Review: "AVATAR" is the Best Picture of 2009

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Avatar (2009)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/Germany/France
Running time: 162 minutes (2 hours, 42 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language, and some smoking
WRITER/DIRECTOR: James Cameron
PRODUCERS: James Cameron and Jon Landau
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mauro Fiore (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: James Cameron, John Refoua, and Stephen Rivkin
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA/WAR with elements or romance

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi, Laz Alonzo, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald

Because he has directed such Oscar-winning films as The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Titanic (1997), I believe that James Cameron is one of the few directors who, using whatever advances in film technology available, can make any kind of movie and always make it a good movie. [Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are the other two.] Cameron has even developed advancements in film technology, and that makes me wonder if anyone other than he could have created the new film, Avatar.

Avatar is everything good that you have heard about it and more. Cameron has cast a titanic spell of movie magic that will immerse the viewer in an adventure that pits eco-harmonious blue warriors against a mechanized, imperial war machine. The center of Avatar, however, is a surprisingly simply story about an alien warrior who fights not for his own world, but for the world of the woman he loves.

Avatar takes place in 2154, a time when Earth has run out of oil. A moon called Pandora (one of many moons orbiting a giant gas planet) has a rare mineral called Unobtainium, which is the key to solving Earth’s energy problems. This alien world materializes through the eyes of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former Marine. Even with his body broken and being confined to a wheelchair, Jake’s DNA makes him useful.

The RDA corporation recruits Jake to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where it is mining Unobtainium. Because humans cannot breathe Pandora’s atmosphere, a group of scientists and researchers, led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), have created the Avatar Program, in which human “drivers” have their consciousness linked to Avatars. An Avatar is a remotely-controlled biological body that can breathe the lethal air. These Avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora, a humanoid race called the Na'vi. The Na’vi are 10-feet tall, with tails, bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber, and bioluminescent blue skin. They live in Hometree, a gigantic tree that sits on top of the largest deposit of Unobtainium on Pandora. RDA Administrator Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) wants the Na’vi to relocate, but they have fiercely resisted.

Reborn in his Avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi. A beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), saves Jake’s life and also witnesses a sign that makes her think that Jake is special. Neytiri convinces her clan to take Jake into the tribe, the Omaticaya. However, the chief charges Neytiri with teaching Jake to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. Jake’s relationship with his reluctant teacher deepens, and he learns to respect the Na'vi’s way of life. When Selfridge becomes impatient and moves to force the Na’vi out, Jake must decide whose side he will take.

Watching Avatar, with its world of phantasmagorical creatures and plants, one cannot help but marvel at the technology used to create this film, but the audience shouldn’t be fooled by this panorama of color and movement into focusing solely on the marvels of scientific cinema. Avatar is indeed an extraordinary story, one that recalls Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves. In Wolves, a solider wounded in spirit finds healing amongst a Native American Indian tribe, and then sheds his skin (his military uniform), becoming one of the tribe. In Avatar, a marine wounded in body, Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully, sheds his body for a new one, but it is his soul that is transformed.

Like Dances with Wolves, Avatar has a romance that is the heart of the story. Behind the CGI that created so many of the things we see on screen and past the motion-capture and performance capture that created the Na’vi, Jake Sully meets Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri and practically everything that is Avatar hinges on their love story. The narrative offers messages in support of environmental conservation and biodiversity against the cold, insatiable hunger of imperialism. This gives Avatar plenty of dramatic conflict, but as usual, Cameron finds the human center of his own technological, cinematic spectaculars. There was the mother-daughter bond in Aliens and the star-crossed lovers of Titanic. Now, warrior boy meets sexy tribal princess and technical virtuosity has a heart. Cameron makes you feel what his characters feel – the joy, the anger, the sorrow, the chills, and, when the battle begins, all the thrills. Avatar may be a monumental achievement, but it is also a fantastic tale.

