SEARCH THIS BLOG

Sunday, December 25, 2022

"Avatar: The Way of Water"

Thirteen years after the original, motion-capture groundbreaking "Avatar," the sky people (humans) are back, this time to colonize distant moon Pandora, as earth is in ruins.  While the good versus evil is clear, blended family dynamics is a bit murky.  The final sea battle is relentless and consequential.  In family and war, the aftermath has forward implications for future stories.  

Relocating the focus from the forest people (Na'vi) to the coastal clan (Metkayina) in their native environment is a fresh move.  It provides interesting, new experiences for the land dwellers as they learn to adapt to the ocean-based lives, as well as a novelty factor for the audience. And the subtle differences in the species make sense, a function of their environment to survive.

You'll still soak in the verdant 🌳 floating forest and soar to the skies, but the lushly luminescent ✨ undersea 🌊, richly colorful floras 🪸 and faunas 🐋  will sweep you away and immerse you in its vast and vivid, silky smooth water world, giving you the feeling of gliding or standing still 🫧 underwater...  Pure cinematic visual magic. 🎥 🪄 🥳  See it in 3D and the largest screen possible! 😎 

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is the way to wonder. 


Friday, December 16, 2022

"Babylon"


From 12/05/2022 press screening:

It's like Las Vegas in all its glamorous excess in a movie form.  

The movie follows the intertwined lives of three characters in the movie business in the Roaring ‘20s.  An aspiring, rebellious actress who decided she's a star even before she’s discovered (Nellie LaRoy, Margot Robbie), a blue-collar worker who dreams to be in a movie set (Manny Torres, Diego Calva), and a famous movie star at the prime of his career (Jack Conrad, Brad Pitt).

Starry-eyed dreams come true, detour and crash.  While fame may fade and friendship endures, it’s also a cautionary tale.  Everything will eventually run its course, although there’s a lot to be said about making the kind of life choices that could either propel you or destroy you.  And just because you’ve made it, it doesn’t mean you will stay at the top.  Things will not stay the same and you will have to adapt and accept.  

Being in a movie not only allows you to be a part of something bigger and something that lasts.  It means something, not only to you but also to the masses that enjoy your movies.  It's also the ultimate escape from real life.  Movies scenes may look and feel real, but they're illusions.  

Robbie ("The Wolf of Wall Street") is fiercely magnetic in all that is asked of her.  Calva is the central connector and is most earnest in his performance.  Pitt (“Ad Astra,” "Allied," "The Big Short") portrays that aging movie star persona just right.  Tobey Maguire ("Spider Man: No Way Home," “Pawn Sacrifice”) pops up late for the craziest scenes of his career. 

The sensational sets, wild decadence, bizarre sequences, manic energy and chaotic movements, adjacent to silent cinema and perfectly lit golden hour shots, are carried by incredible live music. 

Did I say incredible live music?   Yes, the movie feels long and there are a couple of lengthy, out-there sequences that could be cut, but if you also love music, concerts, jazz, blues, et al go see it for the music!  The extended, energetic beats throughout will entrance and stay with you way after the movie cuts to black.  Director Damien Chazelle hasn't left his "La La Land" roots.  

The mechanic and magic of movie-making have never been so raucous and breathless at the same time.  The transition from silent movie-making to sound cinema is fascinating to watch.  This is made for movie-making lovers.  If you love movies that are love notes to Hollywood (“Hail, Caesar!,” “Trumbo”), you’ll enjoy “Babylon,” despite the running time of over three hours.  

Boisterously and lavishly messy, ambitious, audacious... "Babylon" is a shock and awe to the senses and outrageously engrossing.