I'm Blue

The long-
awaited Avatar is finally here, and I even though I did want to go see it as soon as it came out, I didn't really have high expectations. Did I think it was going to be bad? Not at all, but I wasn't as excited about it as I am about Sherlock Holmes, for instance. Still, the previews looked great (and revealed too much), so I went to the Majestic to see it in 3D.

Let me tell you right now that I had a great time watching Avatar. The movie is beautiful, the visuals incredibly lush and imaginative, and every single aspect has been well thought-out and carefully developed. The world of Pandora is breathtaking, and the creatures that inhabit it are impressively designed. Among said denizens, the Na'vi stand out for obvious reasons. They are the blue feline humanoids the invading humans are struggling with, and they look as real as their flesh and blood costars. The animation is phenomenal, and their facial expressions range from sad to furious to delighted with uncanny realism.

Since I mentioned the actors, I think James Cameron did a great job directing his stars, and Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang do an amazing job. However, and strange at it may seem, I think it was Zoë Saldana who stole the show with her voicework as Neytiri, the young female Na'vi that teaches Jake Sully (Worthington) the ways of her people.

The movie is two hours and forty-six minutes long, but it didn't feel that long at all. The story unfolds at a nice pace, and except for some very clunky exposition at the beginning of the film, the narrative flow is excellent. The story, however, is the one thing that doesn't shine in Avatar, and that is a shame. In a movie that captivates the audience in a million different ways, to have a story so trite, so utterly predictable, and so fantastically unoriginal is almost unforgivable. If you have seen the trailer, you know exactly what is going to happen; and if you haven't, you will also know exactly what's going to happen twenty minutes into the movie. The script by Cameron hits every beat this kind of story has been hitting since the first tale in the history of mankind was told, and that is very unfortunate. I will not say anything else so as not to spoil the movie, but if you've seen it already, you will know exactly what I'm talking about, and we can discuss it in the Comments section.

Still, Avatar is so much fun, the world is so rich, the characters' plight is so compelling, and Zoë Saldana's voice acting is so movingly heartrending that I couldn't help but loving the movie. Had the script been more original, Avatar would have been a masterpiece. Since that is not the case, Avatar remains a very entertaining film which is gorgeous to look at and lots of fun to explore, so go see it and tell us what you think!

Final alternativo de Crepúsculo

¿Qué se puede decir de esta imagen? Pues que mejoraría notablemente la saga de Crepúsculo y alegraría a un montón de gente que no traga a estos vampiros descafeinados.

Mute

Is there anything Eric Powell can't do? The latest issue of The Goon, that great series you should be reading, will feature no dialogue. Or maybe I should say no words, because there are plenty of things being said. If you don't believe me, check out the sample pages and see whether you crack up or what. Even when Powell isn't using words, he still manages to be hilarious. Go buy The Goon!

Laputan Adventures

The latest book by Greg Keyes crept up on me and was published even before I knew it was coming out. After his formidable Kingdoms of Thorne and Bone series, I didn't know what his next project was going to be, but the mystery is over.

Keyes has been hired by Bethesda Softworks to write two novels that take place in the universe of The Elder Scrolls, their famous series of videogames. The first one, The Infernal City, came out a few weeks ago, and I finished it last weekend. I have never played any of the games, and I didn't have a clue what that universe was like, what the races were, or what happened in Oblivion, an event the book references because Keyes's novel takes place after that particular story. But it was a Greg Keyes book, and I was therefore willing to give it a chance.

At 287 pages, TIC is a quick read, and now I'm eagerly anticipating the second part, because the story stops rather abruptly and I want to know what happens next. In true Keyes fashion, there are three groups of characters whose stories alternate in the different chapters, and the reader slowly begins to realize how those threads connect and intersect. The most interesting one (and also the most original one) is the main thread, in which Annaïg and Mere-Glim enter the infernal city of the title. The second one is a bit more traditional, and it stars Prince Atrebus on a quest to stop the aforementioned city, even though that's far from the only thing he has to deal with. The third one is the one that is given the least number of pages, and it follows Colin, a guy who works for the king and who is basically the one the crown sends to quietly dispose of enemies and threats --the fantasy equivalent of the black-ops, if you will.

