Movie reviews: 'Avatar: The Way of the Water' has breathtaking visuals, but too simple a story
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AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER: 4 STARS
This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Kate Winslet, as Ronal, left, and Cliff Curtis, as Tonowari, in a scene from "Avatar: The Way of Water." (20th Century Studios via AP)
鈥淎vatar: The Way of Water鈥 harkens back to a time when Hollywood bigshots thought, 鈥淚f a picture is worth a thousand words, a 3D picture is worth a million words.鈥 The original film, 2009鈥檚 鈥淎vatar鈥 was director James Cameron鈥檚 grand experiment in the audience鈥檚 tolerance for 2 hours 42 minutes of images popping off the screen.
Thirteen years ago, the million words theory worked. 鈥淎vatar鈥 was a massive hit, grossing almost 3 billion dollars worldwide, as rumors of a series of sequels hung in the air. Delay after delay kept the blue people off screens for so long, four presidents came and went while Cameron tinkered with the story and the technology to bring his vision to life.
The tinkering is finally over. Cameron returns to theatres with the first of four planned sequels, 鈥淎vatar: The Way of Water,鈥 an epic 3D sequel that mixes astonishing visuals with eye-rolling teenagers, a character with the b-movie name Z-Dog and a 3 hour and 12-minute tale of colonialism.
Set on Pandora, an Earth-like habitable extrasolar moon from the Alpha Centauri System populated by the Na鈥檝i, the nine to 10 feet tall Indigenous peoples, the movie picks up the action more than a decade after the events of the first film. Former Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who left his human body behind to permanently become Na'vi, lives on the peaceful planet with wife Neytiri (Zoe Salda帽a) and children.
Their idyll is interrupted with the return of the Sky People, humans who want to鈥減acify the hostiles鈥 and takeover Pandora.
鈥淓arth is dying,鈥 says General Frances Ardmore (Edie Falco). 鈥淧andora is the new frontier.鈥
Despite having been killed off in the original, the Pandora-bound team is led by the ruthless Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a genetically engineered 鈥渞ecombinant鈥 or avatar version of the late Marine, implanted with his mind and emotions. 鈥淲e have been brought back in the form of our enemy,鈥 he says of he and his team. He plans on taking Pandora at any cost, and getting revenge on Sully, who he sees as a traitor.
Forced into hiding with Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), Ronal (Kate Winslet) and the reef people clan of Metkayina, Sully and his family learn the way of water鈥"no beginning and no end鈥濃攁nd fight to defend their world.
So, the big question is: Was 鈥淎vatar: The Way of Water鈥 worth the wait?
As a technical achievement, yes, unquestionably. The visuals are stunning, particularly in the underwater scenes. Cameron鈥檚 camera has a nimbleness often missing in 3D films, which often feel locked-down. His fluid camera roams, on land and sea, capturing some of the most eye-popping, breathtaking scenes of this, or any other, season. Each and every frame is carefully considered, and most could be cut out, framed and hung on the wall to great effect.
The visuals facilitate Cameron鈥檚 world building, providing tantalizing views of the forest land of Pandora and the wet 鈥榥 wild world of Metkayina, complete with giant whale-like creatures that could have sprung from the imagination of Ray Harryhausen, and lush, colorful flora and fauna.
It does not look like any other 3D film鈥攅ven the original 鈥淎vatar鈥濃攁nd will engage the eye and stimulate the brain.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the story, which is as simple as the images are complex. Essentially, Cameron continues the colonialization themes of the first film, while adding in mysticism, traditional medicine, poachers and even a nod to Jonah and the Whale.
Most of all, it is a story of family, of parents and children. Apparently, Pandorian kids behave sort of like Earth teens, eye rolls, attitude and all. The family relationships add an intimate element to the epic story, but the visuals often get in the way of the storytelling.
