AVATAR is a film that’s been on just about every movie geek’s radar for what seems like an eternity. I have to admit, my level of excitement has been somewhat of a roller coaster as the various marketing has come and gone. Before they showed a single frame of footage, I couldn’t wait to see what James Cameron had up his sleeve after TITANIC, which was the last feature film that he directed before AVATAR. When roughly 20 minutes of footage were screened at Comic Con, I eagerly read everything I could about it, still waiting for my first glimpse of footage.  Then, the first teaser came out. Sure, it looked cool, but did it look like the mind-blowing masterpiece that the hype would lead you to believe? Not so much. It looked more like a Final Fantasy cut-scene. Granted, it still looked pretty awesome, just not anything new or game-changing. Luckily for James Cameron, that is not the case.

Seeing AVATAR on a big screen in 3-D is nothing short of an incredible experience. The CGI, which makes up roughly 80-90% of the movie, looks both spectacular and lifelike at the same time. There wasn’t a second of the film that I didn’t believe that I was in the world of Pandora (the alien moon on which the movie takes place). Visually, this is by far the most impressive movie of the year, and sets a new standard in CGI character work. WETA far surpasses their work on the LORD OF THE RINGS films here, and if they don’t win an Oscar for it, I’ll be shocked. Just the CGI and 3-D alone are reason enough to go see AVATAR, but fortunately the story isn’t too bad either.

Avatar is the story of a soldier named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who has been paralyzed from the waist down in combat. The film is set in the future, when spinal injuries are easily fixed, just expensive. When Jake’s twin brother dies, he is contacted by a group of scientists who inform him about the AVATAR program which his brother was a part of. This program takes humans and links their minds into artificially created bodies which resemble aliens called Na’vi, who reside on Pandora. Each Avatar is created with the DNA of it’s human host, so only that specific person can link with it. Since Jake and his brother share the same DNA, naturally they need him to take his brother’s place.

Jake quickly learns to love and enjoy being in his Avatar body, since he now has the ability to walk, run, and do everything that he wished he could in his human body. However, life on Pandora isn’t exactly a paradise. The air on Pandora is deadly to humans, which is the main reason for creating the Avatars in the first place. And the reason why humans are on Pandora at all is a metal called “unobtainium”. As it’s name suggests, it is quite hard to find, and is worth a whole lot of money back on Earth. Unfortunately for the humans, the largest supply of unobtainium is located right under the Na’vi’s main village. You can probably see where this is headed, which essentially is the weakest aspect of the film. Story-wise there isn’t really anything groundbreaking here, but at the same time, the story never gets dull, and the characters were interesting enough that I still enjoyed the story.

The acting is all around great in AVATAR. After seeing Sam Worthington in TERMINATOR SALVATION, I was less than impressed. Here, on the other hand, his work is great, and I was completely engrossed in his story. Zoe Saldana (STAR TREK) who plays the Na’vi called Neytiri, is also fantastic, and makes a strong case for inter-species dating. Even Michelle Rodriguez (LOST, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) who I usually can’t stand is enjoyable in the film. Cameron gives just about all the major players their moment to shine, and none of them disappoints.

Like the CG, the action in AVATAR is incredible. James Cameron’s work on some of the greatest action films of all time has clearly paid off. Unlike other action directors (Michael Bay) Cameron realizes that the best action is action that you can actually see! You won’t see any close-up, shaky-cam nonsense here. Instead, you’ll get to enjoy the hand-to-hand combat, gunfights, arial battles, and even giant mech fights in all their clear, discernible glory. I may be over-stressing this point, but I absolutely HATE when an action film is so shaky that you can’t tell what’s happening, and, if you feel the same way, AVATAR will certainly be a visual treat for you to behold.

I highly recommend that you see AVATAR on the big screen and in 3-D. I’ve seen a few 3-D movies over the years, and this one tops them all by a landslide. The 3-D effect never gets annoying and they don’t use any cheap 3d tactics of throwing things at you. Instead, the 3-D is used to add another layer into the imagery, making the visuals pop with incredible detail. Unfortunately, it may be a while before this level of 3-D is readily available to watch at home, so make sure to see AVATAR in theatres, or you’ll regret missing out on a great experience.

James Cameron certainly hasn’t lost his touch, and I personally can’t wait to see what he does next.

Fans of offbeat comedy, please give this show a chance!

