Link to Part I (Movies of 2009): http://thelamblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/top-ten-of-the-decade-pt-i-movies-of-2009/
3. AVATAR

Okay, I have a lot to say about this movie produced by James Cameron. If you haven’t seen it, you can guess the whole movie in about two seconds after watching the trailer. Avatar is good. I would even go so far as to say very good. If I were a teacher and I had to mark films, I would probably give it a 98%. But just like a teacher, I would mark it only out of effort and time, not on how much I enjoyed the film. Granted, I had a completely wild day and I fell asleep for about 5 minutes, but other than that I was wide awake for everything else. Stop if you haven’t watched the film yet, because it should be a completely brand new experience and I’m going to touch on some subjects people might consider spoilers.
Good things: Everything about Pandora was fucking incredible. The best part was the nature created. It felt realistic, and the ideas of certain wildlife characteristics which really do exist (such as colourful tones, phosphoroic properties) which has never been incorporated into imaginary creatures was used in Cameron’s movie. The most exciting and inventive part of the animals was the ability to link your minds to the horse or bird you want to be unified with. Great concept.Although I do disagree with one of Cameron’s point – he questioned why do we imagine creatures we recreate today, such as dinosaurs, with dull colours when in the ocean today there’s a huge range of bright vibrant hues on animals? Which is why he made everything in Pandora some crazy rainbow. Well, because land animals aren’t wild colours today for a good reason. Camouflage. Underwater, aquatic warm water creatures are red and orange and yellow because they blend and fade into the blue water or hide in similarly coloured coral. And even then, the vast majority of underwater life isn’t colourful at all. I suppose one could argue with the fact Pandora is one crazy rainbow painted onto trees so they can blend in wherever, though. And from a filmmaker’s point of view, no one wants to see an action packed film with creatures that really do blend into the shadows. Otherwise, the fantastical creatures invented were great. The N’avi people were intriguing.
As for a favorite character of Avatar, I enjoyed the female pilot the most. She looked good with aviator sunglasses, and was blunt. I would have preferred if her mouth had stayed shut for most of her lines, but you can’t win it all. Another good thing about the movie was that not just one or two obvious characters died. As strange as it sounds, I like it when there’s a full cast and some people are killed. Goddamn if there’s some planetary war going on, there better be more than one or two of the good people shot. It gives a sense of realism and tragedy.
The problem that I had with this film has already been pointed out by every other critic. Problem: The big bad war greedy patriots hungry for blood fight against the tribal natives who are nature lovers and the guy originally a militant decides to switch sides after he lives with the N’avi as an undercover “avatar” and falls in love with the female blue thing, Neytiri. Problem: Sam Worthington is a really bad actor. Problem: Everyone other than the N’avi had terribly cheesy lines. Jake Sully as the main hero was such a flat, static character with brief, tactum and uninspiring lines.
I had some issues even before I watched the movie. When I heard that Cameron had hired linguists to create a whole new language for the natives, I already had some misgivings. This was confirmed when I heard that he made this whole new dialect and planet to start a cult movement, kind of like Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. To me, that seems ridiculous. Tolkien didn’t start a language purely for the sake of pushing a cult for the masses, he created it to fill out his writing to the furthest he could. Also, starting the wave moment of Avatar is playing right into the mainstream media. If you honestly love something so much you fucking learn the language, there better be a lifelong series to continue expanding the world, because I didn’t learn enough in those 3 hours about a whole new planet. You look at LOTR and the book series, and there’s about 18 of them, with more Tolkien supplements to really enrich the history. You don’t go into media thinking, “I want to start a cult.” That follows naturally after a great fictional world is cultivated, and people want to emulate your (lengthy)work. That’s another thing that makes me wonder. Will Avatar have sequels? Because I truly believe that it shouldn’t. Humans against nature is one big story already – it will never pull off a better follow-up. It didn’t even leave room for a second Avatar in the plot ending. Let me guess. Since gun wielding humans versus tribal nature has been checked off the list, I’m thinking the sequel will be about tribe versus tribe, or some external terrible strike of nature versus society. Not saying that there probably will be one – I don’t think Cameron will do one either – it’s just then this future “cult” of Avatar isn’t going to do so well. Learn the language, grow ten feet, paint your face and squash your nose… then what?
