She said all the energy is borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.

Avatar

I finally saw this phenomenon. Despite my misgivings after seeing the trailer, I shelled out fourteen dollars for the 3D experience. Avatar had its highs, but its low lows and I disagree with a lot of the recent awards it's won (cough cough Golden Globe for Best Picture: Drama). This if probably one of my most informal reviews, there might be strong language.

The special effects were unbelievable. Mind blowing. Beautiful, popping colors. Incredible detail. Sweeping shots, lush locations, epic CGI battles. 3D! I was and still am under Avatar's special effects spell. It was truly mesmerizing. James Cameron has my eternal respect (but he already had it). As for it being the future of film making, I really hope not. I think 3D is a treat now and then, but I don't want more and more movies shot in 3D. I find it distracting. It takes you out of the moment of the film, you are less immersed in the film's world because you are reminded of these glasses sitting on your face. It was especially weird for someone who has never worn glasses. Regardless of my qualms with 3D, I wouldn't have seen this in any other format. Cameron's Pandora is truly a sight to behold and the special effects are not to be forgotten.

Avatar had a good message. Anti-colonialism, pro-environmental. Studying colonialism in school used to make me feel terrible, so seeing it on screen was tough to watch. Cameron's environmental themes spoke true. Earth is the only planet we have, we can't ruin it. We might not be able to go to another planet to ruin either. Guys, let's just protect our natural resources, think green, stop building ugly mcmansions, okay? In addition to Avatar's political messages, I really enjoyed the film's discussion of family, energy, and so on.

Sam Worthington, he is quickly becoming Hollywood's go to guy for action. He turned in a decent performance in Terminator: Salvation and will be starring in the remake of Clash of the Titans next. His performance, like all the other actors', was predictable. These are all stock characters and all the actor's totally played into that. They brought nothing to these roles I hadn't already seen before. Maybe it was poor direction, or bad writing (most likely), but the performances were stale. After seeing Worthington with long hair throughout Avatar, I totally see his sex appeal. With a shaved head he looks like a douche but with long hair, wow, GQ mother fucker. I get it. Worthington still needs to prove himself to me. Later this year, he'll be in Last Night, a relationship drama with Keira Knightley and I'm really excited to see what he can do. I'm rooting for him.

Avatar's script and story was probably the most unoriginal piece of work I've seen in years. Not only was it unoriginal, but the script was bad. Painfully bad at times. This film is a soup, and the ingredients are Dances with Wolves, Fern Gully, Pocahontas/The New World with a dash of Lost and a splash of Jurassic Park. Blogs have called it Dances with Smurfs, rightfully so. The plot was totally predictable. Withing fifteen minutes I knew what the second and third acts would be like and how the film would end. No surprises. Cliche lines like "I became a Marine for the hardships. Told myself that I can pass any test a man can pass. All I ever wanted, was a single thing worth fighting for," made up the script. I lost count of the amount of times I rolled my eyes. As well, Jake Sully and Neytiri had no chemistry.

To give Cameron credit, he does know how to intermix physical and emotional devastation. Even though I knew what was going to happen, there were still some powerful moments, like the scene of environmental genocide on Pandora. Great intertextuality when the tree slowly fell atop fleeing Na'vi. Good shout out to Titanic.

I understand the argument for Cameron getting Best Director. The director controls and oversees everything. It's an incredibly daunting and stressful task. I repeat, Cameron did a great job creating and overseeing those special effects. But the acting was mediocre at best and the script was a ripoff, so Cameron only got half the job done. I maintain my stance on Katheryn Bigelow for the win.

Finally, I find it ridiculous that in 2154, people are still smoking, let alone on a foreign planet. I would hope we were advanced enough to eradicate smoking. It was unnecessary and gives our future a little less credibility.

Great job with the effects, Cameron and crew. Give Avatar all the technical awards, it deserves it. But nothing else. I think America is under the Jennifer Hudson spell. "Oh these special effects are awesome, Best Picture!" like "Oh, she did a great job singing that song, Best Supporting Actress!" Hopefully voters will find the antidote before March 7. And James, please, no sequel.



James Franco in Pineapple Express

James Franco has made some questionable career decisions. I mean has anyone seen his General Hospital work? Hilariously appalling. But he was so damn sweet, gentle, and believable as adorably clueless pot dealer Saul Silver. When Franco is good, he's good. I can forgive his mistakes for this endearing and hilarious performance.



Netflix

The Sound of Music-I have it taped on VHS at home. And I've never seen the non-TV/edited for time version. Plus nothing, beats Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews leading Austrians in Edelweiss as the Nazis sit idly by.
Cache-French film that is highly regarded in the states. Roger Ebert tweeted about it recently.
Footloose-Netflix Instant. Yes, I've never seen it.