Avatar

avatar_poster2
Originally uploaded by wiro204sableng

Jake Sully is a paralyzed former Marine who gets a tragic, lucky break. His Twin brother Tommy was part of the Avatar program on Pandora, he had his DNA blended with the native peoples so he can be linked into the Avatar body and interact with the natives, but Tommy was killed and now The Company is afraid of losing their investment so they ask Jake as his twin to take over Tommy’s Avatar. Jake soon is caught up between the Marine Colonel that wants to exterminate the natives to get to their natural resources and Dr. Augustine who founded the Avatar program because she believes there is a greater wealth to Pandora than their natural resources.

Jake soon meets the natives princess, Neytiri who believes their diety has given them a sign that Jake is significant to them. Jake must learn the ways of the people in 3 months and get them to leave peacefully or face destruction. What Jake never expects is that he would feel more alive in his Avatar than in his human body.

James Cameron hasn’t made a narrative film since Titanic, and I have to say that I was a naysayer when I found out one of the great delays with Avatar was the 3D process. After seeing the film I have two things to say ; firstly, that Avatar was worth the 12 year wait, and secondly, that the 3D is the most astounding use of the technology I have ever seen.

I am a 3D hater, and I don’t want to make it sound like Avatar is all about technology and not a good movie. It’s actually quite the opposite. Avatar is a great movie on its own, but the addition of the 3D element takes it to a whole other realm for the audience. Most 3D is gimmicky and doesn’t add anything to the story, which is why I dislike it; but with Avatar Cameron managed to use the medium for it’s ideal purpose – the 3D pulls you into the story and makes you feel like you are on the planet with Jake & Neytiri. You forget you are watching 3D.

Cameron typically does stories that focus on strong women, and I was a bit surprised to find out that Neytiri was not the main focus of this film – Jake was. However, Jake is a great, well rounded character with a strong arch and played very engagingly by Sam Worthington. On top of that, instead of one strong Sarah Connor figure you get 3 strong women in Avatar - Neytiri, Grace Augustine & Trudy. These women play the spectrum of strong women. Neytiri is the native princess that learns to accept Jake and protect her people, Grace is the scientist who is not afraid of the military and fights for the planet and Trudy is a fighter that learns the difference between orders and what is right.

I would love to give a play by play of this entire movie, how geeky I was about it and what I loved, but I truly think this is a movie that has to be experienced. I encourage you all to go see it and be willing to shell out the extra bucks for 3D, you will be glad you did.

Director & Writer: James Cameron
Jake Sully: Sam Worthington
Neytiri: Zoe Saldana
Dr. Augustine: Sigourney Weaver
Col. Quartich: Stephen Lang
Trudy: Michelle Rodriguez
Parker Selfridge: Giovanni Ribisi
Norm: Joel Moore

Col. Quaritch: You are not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora, ladies and gentleman.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Bob Wilton is a small time journalist whose wife has just left him. Distraught he goes to Iraq at the start of the Gulf War hoping to get permission to cover the war; however, what he finds is much better – Lyn Cassady, who claims to be a former member of the Army’s psychic spy unit and on a mission to find his former commanding officer Bill Django. Together Lyn & Bob journey across the Iraq desert and encounter civilians, terrorists and independent contractors as Bob slowly draws from Lyn what the unit he belonged to was like.

What drew me to The Men Who Stare at Goats was the quirky concept and the cast. The cast delivers, the concept stops just short of doing so.

This film is helmed by remarkable actors: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges & Kevin Spacey. These are leading men that will be looked back at one day as the standout, true movie stars of our generation. They are as talented as they are charismatic and having them all on screen together is an amazing thing. None of these actors can do any wrong on their own, so put them all together and you have acting gold.

The downside to The Men Who Stare at Goats was that it’s a genuinely quirky film, which I am normally fine with but I couldn’t help but feel that director Grant Heslov was trying to emulate the style of something like Burn After Reading and he missed. This genuinely felt like a Coen brother’s film that was lacking the spirit and presence of the Coen brothers. As I watched The Men Who Stare at Goats and I wondered what the film would have been like if they were helming it, something I am sure was aided not just by the quirky concept but the fact that the film is starring one of their leading men – George Clooney.

What genuinely kept me laughing the entire film was all of the references to the psychic spies as Jedi warriors. This is funny on a geek level alone, but it’s made absolutely hysterical by the fact that Ewan McGregor played Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels – I am 100% sure this was brought up many times on set.

The Men Who Stare at Goats is an entertaining movie. It’s only issue is that for those of us out there that have a bit of a broader understanding of the genre we know what the film could be instead of what it is. It’s definitely worth watching, it’s just not necessarily a movie you will want to watch over and over again. If you’re really looking for a quirky spy film I would recommend Burn After Reading, you’ll even get George Clooney in that one and Brad Pitt in perhaps his most memorable role ever.

Director: Grant Heslov
Writer: Peter Straughan
Lyn Cassady: George Clooney
Bob Wilton: Ewan McGregor
Bill Django: Jeff Bridges
Larry Hooper: Kevin Spacey
Brigader General Hopgood: Stephen Lang
Todd Nixon: Robert Patrick
Gus Lacey: Stephen Root

Bob Wilton: So what do you use to remote view?
Lyn Cassady: I drink. And I find classic rock helps.
Bob Wilton: Any music in particular?
Lyn Cassady: Boston. Boston usually works.