Bill Williams (fb692775663)

Avatar PG-13

There are so many people out there who are just so gaga over everything James Cameron that I'm sure what I will have to say about this film will upset them to no end. Yes, it's a good movie. No, it isn't the best movie ever made and I'm not so sure it even deserves its spot in imdb's top 250 because it probably displaced a better movie from that list. Avatar is a visually stunning and beautiful film with special effects that are literally beyond this world. If you can possibly see it in 3D do so as that enhances the experience even more. I enjoyed the movie and I recommend that you go and see it. Having said that I had some problems with it, which I am about to discuss and there will be spoilers in that discussion. In addition to that, what I'm about to write may spoil your enjoyment of the film if you went to see it and were very impressed with it. Unfortunately the story and characterizations in Avatar do not measure up to or even come close to being equal to the technical and visual quality of the movie. Essentially Avatar is another iteration, if not a remake, of A Man Called Horse (1970). There are no really intelligent or informed insights into the social and societal issues dealt with in Avatar. The solution offered to the problems presented is not only clichéd it can be seen as potentially dangerous. The solution offered, from whatever viewpoint it is presented is that violent conflict solves all social ills. In a movie with less "gaga" going for it this kind of thing could be easily dismissed. With Avatar sending such a message to its viewers is at best irresponsible. At no time during this film was anything ever done to make me care for the principle characters and I really didn't care about them. It is very difficult in a movie to achieve a caring connection between audience and protagonist and as this film proves it is a much more difficult thing to achieve than creating new, strange and believable alien worlds. The only real changes that happened with the film's protagonist were cosmetic. Although his allegiances transform when we reach the end of the film, his personality is essentially the same as it was when we first encountered him. His personal growth was minimal. The film used narration. To me, narration in a film is most often a story telling crutch and indicative of the movie maker's failure to communicate the story through the medium of the moving images. For a film of this scope resorting to narration to move the story ahead is a very telling short coming indeed. My criticisms may seem harsh. I think criticism of this nature is warranted for a film of this scope, that cost as much as it did and that carries the hype that it is James Cameron's first film since Titanic and that it waited ten years before it could be made. All of those elements combine to instill in the viewer of this film the idea that it is so much more important than it actually is and that the viewer of this film will walk away from it enthralled in its delights in a state of unthinking euphoria and buying into its misinformed societal messages.

Bringing Up Baby Unrated

Spoiler Alert! I am about to give away the ending, so if you haven't seen this yet stop reading now. You've been warned. You're still reading this aren't you? Well, too bad. This movie opens with a scene inside a museum in which stands a large brontosaurus (now apatosaurus) skeleton. It has almost become a movie cliché that when you see a large brontosaurus skeleton standing there that before the movie ends it will come crashing down. There I've given it away. You'll find the same gag in On The Town. From what I can gather Katherine Hepburn did not have any training in comedy coming into this film and had her tutoring in it on the fly. As a result it takes some time to tune in to her timing. At least it did for me. That may be one reason this film didn't do well when it first appeared. It may also be a reason that it is much funnier on the second viewing. Overall this movie is quite a lot of fun. I recommend it. I also wonder why Hollywood hasn't remade it. A friend of mine says, "Wait for it."

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo.) R

From the homage to The Oxbow Incident at the beginning to the freeze-frame of Tuco telling Blondie he's a . . . this film is just great all the way through. It's also fun to watch it in Italian with English subtitles. On top of all that it is thoroughly authentic to the time and place it is set in. If you can possibly get your hands on the version with the parts that were cut out restored then that's the one you should watch. By the way, if you watch closely you will see that this is a prequel to the other two Leone films with Eastwood playing Joe Manco. What? You thought he had no name? Pay attention.

Amarcord R

This is one of my favorite films; right up there with Casablanca. It isn't for everyone. Not everybody likes fine wine. Every single living thing in this film has a life and a story. There's something new to be found every time you watch it. Toss your expectations aside, sit down, relax and enjoy this film because it is just fun to watch.