The Future: Brought to You by James Cameron

I knew as I was watching there has never been a movie like James Cameron's Avatar. I was seeing something unique and special. I don't usually care for mega-budget special effects movie, this one is special. It is one of the best movie experiences of my life. It is a feast for the eyes that boasts incredible performances by little known actors who will most likely become movie stars. It is an achievement in visual effects like no other movie before it. It is, at once, an allegory about American politics, war-mongering, and our society's destruction of nature and natural resources, and a special effects extravaganza for the ages. Both parts work and work well.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic ex-Marine, is offered a job working on the planet Pandora as a genetic fill-in for his recently deceased brother. This brother has had an "Avatar" created for him, which is a remotely controlled body made from human traits and those from the Na'vi, the indigenous "people" of Pandora. Jake's avatar gets lost in the forests of Pandora and is discovered by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a young Na'vi woman. Jake begins by following orders from his military superiors gathering intelligence for his warmongering bosses who wish to mine the planet for this mineral that Earth needs (my guess is that Earth at this point...the year 2154...has been pretty much demolished by technology and suburban sprawl and this mineral from Pandora replenishes resources in some way). However, Jake soon realizes how special these people and their planet is and things change.

I won't go into anymore plot detail. That's all you should know going in. However, you should know that this movie needs to be seen on the big screen and probably in 3D or IMAX 3D. I saw it on a regular movie screen and was still blown away by its visual brilliance. I'm talking the most amazing light and color and natural beauty and bizarre creatures and futuristic machinery ever created for a movie. And, although the Na'vi themselves are animated, they actually look and move like the actors playing them through the use of that motion capture technology that gave us "Gollom" in the LOTR films and Zemeckis's last three (Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol). It is used to perfection here. It seems more realistic. The digital characters are given real space in physical locations like military bases and among trees and waterfalls. This movie is breathtaking. I can't even begin to fathom how something like this is made. James Cameron (writer/director for the first time since Titanic in 1997) will be hard to beat for the Best Director Oscar. He has proven, again, that he is a master of technology and a master storyteller.

As for me, I'll be going back to see it in IMAX. Who's coming with me?

Walt Whitman's Blue Jeans

Levi Jeans commercials make me want to google them. There was the brilliant one from last year with the girl and the guy stripping while one-upping each other with selfish lies:





Then there was one even further back that I still remember with actor Gael Garcia Bernal and the Air song, "Playground Love:"





Then, last summer, I saw this one in front of a movie (not sure which), but it has stuck with me ever since, and I still see it on TV every once in a while. It is probably my favorite advertisement of the last few years:





It's very Dead Poet's Society with a touch of too hipster for school. And that's just what I like about it. It gets you marching to the beat of a different drummer...Walt Whitman himself. I literally mean that. I walk around Clinton Middle School with these images in my head (stellar camera work in this thing) and the sound of that poem in my head. It flows so well. The imagery in those stanzas makes you wish you were a true artist. 


COME, my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,

Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged axes?

Pioneers! O pioneers!


For we cannot tarry here,

We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,

We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,

Pioneers! O pioneers!


O you youths, Western youths,

So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,

Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,

Pioneers! O pioneers!

When I hear these words I can feel Whitman's fascination with America, with America heading West, a pioneer preaching "pioneers!" They make me want to be a pioneer. A leader of "tan-faced children." "Go West, young man!" I say in my head. These powerful words, how they make me want to say how much I love them, how their syllabic stresses and unstresses compose a beat, a melody. And how with the help of creative cinematography and editing, music, bodies in motion, they are transformed into something cool, here and now, worth watching. I haven't gone out to buy any Levi's yet, but I think Walt might just be calling me to get some.

A pioneer in denim, I'll be. 

A denim pioneer of lessons in poetry. 

My eighth graders participated in a project Monday thru Wednesday of this past week that had them on a scavenger hunt for simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, repetition (hey! I just found some of that "Pioneers! O pioneers!"), end rhyme, internal rhyme, hyperbole, etc. We placed 35 poems around the CMS auditorium, and the students had to go around in groups and pick out examples of the aforementioned figurative language. We only had one Whitman poem up there, "I Hear America Singing" (personification). A better one for the age group I have. However, I am often disheartened when I see these children (young adults?) wondering around without care or passion for the things I love so much. I doubt that more than a handful really got something out of the project. 

In a way, I feel like I'm trying to achieve through teaching poetry what Whitman achieved with in writing this poem. That is, trying to inspire the young and the lost to go out and explore, to think outside the box, to be a little smarter. And I wonder if, when they (my students) see this commercial on TV, they think it's cool and get the itch to google it. I mean go back up and read those beginning stanzas in red, they speak directly to them. And they make me want to try harder next time around. 

