I avoided seeing Avatar for a number of reasons (including Angie and my own first hand experiences) but when I realized it would be leaving our local theater last month to make room for Alice in Wonderland, I thought I should give it a shot. I even declined a screening of Hot Tub Time Machine to give it a chance. With the DVD available this Thursday, I’m ready to talk about it.

I like most of James Cameron’s movies. Although I wasn’t crazy about Titanic, I have to give him credit for showing every recorded death from the event on screen. Unfortunately, Titanic has become something bigger than a movie and that turns a lot people off. The same thing happened to Avatar and I know it was part of what kept me (and Angie) away.

I had heard a lot of mixed reactions going in. I even had people telling me “you have to see it in 3D” or “you have to see it on IMAX in 3D,” so we went whole hog and saw it under the optimal conditions leaving no reason to think it wasn’t what it was supposed to be or any question about what it could have been.

Did it live up to the hype? I think that’s impossible after hearing it touted as the greatest achievement in the history of film. Was is good? I think I can say yes. It wasn’t great, it didn’t change my life, but it was decent.

Was it worth $30 for the two of us? That’s debatable. On one hand, we couldn’t see it on that screen in 3D any other way, so for the experience we had to pay that much. On the merits of the film itself, ignoring the technological marvel that it was, it wasn’t worth more than any other movie.

Coming out of the theater, five things stayed with me:

1. Michelle Rodriguez in no way hurts this movie.
2. “Papa Dragon” was perfect as a villain. He was vile, completely unredeemable and played masterfully.
3. The exposition regarding the central conflict was incredibly heavy handed. “The people with the technology come in to an untouched paradise and want to take what’s under the ground and turn it into a parking lot after having destroyed their own world.” I thought it was a little on the nose until I heard the name for what was under the ground.
4. Unobtainium. Seriously? Why not just call it “Can’t-get-it-ite”?
5. I could have done without the 3D arrows. The majority of the movie used the 3D technology brilliantly, but they just couldn’t resist poking at the audience’s eyes in the final scenes.

I won’t be buying the DVD. I don’t know that I’d watch the movie again if the opportunity presented itself. I know for certain that I’m not interested in having 3D in my home. A lot of movies are going this route, but the technology’s just not there yet for any of them. Even Alice in Wonderland looked dank and grey through those glasses.

Over the last few weeks, one of our new writers, Ryan, gave us his thoughts about the nominees for Best Picture (here and here) as well as his predictions for a total of 10 categories at this year’s Oscars.  The show was last night, all the winners have been announced, how did he do?  Ryan managed to hit 9 out of 10 from his prediction list, and got all the big awards.

While anyone could argue that these were easy calls to make, I disagree. Particularly in the case of Best Picture and Best Actress as Avatar and The Hurt Locker had fairly close odds as did Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep at Point-Spreads, Gambling 911, and Sharp Bettor (I guess people really do bet on these things).  I wouldn’t have been able to get nine right, but that’s why we had Ryan contribute his thoughts on the awards. He didn’t even need to see every movie.

I just don’t know why he didn’t throw out a pick for Best Foreign Language Film. Anyone could see ‘El Secreto de Sus Ojos‘ was a sure thing.  Or is it funnier to say ‘The Young Victoria‘ was a shoe-in for Best Costume Design?

The Hot Tub Time Machine is one of those movies like Snakes on a Plane in which the title of the film explains everything you need to know about the film’s plot. Everyone walking into the theater to see it knows in advance that the movie is stupid. If you think you’re heading to see an intellectual film, then you yourself are stupid.

John Cusack, playing a character named Adam, leads a cast of three middle aged friends who have drifted apart and have realized that none of their lives have turned out the way they hoped. When Adam’s old friend Lou (Rob Corddry) tries to kill himself while rocking out to Motley Crue, Adam and Nick (the American Office’s Craig Robinson) decide to take him away to a ski resort that they had frequented in their youth to give him a chance to relax. This is an oddly dark way to kick off the adveture.

They are joined on the trip by Adam’s nerdy young nephew Jacob, played by Clark Duke, who is detested by Lou.

After a night of crazy partying, one thing leads to another and the four find themselves transported back to 1986 and hijinks ensue.

The most important question about any film like this, of course, is by what time travel rules do they play?

Lost?

Terminator?

Back to the Future?

Bill and Ted?

Apparently, the characters are convinced they must follow the rules of the Butterfly Effect (a movie I skipped) to make sure they don’t ruin their futures. Can these middle aged versions of themselves succeed in replicating their youthful behavior? Will they destroy the world if they fail?

