Movie Reviews

Courtesy my Blog - http://cjferrara.blogspot.com

I'm off this week. So I got to see a lot of movies; both in the theatre and on video.

Avatar,- I got to see this with my lovely wife, Paula, for our anniversary. AND we went all out, Imax, 3-d, full immersion. BIG mistake. I discovered something about myself, 3-d Imax makes me motion sick. It was something about the full immersion experience that really puts you in the world, and it feels like the whole theater is moving, and... (BLEEEAH!) So, I watched most of the film without the glasses on. It actually worked better. Most of the film is framed in what I could call center stage. It's only when people are upstage or downstage that the image is distorted for the 3-d effects.

As for the film itself, I liked it. The worst criticism I heard was that the plot closely resembled "Pocohantas." I can tell you, the film's plot IS "Pocohantas." However, if Jimmy Cameron had sold this film as a sci-fi retelling of the legend of Pocohantas using state of the art technology, it wouldn't be such a bad thing, now would it? *(Spoiler at the bottom of the blog entry, don't read it if you don't want to.)

And I know that this is the most realistic motion capture technology, but that's sort of like making the artificial sweetener that tastes the most like sugar. It's still VERY fake. The film is a spectacular live action/CGI animated film. You want a great comparison, go back and watch the Abyss (Which I did) and see the difference in SFX.

Inglorious Basterds - I also finally saw this movie I was really looking forward to. I have to say, I was disappointed. This is a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it needs a different title. The Basterds are in less than half of the movie. And what my wife and I, (And I imagine every Nazi-hating Jew-lover) really wanted to see was MORE OF THE KILLING! We wanted to see the scalping in more and more creative Tarantino-esque ways. And give me more dialogue with Aldo Rayne (Brad Pitt) the accent was priceless.

I think the irony here is that what makes Tarantino so great is what killed the movie. Considering the relatively simple plot **(Spoiler Below), it's Tarantino's love of non-sequitir and amazing monologues and dialogue that drag the plot forever. 45 minutes for the resistance operative to meet the Basterd's contacts in a bar and plan the plan. Granted, they are stopped by a meddling Nazi officer, but that could have been 20 minutes with some clever dialogue? Not 45 minutes of going ON and ON with a bar game.... come ON! Get to the scalping! Now, that wasn't a spoiler, but I now won't reveal the ending except to say that it's lame. ***(Below) Pretty good, but not Tarantino's best. Makes me want to see Jackie Brown again to compare and determine which is the WORST.

What did YOU think?

SPOILERS BELOW









* SPOILER - And I don't recall John Smith teaming up with the Powhatans to kick the English's ass! - SPOILER OVER *

** SPOILER - The Jewhunter kills Shoshonah's family, the Basterds go to France to kill Nazis, Shoshonah owns a movie theatre, that Goebells rents out for a Propaganda premiere, and she plots to kill them all, and so do the Basterds, with the help of British Intelligence. - SPOILER OVER **

*** SPOILER - The Jewhunter betrays his whole party for immunity? COME ON! - SPOILER OVER ***