Avatar 180

Some words seem merited here given my general absence these past few weeks, and it seemed wise to acknowledge out my surprising (to me, that is; yes Ryan, another Humanick flip-flop, how quaint) change of attitude towards last year's biggest movie. I won't get into the nature of appreciating a movie amidst feverish hype except to say that it's rather difficult, as if someone is constantly leaning over your shoulder, ready to pounce on any thought to enter your head that goes even remotely against the popular current. Sometimes I wish I could watch movies in a bubble outside of the media world. Water under the bridge: Compared to the visually ugly, headache-inducing nightmare that was IMAX 3-D (and the generally low technical standards of AMC theaters, where I saw the film in 2D), the experience of Avatar on Blu-ray may as well have been an entirely different film.

More thoughts to come, but suffice to say that I am now impressed by Cameron's undertaking: his assured direction, conceptual audacity, self-acknowledged silliness, sumptuous use of color and stunning detail work. I really don't care that Pandora isn't much more than Roger Dean's album cover artwork writ large; two hours and forty minutes is barely enough time to adjust to watching damn near photo-realistic blue people filling the screen, and a world more alien in tone would've likely upset the familiar storytelling at hand. The 3D was a distraction, particularly in a movie with so loaded with visual content worth relishing; good filmmaking, not amusement park gimmicks, is what allows you to experience true depth. It's no return to Terminator greatness, but it is nevertheless an accomplishment deserving (relatively) of its status. Jim, I once again bow before you.

The Back-up Plan

The latest taste-deprived pastry from Hollywood's Easy Bake Oven, The Back-up Plan is the kind of mass-produced, phoned-in laziness that reinforces mainstream entertainment's bad name. Pitched somewhere between a half-rate sitcom and a feature-length clothing ad, this movie is something close to loathsome in its childish retardation of human emotions for the supposed sake of laughter.

Click here to read the rest at Slant Magazine.

Links for the Day (Wednesday, April 7th)

1. Is 3D Bad for You?. Some back-up on the skull-fucking nightmare that was Avatar in IMAX. Hat tip to Matt Zoller Seitz, whose negative experience with the film seems to have surpassed that of myself ("I had my doubts until I saw the film and burst a blood vessel in my right eye.").

["To look at a three-dimensional object in real life, a set of eyes must do two things. Firstly they must 'verge'--rotate slightly inward or outward so that the projection of an image is always in the center of both retinas. Secondly, the eyes must 'accommodate'--change the shape of each lens to focus the image on the retinas."]

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2. Top 100 Films of the 1990s. The International Cinephile Society presents one of the more eclectic lists in recent memory. Below, a blurb from their #96 pick, The Straight Story.

["But in David Lynch everything rings truer than in most of the other contenders for the title of 'the classic American director' mentioned above: precisely because he often digs in the darkest corners of the human soul, when he decides to look at the brightest side it never seems calculated, he never falls into the cheap, Hollywoodized version of sentimentality, and he never seems to be purposefully pushing buttons."]

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3. The Obligations of History. A topic of great interest to me of late. Please, don't let the mental laziness of the masses preclude our joys; pandering to the LCD only makes it worse.

["Films about the Nazi era may say more about the period in which they were produced than the one they depict. Today's offerings show an intense cultural divide about the meaning of history. For others, the mantra of "never again" is a constant challenge to probe and to understand the unimaginable truths of the past. When today's teachers in Minnesota and Kansas face their classes, will young Tarantino fans confuse the plotline of Inglourious Basterds with the historical record? If so, will this constitute an outrage—or a 'teachable moment'?"]

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4. Sea Shepherd captain facing 15yr in jail. The injustices of continually allowed Japanese whaling practices, courtesy The West Australian.

["Mr Bethune has been detained in Japan since mid-February after he was arrested for allegedly boarding a whaling ship, the Shonan Maru 2. Mr Bethune was the skipper of the Ady Gil, a high-tech "stealth boat" that sank after a collision with the Shonan Maru 2 on January 6. The protesters claim the Japanese rammed them deliberately and Mr Bethune is said to have boarded the vessel for a "face-to-face" confrontation with the captain."]