I’m reposting this announcement via Turner.com:

British Comedy The Mighty Boosh Debuts on Adult Swim

Innovative Televisions Series from Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding Begins March 29, 2009

The Mighty BooshĂ‚  will make its way to the U.S. on Sunday, March 29, at 1 a.m. (ET/PT), joining Adult Swim’s Sunday line-up. An idea originally created by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding in a London pub as a sketch comedy has evolved from live theatre to radio and, finally, to a groundbreaking television series. All three seasons ofĂ‚  The Mighty BooshĂ‚  are slated to air on Adult Swim in 2009, beginning with the third season on March 29.Ă‚  

U.S. television audiences will soon get the chance to experience the fantastical comedic universe written by, and starring, comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Barratt and Fielding’s characters were first created for their comedy sketch series Unnatural Acts, which soon made its way to three stage productionsĂ‚  The Mighty Boosh, Arctic BooshĂ‚  andĂ‚  Authoboosh.The live act was then commissioned by the BBC for a six-part radio series that eventually became the successful and award-winning U.K. television series on BBC3. In 2006, Barratt and Fielding launched their first nationwide tourĂ‚  The Mighty BooshĂ‚  Live across the U.K. Their second tour Boosh Live sold out venues at 90 stops across the U.K. and Ireland and wrapped up earlier this year.Ă‚  

InĂ‚  The Mighty Boosh,Ă‚  self-absorbed wannabe glam rocker Vince Noir (Fielding) and the intellectually vain and self-proclaimed genius and jazz aficionado Howard Moon (Barratt) are in a band looking to discover “the new sound†ť and live alongside a freelance shaman, Naboo (Michael Fielding) and Bollo (David Brown), a talking Gorilla. Each season,Ă‚  The Mighty Booshcreates its own unique environment, taking place in a vast array of locales, including the “Zooniverse†ť, the Frozen Tundra and the Australian desert. All three seasons ofĂ‚  The Mighty BooshĂ‚  are set to be released on DVD this summer.Ă‚  

Paul McCartney was in The Beatles, then Wings and finally went on to record and perform as plain ol’ Paul McCartney. Regardless of how you feel about the guy, he is a living legend.

And if you don’t know who he is, then you might be dead. Get that checked out.

But who in the hell is Matt Berry? And what is he doing with McCartney?

Matt Berry is many things: Actor, Comedian, Musician, Englishman. He may be more, but there is only so much awesome you can pack inside one man.

Berry is a familiar face to fans of the BBC and was a regular on ‘The IT Crowd,’ ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace,’ ‘The Mighty Boosh’ and the funniest damn show to ever air on broadcast television, ‘Snuff Box.’

For music fans, Berry has contributed his pop sensibilities to numerous shows, most notably ‘Snuff Box,’ which features numerous tunes in every episode. Berry wrote the lot of ‘em.

Currently, Berry can be seen in the film ‘Moon,’ which we recently reviewed as a part of our SXSW coverage (check it out).

I imagine Matt Berry will eventually win over the hearts and minds of all children. Until that happens, he will continue being awesome.

So awesome, in fact, that even Sir Paul McCartney is getting in on the action. He and Berry recorded a song together, ‘Rain Came Down,’ which will be included on Berry’s forthcoming album, ‘Witchazel,’ his follow up to the sublime ‘Opium.’

For a limited time, you can download ‘Witchazel’ for free by clicking HERE.

And if you’d like a taste of the ‘Snuff Box‘…

Fans of ‘Oldboy’ should take note. Writer and director Park Chan-wook is set to unleash a heap of awesome upon your fragile eyeballs with ‘Thirst,’ the filmmaker’s take on the vampire genre.

Travis first covered this film here, so check out his article for details. Below the break is the trailer and, even though it is all in Korean, it still commands your undivided attention.

This may be a great companion piece to last year’s ‘Let The Right One In.’

The movie is still listed as being in “post production” on IMDb, but WAMG will keep you posted on the inevitable (and most likely limited) North American release date.

poster source: Daum

Are you aware of ‘The Mighty Boosh,’Ă‚  one of the GREATEST shows ever broadcast on the BBC?

Well, ‘Boosh’ is about to hit airwaves in the U.S.A., courtesy of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.

The show is set to premiere at 1:00 AM on March 29, 2009. WATCH IT.

It is hard to describe what ‘The Mighty Boosh’ is all about, except to say that it is delightful and absurd. It is near the zenith for surreal comedy. If you haven’t heard anyone talk about Old Gregg, well, just wait. You will.