Nothing bad I wanted to point out now, it’s just interesting how similar the release of Titanic was to Avatar. Initially, people were intrigued and excited about this great new movie that would revolutionalize filmmaking by this great director who spent the most money ever made on production (each time!). Then, when the trailer was released, people were really put off and complained about this and that. (I, for one, was pissed about the Avatar trailer after hearing so much about it. It looked trashy.) Then when the actual movie came out, it becomes one of the biggest box office movies of all time, earning Cameron the amazing credit of back-to-back highest grossing films of all time. It opened with a$232 million worldwide release in the first weekend, and did not decrease by much in the second weekend (usually films drop about around 35-50% in the following week). It’s the film that people have to see in theatres, in 3-D, and everyone can say that it’s “good’. Another common (kind of trivial) feature between this and Titanic is the music. Watch the movie when it’s released on DVD (or watch it a second time in theatres), and you’ll almost hear “My Heart Will Go On” at each crescendo. I swear.
I think my personal problem was that I went in with everyone telling me it was the film of the decade, it was the best film they’ve ever seen in their entire life, it was just as if “Star Wars” was released for the first time, it had that much of an impact on them. On Youtube, I probably watched 4 or 5 videos where Cameron discusses his movie, and read about 3 different news articles claiming it was the revolution. Just in that, I instantly mentally rebelled against the majority – it’s a reflex reaction. I had obnoxiously high expectations when I walked into the theatre. Let me tell you this. It was classic Freytag’s pyramid. Problem – problem getting solved – tables turn – truth comes out – war – everything looks bad – then by deux ex machina, happy ending. Dan Brown could have written the outline. I had also heard a lot about this new camera that Cameron had to get specially created for this film, which is some motion blur in 3D when panning out or in on screen. It wasn’t really impressive – he definitely could have gotten away with not using it at all and sticking to normal 3D. But I guess he wanted to set another record breaker and add some shock value to his movie release.
Take away the CGI, the beautiful world of Pandora, and you have another “Die Hard” release. Gag. But then, you have to honestly commemorate Cameron’s work. He spent a decade and something like $500 million (no one knows the real cost of production since they won’t announce it, but this is my guess), hired every scientist on this earth, dreamt up the N’avi people, and had a completely CGI world. Spoiler (highlight): I actually laughed out loud when Grace had her mask on and was dying on Pandora, just because her actual face looked so at odds with the CGI around. And computer generated expressions was basically perfected in this movie, a never before seen milestone. Cameron ALMOST made it his life’s work. I would feel more comforted if he hadn’t produced Titanic as well, or if some other guy produced Avatar. Kind of childish, but it would feel more as if the producer had put his whole life and soul into it. Not saying that he didn’t, but to me now, it just feels like he was gunning for the top film.
Was it my favorite film? No. (It’s number 3 for 2009, and probably a lot lower down on my list on all time favorites.) Would it be higher on my list if I had heard zero hype about Avatar? Probably, but it still would not be number one. I can’t stand bad lines nor flawless endings in major productions, which is basically a given in big theatrical releases. Ugh, I shivered just thinking about it. Also, the damn 3D glasses were too big. That’s kind of my fault, though. I need a bigger head, or wider set ears. About every 10 minutes I alternated between having them on or off. I guess it’s really high up on my list because I just really liked the wildlife of Pandora. And that hot pilot.
Wow, I got really worked up. If you’re still reading this, kudos to you. Here are my top two flick picks of 2009:
2: UP

Pixar NEVER fails to disappoint me. What really got me was the innocence, sweetness, and pure simple beauty of everything. Pixar originally had planned to make two movies: one about talking dogs and one about a balloon floating house. They decided to mash them together, and with this unlikely pairing they made a masterpiece. Animation of course, is flawless. The ending is cute, and I’m a sucker for dogs. The old man sealed the deal for me as a favorite.
1. STAR TREK

Loved this movie to death. It succicently summed up the best of the original series without pushin the envelope, plot was fast paced and full of action, and gave a good final release for fans who had packed away their Spock ears and just wanted to see something fresh being remade. The classic famous lines could have been completely messed up, but was perfect. Things like “Beam me up, Scotty” weren’t overdone, just with a small smirk and confidence. (I still remember an interview with Daniel Craig on how to say “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” without fucking it up for the fans. He had to take that shot like a hundred times to get it right.) Great theatrical release, and since I have a Blu-ray version on my computer, the quality is incredible. Live long and prosper.
//
//
//