Avatar is director James Cameron’s long awaited follow up to Titanic. In many respects, Avatar and Titanic are similarly structured: both films are lengthy epics that can be split into two distinct parts, the other-worldly action of the climactic event and the lead up to said event. The major difference is that while I couldn’t wait for the boat to hit the iceberg in Titanic, I found myself enjoying the lead up to Avatar’s final battle sequence far more than I did the actual battle sequence. By any standard logic, this is unusual. The climax is supposed to be the most exciting and anticipated part of a story, not the introduction. However, in the case of Avatar, Cameron’s introduction to Pandora and its inhabitants is so well-thought out, so lovingly crafted and so very detailed that it’s hard not to be captivated by the material.
Cameron came up with the idea for Avatar roughly 15 years ago. Rumor has it that he was hoping to make Avatar right after Titanic, but because of the special effects he wanted, the budget estimate came in at more than $500 million, effectively killing the project. As such, Cameron was left with years of time to ponder the smallest details of the world he was focused on creating. This is so visible in the end product, I hesitate to think about what the material would have been like in the hands of a lesser director or someone who hadn’t had fifteen years to let the material marinate.
Avatar is truly a labor of love and the care and warmth that Cameron instilled in the proceedings elevates this from another run-of-the-mill science fiction movie to a film bubbling with life and energy that simply shimmers on screen.
2) CORALINE
director: Henry Selick
I have a true affinity for movies in which I can get comfortable. Whether it’s a smoothly developing plot structure, an eye pleasing color scheme, genuinely likeable characters or a limited number of sets, getting comfortable in a film is a rare joy to experience. Coraline lays claim to all of the above as well as a very delightful style of stop-motion animation in which director Henry Selick has become so proficient. Selick (along with source material creator, Neil Gaiman) visualized something unusually different in Coraline: an entire movie that takes place in one house. Far from feeling cramped, the results were a joy to watch as Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) explores her living space and discovers a small door to an alternate… house that looks exactly like the one she lives in.
Small in scope, lovingly crafted and warm, watching Coraline was an experience that I simply did not want to end.
1) THE HURT LOCKER
director: Kathryn Bigelow
I have a serious crush on Kathryn Bigelow. I’ve been crushing on her since I saw Point Break in 1991. When I saw Strange Days, I knew I was smitten something fierce. I am a K-19:Widowmaker apologist and, when I learned that Bigelow was getting behind the lens again to direct The Hurt Locker, I got absolutely giddy. No one does action like Bigelow. Bigelow’s style is in-your-face and personal. Her use of first-person shots in action sequences is true artisty (see both Point Break and Strange Days for great examples of this). She is also one of the only directors I can think of who is able to sustain tension across lengthy expanses of time without ever coming off as over-the-top. In this sense, The Hurt Locker is the gem of her career thus far. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire movie.
I’ve seen some (albeit slight) criticism of The Hurt Locker suggesting that creating an unnerving, uncomfortably tense, supremely dramatic film about a bomb squad is a gimme. However, this logic is somewhat flawed. Having seen a myriad of other films about bomb squads including Speed and Blown Away, I can assure you simply making a movie about people who work around explosives doesn’t instantly create tension and drama. Bigelow understands this and takes pains to make her two leads human and realistic.
This was a fantastic movie in every possible sense. Actors Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie deliver impressive performances, Bigelow’s camera work outstanding and the end result, one supremely fine film.