The show surrounds the exploits of Howard Moon (Julian Barratt)Ă‚  and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding), two music enthusiasts and general naifs that encounter any number of incredibly eccentric, bizarre and roundly bent individuals on a daily basis.

If you’re looking for that “next big thing,” then look no further. The ‘Boosh’ is coming.

Crimpity crimpity now now!

I first ran an article (here) about the Liam Neeson thriller, ‘Taken,’ almost a whole year ago.

And now, after having its release date bumped and moved and even questioned as to whether or not it would make it to theaters… ‘Taken’ is number one at this weekends box office.

$24,625,000

Take that, you fat mall cop!

For serious, though, ‘Taken’ is pretty awesome. Did you see it yet? No? Then be ashamed…

The Honest Performance And A Lens…

Director Darren Aronofsky has given us ‘The Wrestler,’ which many critics believe to be a shoe in at this year’s Oscars ceremony, specifically for the Best Actor category.

“I went to see ‘Angel Heart‘ and it was the first film I ever – when the credits rolled I sat there and waited with the lights on ‘til the lights came back down and the film started again,†ť recalls Aronofsky. “He’s such a unique talent, there’s no one like him, you know? And all that amour, and then you look into those eyes and he’s just burning up.†ť

Aronofsky is referring to his lead actor, Mickey Rourke, who plays Randy “The Ram†ť Robinson, a wrestler beyond his prime who wants nothing more than to be number one just one more time.

“He’s basically a ripped open nerve and he’s just sizzling with emotion,†ť says Aronofsky. “Between action and cut there’s no one better, ‘cause he just lets it go. He’s completely natural and he’s a complete professional and he’ll keep going until you call cut.†ť

‘The Wrestler’ is a simple film but emotionally complex, and the film has garnered accolades on the festival circuit.

“The honest performance and a lens is the true thing here,†ť admits Aronofsky. “People really react to someone being really open. All three actors did it in different ways. Mickey in every way, Marisa with her body and creating such complexity and depth to the character, and Evan Rachel Wood really brings some personal stuff to the plate.†ť

Rourke, rightfully lauded for his performance, believes that the film’s success can be traced back to Aronofsky.

“I think Darren is the main reason that this thing has had the success, the integrity, everything else that came with it because of what he brought to the table,†ť Rourke says and adds, “his genius and his relentless strive for perfection and hard work. He’s a director that takes chances.†ť

Rourke has had a tumultuous career and it is something he acknowledges candidly.

“Somebody said to me, ‘Do you think you could have given the same performance fifteen years ago?’ And I said yes real quick,†ť Rourke pauses, “and the more I thought about it, I went, ‘Hmm. Fifteen years ago I would have, maybe, thrown Darren Aronofsky out of a window. Or told him to go fuck himself. So, I’m grateful for the changes that I’ve had to make.†ť

The sincerity of that gratitude is evident when Rourke talks about his work in ‘The Wrestler.’

“Forget all the other things I was in,†ť Rourke says. “This is the movie that defines everything. People say to me, ‘What’s the best movie you ever made?’ ‘Barfly,’ ‘Angel Heart,’ this one that one – this is the best fucking movie I’ve ever made and the hardest movie I’ve ever made and it’s the movie I’m most proud of.Ă‚   Good isn’t good enough, not when you’ve wasted fifteen fucking years.†ť

“I learned a great lesson on this movie. Maybe I learned it before but I didn’t stick to it. I really need to work with people that I have respect for, with casts that I have respect for, with material, director, because if I don’t do that, then that’s when all hell breaks loose. This is my second chance and this is my last chance. I’m looking toward having some longevity in my career.†ť

Like the title character, Rourke won’t go down without a fight, and his performance is proof positive of how magnificent he can be.

Ă‚  

In 23 days of release ‘The Wrestler’ has earned $1,762,043 in only 18 theaters. If nominated for Best Picture at this years Academy Awards, then you can expect the number of theaters showing ‘The Wrestler’ to jump considerably.

Until then, if you live within driving distance to any of the following theaters, then go see this movie.Ă‚  

Here we are, the day after the ‘Twilight’ opening and yes, the movie did insanely great with $33 million on opening night and Except a big opening weekend, and then give all the fans time to talk about how horrible it was and you are going to see a deadly drop in the millions.