Top Ten of the Decade

My dad sent me an email with the following link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/31234572/peter_travers_10_best_movies_of_t/

And this question: 


What do you think?


Here is my response, since I have some time on my hands: 


Pop,

I think it's a damn good list that is just lacking a bit in variety. The closest thing he as to comedy on there is The Incredibles, which I don't really like that much. (Finding Nemo (2003) is the best Pixar movie of the decade, in my opinion.) I made a list of my own, which, I know, leaves some great ones out (Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Juno, Into the Wild, Minority Report, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, etc), but it adds in some lesser known movies (Moonlight Mile and All the Real Girls) and some big-time, but important, comedies (The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad). Here it is:

1. Moonlight Mile (Brad Silberling, 2002)

This is a simple movie named after a 1970 Rolling Stones song that is loaded with an acting tour-de-force. Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon take in their murdered daughter's fiance (Jake Gyllenhaal...who steals the show), and we see them grieve and cope together in the early 1970s. Ellen Pompeo (pre-Gray's Anatomy) shines like the sun as the love interest. It seems bleak from the description, but this movie will leave you with a smile on your face for days, months, years. I saw it in the theater in 2002, and I still think about it weekly. One of the best movie experiences of my life! Simple, true, and brilliant!

2. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

Rock 'n' roll period piece (based on Cameron Crowe's actual experiences as a teen journalist) about a 15-year-old rock writer in over his head writing a cover story on an Allman-like rock band for Rolling Stone. It gave us Kate Hudson, who made everyone in America fall in love, and it made every music worshipping teenage boy jealous of Cameron Crowe's life story. This movie will grab your ears and your heart and make you realize why life is great.

3. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)

The most realistic-seeming portrait of the future I've seen. Cuaron's skill behind the camera is nothing short of amazing. There is a 13-minute action sequence in this movie that is composed of one long take. No cuts at all! Even if you don't care about or notice that type of stuff, it doesn't matter because the story is so compelling and well-told.

4. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, 2003)

One of David Gordon Green's first three Southern masterpieces along with George Washington (2000) and Undertow (2004), this movie explores a relationship between a small-town womanizer and his best friend's innocent younger sister. The power of first love has never been more accurately portrayed, and it hits home with me because it was filmed and is set in small-town Western North Carolina. It put Paul Schneider, a great actor, on the map. And gave Zooey Deschanel a starring role for the first time. They are both incredible.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

The power of love in reverse with a title taken from an Alexander Pope poem. Jim Carrey as you've never seen him before, trying to hold onto memories as they're being erased from his brain. Kate Winslet makes you realize how much you love her too. And it's just so weird! Plus, Jon Brion's score will haunt you for life. Just one in a series of writer Charlie Kaufman's brain-busting movies of the 2000s.

6. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)

Quite simply, one of the best comedies I've seen. You can quote almost any line in it. You know someone is cool if they quote this movie. Jack Black is at the top of his game, Cusack is always good, and Tim Robbins' cameo role is stellar. You have to include a movie that glorifies elitist list-making in an elitist's list.

7. The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)

Scorsese at his beat-ass best...Boston-style! Probably one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled (Leo, Matty Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen) with an ending that I never saw coming and that still shocks me every single time.

8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)

The most beautifully filmed movie I've ever seen. The cinematography is unlike anything you will ever see. The music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is heartbreaking. And Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck give unbelievable performances.

9. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)

Cormac McCarthy's bleak, violent, and existential look at America given a visual pulse by the best American filmmakers working today. Enough said!

10. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow, 2005) / Superbad (Greg Mottola, 2007)

I picked these two comedies because of their success across the board. Everybody loves these movies, and I cannot exclude myself from that list. These are two of the most quotable movies ever. And they are both honest and true to the way men, from high school to age 40, really talk. Judd Apatow had a hand in both of these projects, and it put him on the map in a big way along with Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill.

Honorable Mentions: 

25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)

This movie should actually be in my top five. We'll just consider it a tie with #3 Children of Men for best dramatic film of the decade. It is masterful. The story of a drug dealer's last 24 hours before going to prison. It is at once the story of a man who wishes he'd done things differently, the story of a man's lifelong friendships, the story of a man and his father, and it is all set in front of the back drop of post - 9/11 New York City/America. If you are not in tears at the end, you have neither heart nor soul.


Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

I just saw this masterpiece last night. It is THE most visually stunning thing I have ever seen. Most of it is CGI, but it is the best CGI ever used by anyone. James Cameron (behind the camera for the first time since Titanic) has retained his title as "King of the World" to paraphrase Roger Ebert. And I agree. This is certainly worthy of a best of the decade list for the sheer fact that there has never been a better marriage between allegory and special effects. Go see it! And read my full review above.