Watched Avatar again - this time in 3D

Often I'm a grumpy dude and I have to apologize to my wife for that. Today was one of those days. As I woke up and was getting dressed I'm seeing my day going up in smoke when Trish asks me to go see Avatar again. Yeah I'm a whiner, but I don't recover well from 3-4 hour holes shot in my day.

Anyhow, watched the movie again - this time in 3D. 3D wasn't all that different from regular viewing from what I could tell. Maybe I was missing something.... Anyhow I thought it was interesting that the most interesting character upon rewatch was the craggy old military commander played by Stephen Lang - the Colonel who viewers ultimately focus on as as the "bad guy" of the film.

Upon first viewing I thought his character was overly 2 dimensional and stereotypical, but upon rewatch I see that he is just carrying out his role that his life up to that point has molded him to be. He's kindof like Vader from Star Wars. The Colonel is everything you'd want in a hero - hard-nosed, tough, cunning, sly, smart, loyal, a man of action - except he's fighting on the wrong team. He is nearly the ideal soldier - but without a conscience - without a compass for right/wrong. The kindof guy who can and does kill while sipping coffee. The company was paying him to do a job, and his job was to single-mindedly achieve objectives - no matter who he had to kill to achieve them - or how ruthless he had to become. It was truly juxtaposition in a space/alien movie to see a tough-as-nails human as the scariest thing you'd want to come up against in that dangerous world.

Here's an interesting take on his character by the LATimes.

Sci-Fi at it's best: District 9 movie review

I took today off from work and my wife and I went to the early showing of the Sci-Fi film "District 9". I thoroughly enjoyed this compelling film which is told from a limited point of view but still manages to convey the broader context of the story and world very effectively.

Like the best in sci-fi "District 9" manages to create enough distance between real world issues to create fresh perspective, while at the same time speaking directly to these very real world issues. "District 9" has alot to say about human nature, especially human tribalism, immigration, race, civil liberty, security, torture ... and to a degree speaks to human base responses to fear of the unknown. "District 9" also shows civilization to be a thin and fragile veneer on top of an ugly survivalist biology. Given the opportunity we will seemingly all-to-easily do bad things.

While there's alot of gunfighting in the second half of this film, I credit the writers for not letting this film fall into the rut of becoming a predictable shoot-em-up. Too many sci-fi films create a vivid new world in the first half only to have the second part of the film trudge into a dull blow-stuff-up-and-save-the-world absurdity (or even worse B-grade horror film schlock). "District 9" thankfully does NOT go there. All of the action - and even gore - springs naturally from the storyline. The cast of flawed characters behave appropriately throughout, and seem even at ease with the roles and ugliness inherent in them. The film is thoughtful throughout. Revealing throughout. And it is engaging throughout. The world and movie always feel believable and "real."

The special effects are also incredible. A ton of credit has to go to the actors for pulling off the scenes that have the aliens in them. The alien creatures in this film fit in seemlessly with the landscape and the actors respond appropriately - as if the aliens were actually there.

Bottom Line: I say go watch this movie. If you don't go to the theater at least put this on your Netflix queue.

Nacho Libre

Ok, I'm a fan of oddball movies, but would've never guessed that I would like this movie as much as I do. It was on TBS several times over the weekend and I watched it twice. It's a definite "must see" in my book - a great re-watch, with lots of good quotes. The story is just a simple one of a simple man wanting more out of life, but just needs someone to believe in him. But it's executed well.

One of my favorite quotes (read with heavy sarcasm).
Nacho is a monk in the monastery talking to the kids in the orphanage who are wrestling (from imdb quotes):

Nacho: Ok. Orphans! Listen to Ignacio. I know it is fun to wrestle. A nice piledrive to the face... or a punch to the face... but you cannot do it. Because, it is in the Bible not to wrestle your neighbour.
Chancho: So you've never wrestled?
Nacho: Me? No. Come on. Don't be crazy. I know the wrestlers get all the fancy ladies, and the clothes, and the fancy creams and lotions. But my life is good! Really good! I get to wake up every morning, at 5AM, and make some soup! It's the best. I love it. I get to lay in a bed, all by myself, all of my life! That's fantastic! Go. Go away! Read some books!

Here's a trailer

Anchorman

OK, so I'm watching a rerun of Will Ferrel as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman on TBS and this scene comes up. Cracked me up. It's worth repeating:

The year in movies - 2008

I'm not a big movie goer, but 2008 may have a set a theatre viewing record for me - 4 movies! I'm highly selective - so pay attention! This is movie news you can use!

Iron Man. Pretty good super hero movie - especially the first part. The end gets a bit crazy, but character development in this is better than you often get in these type films. It won't make you think, but it has it's moments.

Wall-E. This is a movie I actually wanted to go see based solely on the trailers. The movie is way-good. One of the better I've ever seen. Here's a post from earlier in the year.

Juno. I saw this movie this year, and I think I saw it in a theatre, so I'm counting it. A really good film. Off-balance but memorable for the quirky characters and qualities they have.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I really didn't know what was going on, but my wife wanted to go see this. Don't be surprised if you don't understand why everybody's fighting. (My theory: they needed an excuse for action scenes). I remember watching the cartoon version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was little and this is a sequel set many years later. It just didn't make any sense to me. My suggestion: watch a rerun of something else on cable instead.

Not seen in the theatre, but one more I'd like to see: I've asked my wife to request Tropic Thunder from Netflix. Seems hard to go wrong with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, and Jack Black.

So there you have it. That's pretty much all you need to know about movies over the past 12 months. Not much else worth mentioning from what I can tell.

WALL-E

Alright. I'm a nerd, but I went to see Pixar's new movie "WALL-E" the other day and I've gotta say it's one of the better movies I've seen.

That I wanted to go see the movie says something, because I "never" go to the movies voluntarily, but I'd seen a Wall-E trailer and something about it said this was a special kind of movie.


I can't put my finger on what made the story work so well, but I'm hard pressed to recall any movie where the main character's word count can be tallied on your fingers. Sci-Fi stories often can create a fresh perspective and that's part of the magic, but I think it's rare that a character's actions define almost everything that he is. Wall-E can't explain himself, so his actions have to do all of his talking, and in his actions we see our better selves. Perhaps the lack of dialogue allows us more freedom to interpret in our own way.

But underneath the story of a lonely robot, there's a deeper story of loss that resonates. I think a key observation that we see on multiple levels is that once something special is lost, no matter how hard we try we might not be able to get it back.

Bottom line. Go see this if you haven't. It'll make you a whole lot happy. It'll make you a little bit sad. It'll make you think a little bit too.