. Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland looks fantastic in 2D, but the 3D trailer far surpassed ANYTHING i have yet seen, a giant cat face leering right out of the screen at made actually made me start to laugh with uncontrolled glee.

Raine, please go see Avatar in 3D, it will probably blow away alot of your preconceptions of 3D.

Watched the first half of Red Cliff earlier, really impressed with it. I'm glad the Blu-ray isn't cut-down like the other versions. So I get all 4 1/2 hours of John Woo's epic, instead of a measly 2 1/2 hours.

Really looking forward to the second half.

Also watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which was really interesting for the first 30 minutes or so, but nearing the end I almost dozed off. Didn't really find the point in it at all.

Timecrimes

Tense, exciting and on the whole rewarding. Well worth watching, this is the definition of the low budget movie that could!

8/10

E.T - The Extra-Terrestrial

What an unbelievable film. It defines a classic, and no matter how many times I see it, the last 20 minutes has me constantly holding back tears of sadness and joy. One of the all-time greats and one of my personal favorites.

9/10

Road To Perdition

Terrific film, gorgeous visuals and a strong emotional core. Craig, Hanks, Law and Newman all shine in their respective roles. Sam Mendes knows what he's doing.

9/10

Repo: The Genetic Opera

Very very strange, original and inventive. Not sure if I can recommend it or not... but it's certainly not something you see every day.

Weird/10

Spirited Away

9/10

Never really had a chance to watch any of these anime movies before but I thought this was fantastic. I thought it was kind of strange but in a good way. Im not going to bother doing a big write up, Ill leave that to the experts. But if anyone can recommend a similar films to it it'd be much welcomed.