The film continues Chevy Chase’s comeback tour as he shows up as a funny and mysterious hot tub repairman and also features a hysterical running gag featuring former-Back to the Future costar Crispin Glover.

In the end, is the movie funny?

Hell yeah.

Everyone is comparing this flick to the Hangover because that was funny and remarkably successful recently, but I think I enjoyed the pure madness of HTTM more.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve discussed this year’s Academy Award nominees for Best Picture as part of  MLD’s Oscar preview. The last part of the wonderful little piece on movies is for award predictions. I have not seen all of the films, so my list is very subjective based on what I have read in the papers. I’ll also discuss the movies that will be most remembered from the past year. Every year movies get nominated for best picture and forgotten soon afterward. These movies will stand the test of time as the best films of 2009.

Oscar Predictions:
Best Picture:  The Hurt Locker
Best Director:  Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor:  Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Supporting Actor:  Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Actress:  Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actress:  Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Animated Film:  Up!
Best Original Screenplay:  Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay:  Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Best Visual Effects:  Avatar

You can take these guesses with a grain of salt.    I’ll be watching Star Trek more than The Hurt Locker and Avatar combined.  It just is what it is.  Here are a few other movies that were not nominated for Best Picture, but you will gladly put on ahead of most of the garbage listed above:

(In no particular order)

The Hangover
Everyone already saw this movie, but it will be watched again and again. It will be on TNT nearly every weekend, like how Wedding Crashers is on it now. This movie will be dead to us in five years, but until that point it will be THE comedy of the year.

World’s Greatest Dad
Robin Williams is so great in this movie. You have to just let this movie play out. You can watch it on Netflix Instant View. It is really amazing what he does with it. It is not for everyone, but World’s Greatest Dad is one of the more disturbing/entertaining movies of the year. Maybe this one will never be widely watched, but I hope it is.

Zombieland
This was the best comedy of the year.  It was better than The Hangover, though that is no slight against The Hangover.  That was funny.  Zombieland is that movie that you waited too long to see, whenever it is you may see it.  You should have saw it earlier and its your fault.  Woody Harrelson, after this movie and his Oscar nominated role in The Other Side, will hopefully have a resurgence that will hopefully include Kingpin 2.  Isn’t Vanessa Angel dead?  She’s gotta be.  Oh, and Zombieland has “The Cameo.”

Drag Me To Hell

This movie has you from the first scene.  You smile the whole way through.

Big Fan

I have never been so uncomfortable while watching a movie.  I had to pause it a couple times just to get through the strip club scene… and its not for the reasons you think.  I cannot believe they offered him a drink.  It is just a weird movie.

Moon

Moon and District 9 are the two smart sci-fi movies of the year.  Moon was hardly released, which is too bad.  It is better than District 9.

I know there are others.  I loved Fantastic Mr. Fox and Observe and Report.  I’ve been told Away We Go is good.  Same for (500) Days of Summer, but I’ll pass if it is a straight rip off of Annie Hall. Some people loved Where the Wild Things Are, The Cove, In the Loop, and many many others, so the above is an incomplete list.  I’m sure I missed one… eh hem… Crank: High Voltage.

The Oscars will be televised next Sunday, March 7 at 8pm on ABC.

Go to Oscar Night In America, week two.

Last week, I began MLD’s Oscar preview with five of this year’s nominees for Best Picture.  This year, the Academy decided to change the number of Oscar nominees for Best Picture from five to ten, since every year we have so many great movies.  This week, the remainder of the ten movies will be discussed at length.  Next week will have Oscar Predictions along with several other movies that will be remembered from 2009. The Oscars will be televised on March 7 at 8pm on ABC.

And the list goes on:

The Blind Side
There is a general rule, or at least I think there should be a general rule, which states a brunette should NEVER go blonde. It is a crime against nature. Sandra Bullock is one of those famous brunettes out there today, along with Jennifer Connelly, Demi Moore, Megan Fox, and many others. She has no business changing her hair color. Some of us appreciate the dark hair. Lucy Lawless pissed me off when she was blonde in BSG. The Academy should take this into account and deduct at least two-tenths of a point.

I have not seen The Blind Side, so Netflix tells me similar movies include Friday Night Lights (Liked), We Are Marshall (Hated), Radio (Hated), and They Call Me Sirr (Never Saw). I am going to include other similar movies: Remember the Titans (Mixed), Rudy (Hated), Invincible (Hated), Miracle (Liked), and The Express (Hated). So this movie is getting great reviews, when pretty much every other movie of its kind that followed the same formula has been terrible. Friday Night Lights was not inspirational, which means it really should not be in this conversation.

