Movie and Game Reviews

Avatar

James Cameron sure does like to wait a long time between movies, although after Titanic I'm sure some people were glad he did.  However, Avatar is a return to his over the top but satisfying movie-making.

In the movie, an ex-marine who lost the use of his legs in battle travels to a moon named Pandora, where he will pilot an Avatar - a cloned version of the locals.  The locals call them Dreamwalkers, which is a much better name, really.  While ostensibly part of a scientific effort, he's offered surgery to fix his legs in exchange for spying on the locals and helping to get them off of a huge deposit of "Unobtainium", a ludicrously expensive floating mineral native to Pandora. Once the marine gets to know the natives, he switches sides and helps them fight off the evil corporation.

Like all good Cameron movies, though, the plot is largely irrelevant.  (In fact, an anti-technology plot in a high technology movie, especially once sponsored by McDonald's, is ironic on a scale as large as the movie.)  It's just an excuse for stunning special effects, and Avatar is one long special effect.  The CGI blends flawlessly into the live action, to the point where visually they are indistinguishable.  And Pandora is gorgeous, especially in 3-D.

Verdict:  See it on the big screen while you can.  If you can bear to spend the extra $5 or so per ticket, see it in 3-D.

Traitor

There seems to be a feeling that it's tough to make terrorism-related movies these days, although after someone went ahead and released Collateral Damage, and there were no riots, I don't really see the problem.  Luckily, though, Traitor was almost nothing like Collateral Damage.

Traitor follows the exploits of Samir Horn, played by Don Cheadle, an apparently devout Muslim who is either trying to stop a group of terrorists, or has turned and is helping them.  Aside from a climax that I would be willing to bet was rewritten by committee at the last minute (and if it wasn't, whoever DID write it should be very, very very ashamed) the plot is decent, though nothing special, with the sort of twists and deception you'd expect (and possibly anticipate, but I try to put my brain in neutral when I'm watching a movie, and think about it afterwards, it's almost always more fun that way).

I don't feel I know enough about Islam to judge the movie's portrayal of it, but it does at least make an effort to point out that most Muslims are not, in fact, frothing lunatics and/or raving psychotics.  There's a comparison of the KKK to terrorists that made me nod at the time, although again: brain in neutral.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the whole thing now.

What was above average, however, was the characterization and acting.  Cheadle's character makes mistakes, has doubts, and gets hurt, but Cheadle's actual performance was quite good.  The supporting cast also turned in good performances, although the more minor the parts were, the more cartoony they became - likely someone thought it would be a good idea to exaggerate them lest someone interpret them incorrectly.

Now, I know I already mentioned the climax but it was bad enough that I need to repeat that the climax was, in fact, terrible.  All movies require a certain suspension of disbelief, but I don't like it when the amount of suspending I need to do changes by a ludicrous amount right at the climax of the movie.

It also breaks the lesson of the rest of the movie, which seems to be that terrorism is a messy problem, and is going to have messy solutions.  The lesson of the ending seems to be that when the problem becomes irretrievably messy, something brilliant but impossible will happen to minimize the damage.

It was difficult to decide whether to recommend this movie or not.  On the one hand, it raises some interesting points, and is fun and exciting.  On the other hand, there's the bad climax....  so, in the balance, I have to say, no.  See The Kingdom instead.  It doesn't wimp out and try to put a rosy finish on things at the end.

Die Hard

It can be difficult to explain the appeal of Die Hard to the uninitiated.  One of my sister's High School friends summed it up best: "Nobody bleeds like Brucie."  The real fun is in watching him do more and more improbable things for equally escalating improbable reasons, all of which tick off both the good guys and the bad guys.  This movie made Bruce Willis a star, and would likely have been nothing without him (most actors probably wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face, for one thing.)  It's also the ultimate expression of the 80's action movie, has been copied over and over, and is actually a darn good movie, if you like action and don't mind lots of fake blood.

Like a lot of movies I like, there isn't much plot.  A bunch of armed men take over an office building on Christmas Eve, taking a bunch of top executives hostage.  Their plan isn't exactly what it appears, but probably would have gone off without a hitch if New York Cop Bruce Willis (I mean, John McClane) hadn't been there visiting his estranged wife.  After a lot of running around, shooting, and blowing things up, the good guys win.  If this plot sounds familiar, it doesn't necessarily mean you've seen the movie before.  It's been copied a lot (and not just in the sequels), and was probably copied by this movie in the first place.  However, Die Hard does it best of all the movies of the kind I've seen.

