We will be telling you much more about this tomorrow-because we think its fair for you to have a chance to see it for yourself, or else what fun is it for all of us?-but here is the Times review, just up now on Avatar: "Mr. Cameron... is a filmmaker whose ambitions transcend a single movie or mere stories to embrace cinema as an art, as a social experience and a shamanistic ritual, one still capable of producing the big WOW. Few films return us to the lost world of our first cinematic experiences, to that magical moment when movies really were bigger than life (instead of iPhone size), if only because we were children. Movies rarely carry us away, few even try. They entertain and instruct and sometimes enlighten. Some attempt to overwhelm us, but their efforts are usually a matter of volume. What's often missing is awe, something Mr. Cameron has, after an absence from Hollywood, returned to the screen with a vengeance."
Thursday, December 17, 2009
13
Awe is so awesome. I can't wait.
Pauline Kael… was a critic whose ambitions transcended a single thumbs up or down to embrace the form as an art, as a educational experience and actual journalism, art still capable of producing the big WOW. Few critics return us to the lost world of our interest in film as an art, to that magical moment when movies really were bigger than money (instead of weekend box office takes), if only because we were literate. Movie reviews rarely carry us away, few even try beyond pull-quotes. They snark and instruct and sometimes enlighten. Some attempt to overwhelm us, but their efforts are usually a matter of volume."
So "Avatar" is no "Ishtar"?
yeah, I'll say it: Ishtar is unfairly maligned because Beatty and Hoffman invented the $10 million/pic club. Ebert said he loved it until that fact came out, then he back-pedaled on his thumbs-up and said, in effect, "this wasn't worth $20 million in actor's fees."
Mostly, Ishtar failed people's expectations, but it didn't fail in-and-of-itself.
This is what cinema has been since JAWS. A spectacle of light and sound. Not theatre. Not literature. Not "Art". But a barking circus of pinwheels and fire.
Actually, yes. That is a problem. I kind of feel like movie culture has become junkie culture? And I don't like it. The BIGGER BETTER MORE quest is fucked.
But at least we have Almodovar.
Don't really want to go here but, I'm just not sure it's possible to mass produce "art" and the American film and record industries from their respective inceptions have been about returns, they are after all industries. Certainly there have been creative highs that we could spend hours disagreeing on but these moments have been achieved,usually it seems, through the drive, determination and outright insanity of a few filmmakers and producers who can achieve a balance between, sorry you guys, art and commerce. I'm just not so certain there was ever a time in American cinema where "art" was ever considered before commerce. You mentioned Jaws so this opinion applies to main stream cinema I call them movies. I think we've got a lot more pinwheels and fire coming unless we figure out health care and can give free taste injections to everyone who bought a ticket to transformers 2, I don't need to tell you that's a lot of fucking people and I think most of them would tell us to get fucked over our opinions.
The next step in this process... after necessarily agreeing with you... is to explore the general space of art as it applies to various other media, in order to find something more satisfying and fulfilling. I will save you the trouble: nearly everything we enjoy as "art" is something endlessly and painfully contrived or recycled or copied without attribution, and most of that which is "original" ends up being aesthetically awful and intellectually insulting. Then you realize that circuses are valid performance art following the same rules, the analogy still works with movies, and we conclude that this is the best we've got.
Also, I don't know how what you said applies at all to "Glengarry Glen Ross". Maybe you're being too generalistic.
Ah, but JAWS is a well-crafted film with amazing dialogue and performances.
Perhaps you confuse it's financial success with a lack of artistic merit?
Now, Star Wars...that's the beginning of the end, truly...
"...a barking circus of pinwheels and fire."
I'd pay nine bucks to see that.
LOL
Okay, FINE, I'll see it. Harumph.
As the already-feted Pauline Kael famously said of An Officer and a Gentleman [!!], "It's crap, but it's crap on a motorcycle."