It's Complicated

I must say that I was surprised by this sudden sneak attack of an adult comedy. It had little to no buzz leading to its release, and I must say that I have seen no commercials or adverts for it anywhere. I also must admit that on walking into it, I had no idea what it was about except that it starred Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. Meryl's involvement was enough to sell me to the idea, but I just had no idea that the film would just be so damned funny.

In terms of plot, I hate to offer a simple pun of an answer. It's complicated.

In short, it follows Jane (Meryl Streep) as she copes with her divorce from Jake (Alec Baldwin). She meets another man, Adam (Steve Martin) and the delightful problems and honestly unforsee-able mix-ups begin to occur. I'm sure you can see now how this may appear formulaic, but I promise you that it is anything but.

The delightful thing about "It's Complicated" is that I honestly could not see what was going to happen next. It was a very innovative story, with an incredibly funny script. There were lines, and entire sequences that kept me in riotous laughter, and the joke never becomes stale. The main problem was ironically, its all-star cast.

They offer splendid performances to be sure, and Meryl does absolutely stunning work, but Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski in particular fall into the trap of playing the same exact people that we see every week on "30 Rock" and "The Office" respectively. Baldwin pops in with his "O-M-G" trademark, and Krasinski gives his type-cast eyebrow crinkle. It makes for good cheap laughter, but it brought me out of the movie and honestly just distracted.

Speaking of distractions, being someone who walked in fresh and trailer-less, I found myself confused at first about relationships and who was related to whom. Of course, about halfway through the movie, I found my bearings and was able to enjoy it again, but perhaps a few cut scenes or an unedited script could bear the responsibility of being the culprit.

These are all of course just nitpicks in the road of what is otherwise a hilarious film. I was expecting typical Hollywood rom-com fodder and instead found a thoughtful, hilarious and frankly eye-opening gem of a film.

B+

Avatar

So I have awoken from my almost two month review slumber. Lack of funds for films and finals for school have prevented me from keeping up to date on this review racket, but with the Oscar and Christmas months all up on us, I must say that my hibernation has resulted in my metaphorical evolution from a Metapod to a Butterfree and I am ready to tackle this season with my arms flailing.

And without further ado, on to James Cameron's long awaited Avatar.

Avatar follows a sect of ambitious humans as they make their way to the planet (well, actually its a moon) called Pandora as they scavenge for a mineral that is worth millions of dollars on Earth. In order to communicate with the indigenous people of the planet, a sub division of this squadron has developed a method for inhabiting the body of the aliens, also known as the Na'vi. Our hero must inhabit an "avatar" of one of these Na'vi bodies, learn their culture, and tell them to relocate. If you think that this sounds like a deliberate "The Last Samurai" , you are correct, only this one will blow your mind apart.

After watching the trailer and discovering that James Cameron's "brand new invention" was the motion capture technology that Robert Zemeckis has already whored to the industry, my anticipation for the film was shattered. And sure, it isn't a perfect film, not at all, but Cameron has given new life to this newborn and aging technique called motion capture. I found myself caring for the Na'vi, and even though it was clear what was "real" and what wasn't, I found myself being drawn to the CGI land of Pandora, and I found myself getting addicted to the place just like the protagonist does.

Yes, it is written and directed by James Cameron, so the obligatory lousy dialogue infects your ears and all of the human characters are so two-dimensional that it borderlines on caricature, but all of these problems are overshadowed by the massive spectacle that is washing over you. The film is visually mindblowing, and its achievements far outweigh its problems.

I'm not saying that this film is purely spectacle either. People could argue that Transformers 2 was a "visual achievement", and they would only be half right. There is a huge difference between watching Transformers and thinking "wow, that looked neat", and watching Avatar and thinking "NO! Don't bomb the tree of souls!" For all of the visual effects that Avatar uses, it uses them all to tell the story and to keep you attached to the characters. There was a choice near the end that I absolutely loathed, but it is a spoiler, so I wont say a damned thing. You will know it when you see it.

To make things simpler, Avatar was a SPECTACLEtacular film that kept me connected to the already intriguing plot. If you do plan on seeing it, do yourself a favor and catch it in IMAX 3D, just be careful to not get brains all over the theater.

A-