Movie Review:: Avatar

Rated PG13

Directed by James Cameron

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Zaldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez

Heidi’s Illustrious Rating: Graphics 4.5/5, Storyline 2.5/5

Word of Warning: At nearly 3 hours, it’s a good idea to visit the restroom before settling in for a viewing of “Avatar.”

By Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer of HeidiTown.com My husband has been excitedly awaiting this film, so we tried to see it during opening week, but the theater was too packed. We finally saw it last week, but what can I write about Avatar that hasn’t already been written?

After standing in a 30-minute line, we donned our sexy 3D glasses, only to discover they were filthy. These new, technologically advanced 3D shades are reused by the theater and are suppose to be washed between shows. We tried wiping our glasses clean on our shirts and then settled in for the ride.

And Avatar is a ride. The audience is transported to a world 150 years in the future. Having all the destroyed their own planet, mankind is in deep space looking for resources; resources they will do anything to obtain. Anything.

The humans have discovered the planet Pandora. While I thought the world resembled an LSD trip, my husband compared it to a Vegas show. The world is home to a species that has a special connection with their planet. In fact they can literally hook into the world around them by using a special organ inside their hair. I know this sounds weird, and it is. These people, called the Na’vi, culturally resemble Native Americans and look like the cast of Cats.

Because Pandora is toxic to human beings, the humans have created avatars that look like Na’vi. The avatars are consciously connected to their human “drivers.” Allowing the humans to infiltrate the Na’vi tribe.

Of course, Pandora, complete with fierce creatures and glowing plants, has a valuable resource the humans want and need. To keep things simple let’s call this resource “oil.” The “oil” just so happens to be located directly under one of the Na’vi’s largest and most holy of settlements. Once the humans realize they will be unable to convince the Na’vi to move their settlement, the humans go to Plan B.

We get it Hollywood – we humans are bad – really, really bad. This theme is continually shoved down the viewer’s throat throughout this movie. If you can get past the blatant bashing of human being as a species, the special effects in Avatar are worth the extra money to see it.

While the storyline is uninspired and predictable, the graphics are super duper cool. Years from now, we will look back at Avatar the way we look back at the original “Star Wars.” It will look dated and we will laugh. But today the world sits in awe of what computer geeks are now able to produce and bring to life on a theater screen. Now if only Hollywood could have hired some good writers to work on Avatar.  I guess it’s too much to ask for, this time around.

To read move of Heidi’s take on movies, DVD’s, restaurants and more, visit her online at HeidiTown.com.

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer is a writer living in Northern Colorado with her husband, feisty cat and clever German Shepherd. She is a contributing writer at the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor, as well as co-owner of Ryan Schlaefer Fine Furniture, Inc. available at the Denver Design District. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Heidi has a B.A. in Political Science from Western Washington University. She has always loved movies, books and food; she explores all three at www.HeidiTown.com.

True Confessions Friday:: I want to hang out with fictional characters!

Who wouldn't want to hang out with Glinda and Elphaba from "Wicked"?

As many of you know (or have read on my ol’ blog), I was pretty upset when J.K. Rowling decided to kill off one of the Weasley twins (FRED!) in her seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Fred and George are among my favorite characters.  I seriously felt betrayed by Rowling and upset over Fred’s death for weeks.  Then I was upset about being sad over something so trivial.  I soon discovered that I could simply deny it ever happened and go on with my life. Problem solved.

One night my best friend Sarah and I were chatting about the silly rumors of Fred’s death and I asked her why I got so upset about it.  She said this to me: “I read a book and I think, ‘That’s a nice story.’ You read a book and the characters become part of your family.”  She was dead-on!  I get terribly attached to fictional characters and I’m willing to bet some of you out there feel the same way.

Why else would grown men wear the logos of comic book characters across their chests? (Think Superman or Batman t-shirts!)  Why do women still want to meet Cinderella and visit her castle at Disney World?  We do find ourselves terribly connected to these characters.  Who wouldn’t want to grab a coffee with Harry Potter and talk about the whole Voldemort problem or go bowling with Jack Bauer from “24”?  (Although something action-packed is bound to happen if you’re with Jack!)

When I get bored in any given situation, I think—what would this be like if ________ was here?  It’s actually a pretty fun game.  Suddenly waiting in line at Wal-Mart is tons more fun if Spiderman is trying to catch Hobgoblin through the chaotic aisles of the store.  Pointing out “little blue cars” during my traffic jams makes me think of Shawn and Gus from “Psych” out trying to solve some new case.

I always tell people that a well-crafted character is one that you can imagine inviting over for dinner and conversation.  It just so happens that I like to pretend it actually happens once in a while.

Here’s a question for you.  If you could have any fictional character from literature, movies, comics, whatever, over for dinner who would it be and why?  Please post your answers in the comments section.