Long action sequences, like a spectacular sea creature attack, take away from the movie鈥檚 main thrust, pushing the running time upwards, but not advancing the story. Perhaps they are scheduled in to accommodate bathroom breaks. Whatever the reason, they showcase Cameron鈥檚 mastery of the form but often feel spectacular simply for the sake of spectacle.
Loud and proud, 鈥淎vatar: The Way of Water鈥 can be, by times, overwhelming, but it鈥檚 also the kind of grand scale movie that demands to be seen on the biggest, most immersive screen possible. Cameron shoots for the moon, but goes even further, to a place called Pandora.
BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS: 2 陆 STARS
This image released by Netflix shows Daniel Gimenez Cacho in a scene from "Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths." (Netflix via AP)
鈥淏ardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,鈥 the new Netflix film from Alejandro Gonz谩lez I帽谩rritu, Oscar winning director of 鈥淭he Revenant鈥 and 鈥淏irdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), is for people who didn鈥檛 think Bob Fosse鈥檚 鈥淎ll That Jazz鈥 was self-indulgent enough.
A surreal treatise on the search for purpose in life, 鈥淏ardo鈥濃攁 Buddhist name for the transitional state between death and rebirth鈥攊s cut loose of reality, existing in a world where a newborn baby can whisper a request to stay in his mother鈥檚 womb because the world is too messed up.
Living in this whimsical world is Silverio (Daniel Gim茅nez Cacho), a journalist-turned-documentary-filmmaker just days away from becoming the first Mexican to be awarded a prestigious American journalism accolade. Instead of elation, Silverio develops a bad case of imposter鈥檚 syndrome. He anxiously questions everything, from his professional success and Mexican identity, to family trauma and the biggest question of all, what, exactly are we doing here? 鈥淪uccess,鈥 he says, 鈥渉as been my biggest failure.鈥
He spends the movie gazing into what seems to be a never-ending navel, one filled with existential crisis and vivid fever dreams.
There are undeniably unforgettable images contained in I帽谩rritu鈥檚 ethereal, dreamlike film. A conversation with conquistador Hern谩n Cort茅s, at the top of a pyramid of corpses will sear itself into your corneas and the opening shot, of Silverio鈥檚 shadow leapfrogging through a desert, is beautiful and haunting. But as memorable as these sequences are, they feel as if I帽谩rritu is flexing a muscle, pumping the movie up with beefy visuals that exist simply for the sake of filling the screen, not filling out the storytelling.
The hallucinatory visuals often overwhelm the points I帽谩rritu attempts to elucidate. He is a master of cinematographic language, but the mix and match of Silverio鈥檚 rambling search for meaning with these flamboyant images, adds up to a showy, self-referential film, one that is too much enamored with itself.
Amusingly, I帽谩rritu seems to understand this. In one long scene a former friend turned television provocateur taunts Silverio, accusing him of being shallow and pretentious. It鈥檚 a meta moment, one in which the film鈥檚 characters accurately sum up the action happening around them onscreen. It is the most self-aware moment in 鈥淏ardo,鈥 a movie that attempts to unearth life鈥檚 deeper meaning, but often is too obtuse to move the heart or the spirit.
THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER: 3 陆 STARS
This image released by A24 shows Tilda Swinton in a scene from "The Eternal Daughter." (Sandro Kopp/A24 via AP)鈥淭he Eternal Daughter,鈥 now playing in theatres, is a gothic ghost story set at a hotel, but don鈥檛 check in expecting thrills and chills. This is psychological drama that plays upon the power of memories to create a sense of unease.
Written and directed by Joanna Hogg, the film stars Tilda Swinton in a dual role as screenwriter Julie Hart and her elderly mother Rosalind. Julie is in the early stages of writing a film about her relationship with her mother and has planned a stay at a stately, but remote hotel that once belonged to Rosalind鈥檚 aunt, in Wales. In the quiet of the Welsh countryside Julie hopes to mine her mother鈥檚 memories for details to enrich her screenplay.