10 of 10

Monday, December 28, 2009

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 3 wins: “Best Achievement in Art Direction” (Rick Carter-art director, Robert Stromberg-art director, and Kim Sinclair-set decorator), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Mauro Fiore), and “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, and Richard Baneham, and Andy Jones); 6 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (James Cameron and Jon Landau), “Best Achievement in Directing” (James Cameron) “Best Achievement in Editing” (Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron), “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (James Horner), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Tony Johnson), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Production Design” (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair) and “Best Special Visual Effects” (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andy Jones); 6 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (Mauro Fiore), “Best Director” (James Cameron), “Best Editing” (Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron), “Best Film” (James Cameron and Jon Landau), “Best Music” (James Horner), and “Best Sound” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, and Addison Teague)

2010 Black Reel Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actress: (Zoe Saldana)

2010 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (James Cameron) and “Best Motion Picture – Drama;” 2 nominations: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (James Horner) and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (James Horner, Simon Franglen, and Kuk Harrell for the song "I See You")

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Review: "WALL-E" Was and Still is the Best Film of 2008

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 48 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

WALL-E (2008)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
WRITER: Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon; from a story by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter
PRODUCER: Jim Morris
EDITOR: Stephen Schaffer
COMPOSER: Thomas Newman
Academy Award winner

ANIMATION/SCI-FI/DRAMA with elements of action and comedy

Starring: (voices) Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, and Sigourney Weaver

In terms of American animated films, WALL-E, a film from Pixar Animation Studios, is a visionary work, and even considering the few exceptional films released in 2008 (like The Dark Knight), WALL-E was the best film of that year. It is the extraordinary story of a lonely little robot that has been doing what he was built for until he accidentally discovers a new purpose in life when he falls in love.

WALL-E is set centuries in the future on a ravaged Earth, devoid of vegetation and with its cities now largely empty ruins. Mountains of garbage, waste, junk, etc. cover the planet, and humans long ago fled the planet in spaceships that resemble cruise-line ships. Left behind to clean up the mess are small robots with melancholy binocular eyes called Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class or WALL-Es, for short.

For hundreds of lonely years, one WALL-E (Ben Burtt) has been compacting garbage into small cubes and piling them up until they form skyscraper-like heaps. WALL-E also collects knick-knacks, keeps a plucky cockroach as a pet, and obsesses over the 1969 film, Hello, Dolly. WALL-E’s life changes when he meets a strange new visitor to the planet, an advanced probe robot called Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator or EVE (Elissa Knight), and falls in love with the sleek female robot at first sight. After EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the Earth’s future, she races into space to return to the human flagship, the Axiom, where she will report her findings. Meanwhile, the smitten WALL-E has followed her.

WALL-E has the usual ingredients of that help make Pixar movies such huge hits, like exotic settings, splendid storytelling, winning characters and quirky but charming concepts. What makes WALL-E even more special is that it is the first Pixar film that is also a cautionary tale. The film assaults so many things that we hold dear: our materialism (as exemplified by the world-controlling mega-corporation, BnL or “Buy n Large”), gluttony (which results in obesity), our throwaway lifestyle (thus, the piles of garbage), and the instant gratification that high-tech gadgets offer.

This is the kind of thoughtful science fiction that American audiences rarely get. Director Andrew Stanton and his co-writers, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, tackle our modern malaise and short-sightedness, the grasping corporation with their voracious appetites for wealth in almost any form, and our insipid and incompetent politicians.

Yet WALL-E, like other Pixar flicks is inimitably entertaining. All the robots, not just WALL-E and EVE, have such sparkling characters. Perhaps, that is the true magic of Pixar, the ability to fabricate humanity in any fictional characters – from a pack rat robot that picks up garbage and collects odds and ends to a busy-body sanitation robot neurotically cleaning contaminants. The voice performances (especially Ben Burtt’s) make all the characters, even the robots, seem uncannily human. The eventual robot mini-rebellion, which is a much smarter spin on man vs. machine than even The Terminator or The Matrix, provides the frenetic action-comedy that Pixar films always offer.

Thomas Newman’s exuberant score is consistently pitch perfect. It gives color to the film’s silent movie-like first act and helps brings the budding romance of WALL-E and EVE to life. Newman’s compositions turn the drama, conflict, and tension of the last half-hour into a whirlwind of action that just might take your breath away.

