Clash of the Titans – Almost Perfection!

I along with many others have been pretty hyped up about the remake of ‘Clash of the Titans!’ I squeeze it into my schedule today. Grabbed some 3D glasses on the way in and grabbed a seat with my good friends who love such films.

I loved it! It was almost perfection! I’m hooked…looking forward to more. However, although I was swept away with it! There were it’s flaws, and I must discuss those to learn exactly what not to do in mine (as the good immediately inserts itself into my brain).

First problem at the start, is the movie starts and the trailer we’ve been shown slightly misleads you to think something else is going to occur and a lot of other characters are going to be more involved. Sam Worthington’s character (Perseus) is actually the lead (thank the film world for Sam Worthington…he’s saved films now!). That was our first surprise. I was even surprised in another trailer I saw and Worthington’s face is shown…I went ‘he’s in that movie? Great…well another reason to go see it in addition to all the cool creatures and mythology.’

The introduction is fantastic…we are shown Perseus and his mother as a baby (mother’s already passed but he survived) and the family that finds him. He has a sister a mother and father.  They show him in the present older in his twenties with his family, you fall in love with them, bad things happen, immediately: action… (my kind of beginning, so sick of the ease into it crap just get on with it…and they did) The first thing you notice is the CG and the incredible shots…great director…and a true visual experience from the start. However, once the movie gets going…it slows and I’m paying attention…waiting…and waiting and still enjoying myself as honestly the lead and some support actors were well selected… Along with great screen shots I was still entertained. Hades enters and I’m somewhat grinning, Perseus still pissed from what happened to his family but trying to blend in and stay off the radar…simple shots of that character and you’re waiting for him to kick ***.

You get to know who the bad guys are and the good guys right away. Which is good…but soon things start to feel rushed, but you’re still keeping up with it as once warriors are full throttle on screen, it’s tense and you’re wondering what’s going to happen next. Which is good…I was on my toes. The action scenes were fantastic…I can still seem them in my head and I wish to see them again. The scorpions the Klakken, some flying creations…fantastic scenes there.  Incredibly well done.

The bad sides, character development we love Perseus simply because we know it’s Perseus and because it’s Worthington…plus you want to follow him on his journey. He was only one layer…it was a good one layer but I craved more. It wasn’t just him but all of those around him…so close to perfection. In addition to the rush, there were things that we changed which I’m sure ticked off a bunch of fans, Hercules was in one random shot and we all went ‘aahh..what? weird.’ Next, there could have been much more action without being annoying and there could have been a lot more characters to be snuck in there, say Hercules. So close…soooo close. Another weird scene was his guardian (female) who followed him and watched out for him (Perseus) becomes his love interest. It was the way that it was executed which game me this whole Soccer Coach dating her athlete or teacher dating her student. Weird… That needed some editing.

I think Worthington carried a lot of the weight here along with… he’s a gift to film, really! I know there’s all this Brad Pitt nonsense, and Leonardo and Cruise and a bunch of other named people but Worthington has something truly rare… I wish I had the chance to write a script and have him in my own film (darn…it’s not done yet.)

Hmm…more to come. It’s late.

Avatar! James Cameron closed the space between audience and screen!

Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream. – Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) written by James Cameron

I remember blogging about just the idea of Avatar knowing James Cameron was behind the film and Sam Worthington had the lead role.  I was already convinced I was going to be taken on an incredible journey.

The more I started to dig about the movie the more fascinated I have become. Knowing the story of James Cameron working with such a large staff of people is incredible.  The fact the movie was a vision in James Cameron’s head and all of these people made it into a reality… wow…what an art form. You can even investigate about the cameras that were made to make this movie and of course for those to follow. Cameron could hold a camera in his hands and move around the set while the actors were performing and see the 3D world on the screen. This allowed for incredible shots and angles to be captured.  That was honestly one of the best things I learned in addition to the fact the actors were wearing cameras that captured their facial responses which truly made their characters so real.  You can find a great read here, but it’s a little length but truly a great read. If you’re more visual check out the Youtube video or click the links at the bottom of this post.

