Movies and TV
Last night, I hied myself to jackwilliambell's place. The plan was to have dinner together, watch TiVoed episodes of Mythbusters and Doctor Who and then head out to see Avatar.
The Mythbusters episode was their season finale about mini-myths including, most notably, the myth created in the Star Trek episode "Arena." (Yes, I'm not ashamed to name the episode, unlike those cowardly Mythbusting Trek fans, so there! Hmph! And I'm giving my readers credit enough to expect you all to know which one I mean, too.) They handmade their blackpowder, loaded up a bamboo cannon, and attempted to recreate Captain Kirk's moment of brilliance fighting the gorn. Yeah, the Mythbusters covered other things that hour, too. (Can you mail a coconut with just an address and stamps? Can you make a candle out of ear wax. And so on.) But the bamboo cannon myth was the one I wanted to see. They did a fine job testing whether or not Kirk could have created a functioning, deadly cannon out of materials he happened to find laying around. I was pleased and entertained.
The Doctor Who episode was "The End of Time, Part 1," the first half of David Tennant's last hurrah as the good Doctor. The beginning of the episode pleased me, what with prophecies and the Ood being odd and a glimpse of an alien world. I was delighted to see Wilf's return; he's such a humanizing presence and Bernard Cribbins is such a natural on screen. I was willing to give the episode a lot of leeway, seeing as how it's Tennant's and Russell T. Davies' last outing and all but...well, wow. There were certainly some fan cookies in there, things to make me go squee, but the closer we got to the end of the episode, the more I found myself going, "What? Uh...no...please...really...just stop there...." The longer the episode went on, the more absurd, the more embarrassing I found it. There were some fine moments, but I kind of felt the way I did during "Last of the Time Lords," watching the Master turn the Doctor into Yoda and then watching Russell T. Davies turn him into Jesus. I wanted to turn away but I couldn't. Of course, of course, I'll want to see Tennant's final bow--especially since it looks like we'll be getting Timothy Dalton in a turn as a Time Lord in classic Time Lord attire, no less--but I have to say that I'm just not feeling the love overall.
And then, there's Avatar about which so many have already posted. Jack and I saw a 10:00 PM showing because it was the only one we could get into--everything else was sold out. We saw it in IMAX 3D and it was totally worth it. The film is, indeed, as beautiful as everyone has said. And yes, its plot is Dances-With-Blue-Tabby-Cat-People Meets Mechwarrior: The Clueless Age. But there's no question we're seeing something new here. For one thing, it was 3D tech used sensibly as a natural part of the film rather than as a stunt; it was used as a tool for enhancing the storytelling. As I watched, I found myself thinking about how I felt when I saw Jurassic Park in the theater for the first time: breathless with wonder, knowing that movies had changed forever. I found myself thinking of Connie Willis' Remake; Jack had Pat Cadigan's Synners in mind. The cinematic and science fiction pedigree was completely there. And screen acting is becoming something entirely new.
Of course, there was a lot of silliness, too; it's a James Cameron movie so I expected nothing less. (Are you familiar with my description of Titanic? I totally give it props for its ground-breaking technical achievements, no question; I watch it almost every time I find it on TV. But that Academy Award-winning script can be summed up thusly: "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!" Iceberg! ::gurgle::) The Avatar script has all sorts of the predictable weaknesses: magical strangers, lack of cohesive science or world-building, paper-thin characters. But damn! It's beautiful to look at. I couldn't stop thinking about it even after I went to bed. I know I'll want to see it again.
Oh, and one more thing, on the subject of Cameron silliness: Unobtainium? The mineral is called unobtainium? What was that, some sort of placeholder name that never got changed? Or was it a deliberate hint that our villains were going to fail because their object was unobtainable??? Oh. My. God--the stupid!
Whew! Okay, I'm done now.
I spent most of today getting little things done here and there, trying to prepare for New Year's Eve. The moon is gorgeous tonight. Closer to sunset, it was a large silvery coin shining through the fir tree branches. Now, it's a blurred silver presence behind hazy clouds. It's a blue moon tomorrow night--second full moon this month. Very cool indeed.