What else can I say? As usual, Pixar delivers, but this time WALL-E is especially special. It tells a wonderful love story, and asks us to love our world and to take care of ourselves. This is a visionary work.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2009 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Andrew Stanton); 5 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Thomas Newman); “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Peter Gabriel-music/lyrics and Thomas Newman- music for the song "Down to Earth"), “Best Achievement in Sound” (Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, and Ben Burtt), “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood), “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Andrew Stanton-screenplay/story, Jim Reardon-screenplay, and Pete Docter-story)

2009 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Animated Film” (Andrew Stanton); 2 nominations: “Best Music” (Thomas Newman) and “Best Sound” (Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, and Matthew Wood); 2008 BAFTA Children's Award Best Feature Film (Jim Morris and Andrew Stanton)

2009 Golden Globes: 1 win: Best Animated Feature Film; 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Peter Gabriel-music/lyrics and Thomas Newman-music for the song "Down to Earth")

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

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Review: James Cameron's "Aliens" is Still a Blast

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 162 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Aliens (1986)
Running time:  137 minutes (2 hours, 17 minutes)
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
WRITER: James Cameron; from a story by David Giler & Walter Hill and James Cameron
PRODUCER: Gale Anne Hurd
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle (director of photography)
EDITOR: Ray Lovejoy
COMPOSER: James Horner
Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER with elements of horror

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, William Hope, and Jenette Goldman

One of the landmark action films of the last two decades is James Cameron’s Aliens. With it’s heart stopping plot twists, quick-cut editing, and nerve shattering suspense, Aliens almost killed the idea of cerebral science fiction films, and, to this day, sci-fi and action are synonymous terms when applied to film.

Aliens is the sequel to the film Alien, the 1979 Ridley Scott film that was easily one of the best of that year and spawned countless imitators. The film also introduced to a larger audience to the work of one of its visual effects creators/designers, European surrealist H. R. Giger (who earned an Academy Award for his work on the picture).

A giant corporation has colonized the planet that first appeared in Alien and where a group of interstellar miners of the Nostromo mining ship encountered the horrific alien life form. When earth loses contact with the colony, they send a group of space marines to learn what’s happened at the colony. Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the only surviving member of the Nostromo crew, goes along as a consultant. The mission turns disastrous after the aliens slaughter most of the marines. Ripley has to use her familiarity with the aliens to lead the rest of the remaining crew to safety, including a little girl who is the sole surviving colonist.

The performances in the film are excellent, in particular Ms. Weaver who’s Lt. Ripley must act as warrior to save her group from the relentlessly attacking creatures and as a mother to the little girl Newt (Carrie Henn). Bill Paxton as the whiny and frantic Pvt. Hudson made his first big screen splash with a wild-eyed, inspired, and memorable performance. Michael Biehn, (as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks), however, should have earned leading man status with his role, but never did, and Paul Reiser (as the dishonest, evil, and murderous corporate weasel Carter J. Burke) was decidedly out of character with the kind of roles that would later make him famous in the early to mid-90’s.

Several filmmakers ably assisted James Cameron in making this film a classic. James Horner’s Oscar-nominated score would be so well appreciated that nearly two decades later, many studios still uses pieces of it as background music in movie trailers and commercials to sell other action, suspense, thriller, and horror films. Stan Winston won one of his several Oscars as one of the SFX artists on this film who adapted Giger’s work from the first film to better suit Aliens, which was more kinetic than its atmospheric predecessor. Film editor Ray Lovejoy’s achievement in helping to create this film’s frantic, breakneck, and breathless pace also shaped how action films would look from then on.

Aliens was the picture where Cameron first started getting notice for the difficulty of his film shoots and for being a hard man to please. He’s a creative director and a great filmmaker, regardless of his temperament. He got the most out of what he had to make a great film, for instance, cutting away and shooting at angles that would hide the fact that many of the actors playing aliens were only wearing half of a suit. It didn’t matter. All that camera movement created the intensity for which Aliens is so celebrated. The film suffers from one of the faults that mar most thrillers and suspense films. It was too long, and, as good as every part of the last act is, it was a bit too much. Lovers of sci-fi, action, thrillers, and horror films, however, should not miss this film.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1987 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing” (Don Sharpe) and “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, and Suzanne M. Benson); 5 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Sigourney Weaver), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Peter Lamont and Crispian Sallis), “Best Film Editing” (Ray Lovejoy), “Best Music, Original Score” (James Horner), and “Best Sound” (Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael A. Carter, and Roy Charman)

1987 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Special Visual Effects” (Robert Skotak, Brian Johnson, John Richardson, and Stan Winston); 3 nominations: “Best Make Up Artist” (Peter Robb-King), “Best Production Design” (Peter Lamont), “Best Sound” (Don Sharpe, Roy Charman, and Graham V. Hartstone)

1987 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Sigourney Weaver)

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