Movie and Television Reviews

Sometimes I marvel at how Lost has uncoiled from a Survivor-like adventure drama to a horror movie to an archetypal myth and sometimes I wonder if the writers are just making it up as they go along, complicating things to hide their own lack of cohesion. Did they really intend the smoke monster to turn into Locke? Why introduce the temple at this late date? Indeed, the piling-on of subplot after subplot is both interesting and tiresome.

I don't even know how to end this post. I'm so confused.

I've seen most of the movies nominated for an Oscar. Avatar is probably the favorite. It deserves to win some kind of technical award. Without it's fancy 3-D cameras, it's as trite as Pocahontas. Inglorious Bastards is another technically- from a film-making point of view- brilliant movie that lingers in one's consciousness as long as the last Red Vine hangs around one's stomach. Blind Side is fine and more affecting than the previous two, but it's too close to a movie of the week. The first half of Up is all-time great. Unfortunately, the second half is just very good.

My choice would be Hurt Locker. My case:

1. Hurt Locker explores a theme not touched upon by standard war movies, which either focus on the absurdity of war, the righteousness of a particular cause, or individual character (bravery, etc.). War is only Hurt Locker's backdrop. The subject matter is a person's desire to engage in the popularly bad or undesirable. In this case, war.

The main character, William James, is a man who needs war. Indeed, he loves war. He's not a sadist or evil, however, like the colonel in Avatar. Perhaps James sees war as a realistic video game or maybe he's addicted to war adrenaline the way a rock climber seeks a rush from heights.

James never discusses the morality of either the Iraq war or of war itself. Frankly, he doesn't care: if the U.S. were at peace, James would be a mercenary.

The Hurt Locker subtly, brilliantly contrasts James with his team-mates, one of whom is obsessed with questions of morality and mortality and the other who's practical and conventional- he just wants to go home and raise a son.

2. Acting, brilliant.

3. The structure of the story is interesting as well. The Hurt Locker isn't a mission or defense or re-telling of history. The on-screen reminders of the remaining time in the soldiers' tour suggest that the antagonist is the war itself. James, Sanborn, and Eldridge just need to get to the end. Yet, the war can't be the heavy in this film because James seeks it. Hurt Locker is that deep.

The Hurt Locker is a series of engagements, each with its own climax, the longest and most fascinating of which is a desert sniper battle, followed closely by an unsuccessful search for the murderer of the only human part of the war for James, his friendship with a boy who sells pirated DVDs to the American soldiers.

4. Not that this should matter, but Hurt Locker shows that hundreds of millions of dollars can't make up for vision.

5. Like any good war movie, it makes you want to be in the military.

Overall, a brilliant movie.

Up (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + BD Live) [Blu-ray]

The Hurt Locker [Blu-ray]

Inglourious Basterds (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

The Blind Side [Blu-ray]

Pocahontas (10th Anniversary Edition)

I'm a sucker for movies with historical allusions and ranging quests. Throw in some manly discovery, magic weapons, and attractive ladies and I'm yours to lose. The tween movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theif doesn't squander these natural advantages.

Percy Jackson is a dyslexic teenager who likes water and hates his loutish stepdad. It's not that he doesn't try: His dyslexia is on account of his brain being "hard-wired" for Greek. The lout shields him from godly intrigues. And, you'd expect Poseidon's son to like water, wouldn't you?

Percy is set to the path of self-discovery when Zeus accuses Percy of stealing his lightning bolt (talk about profiling!)

The gods send their mythological henchmen to get the bolt back, and a secret demigod underground springs to life to protect Percy. Chiron (Pierce Brosnan) fights off a fury during a field trip, allowing Satyr Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson) to whisk him and his mom away to a demigod charter school. One needs godly blood to enter the compound which is unfortunate for Percy’s fully-human mom; she’s taken to Hades by a minotaur. We have motivation!

Percy wants his mom back. But first, some character growth. Percy plays capture the flag against hot-as-Hades Athenian warrior Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario). He’s now ready to go to Hades.

Annabeth and Grover decide to accompany him. To get out of Hades after they get mom, they need three pearls which are scattered only throughout the United States because the gods hate Canada.

On the way, they encounter Medusa (a still bewitching Uma Thurman. This is Uma's second turn as a goddess. She played Venus in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), Lotus-eaters, and a Hydra.

It's all very well-done and a lot of fun. Just don't expect Percy Jackson to make a lot of sense: Didn't Medusa already die at the hands of Perseus? Is the Nevada gambling commission aware of a strip casino that offers their customers free drugs? During a conversation between Poseidon (Kevin McKidd who played Lucius Vorenus in the excellent Rome) and Zeus, Poseidon tells Zeus that “omnipotence has gone to your head.” Without getting too theological, Greek gods were not omnipotent. If Zeus were, he wouldn’t have trouble finding his dumb bolt.