Harry Potter Movie Trailer and Beedle the Bard

It’s been a great week for Harry Potter fans, eh?

First, the trailer for the latest in the HP film series, Half-Blood Prince, was released on the internet. If you want to catch the trailer on the big screen, you can check out the latest Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser (Remember the good ol’ days when he was in movies like Airheads and Encino Man?)

Or you can just watch what I posted below…

I, for one, am disappointed that there aren’t any previews of Fred and George’s joke shop and that we have to see so much of silly Tom Riddle.

Aaaaaaaand it was just announced on July 31 that The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be coming to a bookstore near you on December 4! Just in time for Christmas! Apparently the whole making a few to sell for charity thing wasn’t working out for J.K. Rowling because outraged po’ fans like myself wants to read about Beedle, too. While our copies won’t be as fancy as the originals, at least we’ll have a chance to read wizarding fables just like Hermione in the Deathly Hallows.

Then I heard about this interesting bit of information from the Potterdelphia group (Harry Potter fans in Philadelphia): “The U.S. edition has different cover art than the British and Canadian Editions. For those of you who don’t know about this scandal, when Scholastic first obtained the U.S. rights to Harry Potter they made J.K. agree that they could translate the books from British to American English. In addition they hired their own artist for the U.S. Editions. Clearly nothing has changed. The Canadian edition appears (as with all the other books) to follow the British Edition.” Sneaky as Peeves the Poltergeist at dinner in the Great Hall!

BTW, check out all the cool happenin’s at Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, a blog dedicated to the Weasley twins and undoing these horrible rumors of Fred’s untimely demise.

There’s a Teenage Girl in There Somewhere

Tigerbeat Magazine

Due to overwhelming demands from Hannah Montana fans, Hannah Montana and the Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert movie has been extended another week. Now teary-eyed girls who couldn’t get tix have another chance, at least for this week. Columnist Stephen Beck finds the whole thing a bit suspicious writing, “By threatening to only play the movie a week, Disney played on one of the most basic human emotions – a parent’s desire to provide their kids with happiness. How many parents, consciously or not, said to themselves, ‘I already let my child down once by not getting them concert tickets, so I had better get those movie tickets this week before they sell out’” (full column).

Not only is Miley’s real name not Hannah Montana; it’s not even Miley! In fact, Miley’s birth name is “Destiny Hope Cyrus”. According to the Chicago Tribune, her daddy gave her the nickname because she was a rather “smiley” little girl. Now she’s not even Miley Cyrus anymore–Miley has recently changed her name to Miley Ray Cyrus to honor her papa, Billy Ray Cyrus (story). No word yet on whether or not Miley plans to grow a commemorative mullet, too.

Miley’s name change, some believe, is a way for Miley to break away from her role as “Hannah Montana” and forge her own identity as a musician. Not only that, Forbes.com columnist Steve McGookin writes an eerily interesting forecast of what may lie in store for the “Hannah Montana” franchise (read “Miley’s Musical Millions”, thanks to YPulse for the original link to the column).

Only 15, Miley’s life seems as golden as Hannah’s and yet I wonder–when does Destiny Hope AKA Miley AKA Hannah Montana AKA Miley Ray get a chance to settle down and just be a kid? Underneath the big blond wig, under the make-up, and the sparkly clothes, away from the bright lights of a T.V. set or a concert hall, she’s a fifteen year-old girl, who probably stares critically at her face in the mirror (even though thousands of people will say that she is beautiful), wonders if she will ever get married, and hopes to get her driver’s license (even though she has “people” to drive her around). On-screen and off, I’m wondering if Miley Ray Cyrus really has the worst, not the best, of both worlds.

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 12

We finally made it! We ELF’d in Christmas together, so I leave you with a montage of Jovi singing. It contains part of 11.5′s clip, and much, much more. Merry Christmas!

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 11.5

It’s that shocking shower scene where Jovi and Buddy sing together.  It’s a preview of what’s to come tomorrow in our big ELF’ing in Christmas finale!  I bet you can hardly wait.  It’s the Christmas present you can only get on this blog.  Looks like I had an few extra clips from ELF…heeheehee.

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 11

Buddy has a blast in NYC, but hey, who wouldn’t?

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 10

OK, so we saw part of this clip in Part 1, but in this one Buddy the Elf meets Jovi, the love of his life. It’s awesome. He also says, “I just like to smile, smiling’s my favorite” again and you can never hear that enough. Yay! And, of course, “It’s just nice to meet another human who shares my affinity for elf culture.” That’s pretty much what I look for in a friend.

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 8

Buddy gets exiled to the mail room after going to work with his dad, and uh, gets a little snockered. Then he dances on a table.  Just a normal day in the mail room.

ELF’ing in Christmas, Part 7

Buddy interrupts a meeting with an angry elf or maybe he’s a children’s book author. “I’m in love!  I’m in love!  And I don’t care who knows it!”