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5. Growth of Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal, Officials Say. Well, shit. Now, writing cover letters sucks even more in hindsight.

["Many regulators say that violations are widespread, but that it is unusually hard to mount a major enforcement effort because interns are often afraid to file complaints. Many fear they will become known as troublemakers in their chosen field, endangering their chances with a potential future employer."]

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Quote of the Day: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” - George Orwell

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Image of the Day: Bahrani and Herzog; what I'd have given to be there. Click through the image for Roger Ebert's meaty blog entry on the first night of the 62nd annual Conference on World Affairs.

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Video of the Day: The latest video essay from Matt Zoller Seitz, who notes: "When I think about Hopper, I hear his voice in my head: the nasal Kansas vowels; the cowboy twang; and last but not least, the semicolons where periods would normally go, contributing to a sense that his thoughts, like works of art, are never finished, only abandoned, that he never really stops talking, that there's always one more observation or pronouncement or dirty joke waiting just around the bend."

The Last Temptation of Christ: A Photo Mini-Essay

In lieu of a more substantial written contribution on this day, I offer a snippet of transcendence from what I consider to be one of the greatest of all religious films. Some worthwhile reading (and viewing) on Marty's masterpiece can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?

With rare exceptions, Why Did I Get Married Too? suggests a creator overly comfortable with his craft and willing to coast by on his former successes. That Perry retains his knack for the occasionally beauteous, quotidian image (an elderly couple framed against the night sky, their being ever so slightly out of focus suggesting an angelic presence) suggests less in the way of creative choices than mere happy accidents.

Click here to read the rest at Slant Magazine.

Links for the Day (Friday, April 2nd)

1. The Conversations, Easter Double Feature: The Last Temptation of Christ and The Passion of the Christ. Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard continue their inimitable series with a deep consideration of Scorsese and Gibson's most controversial features. I haven't read the entirety of the discussion yet, because I might feel unable to offer my own thoughts on the former title as a result.

["Not to put too fine a point on it: Last Temptation suggests that there's a very thin line between religious and crazy. (To be snarky for a moment, The Passion kind of suggests the same thing, just in a very different way.) To say that one is the son of God, sent to save humanity by allowing oneself to be crucified, to run through the Jews' holiest temple overturning tables and shouting at everyone: it's no wonder that people thought he was a lunatic, possibly dangerous. Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem is not presented the way it usually is, as this spiritual moment that Christians celebrate on Palm Sunday, with everyone joyfully greeting Jesus as a prophet. Instead, he enters Jerusalem like a rebel warrior, his disciples chanting and working the crowd into a frenzy; there's an atmosphere of genuine danger in this scene, as though everything is on the verge of falling apart merely because of Jesus' presence."]

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2. The Last Song. The great, great Roger Ebert reminds us that sometimes reviews are better than the movies themselves. Not that I have, or ever will, see this movie.

["I like Miley Cyrus. I like her in spite of the fact that she's been packaged within an inch of her life. I look forward to the day when she squirms loose from her handlers and records an album of classic songs, performed with the same sincerity as her godmother, Dolly Parton. I think it'll be a long, long time until she plays a movie character like the free-standing, engaging heroines of Ashley Judd, but I can wait."]

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3. Man arrested at LHC claims he's from the future. You can't make this shit up. Unless you're crazy enough to do it, that is. HBO movie of the week, please!

["Police said Mr Cole, who was wearing a bow tie and rather too much tweed for his age, would not reveal his country of origin. 'Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone. It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I'm here to stop it ever happening.'"]

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4. Commuting. A story on the psychological effects of traveling long distances to work. Basically, the opening credits of Office Space, minus the old guy and the funny parts.

["As Brooks notes, that time in traffic is torture, and the big house isn't worth it. According to the calculations of Frey and Stutzer, a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40 percent more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office."]

