Lifting the Curtain.

When I was a little kid I used to think about how it was physically possible for a film to be made. I thought maybe it was shot in real time and that everything on screen was occurring simultaneously and filmed in one swift motion to create the complete motion picture. Crazy, yes, but I was a kid, and what did I know?

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The Future of Cinema: Avatar Revisited.

Okay, I know it’s been less than a week since I professed my undying love for giant blue aliens in the form of a college length essay, but I’ve got more to say. In my Avatar review I stated that it’s one of the most important films in the history of cinema. A statement like that needs to be explained.

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Review: AVATAR.

James Cameron has done what I thought to be unachievable. Never did I think it was possible, nor had I even entertained the thought of it happening. But he’s done it. James Cameron has created a likable Michelle Rodriguez character. Bravo, Mr. Cameron. BRAVO.

Ok, seriously. (Although I was being serious about Michelle Rodriguez. I have never liked her before in anything she’s been in, she was capable of borderline ruining a film for me.) I was lucky enough to snag tickets to a 3D IMAX preview of Avatar on “Avatar Day” (August 21st). I was extremely pumped as anyone else would  be who has been following the progress of the movie for quite some time and hearing the rumors of the technology and 3D immersion. It was just under 20 minutes long, and it was a few different sequences cut together, completely out of context. I had not watched the released trailer yet, because I felt it would spoil the IMAX experience. I was also seeing District 9 right afterwards and was able to go from seeing the IMAX 3D preview of the Avatar trailer to the regular 2D trailer running prior to District 9.  I knew right away that anyone comparing the two, or knocking the 2D trailer for it’s realism or “wow” factor were vastly uninformed. There’s no comparison to seeing it in 3D. This is not opinion, it’s fact.

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Quickfire reviews. (11.29.09)

Let me preface this by explaining the scale of 10. Most sites will have ratings out of 5 or 4, something like that; I don’t think there’s enough variety there. Rotten Tomatoes has a great system, where they consider 60% of positive reviews certified “fresh” and anything below “rotten.” 6/10 sounds like a good breakpoint to me. Sometimes I’ll rate multiple aspects, and then give an overall, which isn’t an average, but will be weighted on my own personal opinions of the strength of those aspects. For A Christmas Carol, I’d give the visuals a 6, and the story a 3. But are the visuals that impressive that I’d even care about watching it again? No. So my overall is a 4. Get it? I will also be introducing something else later that will factor into reviews, but for now we’ll leave these as is. Without further adieu…