The movie is honestly just a ride to take. I can’t even tell you how amazing it is with my words as it takes seeing it to really feel what it is that I am going to try to express in a second. The whole time, from the moment I got into the theater, received my 3D glasses (that I almost didn’t want as the ticket was 13 bucks to see in 3D) , and finding my seat in the crowded theater (It was an hour and a half before the show started, mind you. Wow).  Once the previews started which were also in 3D, my first experience by the way. I was captivated. It wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was pointing at things that seemed to come at me and my row of friends were doing the same. Laughing and smiling, disturbing the theater as we were new to the whole 3D thing.  The glasses weren’t bad at all I kind felt like Tom Cruise back in the day.  The movie started and the voice over of  Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) hit the surround sound and I was in it, excited as heck. Once the story was laid out, which happened quickly as you’re immediately introduced to Jake Sully his new life.

I was thrown into this world and I loved every bit of it. I was taken away for three hours to Pandora. I will never forget the feeling of watching the movie, and experiencing it in 3D. I felt like I was in planes, ducked a few times when things were flying out of the planes. I felt as though I was flying for the first time on my own mountain banshee. I smiled in the theater with a bunch of strangers. (I wanted my own Banshee by the end of it). My mind was smiling the whole movie, it was joy and honestly a work of art that just activated parts of my brain that I wasn’t used to using in movies (as they usually suck and I’m venting in my head). From the colors and the invented plants and creatures, to following Jake Sully through the world just as you are being exposed to it.  Also the beauty of the Na’vi people themselves. Their belief and insight, the pretty blue dots on their face and gorgeous eyes. It was gorgeous how their long braids linked them into the spirit of the forest, their ancestors. As well as the animals they would ride. Wicked cool. All of it is truly movie defining.

For those hours I lived within the life of Jake Sully, I was happy Sully had the opportunity to run again, I felt his curiosity as he entered the world, his fear when night fell and he was alone.  I was angered when Sully had teamed up with the Colonel, but I forgave him as he didn’t know what he was missing. He followed orders that’s all he knew.  I fell in love with Pandora with Sully, Netyri was pretty awesome so I approved of his love for her, (he was just as strong as she was).  I was hyperventilating when their beautiful tree was destroyed by the humans on Pandora.  I mourned Neytiri’s father.  I cried when Grace could not be saved…pissed actually as she was one of my favorites. All of it…a treasure. Even the fact the couple said ‘I see you’ to each other rather than ‘I love you,’ as lately in cinema the ‘I love you’ scenes have become cliched and irritating and you can’t figure out why they are in love in the first place. I see you goes a beyond  ‘I love you.’

I remember glancing around the theater during the movie, it was silent in there, 3D glasses on, and everyone was so focused hanging on to ever word and pixel and yet lost. As if their bodies were there but their mind was dancing around the jungle of the Na’Vi people.  It was incredible that that many people were captivated.

The message of the movie is simple and yet so deep. I understood it all. But rather than typing all of that here. I’ll just say it was so well written, so many beautiful lines. that may seem simple if you haven’t’ seen the movie, but what puts weight to them is the story, the characters, their past…

[as Jake pleads for Eywa's help in attacking the "Sky People" ]If Grace is there with you – look in her memories – she can show you the world we come from:  There’s no green there. They killed their Mother, and they’re gonna do the same thing here.

All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for. – Jake Sully

Dislikes for a like, first, dislike,  hard to think about but I have to as it’s my job as an upcoming director… Hmm…I was curious as to why there wasn’t a ‘before it all scene’, where we find out why exactly they are all on Pandora. But I thought about all this after the fact, not during the movie as I understood by listening to dialogue. (hard for me to dish it out to this one lol).  I didn’t like how the first Na’vi member Jake meets is the one he falls in love with. I kind of wished he had been saved and brought to camp and educated  by another member of the Na’vi.  But I still enjoyed those scenes of him being taught by Neytiri. Dislike, the music wasn’t what I thought it would be, a few good ones (war scenes and flight), some were truly great and others were alright but the worst one is performed  by Leona Lewis killed me once the credits began to surface and I bolted.  A like:  I truly liked how the love scene between Sully and Neytiri wasn’t gross like usual not A**es or Ti***es, thank goodness. It was pretty and I didn’t have to close my eyes or plug my ears. For a moment I thought I was going to get something I didn’t pay for, but it ended and I thought well that was well played. Dislike/Like:  I almost don’t like how he was able to fly the Tyeruko like Neytiri’s grandfather, it felt so ‘he gets the big gun.’ As the outsider makes Na’vi history…  But at the same time it wasn’t poorly executed for the opening line from Jake Sully,  “Where I had it figured, Tyeruko’s the baddest cat in the sky. Nothing attacks him. So why would he ever look up? That was just a theory.” He says this as he leaps onto this Great Leonopteryx and flies to the people as this incredible leader in the making. And with the good voice over of Sam Worthington and already loving the character it wasn’t tragic at all.  The build up was well done so I dig it.  Dislike: if he was going to replace not only Eytukan but also Tsu’Tey why didn’t we get to find out more about Tsu’Tey, just to feel why he was the next chosen leader? I suppose that goes for a lot of the fact we didn’t get to meet other Na’vi people. But I am assuming with a sequel coming we will get that. But I still wish I was able to get to to know Tsu’Tey.