Everything you've come to expect from Keyes is here: an interest in languages, compelling characters, good dialogue, lots of dangerous situations, high stakes, and plenty of travel. I loved it all, and I never felt I was missing out because I'm new to the Elder Scrolls universe. So, if you like Greg Keyes, don't hesitate and buy The Infernal City; and, if you've never read any of Keyes's books, don't hesitate and buy it as well.

The End of the World

I only let two issues of the World of Warcraft comic book series pile up after my last WoW marathon, and it turns out this was the right thing to do. Issues 24 and 25 wrap up the second arc in the series with lots of fighting and little else, something you guys know I'm not particularly fond of. What I didn't know is that #25 was supposed to be the last one before the series changes its title to World of Warcraft: Alliance and goes in a "bold new direction". According to the ad in the book, we are going to have two WoW series starting next month. The first one, WoW: Horde, will start with a #1 issue, and the second one, WoW: Alliance, will start with issue 26, hence the "bold new direction" we are promised. So what am I supposed to do? I have been reading the series because I liked what Walter and Louise Simonson were doing, and the art by Mike Bowden really grew on me and I was enjoying it a lot. (He reminded me more and more of Joe Madureira, which is always a good thing.) Starting with issue 26 though, Mike Costa will be writing the series, and Neil Googe will be illustrating it. Also, there seem to be new main characters and a completely different story line.

Regardless of how this new arc turns out to be, #25 felt a little bit rushed. On the one hand, the fight seemed to drag on and on, but on the other hand, once the bad guy was dead, there were barely two pages devoted to the fate of all the main characters, and then it was over. I wish they had either had a shorter fight or a longer epilogue, because it really felt like they had run out of pages and the story had to be wrapped up no matter what. Would have hurt WildStorm to add a couple of pages to the book? They're already charging $3.99 per issue as it is, so I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

I guess I should count myself lucky I got closure, and that I happened to read this issue immediately after buying it, because this does feel like the right place to drop the series. The next story arc might be very good, but I don't think I'm interested, at least not right now. Maybe I'll get the trade whenever it comes out, or maybe I won't, but I think my tour of Azeroth has come to a end.

Old-Fashioned Goodness

I went to see The Princess and the Frog with no expectations whatsoever, and maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. The animation was great, the characters were interesting, the witty repartee between Tiana and Prince Naveen was funny, the supporting characters (like Louis and Ray, for instance) were inspired and hilarious, and the bad guy (Dr. Facilier) was cool and smooth and hateful. And I even liked the songs!

Watching TPATF was like watching the great Disney movies from the last decade. It was as much fun as watching The Little Mermaid (Prince Naveen, by the way, totally looks like Prince Eric), Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin. The directors, Ron Clements and John Musker directed both The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, so maybe that's why TPATF felt very familiar, even though it was a completely new story. It was a strange but exhilarating mix of old and new, and I, for one, had a great time at the movies. So, if you like those classic Disney films, rest assured you'll love this throwback to the old school way of animating movies. Great fun!

Affleck Was the Bomb

In Phantoms, Ben Affleck shares the screen with Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber, and Peter O'Toole, and even though Kevin Smith might have been exaggerating when he raved about Affleck's performance, he still did a good job in this otherwise forgettable movie. I remember watching it when it first came out on VHS a long, long time ago, but I had managed to forget everything about it. (Maybe because it is forgettable.) After much joking about whether or not Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms, a friend bought it and let me borrow it, so I could experience it again for the first time.

What surprised me the most was that the film was written by Dean Koontz, who adapted his own book, but after reading his name in the credits it was impossible not to realize the story totally felt like something Koontz would write. However, while I like him, I don't think he is all that great, and the same happened with this story. I watched, I enjoyed it for what it was, and I moved on. Everything was just okay, from the acting (although I still wonder why Liev Schreiber's character was acting crazy even before he bought the farm) to the plot "twists", the special effects, and the music. (Actually, the music was kind of bad.) So should you watch Phantoms, then? Probably not, unless you want to find out if Affleck was indeed the bomb.