I Just Saw Avatar and Eclipse, Now What?

Posted by Lady Mel On Thursday, December 9, 2010 4 comments

I have reviewed many movies on this blog. A movie is suppose to take you somewhere, elevate your senses and expectations. I still hold to that principle every way I go. Recently I had the luxury of watching two films that I strongly rejected from watching in the past: Avatar and Twilight: Eclipse. For Avatar, the best scene of the movie was the epic Na'vu revolt against the humans at the end of the film. The CGI graphics were pretty amazing, but like I said before, the plot-line was boring. Here is how the movie went.


Boy enters a new world. Boy meets girl, a tribe chief's daughter. Sounds familiar? Boy was suppose to kill or undermine the tribe's people to take their minerals, but then falls in love with the girl. Boy's people did not like that, and boy works with the tribe to defeat his former colleagues. Boy and girl live happily ever after. If I had seen this movie last December and written a review, I could have saved you $20. If Avatar came on HBO again, I would not see it. That is how bad the film is to me. I think that twenty years from now, Avatar will be celebrated for its breathtaking imagery and not for its storytelling. Avatar is not our 21st century version of Blade Runner or the Matrix.



Now those movies were classics ahead of their time; walking philosophical vessels of ourselves, reminding us of our humanity and will to create and accept our destinies. I can watch them over and over again. I cannot say this for Avatar and I certainly cannot say this in Twilight or its third movie adaptation, Twilight: Eclipse. Same concept; Boy meets girl. Boy happens to be a vampire with sparkling skin walks in the daylight. Boy's love for girl is so predatory and co-dependent that he will do anything to protect her from danger, even from the girl's best friend who happens to love her as well. Eventually, the girl becomes a vampire, gives birth to a half-vampire child, and lives happily ever after with her one true love, but I digress.



These movies are not for everyone, but for a core group of people. Lately we have become a society that tolerates the predictability and orthodoxy of the entertainment industry. 
In some respects, the art of film making is dead. Canadian actor Ryan Gosling understands that Hollywood is sexist, racist, and misogynistic. Do you see him on the cover of Star Magazine or on Dancing With the Stars? Hardly. He worries more about his acting craft than the money and fame. 


Twilight fans should take a minute and realize that romantic love isn't all peachy and clean in real life. Avatar fans should take a minute and realize that James Cameron needs to write/direct better stuff. Do people even think critically about what's going on in the world anymore? But what about personal preference? People have the right to watch and enjoy these films. My personal preference is watching non-regurgitated Hollywood trashy movies. I over-analyze films and I am aware of the garbage movie executives put forth to the public because I know it's mostly garbage. People these just days consume culture (technology, movies, books, news media, etc.) without knowing the consequences. Now that's the truth. 


What do you think about the notion that people take the lessons and cultural representations of the self, race, sex, gender, class,etc. from films at face value?

4 comments:

RAY J said...

yeah, the only good thing about Avatar was the graphics - the plot was a straight ripoff of Dances with Wolves or the kiddie counterpart Ferngully - nothing new there we haven't seen before!

And Twilight... ugh don't get me started, lol...

Lady Mel said...

@Ray J- Exactly, but people today eat it up, some even live off the fantasy that Kristen Stewart is actually Bella and that Robert Pattinson wants to make love to them. Uhm no. lol.

Robin said...

not a twilight fan. BUt loved avatar

Lady Mel said...

@Robin If I would pick the better movie, it would be Avatar because they had better actors: Sam Worthington, Sogourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriquez,etc. I cracked up actually when Michelle's character died in the movie because she always dies on film! lmao.