When she was evacuated from London during the Blitz, Rosalind lived at the hotel, then a grand country mansion. Julie questions her about that time, 鈥淲ere you aware of the war going on?鈥 but Rosalind is reticent to dredge up some of the old memories. She remembers the happy times, but grows heartfelt when evoking the death of her brother, lost in the war during battle over the English Channel.
鈥淵ou always said you had such happy memories here,鈥 says Julie. 鈥淥h mom, I鈥檓 so sorry. I feel so bad for bringing you here.鈥
鈥淚 did have happy memories here,鈥 Rosalind replies, 鈥渂ut I also had other memories here and they鈥檙e all still alive.鈥
Despite her mother鈥檚 attempts to placate her, Julie is distraught at the pain she has caused by bringing Rosalind back to her childhood home. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really difficult for me to think of her as being sad,鈥 Julie says.
There is a fuzzy line between fantasy and reality in 鈥淭he Eternal Daughter.鈥 The old hotel, run by a tetchy front desk clerk (Carly-Sophia Davies), whose passive-aggression brings some humor to the staid situation, creaks in the night and shadows loom in the corners. It is the perfect Gothic breeding ground for Julie鈥檚 growing dread and paranoia. Director Hogg takes her time revealing the film鈥檚 direction, and whether or not characters, like the groundskeeper Bill (Joseph Mydell) are real or a figment of Julie鈥檚 imagination.
It鈥檚 not about thrills, it鈥檚 about mood. As the two women attempt to connect, to find a way through the memories to a real, tangible place, Hogg creates melodramatic psychological miasma that questions the very proceedings on the screen. There are no easy answers, as Swinton, masterfully playing both mother and daughter, explores the connection between reality, fantasy and memory, but the questions about identity left by the story will linger.
I鈥橫 TOTALLY FINE: 3 STARS
Like 鈥淪tarman,鈥 the 1984 Jeff Bridges movie about an alien who returns to Earth in the form of a heartbroken widow鈥檚 late husband, a new film is an out-of-this-world exploration of grief.
In 鈥淚鈥檓 Totally Fine,鈥 a new dark comedy now on VOD, Jillian Bell plays Vanessa, a young woman struggling to clear her head after the sudden death of her best friend and business partner Jennifer (Natalie Morales).
Alone at the rental home, where she was planning a party to celebrate the success of their shared soft drink company, she is startled when someone鈥攐r something鈥攚ho looks exactly like her late friend turns up in the kitchen. The strange situation becomes even stranger when new Jennifer (Morales) says she is an extraterrestrial, loaded with all of Jennifer memories, sent to Earth for forty-eight hours to study civilization. 鈥淛ennifer remains deceased,鈥 says the species observation officer, 鈥淚 am simply an extraterrestrial who has taken her form.鈥
Over the next two days, reluctantly at first, Vanessa undergoes tests and begins to understand the meaning of Alfred Lord Tennyson鈥檚 words, "'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
鈥淚鈥檓 Totally Fine鈥 is an undeniably weird odd-couple movie about the power of connection and the importance of letting go.
Bell is understated as she cycles through Vanessa鈥檚 stages of grief. 鈥淚t might be fun to see how unstable I can get,鈥 she says. Her world is inside out, but as alien Jennifer looks on, making notes鈥"Human has turned anger on herself.鈥濃攖hat actually help Vanessa punch a hole into the melancholy that hangs over her like a veil.
The far showier role belongs to Morales. As a monotone alien who is often bewildered by humanity, her unabashedly odd performance becomes endearing as she becomes the catapult for Vanessa鈥檚 catharsis. It鈥檚 a trick to find the balance between quirky and compassion, and Morales nails it.
Despite its odd story, 鈥淚鈥檓 Totally Fine鈥 doesn鈥檛 go anywhere you don鈥檛 see coming, but the performances bring some real humanity to the alien premise.
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