A fun quote:

This isn’t the 3-D of the 1950s or even contemporary films, those flicks that try to give you a virtual poke in the eye with flying spears. Rather Mr. Cameron uses 3-D to amplify the immersive experience of spectacle cinema. Instead of bringing you into the movie with the customary tricks, with a wide screen or even IMAX image filled with sweeping landscapes and big action, he uses 3-D seemingly to close the space between the audience and the screen. He brings the movie to you….Few films return us to the lost world of our first cinematic experiences, to that magical moment when movies really were bigger than life (instead of iPhone size), if only because we were children. Movies rarely carry us away, few even try. They entertain and instruct and sometimes enlighten. Some attempt to overwhelm us, but their efforts are usually a matter of volume. What’s often missing is awe, something Mr. Cameron has, after an absence from Hollywood, returned to the screen with a vengeance. He hasn’t changed cinema, but with blue people and pink blooms he has confirmed its wonder. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/movies/18avatar.html

(Read part two of Avatar! – All about the performances)

Great links:

Avatar Behind The Scenes

Avatar Story Featurette

Animation Techniques

The Art of Performance Capture

James Cameron’s New 3-D Epic Could Change Film Forever | Magazine

Movie Review – Avatar (Fox) – A New Eden, Both Cosmic and Cinematic – NYTimes.com

Even The Critics like Avatar

Avatar: Reviewing the Reviewers

PROJECT 880: THE AVATAR THAT ALMOST WAS

The creatures of ‘Avatar’ were 15 years in the making

Official Website: www.avatarmovie.com

James Cameron’s 1998 Scriptment

Avatar – James Cameron, Sam Worthington! What!!

MTV News

Alright! I had to scream out of joy today as I had been aware of James Cameron’s new movie Avatar (written by him and directed…wow…my idol). The story sounds fascinating and knowing James Cameron is directing and writing the movie I’m comforted.  As I’ve mentioned before great Directors are paired with really bad writers these days which leads to a disappointing movie. Anyways, not only is James Cameron creating this fantastic film that won’t let us down. Having the perfect jewels…a good story and fantastic action. The true art of film making. But in addition to all of that, Sam Worthington is the lead character, Jake Sully. Now if you’ve read past post titled ‘Christian Bale out shined by Sam Worthington?’ (which you probably haven’t as I have few visitors) but check it out as I discussed Sam Worthington before, as he mastered Terminator, as in he was the movie.  I was blown away by his performance. The movie wasn’t great, but thanks to the writer building one strong character and Sam Worthington thankfully playing that character I actually remember a few scenes.

And now he’s in Avatar! That movie has such potential just by reading it’s cast and crew’s names. We even have Michelle Rodriguez tossed in there! There are no boundaries here! I wait in anticipation for the scary season of cold December to be enveloped in Avatar!

Hmm…now that I think about it James Cameron has Terminator under his belt along with Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles… Wow…that is a good show and he put his writing skills to fantastic use! Now he’s a Terminator fan, and he most likely saw Sam Worthington’s performance in the newest Terminator: Salvation, he saw the gift of an actor and scooped him up. That’s what I would have done if only at my years of 25 I was where I should be.  SO woot for that.

