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.

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, C2E2, went down this weekend in the Windy City. There was a lot of news from all over, but below are the things that stood out to me.

We Are the X-Men

The teaser images released last week were to showcase a new ongoing series simply titled X-Men coming in July. An interview with writer Victor Gischler and artist Paco Medina reveals that the book is intended to show the X-Men integrated in the Marvel Universe via guest stars team ups (possibly explaining the inclusion of Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Blade and Elektra in the promos). The first arc involves mutants vs. vampires.

Accompanying this announcement was another great Adi Granov image featuring a number of X-Men mainstays and word that Uncanny X-Men and X-Men: Legacy aren’t changing anything other than art teams. Of course, this could be to avoid spoiling anything in Second Coming.

New X-Force

An X-Force relaunch titled New X-Force is coming in September from writer Rick Remender and artist Jerome Opeña. It seems the current series will end at the close of Second Coming, which actually makes a lot of sense given the way this series and Cable launched out of Messiah Complex. The new book features a team led by Wolverine whose membership is currently a mystery, though the silhouettes look like Angel, Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Fanomex. Not sure how I feel about this one…

Secret Avengers

Speaking of mysteries, the full line-up of Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato’s upcoming Secret Avengers series was revealed. I managed to guess some correctly, others not so much. Featuring an espionage theme and characters spanning the Marvel Universe (Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, Black Widow, War Machine, Ant Man, Beast, Nova, Moon Knight, and Valkyrie), I think I’m definitely in for this one.  Plus I’m a huge fan of Beast.

Avengers: Children’s Crusade

This new project announced from Young Avengers creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung probably has piqued my interest the most. Avengers: Children’s Crusade involves the Scarlet Witch, her children and the Young Avengers, House of M and at least Magneto if not the rest of the X-Men. The book is slated to begin in July.

I’m loving the current X-Men: Second Coming storyline as you may have read about here. Rather than just ride that wave, Marvel has released a series of images for May’s X-Men books reading “We Are The X-Men” to tease the status quo post Second Coming. The images (posted below) show what is presumably the new team tearing through an image from the cover of 1991’s X-Men #1 by Jim Lee. The first was intriguing in that it featured Spider-Man, but then it got weird as they revealed Blade, Elektra, and the new She-Hulk from an alternate future were part of the team. I don’t know where this is going. Could be great, could be awful. I’ll give it a chance, but only because I always do. I am looking forward to seeing how Nate Grey is involved and the interactions between him, Hope and Magneto. The vampire Jubilee could be intriguing as well.

Along with the images, Marvel.com did provide some information to go along with each reveal, but they don’t really speak to the details of why these particular characters might be together (or associated with the X-Men at all for that matter). Considering each of the non-X-Men characters in the context of recent X-events:

• Blade may be around as a result of X-Force’s recent battle with Selene during Necrosha as she was a vampire of sorts. Although it makes more sense that he may be after the vampire Jubilee.
• The new She-Hulk is from the future and may be connected to Hope in some way as she is also a key figure in things that haven’t happened yet.
• Elektra was associated with the X-Men in the Mutant X universe, so there could be an unrevealed connection that brings her into the fold in this story.
• Spider-Man has interacted with the X-Men in the past and was even invited to join the team in the X-Men/Spider-Man mini-series that saw print in 2009. On a side note, this was a great story for any long time X-fan.

More information is scheduled to be available at today’s X-Men Panel at C2E2.

It’s no secret that I like having Angie around all the time, but I really wish she could have been there this morning when I walked past a University of Pennsylvania campus rally against babies.

With placards reading “Don’t let BABIES happen to YOU”, and “STOP babies in our lifetime”, and a rainbow colored boa, they are sure to attract attention on this beautiful Spring day in Philadelphia. I have to admit, they had some fair points citing that babies contribute to unemployment and overpopulation. Their petition already had signatures from public figures like university president “Amy Gutman” and the President of the United States himself, “Barack Obama.” This could have some real momentum and I’m certain other luminaries such as “I.P. Freely” and “Amanda Hugginkiss” will be signing up soon.

What started as a playful tete-a-tete on Twitter has become the next obvious choice for my posts here: Book Reports from an English Major. Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to 1500 word analyses. Consider this culture, boiled down for cocktail parties, or whatever non-alcoholic equivalent strikes your fancy. I’ll hit you with a 2 for 1 special each issue. Let’s strike up the band.

The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon. Read during January 2010.

Often considered the earliest post-modernist author, Thomas Pynchon’s first novel length offering follows Oedipa Mas as she tries to unravel the mystery of the Tristero system, which is either an antiquated postal delivery system or a massive counter-cultural system linking all the marginalized dropouts from societies around the globe. What is revealed, piece by piece, is the collection of underground systems operating right under our noses here in America, outside the pale of the mainstream, daylight world. You know what else? None of it means anything. Or maybe it means everything. Either way, Oedipa won’t ever find out, and by the end of the book, neither will you. Funny, maddening and maybe a little paranoid. Recommended if you like conspiracy theories, drugs, and one-night stands related to the aforementioned. Not for the easily offended.

White Noise, Don DeLillo. Read late January/early February 2010.

If you like your post-modernism from an affable, ineffectual father who happens to head the Hitler studies program at College on the Hill in Blacksmith (KS? NE?) then DeLillo’s White Noise is up your alley. Jack Gladney is afraid of death. So is his wife. Their kids are smarter than they are. An emergency response unit works only on simulations, not REAL emergencies. An asylum burning and watching disasters on TV are entertainments in this book. You know that crappy band you like, Airborne Toxic Event? They got their name from the middle section of this book.

You know what? You can bypass this book altogether. Recommended if you have irrational fears about things you can’t control, like death. Not for people that want to spend their time reading something they like.