Oddly, Bruce's character is developed a bit in this movie, but in each sequel he appears to revert, so I don't know if it really counts.

Oh, and it's technically a Christmas movie!  There's holiday music, and a Santa costume, and everything.  There are real Christmas movies I like, but not many, so this can be a very useful excuse.

The other thing that makes this movie fun for me is some of the casting connections.  For example, Paul Gleason, who played a clueless principal in The Breakfast Club, plays pretty much exactly the same character as a clueless assistant police chief in Die Hard.  Bruce's (Sorry, I mean John's) buddy in this movie, played by Reginald VelJohnson, a likable but highly unbelievable cop, played a likable but not really believable cop in "Family Matters", although I have to give him credit for playing a different likable but unbelievable cop.  And the techie bad guy, Theo, played by Clarence Gilyard Jr., played good guy Ranger Trivette for years in the dreaded "Walker, Texas Ranger".

It's probably just me, but those kind of connections help to liven up the dull parts of movies or tv shows.  ("Hey, why don't you give him detention NEXT Saturday, too?" or "When are you going to blow the safe, Trivette?")

The Princess Bride

For the inaugural entry of this 'blog, we'll start with the movie that has occupied number 1 in my list of favorite movies for several years now: The Princess Bride.  (The other slots in the list change enough that I haven't bothered to codify them, but that might make for an interesting page someday.)

The movie has, as Peter Falk's kindly Grandfather character says, "Everything."  Great casting, a good story, one-liners that can, in the right company, substitute for conversation, and it holds up well, 21 years later.  (Anyone else feeling old now?)

Casting.  Casting is what turned this movie from a good action-comedy into a great movie.  The part of Fezzik was reportedly written for Andre the Giant, and it's hard to imagine anyone else playing it.  Cary Elwes, who plays an astounding number of roles as a heavy, has always been far better in comedic roles, especially his role as Wesley/The Man in Black.  (And before anyone cries spoiler, I think I already mentioned this movie is 21 years old, yes?  Once a movie is old enough to buy beer there's no more spoiler calling allowed.)  Like Fezzik, I can't imagine anyone other than Mandy Patinkin in the role of (Hello my name is) Inigo Montoya.  The lines would be funny from almost anyone, but I doubt they would have spawned t-shirts from anyone else.  And Robin Wright did a good job as the title character, although unlike the other principles I don't feel like she was indispensible.

Let us not, by any means, forget the minor characters, either.  Fred Savage's grandson character served to make the movie more accessible to children.  ("Is this a kissing book?" "Are you trying to trick me?") Wallace Shawn's laugh as Vizzini was so memorable that I recognized him instantly even in full Ferengi makeup, which makes his face completely unrecognizable.  Chris Sarandon and Christopher Guest as Humperdink and Rugen are hatable villains, and and Billy Crystal in old person makeup is both endearing and annoying in an annoyingly endearing way as Miracle Max.

Characterization.  Movie critics often complain about movies where the main characters are "one-dimensional", or where they don't grow and learn from their experiences.  This is a stupid argument when you're dealing with a movie like this.  It's about the story.  The characters are there to tell it, not to improve their, er, character, which is already fictional in the first place.

Plot.  There isn't actually much plot in this movie either:  girl loses boy, agrees to marry a monster, boy returns and rescues girl from certain death, then loses her again when she tries to save his life, boy saves girl AGAIN, and they ride off into the sunrise.  Oh, and kiss.  It's more about the way the story is told than the story itself - and it's told with flair and humor, and none of the good guys stay dead, which makes it pretty feel-good as well.

One-liners.  Actually almost all of the dialogue in this movie is good, and some of it is downright brilliant.  The time when I could've recited it all with the volume muted is past, but I still remember many of them, and you'll find them cropping up as "pop culture references" quite a lot.

Let me sum up.  I'd explain, but there's too much.  If you haven't seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to correct that mistake, immediately.  Grab a friend or two, get a copy of the DVD, pop some popcorn, and watch it.  Chances are you'll find at least something you like (it has everything, remember), and if you don't, well, I'm not sure you qualify as a human being.