The Mythbusters episode was their season finale about mini-myths including, most notably, the myth created in the Star Trek episode "Arena." (Yes, I'm not ashamed to name the episode, unlike those cowardly Mythbusting Trek fans, so there! Hmph! And I'm giving my readers credit enough to expect you all to know which one I mean, too.) They handmade their blackpowder, loaded up a bamboo cannon, and attempted to recreate Captain Kirk's moment of brilliance fighting the gorn. Yeah, the Mythbusters covered other things that hour, too. (Can you mail a coconut with just an address and stamps? Can you make a candle out of ear wax. And so on.) But the bamboo cannon myth was the one I wanted to see. They did a fine job testing whether or not Kirk could have created a functioning, deadly cannon out of materials he happened to find laying around. I was pleased and entertained.
The Doctor Who episode was "The End of Time, Part 1," the first half of David Tennant's last hurrah as the good Doctor. The beginning of the episode pleased me, what with prophecies and the Ood being odd and a glimpse of an alien world. I was delighted to see Wilf's return; he's such a humanizing presence and Bernard Cribbins is such a natural on screen. I was willing to give the episode a lot of leeway, seeing as how it's Tennant's and Russell T. Davies' last outing and all but...well, wow. There were certainly some fan cookies in there, things to make me go squee, but the closer we got to the end of the episode, the more I found myself going, "What? Uh...no...please...really...just stop there...." The longer the episode went on, the more absurd, the more embarrassing I found it. There were some fine moments, but I kind of felt the way I did during "Last of the Time Lords," watching the Master turn the Doctor into Yoda and then watching Russell T. Davies turn him into Jesus. I wanted to turn away but I couldn't. Of course, of course, I'll want to see Tennant's final bow--especially since it looks like we'll be getting Timothy Dalton in a turn as a Time Lord in classic Time Lord attire, no less--but I have to say that I'm just not feeling the love overall.
And then, there's Avatar about which so many have already posted. Jack and I saw a 10:00 PM showing because it was the only one we could get into--everything else was sold out. We saw it in IMAX 3D and it was totally worth it. The film is, indeed, as beautiful as everyone has said. And yes, its plot is Dances-With-Blue-Tabby-Cat-People Meets Mechwarrior: The Clueless Age. But there's no question we're seeing something new here. For one thing, it was 3D tech used sensibly as a natural part of the film rather than as a stunt; it was used as a tool for enhancing the storytelling. As I watched, I found myself thinking about how I felt when I saw Jurassic Park in the theater for the first time: breathless with wonder, knowing that movies had changed forever. I found myself thinking of Connie Willis' Remake; Jack had Pat Cadigan's Synners in mind. The cinematic and science fiction pedigree was completely there. And screen acting is becoming something entirely new.
Of course, there was a lot of silliness, too; it's a James Cameron movie so I expected nothing less. (Are you familiar with my description of Titanic? I totally give it props for its ground-breaking technical achievements, no question; I watch it almost every time I find it on TV. But that Academy Award-winning script can be summed up thusly: "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!" Iceberg! ::gurgle::) The Avatar script has all sorts of the predictable weaknesses: magical strangers, lack of cohesive science or world-building, paper-thin characters. But damn! It's beautiful to look at. I couldn't stop thinking about it even after I went to bed. I know I'll want to see it again.
Oh, and one more thing, on the subject of Cameron silliness: Unobtainium? The mineral is called unobtainium? What was that, some sort of placeholder name that never got changed? Or was it a deliberate hint that our villains were going to fail because their object was unobtainable??? Oh. My. God--the stupid!
Whew! Okay, I'm done now.
I spent most of today getting little things done here and there, trying to prepare for New Year's Eve. The moon is gorgeous tonight. Closer to sunset, it was a large silvery coin shining through the fir tree branches. Now, it's a blurred silver presence behind hazy clouds. It's a blue moon tomorrow night--second full moon this month. Very cool indeed.