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Hollywood Circuit

Avatar

Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau

Stars:

Sam Worthington
Zoe Saldana
Sigourney Weaver

Tri-genre: hypothetical virtuality science fiction
Story Situation: space travel
Satisfaction Rating: excellent
Maturity Rating: 13+

Plotline: In a perhaps not-so-distant future, wheelchair-bound paraplegic combat Marine veteran Jake (Sam Worthington) travels to the planet Pandora to replace his deceased twin brother on a scientific expedition led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) to make peace with the native humanoid inhabitants, the Na’vi.  The primitive planet is being mined by a corporate consortium for a unique counter-gravity mineral that could solve Earth’s critical energy crisis.  Because Pandora’s atmosphere is unbreathable, and because humans look so different from the 12-foot long-tailed, blue-skinned natives, expedition team members have their minds linked to a remote-controlled biological Na’vi body, or “avatar,” a genetically-engineered bio-matched hybrid of each human’s own DNA with native DNA.  The richest ore deposits are located underneath the Na’vi’s sacred “home tree.”  Jake’s mission, separate from Dr. Augustine’s scientific research, is to convince the Na’vi to peacefully relocate and allow the mining.  Otherwise, in three months, Col. Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) gung-ho mercenary army will force them out.

On the first day of the expedition into Pandora’s Jurassic rain forest, Jake is separated from his team when attacked by a giant hammerhead rhino creature, then rescued at nightfall from the many Jurassic beasts by nimble Na’vi princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).  Neytiri’s father (Wes Studi), the tribal chief, orders her to teach Jake the ways of the Na’vi during a probationary period while he decides what to do with him.  Jake’s relationship with his reluctant teacher soon blossoms into a romance as Jake learns to respect the Na’vi and their harmonious communion with nature, and comes to comprehend the importance of their sacred areas to their lives.  Torn between loyalties, Jake finally chooses to lead the Na’vi in a defensive battle against the attacking corporate mercenary machine.

Move over George Lucas…
With this ingenious masterwork, auteur director James Cameron now lays claim to the mantle of Hollywood’s greatest epic sci-fi filmmaker.  He makes it look easy.  And it’s not.  He makes the story seem simple.  But it’s not.  Tiny threads are drawn from 2001 Space Odyssey, Jurassic Park, We Were Soldiers, Dances with Wolves, The Incredible Hulk and Pinocchio (yes, Jake becomes a real boy), then all these elements are seamlessly woven into a Pocahontas love story.  At the same time, Cameron delivers a cautionary subtextual message about natural resources and hot-headed militarism with obvious implications for the modern era.  Also, with landmark next-generation motion-captured CGI visual effects, this film should be studied by upcoming filmmakers for many years to come.  Breakthrough performances include Australia’s Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation), Cameron veteran Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) and especially CGI-enveloped Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Drumline).

Oh, yeah, Avatar ought to be an instant contender for Oscar’s Best Picture.

Posted: December 15, 2009

Invictus

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Anthony Peckham
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz

Stars:

Morgan Freeman
Matt Damon

Tri-genre: sports true life drama
Story Situation: new leader
Satisfaction Rating: excellent
Maturity Rating: 13+

Plotline:  1994-1995.  As the first elected post-apartheid President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) lends his considerable support to the national rugby team, preventing abolition of its hated apartheid-era “Springboks” name and lobbying for South Africa to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup.  He also reaches out personally to white team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) in hopes of inspiring the team to improve its losing record sufficiently to give the nation a common reason to root for their country.  On the eve of the World Cup championship, Mandela gives Pienaar the Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley that Mandela had kept in his prison cell during his 27-year political incarceration.  Pienaar subsequently leads his team to victory, helping to unite the country and commence the process of racial healing.

Oscar-Bound Sports Stories
Go-for-it, feel-good sports stories are a staple in Hollywood.  But like real sporting events — such as boxer Joe Lewis kayoing Nazi Germany’s Max Schmeling, or baseball MVP Jackie Robinson playing for the majors, or an amateur American hockey team defeating a professional Soviet team for Olympic Gold — sports movies only transcend the Rocky cliche when the personal drama on the sporting field also reflects a larger drama in the whole society.  And by this criterion, Invictus easily scores the game point.  Master auteur filmmaker Clint Eastwood earns the story’s uplifting denouement the hard way: by drawing on old fashioned good writing, excellent direction, infectious cast chemistry and a genuinely great performance from Morgan Freeman as the genuinely great statesman Nelson Mandela.  In real life, prior to the World Cup, Mandela gave Pienaar a quote from Teddy Roosevelt’s The Man in the Arena speech.  But that one imprecise bit of cinematic license should not detract from Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon or Clint Eastwood’s likely Oscar-bound goal posts.