Oh and if you don’t know who James Cameron is, wow are you screwed. But I’ll help, he did Titanic! The best money making movie ever! And if you don’t know what Titanic is…then lord help you             Ah…Sigh.. Movies…writers…love

Oh and a link:

http://www.avatarmovie.com/

Christian Bale out shined by Sam Worthington

Although I am a huge fan of Christian Bale. I have him locked in my head as Bruce Wayne so I’m going to be examining his performance. I’ve seen many of his other films which I enjoyed him in.  I’ve learned that it is not just me on this. Christian Bale fell flat, he was out shined by Sam Worthington (Markus Wright), even Anton Yelchin (played Kyle Reese) had not only a slightly better performance but a better role than Christan Bale (John Connor). The character of John didn’t even have the substance that we were looking for, he is supposed to be this messiah yet he’s running around shooting people and blowing up things like some everyday action flick film. The typical alpha male destroy-everything idea meets mr.guns a blazing.  I love my action flicks, but Terminator is expected to have that fantastic story line with John Connor, son of Sarah Connor leading the people to their safety as they fight such a horrible war.  Not to mention while I was watching the film I kept hearing Christian Bale’s ‘outburst’ in my head, “am I going to walk around and rip your f* lights down, in the middle of a scene? Then why the f* are you walking right through ah-da-datta-da like this in the background, what the f* is it with you…” and so on. I kept thinking what scene he was shooting when he had his little outburst. I had time to think about all that because I was bored when he was on screen.  I hated the fact he was married and his wife was pregnant. It didn’t make sense. they always said that he knew he would always be alone because those who he loved would be put in danger killed. So why would he marry and have a child? Not really working for me.

This is a great quote from another review: “As a hero, Connor is really no more distinctive than the gnarly, unshaven outcast ringleader of every retro-future fantasy from Escape From New York on. Yet Terminator Salvation is invested in treating him like a grunge messiah. Bale brings the role his usual stylish, seething edge. He seems ready to blow at any moment, making his infamous on-set tantrum look less like a case of star egomania than like a Method actor’s refusal to break character gone amok.” By Owen Gleiberman – http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20279924,00.html

I’m a fan of the story of Terminator.  The action was good, the art of the movie was well done. I liked the lighting they chose for shooting. I loved the action shot of John Conner going down in a helicopter…action great. But I had zero emotional connection to John Conner when I’ve always loved the character. The characters Kyle Reese seemed stronger than John Conner and he was a teenager. He was more capable of handling the fight and being a messiah a lot better than this John Conner character (which I couldn’t associate with the one in my head).

Worthington…I cannot wait for his next movie. I wonder what will happen for him. He stole the light…ripped it right from over Christian Bales head and took the highlight. I was more interested in the Markus Wright character. I wondered if that just happened on accident, that the actor happened to be better than Bale and it turned out he out-shined him with his brilliant acting skills. Or had they noticed his talent and ended up directing a lot of  the fine lines in his direction.  Now if that’s the case I honestly wish there was more focus and direction aiding the characters uprising.  I think the movie would have been better if he was even more of the focus or at least have John Conner character be up to par to meet Sam Worthington half way. I was with Worthington and his character the whole time. I even fell for him and his lady friend Blair Williams played by Moon Bloodgood. I am a tough one to get pulled into a romance on screen although I giggled at her trying to steal his heat in the night I loved her hot edgy feel running around with a bag full of goods to make things blow up and shoot and kill machines. But I suppose I watched her as I was watching the character Markus Wright.

If only the full script matched the strength of character of Blair Williams, Markus Wright and Kyle Resse, the action sequences. The film would have been fantastic. It was almost fantastic.

My other issue was the stolen seen from Transformers. I know that the best director steals from everyone, but you still have to make it your own. The scene where they had a piece of a terminator limb. they strapped it down on the table and it was looking back at Christian Bale. All he had to do was say ‘This thing is wicked’ like Captian Lennox played by Josh Duhamel and it’d be the same scene just different lighting. I went…what??? And others in the theatre next to me also had the same reaction, knowing it was almost an exact duplicate scene.

Another ‘ick’ moment was a fake Arnold.  I wondered if they really wanted Connor dead why didn’t they just blow him up, instead they sent this look alike Arnold. It wasn’t even him! They mine as well just had some other big guy play the role of kill-connor-now rather than have some CG generated beastly Arnold coming after him.  I mean, really!? And what the heck was with there being like two terminators guarding the center? They can just storm in there and barely be attacked? what the?

What I was completely in love with, was the music! Can’t wait to get the score!! Loved it! The Terminators were crazy scary I was loving them!