Lost in a Land of Blue People: Avatar, what the hell?

I did it!  I finally saw Avatar.

I've heard a wide range of opinions on this movie; from it sucked - to - I wish I could afford to have surgery so I could look like cat people.  After hearing so much about it I had a pretty good idea of what to expect:  Incredible special effects with a relatively generic but entertaining story.  

I was mostly right.

Let me just say first that I can completely see how this movie would have been amazing to see in IMAX 3D.  It had lush visual effects, fantastic sound production (the unsung effect), and James Cameron clearly knew what he was doing when he made sure nearly every action sequence involved a significant amount of flying or falling.

Yeah, this does look good. $12 good though? Eh.

BUT!

When people told me the movie's plot was cliche, wow, they weren't kidding.  Outside of the visual presentation I don't think there was a single original thing in this movie.  I've heard a lot of comparisons to Dances with Wolves but, to be honest, that's more than this movie deserves.

Everything involving story in this film is familiar and for a movie that pushes 3 hours (and feels longer) there isn't a whole lot of character growth.  "Oh, what?  But the Jake learns to love the Na'vi and goes from a cold hearted marine to one of them!  How is that not growth!?"

Easy there, dorks.  Sure, Jake does eventually (officially) join the side of the Na'vi, but he's never really ever against them.  Right from the get go, he is a blank slate waiting for something to give his life direction.  So joining this new and exciting world of the cat people makes complete sense for him.  It would have been different (and far more interesting) if he actually had something invested in kicking the Na'vi out and helping the company or the Colonel, but he's pretty much on the side of the Na'vi from the second he meets them.  Boring.

In fact, that's pretty much the deal with every character in this movie.  You can tell every character's arc almost as soon as they are established.  There are no twists, no surprises, nothing original.  It is so bad that you could spend 10 minutes in the bathroom, come back, ask someone what happened, and all they'd have to do is tell you where the scene took place and what characters were there.  Without even beginning to talk about the actual content you would know what happened.

Whose fault is this?  Well, Sam Worthington is about as charismatic as a brown rock, so there is that obstacle.  But even talented actors like Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi (Pretty much, playing a carbon copy of Burke from Aliens... only less weasely.  Once again, boring) don't get much to do.  

The real problem is the way the movie was made.  I suspect Cameron and the entire production team spent so much time everything looked so good they never really focused on the story and the actors are so busy running around and jumping off things they never get a chance to do any acting.  Putting effects first isn't an uncommon choice in action movies, but it really doesn't work when all you have to go on are a bunch of flat one-liners.

A good contrast here, actually, is Cameron's Aliens.  

Game over, James.

Aliens is widely considered one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever yet you are over an hour into the movie before a single gun is fired or you see any aliens.  This first hour is spent with the characters interacting with one another.  Building dynamics and establishing relationships.  By the time they start getting attacked you really care about them because of that first hour.  Even more generic characters like Hudson (Bill Paxton) are fun because he is well written and Paxton actually gets a chance to make the character his own.  It would have been nice if this same approach had been used in Avatar, but Cameron and everyone else was simply too excited to put the 3D glasses on.

It might be a little unfair of me to compare it so closely with Aliens.  For one thing, Aliens had the major advantage of being a sequel, so right off the audience knows what Ripley's deal is and her entire character's conflict can hit the ground running with virtually no exposition.

And in all frankness, action movies just aren't made the way Aliens was.  Good luck to you if you think you could get a major movie studio to produce an action movie that doesn't have any action in it for the first hour and has long stretches in its second act where characters sit around talking and doing things that don't involve shouting "Go, go, go!".

In case you were unaware, it is basically a law of screenwriting that action movies must have an action sequence every 15 pages (approx. every 15 minutes).  Avatar is pretty faithful to this model, which is alright, but it also is just one more thing about it that is by the book.

I guess that's what I didn't really like about this movie, the plot only serves to decorate the incredible effects, when it should be the other way around.  You can watch the trailer and know not only everything that happens in the movie but also what every character's motivation is going to be and what they're going to do to try and get it.

It is interesting to see what a huge phenomenon this movie became.  Red Letter Media broke down the commercial genius of it all.  But now that it's off the big screen, I don't know if these tricks are going to hold up.

I've heard some people try to defend Avatar by saying people like me expect too much of it.  Sorry, but I think a movie that made a zillion dollars should be better than "okay."

Avatar in the living room just comes off as a pretty nice looking, cliche'd, generic, overlong (a common failing of many of Cameron's movies) action movie.

Yup, Avatar, a little late on the wagon, but you're overrated.

Double Whammy Book Review!

Bored on a Saturday night with no where to go, so here's a double book review for ya.

Aaaaaand the books are... The Learning Tree (1963) and Mother Night (1961).  Both novels happen to be written by two of my favorite human beings to have lived in recent years; Gordon Parks and Kurt Vonnegut Jr., respectively.

I pretty much read The Learning Tree solely based on my love for everything Gordon Parks.  He has an amazing life story on top of being a pretty incredible photographer (if you are unfamiliar with his life, I strongly recommend looking into it).  After Parks had established himself as a significant artist has his generation, friends started chirpping in his ear telling him he should write a novel.  He did (despite having no previous experience as a writer) and 30 something years down the road it was curated into the library of congress, along with everything else he's ever done.

So, I decided to check it out.

