Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoë Saidaña
Director: James Cameron
Country: USA
Genre: Fantasy
You’ll probably want to make sure you see it in 3-D.
Whether you buy into the hype or not, it’s hard to argue that James Cameron’s labor of love doesn’t push the boundaries of current film technology. Seeing the world he created on the big screen, there was no doubt any of it was real, and in the beautiful digital 3D, it was unreal how realistic the realism was… real. Avatar isn’t without it’s faults though, as it forcefully pushes the narrative forward through awkward dialogue. But when it boils down to it, no one is buying a ticket to get the specifics on how a person is transferred into one of the Avatar bodies… a drive down a glow in the dark worm hole and waking up in the body is completely sufficient, and way more fun. It’s this spectacle that the film delivers best. It’s not Cameron’s best action, it’s not his best story, but it’s one of the most fun rides he has to offer.
Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo
Director: Mel Gibson
Country: USA
Genre: Foreign, Epic
Not sure if this one was on the Mayan calendar… but it should be.
I’ll just come out and say it. Apocalypto is kind of badass. I was completely taken by surprise anticipating some sort of laborious experience, which probably stems from the endurance needed to get through Passion of the Christ. Gibson has crafted one hell of a fight-for-your-life chase movie. There’s something incredibly appealing about the savagery and primality of survival that I’m sure most meat eaters will respond to. One disconcerting thing was traveling to IMDb afterwards and coming to the obvious realization that some of the cast were actors, but that’s a compliment to the realism of the film, though Gerardo Taracena’s Klaus Kinski-eqsue performance should have been an indicator. Like most of Gibson’s films, it is not for the squeamish. There’s something extra nerve wracking when you’re dealing with near-naked characters fighting each other with sharp objects.
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Elija Wood, Ian McKellen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand, USA
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
All good things must come to an end. All great things get a four and a half hour extended edition.
Farewells are always difficult, which might be why there are twenty-five minutes of them at the close of this trilogy. Peter Jackson sealed the deal on his legacy with the release of the final chapter of the beloved Lord of the Rings films, and with much legitimacy. To see the characters at the end of Return of the King compared to the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring, it’s hard to believe that they came from such humble beginnings. It’s impossible not to be bombarded with the word “epic” while watching RotK as everything is bigger and grander than anything I’ve ever seen on screen before. Good luck to all of the sci-fi fantasy films of the next twenty years living in its shadow.
Starring: Elija Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand, USA
Genre: Fantasy
The Ringwraiths ride dragons. What more do you need?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved with CGI in films, and is especially true with the entirety of this film. There are entire characters that are computer generated, there are magnificent cities created artificially (at least for some shots,) and it all culminates in one of the greatest battles ever put on screen, the Battle for Helm’s Deep. The film lacks the whimsical flow that Fellowship had, but brings to the table a new level of drama with more characters (with impossible to remember names,) and their ultimate quest to save humanity. It’ll be curious to see if the effects in this film hold up over time, but it will always be in the pages of history for using CGI for storytelling instead of spectacle, (though it acts as both.)
Starring: Elija Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: USA, New Zealand
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
It’s funny how confusing a story about getting from point A to point B can get.
To say that Lord of the Rings was a cinematic achievement is grossly underestimating the effect this series had on the film world. No summer blockbuster has been the same since, and certainly no trilogy hasn’t stepped in its shadow. Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson’s overture, kick starts the massive adventure off perfectly with a story of mystery, intrigue, but mostly discovery. It can almost be seen as a commentary on human unity. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing a group of characters from different backgrounds work together, especially when they are working toward cracking Orc skulls and eluding Ringwraiths.
2009 Films | this guy over here December 22, 2009 | 
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