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5. On TripAdvisor, Reviews Mixed for Shrute Farms. For fans of Dunder Mifflin. Life and art, people. Life and fucking art.

["Reruns and DVDs keep inspiring new visits to the site and there are now over 600 reviews (more than for many major Manhattan hotels, Ms. Petersen said). Many reviewers add their own funny flourishes, enhancing the show’s mythology: Mandy Pyszka from Milwaukee, who stumbled upon the TripAdvisor site while searching Google for Dwight Schrute quotes, raved about the beet pudding."]

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Quote of the Day: “I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.” - Augusten Burroughs

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Image of the Day: Because every good liberal should die a little bit inside at least once a day. Click through the image for many, many more.

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Video of the Day: Depending on your vantage point, this is either a total slog or complete bliss. For my money, even when he's bad, he's so very good. As if "good" and "bad" actually apply here...

Links for the Day (Thursday, April 1st)

1. Greenpeace Unmasks Koch Industries' Funding of Climate Denial Industry. This should have been much bigger news. In a world of universal deceit...

["That intentional secrecy allows Koch Industries, the second-largest privately-held company in the United States, to fly largely below the public’s radar. Few Americans have likely heard of Koch, even though it operates crude oil refineries and pipelines across North America and owns such well-known consumer brands as Dixie cups, Brawny and Quilted Northern paper products, Stainmaster carpet, CoolMax and Lycra."]

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2. Delivering Movies in Slow Motion. The effects of postal service changes, economic malaise and internet affordability on everyone's favorite online rental source. Live it up, for the glory days may be over.

["And sadly for Netflix, its big partner is also in the red—the Postal Service lost $3.8 billion last year. In an effort to stop the bleeding, on Wednesday, the USPS took the first step toward eliminating Saturday mail delivery—it asked the Postal Regulatory Commission for an opinion on the matter. (Congress still has to approve the change.) The USPS says it hopes to implement the change in fiscal year 2011."]

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3. A Critic’s Place, Thumb and All. A. O. Scott's personal input on the recurring death of criticism issue. We're lucky to be here at the shifting of the tides. Free registration required.

["It is not a profession and does not stand or fall with any particular business model. Criticism is a habit of mind, a discipline of writing, a way of life — a commitment to the independent, open-ended exploration of works of art in relation to one another and the world around them. As such, it is always apt to be misunderstood, undervalued and at odds with itself."]

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4. 10 Ways Insurance Companies Will Get Out of Reforming. Some frightening details on why, good as it may be in theory, the recent overhaul might be a disaster waiting to happen. Who wants to move to France?

["The law allows insurers to charge people between 55 and 65 (the current age of Medicare eligibility) three times more than people 54 and under. So on their fifty-fifth birthdays, some customers could get new, higher insurance bills that put readjusted mortgage bills to shame — and there won’t be anything remotely illegal about it."]

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5. Bill Murray's Tale from the Crypt. Karina Longworth's story on the rarely-seen 1984 science fiction film Nothing Lasts Forever, which screens tomorrow night, one night only, at LA's American Cinematheque.

["The rights are now owned by Warner Bros., which, Schiller says, used to send out a print missing certain scenes (including that drawing test with its long shot of bare breasts) until the filmmaker enlisted the DGA to help him reinstate the film. WB has no immediate plans to release a DVD, and Schiller is ambivalent as to whether he even wants the movie to have a higher profile."]

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Quote of the Day: “Upon giving the matter a little attention, we perceive that criticism, far from being a simple and orderly field of beneficent activity, from which impostors can be readily ejected, is no better than a Sunday park of contending and contentious orators, who have not even arrived at the articulation of their differences.” - T. S. Eliot

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Image of the Day (click to enlarge): A classic April Fools' Day endeavor.

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Video of the Day: I remember watching this in one of its original runs. Still one of the best shows on television, target audiences notwithstanding.