I don’t get the attraction.
Cliched ridden characters that are almost universally unlikeable, live out cliched story lines while bitching about each other and singing over-produced sanitised-to-the-point-just-beyond-bland songs.
It is manufactured pop a’la “{insert country here} Idol“, designed solely to make tweens annoy their parents until they buy the merchandise. A kind of Transformers for the 2000′s.
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Disclaimer : Let’s get this out in the open, right from the start. I have not seen Avatar in the cinema or in 3D. Before you fans tell me that I haven’t really seen it “the way it was meant to be seen”, let me ask you – is this a movie ? If it is a movie, then it must be able to stand on it’s own, without the crutch of a gimmick. If it lives or dies solely on the strength of the gimmick, then it isn’t much of a film. OK. On with it then.
Avatar (2009) is the highest grossing movie of all time, having taken (to the end of 2010) over USD$2 billion in foreign sales and another USD$760 million in US box office. It has a solid 83% (critics) and 92% (audience) on Rotten Tomatoes, and is a success pretty much every way you measure it. James Cameron, director of such notable films as The Terminator and Terminator 2 : Judgement Day, The Abyss and Aliens, as well as the previous all time box office record holder, Titanic, pulled out all stops (at least, according to his publicity) to make Avatar the most technologically advanced movie ever made. It certainly feels that way, with CG present in abundance is pretty much every frame of the movie.
The plot is simple – in the future a paralysed marine is shipped to another planet where he uses an Avatar, or biologic representation of locals to interact with the natives to help secure mining rights. He falls for one of the native girls, conflict with his superiors ensues, and much action happens in the last reel. if it sounds familiar, it is is. Strip it of the sci-fi trappings, replace Sam Worthington with Kevin Costner, and you have Dances with Wolves with blue chicks.
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Made in 1981 by Gary Sherman, Dead and Buried is a prime example of American Gothic. Written by Dan O’ Bannon and Ron Shusett of Alien fame, and starring James Farentino and Jack Albertson along with a solid supporting cast, Dead and Buried is a tight little chiller.
The basic plot is simple : Potter’s Bluff is typical small-town-USA. The townsfolk are friendly, everybody knows everybody, and life for the local Sheriff is good. However, after the murder of a couple of strangers, the Sheriff begins to suspect that all is not what it should be. It is a simple premise, but one that is carried out with skill by all involved.
Released at the beginning of the ’80s, in the midst of the low budget slasher and zombie craze, Dead and Buried was, well, buried. The cover art gave nothing away, although it did try to trade on the Alien connection. It is a pity, because Dead and Buried is generally a cut above most of what was around at the time. There are many things that elevate this little gem from the chaff that surrounded it. The cast is top notch, with seasoned leads – Albertson is particularly good in his final film role – and a solid script, this is a far better told tale than most horror films. The supporting cast included Melody Anderson, Robert Englund (later to become Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street fame) and Barry Corbin.