Posted: December 1, 2009

Ninja Assassin

Director: James McTeigue
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski, Matthew Sand
Producers: Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski

Stars:

Rain (Ji-Hoon Jung)
Naomie Harris
James McTeigue

Tri-genre: martial arts action suspense
Story Situation: on-the-run
Satisfaction Rating: above average
Maturity Rating: 17+

Plotline:  Trained from childhood to be a professional assassin for hire, Rain turns against his criminal ninja clan when they execute his sweetheart for trying to leave.  Years later, he stops a ninja hit against Europol researcher Naomie arris, who has learned too much about their crime syndicate, and must protect her on the run while she uses her international police contacts to initiate a law enforcement raid against the entire clan.

CGI Martial Arts
Loved by moviegoers, loathed by movie critics, this film shined the brightest with audiences among the Thanksgiving weekend’s new film releases.  The lackluster critical response reflects high brow tastes much more than audience satisfaction.  South Korea’s “King of Pop” singer-dancer Rain demonstrates great range as a screen presence who, surprisingly, can deliver dramatic dialogue with good English.  His debut starring role was the 2006 Korean romantic comedy I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay.  Fight action sequences in Ninja Assassin sometimes feel overly CGI-produced a la The Matrix, loosing that gritty true-to-life mano-a-mano quality, but nevertheless deliver on the genre’s promise.  After all, a ninja is supposed to be part martial artist, part sorcerer.

Posted: November 24, 2009

The Blind Side

Director:  John Lee Hancock
Screenwriter:  John Lee Hancock
Producers:  Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove

Stars:

Sandra Bullock
Quinton Aaron
Tim McGraw
Kathy Bates

Tri-genre: domestic true life drama
Story Situation: mentor
Satisfaction Rating: above average
Maturity Rating: 13+

Plotline:  Proper well-to-do Southern homemaker Sandra Bullock takes in homeless African-American teenager Quinton Aaron and, through determined parenting and a strong family ethic, transforms him into a hot prospect for the best collegiate football scholarships.  Based on the true story of pro-footballer Michael Oher.

Courage at the Top
At a career stage when most lead actresses fade from the limelight, Sandra Bullock emerged this year with her two personal best box office openers.  Moreover, with her all-time top opener The Blind Side, she did it on her own … as the sole marquee anchor … in a marketplace crowded with new event pictures … by delivering a charismatic Oscar-worthy performance … like nothing she has done before … in a genre different from her usual chick-flick comedies, phone-it-in romances  and thrillers buoyed by a popular male co-star.  Bullock ought to garner great respect within industry circles for creating this compassionate in-your-face mother character as well as for her bold choice in selecting this project.

Certainly, Bullock knew that if The Blind Side did not work with audiences, studio chiefs might well have regarded it as a decline in her stardom.  Instead Bullock signals that her best is yet to come.

Against this tapestry, and despite a strong box office and exuberant audience responses, critical support for The Blind Side has ranged from tepid to downright disgraceful:  Good movies should be more than the sum of their parts.  They should each possess a unique and inspired blend of story elements, actor performances, visual spectacle, social relevance and emotional journey.  Sometimes one aspect will dominate more than another.  Yet too often film critics base their judgments almost entirely on an obligatory check list of naturalistic story ingredients.  For example, ABC-TV’s At the Movies broadcast reviewers audaciously gauged the storyline for The Blind Side against the storyline for Precious.  Uh, guys - hello - Precious is fiction; The Blind Side is a true story that inspires and showcases a brilliant and courageous actress.

Even more disappointing, these reviewers recommend that moviegoers “skip” this film altogether … a recommendation that, thankfully, has been spectacularly ignored by the public.  Most movie consumers increasingly distrust movie critics precisely because of such cynical, self-defeating, foolish and out-of-touch intemperance.  It is also the reason Marquee Stars published The Seven Bewilderly Sins of critical reviewers.