It starts off a little slow.  I went a week or two without picking up after getting about 50 pages in.  But after the first act it picks up.  There is an authenticity in the characters and dialogue that gets you invested in the story.

It has a bit of a "high school cirriculum" feel to it, but the story is well written and valuable nonetheless.  Parks is able to avoid the dry stretches that hurt the opening chapters as the story gets going and it is very hard to put down in the last 100 pages.  I found the ending to be surprisingly down beat, actually, there aren't very many happy moments in this book, but I don't have a problem with this because it is depressing with a point.

The most compelling and important part of The Learning Tree is the glimpse into a kind of Americana rarely explored by 20th Century writers, of any medium.  A story that no doubt many people lived but is seldom told.

I almost hate to admit it, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time digesting The Learning Tree because I started reading Mother Night the very next morning.

Vonnegut is undoubtedly my favorite author.  The guy is a literary genius.  He has a an incredible ability to state the most complex paradox in such simplicity that a 6-year-old could understand it.  His simultaneous love of the human spirit and disappointment in human nature is drenched in every sentence.  The guy is a fucking legend.

Mother Night is considered one of Vonnegut's best works so you could say I was pretty excited to get started on it.

The story centers around Howard W. Campbell Jr. (who also makes a brief appearance in Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five), a nazi on trial for war crimes in Israel.

The story essentially plays as a type of memoirs for Campbell, an American spy who acted as a propagandist for the nazi party on the radio during the war.  He sits in prison because the American government refuses to claim him but, as the story progresses, the reader starts to realize that Campbell is actually right where he would prefer to be. 

The story does an excellent job challenging the ideals of nationalism and sparks an interesting debate on whether one should be judged based on the merits of their actions or their character.  Vonnegut, for his part, announces the moral of the story (or one of them, anyway) at the opening of the book, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

My favorite quote from this novel doesn't actually come from the novel at all but the "editor's notes" in which Vonnegut says of the fictional Campbell, "A very good me, the real me, a me made in heaven, is hidden deep inside."

So, there they are then.

If you only had a week left to live and had to read one of these books I would say Mother Night and I don't think I'd have to think about it but both were definitely well worth the time I put into them.

I'm not really sure how to classify this... underrated?  They aren't really, but what the hell?

Heavy Hitter Free HBO Programming

What does HBO do when their flagship shows (Entourage, True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm) are between seasons?  Apparently they have decided to rock.

HBO in Larry's absence has been Prettay, Prettay, Prettay good.

I cannot wait for Curb's new season to start but I don't really miss True Blood, Entourage, or Big Love very much and if considering how good HBO's shows have been lately I doubt many others miss them much either.

True Blood was disastrously bad this season.  Too many characters, too many story lines, and way too in love with its own persona.  I'm not exactly sure when Entourage jumped the shark, but even an above average season this past summer couldn't get me to care about this show again.

But enough of the negative.

HBO is pumping it out on all cylinders this fall.  Bored to Death, Eastbound and Down, Boardwalk Empire, and In Treatment have all been nothing short of awesome.

Hey, I walk by that tree sometimes!

It really isn't fair to even include Bored to Death in here.  It has been great but even if it wasn't, I'd still love it just for the thrill of seeing all of the local haunts featured on it (its filmed in and around my hood).  It has just the right mix of sarcasm and sincerity (with a pinch of whimsy).

"If at first you don't succeed, then maybe you just suck." -Kenny Powers

Eastbound and Down was hilarious this season (a clear improvement from season 1) and it is  posting a serious challenge to Ugly Americans for the title of most quotable show on TV.

I am officially committed to watching 2 of the 4 blocks of In Treatment for the rest of the season.  This show is incredibly addicting.  I am watching the "Sunil" and "Jessie" sessions.  I haven't seen any of the other sessions and I don't want to start because I strongly suspect I will become hooked on them as well.

I started watching In Treatment because I like Irrfan Kahn and was quickly roped into his story when I caught a segment while flipping channels.  The "Jessie" session, with actor Dane DeHaan, may be even better.

At first I scoffed at the "Jessie" story set up.  A young gay artist who feels alienated by his parents and lashes out by being promiscuous.  The whole thing felt cliche.  But as I watched it I was amazed by the depth of the story.  It is incredibly well written and this DeHaan kid has got some serious acting chops.  And the best part?  Each episode is only 30 minutes!

Then there is HBO next would be flagship Boardwalk Empire.  At first I thought I liked this show alright.  But then I missed a few episodes while traveling and let it slip to the wayside.  While I thought the writing was good and there were a good number of interesting characters it also suffered from having too much going on at once and didn't invest itself enough into one story line (common failings of hour long dramas with many characters).

But I caught a little bit of it while flipping around this past weekend and, dirt flabbit, it sucked me right back in again.  

Jimmy is a total badass and I wish the show was more centered on him, but the goings on with Lucky Luciano and conflict between Nucky and Michael Shannon's obsessed prohibition officer Van Alden are also engaging. The whole bit with the ill fated Pearl (Emily Meade) was exceptionally well written and acted.

Jimmy, just your classic brilliant, charismatic, tortured, killer... but with principles.

I'm almost pissed that HBO has been so on lately, it makes doing anything really productive really seem like not so much fun right now.  But if you can't beat them, drag as many as you can down with ya.  So I'm letting you all know, HBO (right now) is super Underrated.