L. Preston Sego III

So.. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about anything. Been kinda busy with school and such.  Just wanted to talk about James Cameron‘sAvatar. =)

Avatar is a great movie. Great enough that I’ve seen it five times: twice in 2d (awesome), twice in 3d (zomg awesome), and once in the IMAX in 3d (zomg, I <3 more than anything).    I am very passionate about this movie and everything in it.  A couple of my friends, however, have offered to check me into rehab (not only for this movie, but for Lady Gaga‘s Bad Romance).  My friends have just never felt so passionate about anything before.

I’m not crazy about Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance but she has somehow figured out a way to inject crack into audio… I never get sick of the song… ’tis weird.

The most common complaints I hear about the movie are almost always related to the plot.  They say that it was too simple and too similar to Pocahontas… Well.. Not every movie needs to have the most original plot ever.  Look at The Shawshank Redemption (currently IMDB’s #1) … basically the guy breaks out of jail (the first half of the movie anyway)… how original is that? … But what I feel people need to see in movies is how the entire work of art appears as a whole.  Otherwise… almost every movie is going to suck.

I’ve watched a lot of videos of interviews with James Cameron (the director), Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) and Zoe Saldana (Neytiri)… and based on what they said, I don’t think the movie could have turned out any more perfect. James Cameron (who also did The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (I <3 terminator) and Aliens which also had Sigourney Weaver) said that he couldn’t get too crazy with the plot because of how ‘out there’ the visuals were.  It needed to be simple. So that the 9 foot tall Na’vi wouldn’t scare people off.

Now here’s why I like the movie:

• The way humans are portrayed as savages who will take what they want without really caring about the destruction of innocent lives.
• How Grace Augustine  (Sigourney Weaver) and Norm Spellman  (Joel Moore) discover that Eywa is real and scientifically measurable… and not just some “pagan ritual” thing.  So… this made made me think about the possibility of religion on our planet being measurable somehow… so many people laugh at religion because they think it isn’t real… but maybe we just don’t have the technology do discover it?
• 
• Before Jake Sully gets ready to link with his Avatar body for the first time, Grace says something along the lines of “why are you even here?”, he says “Maybe I got sick of doctors telling me what I can’t do.”  … Now I love determination and going against what people think of you.  Rebellian has it’s place and is exercised perfectly here.
• In the beginning … When Jake Sully, after not having the use of his legs for an unspecified long time, enters his Avatar body: he is excited about having legs again in a way that words cannot explain.  While I still have the use of my legs, the way the situation was presented in the movie brought tears to my eyes.  After the first time he leaves his Avatar body, he is briefly filled with sadness as he remembers that he doesn’t have functional legs…
• I absolutely love the scenery. Everything about the moon Pandora. Especially how everything is bioluminescent.  It puts our planet to shame (which isn’t that too hard from my perspective, considering I’ve never left the U.S.).
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• The little bioluminescent lizards that look similar to DaVinci’s helicopter. =)
  
• The spiral fly traps in the beginning that suck themselves into their stem. And as it turns out these are based off real plants… except they live underwater T_T
  
• I heart nature… and Pandora has nothing that mars its beauty. =)

So, this movie pretty much made me not want to be human anymore.   We all know Earth is heading to hell anyway… and the greed of humans and the destruction they leave behind them is pushing it there faster than ever.  I’ve never liked people as a whole… This movie made me feel like I had a choice… but in reality (with current technology)… I don’t …  Given the option, though, I’d switch in a heart beat.

There have been a lot of great movies released this summer. No doubt about it. However last summer it seemed there were hardly any good movies. There are definitely more action movies this summer, and less movies that generate revenue mostly by kids wanting to go see a movie and dragging along their parents, which pretty much doubles the income for that movie.

I haven’t seen all of these, but they are the ones that have caught my attention… And there are certainly movies that I may not have even heard about… So, sorry if the list is incomplete.

Terminator Salvation
This film, while overall pretty good, disappointed many Terminator fans. I think one of the mistakes they made was giving away too much in the trailers. There wasn’t much surprise. Not to mention a cheesy ending. But definitely the most realistic Terminator movie to date.

Surrogates
Hasn’t been released yet but the trailers look promising: View the trailer here

Star Trek
I’m not a Star Trek fan, and viewers of this movie don’t need to have any prior star trek knowledge or even like star trek to like this movie.

District 9
I haven’t seen this one yet, but I’m hearing a lot of positive things. Mini Summary: “An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly find a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology.”

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
I haven’t seen this one yet, either, but I’ve heard nothing negative: “An elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit, takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.”

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Lots of controversy arose from this beast. Visual effects were stunning, people say the story was lacking, and didn’t know how they felt about Optimus pulling a Jesus. The only issue I have is the excessive amount of comedic relief characters, the new Transformers are too characturized (they don’t look enough like machines, like in the first Transformeres) and some of the comedy was far too immature for my liking.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Record breaking revenue for any midnight show, ever. People complain about how it wasn’t exactly like the book… What can ya do? I enjoyed it.

Angel & Demons
I haven’t seen this one. “Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican.” IMDB has a lame mini plot summary.

Up
“By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip. ”

A Perfect Getaway
I was told this was going to be horror movie, so at first I didn’t really want to see it. But it turned out to be a pretty good thriller / comedy. Plus Milla Jovovich from Resident Evil is in it (There’s just something about a female kicking butt, that screams awesome).

Public Enemies
Really wanted to see this one, still haven’t, but neither has Johnny Depp, so I don’t feel so bad. “The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.”

The Time Traveler’s Wife
I saw the trailer for this and thought “I HAVE TO SEE THIS!!!” (My inner monologue can get very excited and loud.. definitely worthy of police intervention)

X-Men Origins:Wolverine
Good Action Film despite the predictability. But being able to predict movies just appears in ones repertoire of skills as one watches many movies.