Rosario Dawson is Persephone, queen of Hades. She’s part-Cuban and sexy enough to make one long for death.

Message/Politics:

Percy Jackson errs on the side of nature (over nurture). Demigods enjoy genetic advantages. I’ve mentioned the bizarre notion of a brain being hard-wired for a specific language (obviously, producers didn't consult with Noam Chomsky or any linguist) and a clearly illegal school that bases its admission on race.

Students spend their time bragging about their parents. It’s all very Victorian.

On the other hand, Percy needs inner-strength to harness his water powers. He also loves his mother, is brave, and maintains loyalty to his friends.

The gods roam the earth seducing women like some immortal Tiger Woods. Percy Jackson doesn't condemn that practice, but stands four-square against dead-beat dads: Percy laments that the gods can't be part of their children's lives.

Rome: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

National Treasure [Blu-ray]

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [Blu-ray]

The Complete World of Greek Mythology by Richard Buxton

The Song of Bernadette is amongst the best Christian movies that deal with a supernatural event other than the central story of our Lord.

It's based on the best-selling book by Franz Werfel of the same name and tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous, a French peasant girl to whom appeared Mary.

It happens that the "song" of Bernadette is dramatic enough to not require embellishment. The film-makers accordingly opt for a strait account of the events, wrapped in their abundant cinematic skill, of course. The conflict in Song of Bernadette comes from members of Bernadette's own family, who discourage Bernadette for fear of mockery and local officials of the secular French government, who wish to complete the work of the French Revolution.

The performances are superb. This is Vincent Price's best role, probably. Jennifer Jones perfectly portrays a simple, yet dignified and strong peasant girl. Jones evoked in me memories of similar people I've known (my sister-in-law, for example).

The movie provides the faithful with several emotional moments. It also shows how effectively movies can forward a point of view when it wishes to take a side. We've all seen movies where religious people are made to seem foolish. In Song of Bernadette, the audience feels sorry for the secularists. Vincent Price's character is a cold-hearted, smug, faithless man trying desperately to deny the evidence at hand out of self-interest- a Christopher Hitchens, perhaps.

Watching the movie again reminded me of the pre-video/cable days when local stations would show such movies during weekdays (instead of the trash we have today) and on Saturday mornings.

S/T to Catholic Fire for the videos.

The Song of Bernadette

The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel

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I was watching the pregame show for Lost and realized that both Pandora, the planet in Avatar (for the three of you who haven't seen it), and "The Island" in Lost are the same kind of semi-conscious natural god that I describe here. In fact, The Island gives Locke a renewed purpose in life, like Eywa motivates the Na'vi.

Lost: The Complete Seasons 1-5

People worshiping at the Church of Avatar

I saw Avatar and concluded that its anti-American message and derivative story line would limit its popularity, at least in America. I was wrong.

My failure was in focusing on the political aspects of the movie instead of its potential religious appeal. According to a recent Pew poll, many Americans' spirituality has taken a heterodox turn; many of our fellow citizens mix and match beliefs to suit their needs, (often in ways that make no logical sense like combining Christian Heaven and reincarnation).

Avatar is the Passion of the Christ for the unconventionally religious.

Listen to some of the quotes from these Avatar viewers:

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie,"

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Give me some of that New Age religion:

Avatarianism is a pantheism that focuses on caring and protecting nature. I've mentioned earlier that Avatar and Star Wars both have a biological basis for their religion.

The lack of a supernatural being doesn't harm the attractiveness of Avatarian theology (and may even increase it amongst the "brights") because even a biological god fulfills one comforting aspect of religion: that of a greater intelligence guiding humanity, giving it purpose.** Eywa, the nature goddess in Avatar, semi-consciously urges the inhabitants of Pandora to preserve themselves while causing as little damage to other life as possible. It's similar to other reductionist philosophies from the likes of Asimov. It implies a disdain for manufacturing and advanced commerce like many sustainable living and back-to-the-primitive advocates.

It's a counter-factual, illogical religion because nature doesn't really care if everything or nothing survived (a series that causes one to ponder this question is the Life After People series on the greatest channel in history), but logic might not be a priority for some people.

**Marxism has this as well, with its theory of human progress climaxing in a perfectly equal society.

Life After People (History) [Blu-ray]

1. Same old stuff: Assassinations, moles, nuclear weapons, torture. I love it! I wish it could be on every night.

2. Elisha Cuthbert looks a little better than at the end of last year. My wife is worried about her skin.

3. Jack sure recovered quickly from a 30-minute beating. No marks!

4. I think the Iran-like "Republic" and Russia plot is fairly realistic. The Islam-Caucasian (from the Caucasus, no less) axis should defuse criticisms of racism.

5. The cutting off of the hand was legitimately shocking. I hope they show her as an example of how officials should not be tough.