Now that the movie everyone just KNEW was going to be amazing has let more than a few fans down, you are going to see a big backlash. What do I mean? Well lets take a look at the critics reaction:

For those of you that don’t know, a 43% on RottenTomatoes.com is not a good thing. The average rating is a 5.3 out of 10! This is where ‘Twilight’ is failing and other book to movies like ‘Harry Potter’ were so successful. I didn’t read any of the Potter books, but I absolutely love the movies, however the things I have heard from people that haven’t read the books is this movie just sucks. Even the people that have read the books have come up to me and said “You are right, they movie was nothing nearly as good as the book”.

That brings me to my next point, what are the die hard fans saying about the movie? Well I took a deep breath and ventured my way into one of the twilight forums and this is what I found:

There were some things I didn’t like about this movie at all. I thought every single effect was cheap and fake…The sparkling was alright, but it looked fake to me and I kind of excepted more, like I could hardly see it on him. The running and climbing up the tree was just so bad I started laughing. It just wasn’t real! LOL, the running looked like just his legs were moving. And the jumping got me really pissed off because it didn’t look like they were jumping, it looked like they were flying across the room and they just don’t do that.

and from another forum:

“I don’t think I saw the same movie as most of you in the other threads. I thought it was dreadful. If someone watches this film who has NOT read the book, I see no way that person could possibly understand what was going on (this, coming from someone who has read the book twice).”

“I do agree with those that feel Catherine Hardewick did not do a good job. I think her vision for the movie was not honest to the books. I still loved the movie but I did have trouble with not really having a meadow scene, more talking between Bella and Edward about the vampire stuff. There seemed to be no development from Bella and Edwards relationship from the first day they met till the end. They declare undying love but they don’t show it. Needed to be much more between Edward and Bella. I thought all the actors were great, I think they were following the direction of a bad director.”

I got out of there quickly as I did not want to be found out and geez what a crazy world they live in. I even saw one of these:

I can sort of understand why he is hanging around with all these tween girls, but seriously they are all taken, Robert Pattinson holds all of their hearts in the palm of his hand dude, so maybe you shouldn’t wear your “proud” sign too high.

So all in all I will sit back and enjoy the fact that I called all of this over hype back in May, and it feels so good to be right… again.

Ă‚  

Hope you like hunting, because it seems like the powers that be are busy taking those comic-con clips down just as fast as they are going up.

The ‘Wolverine’ clip was way better than I expected. Actually, it was way way better. How awesome does Liev Schreiber look as Sabretooth? And that little glimpse of Gambit… could this movie be the the kickass surprise that Wolverine fans have been hoping for? Might just be.

‘Tron 2,’ or ‘TR2N,’ was a complete WTF moment for me. I completely forgot this movie was even happening. I mean, there’s been talk of a ‘Tron’ sequel for, well, since forever. The trailer – even in bootleg “assvision” – looks pretty damn cool. Plus, they got Jeff Bridges to reprise his role from the original. Now, I would usually be really wary of a sequel nearly thirty years late, but color me excited. To quote a friend’s text message concerning the matter: “Luks fugn rad”

Luks fugn rad, indeed.

p.s. If you’re looking for these clips on Youtube, then prepare to be Rickrolled…

‘Twilight’ fans are almost like Harry Potter fans, except older and way more pissed off. If they read anything negative about the movie..they will find you and attempt to burn you at the stake. Just check out the 945 comments that MTV movie blog received about the EW Cover(picture above). They almost seem like the new breed of defensive Star Wars geeks, or Trekkies. This is the newest phenomenon, and its getting a bit out of control. They kind of feel that since they are such huge fans of the book, the movie wont disappoint them.

What do you guys think about this? Have you guys read the book? Are you excited for the movie without having read the book?

It seems like everytime I get online and check out movie stuff I am being bombarded with hype about ‘Twilight’. Its pretty damn ridiculous!

here is the synopsis:

“Seventeen-year-old Isabella Swan moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, Charlie. There, she finds herself drawn to a mysterious classmate, Edward Cullen, who is revealed to be a 108 year old vampire. Although Edward discourages the romance, they soon fall in love. When the arrival of three nomadic vampires puts Bella’s life in danger, Edward and his family must band together to save her before she is killed.”

This sounds like your run of the mill vampire movie..nothing special. I honestly dont understand how one minute there is NOTHING about this movie, and now its everywhere. How much is everyone getting paid to hype this because I want in on that action.