The Blind Side has no shot at Best Picture. Bullock may win Best Actress, but she does not deserve it. I guess this follows the well-worn Oscar precedent of doing something crazy to get an Oscar. Charlize got fat: Wins Oscar. Halle Berry gets REALLY naked: Wins Oscar. Bullock gets blonde: Wins Oscar. Maybe I will not be so surprised by this.

District 9
I loved District 9. I loved it as a sci-fi film, and not necessarily as a Best Picture-type movie. It should be on the “My Favorite” list, but not the “Best” list. You know why? It is about a dude that turns into a creature. That is the gist of it. There is a lot of political subtext that really doesn’t make sense 20 years later. We should not overlook the delay of the social commentary since good science fiction is able to tackle sociopolitical issues when they are happening.  BSG handled suicide bombing and the insurgency issue pretty well in Season 3. Star Trek: The Original Series was able to handle a lot of race issues during the 60s. It is just too late to do Apartheid.  It doesn’t speak to our times.

D9 has should just be happy with the nomination. If you take everything into account, such as the $30 Million budget, the believable CGI characters of Christopher Johnson and his little adorable prawn son, and the seamless documentary-to-linear storytelling transition.  The movie took storytelling chances, which is more than can be said about the OTHER nominated science fiction film.

District 9 would never have made it with just five nominees, but who cares.  Its a fun little film.

The Hurt Locker
The only problem with The Hurt Locker is that there is not a plot. That is kind of a big deal. The movie is more of a voyeuristic look at the lives of these bomb techs in Iraq. If this film were any longer it would have been boring, so it closed out at the right time. I wish Avatar ended in 131 minutes instead of its 162 minute run time.  I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Another problem with The Hurt Locker is that it may not be large enough in scale to be Best Picture. The Hurt Locker is a small film with a small budget focusing on a small part of life in Iraq. It is not as rewatchable as other movies in this category, though there are some intense scenes that I would love to see again like the opening scene with Guy Pearce and the middle part with Ralph Fiennes.   As an aside:  how awesome has Ralph Fiennes been over the past couple years?  He really has done everything right.

The Hurt Locker has a good chance at Best Picture and Best Director. Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner was great, but everyone thinks Jeff Bridges will win for Crazy Heart. I’ve seen the trailer of Crazy Heart and it is clearly unwatchable dreck. I hope Clooney gets it for Up in the Air because I will watch that movie.  So if Renner wins it is not undeserved.

A Serious Man
I just got around to seeing A Serious Man and I just do not get it.  No, not like when people did not get No Country for Old Men with an ambiguous ending.  I just did not get where the Coens were going with it.  I could go into what it was about, but I really don’t know.  The easiest description is that a man’s life is falling apart all around him and he has to make a choice of faith.

Movies like it on Netflix include Election (Liked), Ghost World (Liked), Husbands and Wives (liked), and Fight Club (Liked).  The only one it is anything like is Husbands and Wives, but even there the inside nature sets it apart. I could tell you what the other movies are about.  Netflix should just list four movies that make no sense.

It has also been nominated for Original Screenplay. That’s it. It may win since the Coens tend to win things.  I’m just really confused by it.  I don’t think I liked this movie.  You tell me.

Up in the Air
I have not seen this one yet. I know a bit about it, but really tried to keep myself spoiler free. George Clooney travels like 250 days out of the year by plane.  It is a movie about the lifestyle of flying.  The last movie that seems to have hit the same cord about flying was Catch Me If You Can. Flying was not about TSA checks, but stewardesses and hotel bars. That is kind of neat and I will see it for that reason alone. That and George Clooney tends to make fun movies.

Netflix claims if I liked this I would like Glengarry Glen Ross (Liked), Good Night, and Good Luck (Liked), Legends of the Fall (Never Saw), and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Liked). I really love Glengarry and Good Night, and Good Luck. Netflix never lies. I will probably like this one.

Up in the Air will go awardless, though people love George Clooney. People are hip to his game, though. The last time he legitimately acted was in O’ Brother. It doesn’t mean he is a bad actor. He is great at what he does. Also nominated was Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Good for them. Anna Kendrick was useless in the Twilight movies.  To get a good performance out of her must mean Reitman can direct, right?

Go to Oscar Night In America, week one, Oscar Night In America, week three.