Corliss Appraises Avatar: A World of Wonder.
It’s the year 2154, and Pandora, a moon of the Alpha Centauri star, is the reluctant host to an expedition of Americans seeking to mine an incredibly valuable rock called unobtainium — a joke term that was coined in the 1950s and refers to any kind of material that’s unavailable or impractical to use, which Cameron employs to locate his movie among science-fiction adventures of the period. The expedition, headed by sleazy entrepreneur Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), includes scientists working for Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and a Blackwater-type security force led by the malevolently macho Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). The scientists have hatched avatars (known as “dreamwalkers”) that look like Na’vi but blend their DNA with that of humans, who will steer them by remote control. Augustine is entranced by the Na’vi’s aristocratic gentility, but to Selfridge and Quaritch they are “blue monkeys,” “savages,” “an aboriginal horde.” Or for want of a better word: disposable.
In Hawaii, Avatar’s environmental disaster was real
James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar in part has an environmental theme that was underscored during the movie’s production, when cast and crew visited the rain forests of Hawaii to rehearse and shoot reference footage for visual effects: They witnessed the real-life clear-cutting of trees that echoed a key scene in the movie. (Mild spoilers ahead!)
“When we went to Hawaii to rehearse with the cast, we actually saw clear-cutting, and it stopped us and sort of, I think, had a profound effect on everybody, just watching the clear-cutting going on,” producer Jon Landau told reporters on Friday in London.
Sigourney Weaver reveals Ghostbusters III spoilers
Sigourney Weaver, who played Dana Barrett in the original Ghostbusters and its sequel, revealed to us that she is being sent the script for a proposed third installment and offered up a few spoilery details about the film’s story, though she hasn’t made up her mind yet whether to take part.
Speaking to us at the press junket in London for her upcoming sci-fi movie Avatar, Weaver said: “They’ve talked to me about it. I guess they’re sending me the script when it’s finished.”
As for the story? “I know that my little son Oscar has now grown up, and he’s going to be a Ghostbuster. So I’m very proud of him. I don’t know anything about it other than that, you know?”
Howard is quickly becoming a sci fi vet
Looks like Bryce Dallas Howard is becoming a sci-fi stalwart, with roles in The Village, Lady in the Water, Spider-Man 3, Terminator Salvation, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and, as Variety reports, in the upcoming supernatural thriller Hereafter. The movie is scripted by Peter Morgan, the guy who wrote her dad Ron Howard’s movie Frost/Nixon, and will be directed by Clint Eastwood, the guy who took over directing the Angelina Jolie movie Changeling when her dad dropped out of that project.
Avatar looks awesome. I can’t wait to see it. What do you think of Avatar so far?
Ghostbusters 3 LMAO! I love the other two. Are you excited for a 3rd installment? or meh, not so much?
I am not a fan of Bryce Dallas Howard to say the least.
