Avatar 3D: The Verdict

OK, I’ll level with you: I didn’t see Avatar in 3D when it first came out. But with the whole movie industry trying to push 3D down our throats, I thought that now that Avatar 3D: Special Extended Edition is out, I’d see what all the fuss is about. This is my verdict:

Practically pointless.

OK, so I suppose I should explain why. Pandora (the planet) is a sublimely beautiful planet. It’s such a bright, vividly imagined world, so alien yet so believable. And that’s just in 2D. It’s so great in just 2D, that 3D doesn’t actually make it any more believable or engrossing. Not to mention the fact that the 3D is only really noticeable in a few scenes when there’s something small in the foreground like snow or ash. All other scenes just look the same as in the 2D version. Not to mention that 2D isn’t really 2D anyway; it doesn’t look flat, it’s just that the screen is flat – you can still see when something is in the foreground and something else is in the background.

Basically, I don’t see the attraction. Sure, the 3D is better than when you had to use the blue-and-red glasses, but it still isn’t actually that great. I don’t think it’s worth the extra money. And I think that Avatar is a brilliant film without it. In fact, I’d say the extended scenes added much more to the film than the 3D did.

Subtle Hint?

You know that Bulgarian girl I said I fancy? Well, the other day she seemed to hint to me that she liked me too. When I say that, she seems to like me anyway, through our general conversations, but this was a more obvious hint. Perhaps. I could just be reading into it too much.

Anyway, so this supposed ‘hint’. We were talking about films, and she recommended ‘Euro Trip’. So I went on IMDB, and here is the plot summary: “When Scotty’s German online pen pal suggests they meet, he initially freaks out (he thinks it’s a guy). But then he discovers that she’s (a she and) gorgeous, and heads out with three friends after graduation to meet her. As they travel across Europe, the four friends have comical misadventures.” Sound like a sort of similar situation? Okay, so I might be reading too much into it.

She does like me, as a friend at least, that much I can be sure of. But I have doubts that she likes me in any other way. I mean, she’s never actually met me in person. But if she does make it over, I’ll ask her out anyway, and maybe she’ll say yes, and we’ll become closer. I know it probably sounds silly that I like her despite we’ve never met. But she seems like a really nice, hard working, not to mention pretty, girl – and I’m completely bowled over by her

It’s Late, and Those Regrets Have Surfaced Again

It’s 12:50 in the morning. I’ve just finished watching Get Over It, and as I was about to get ready for bed, those regrets hit me again, and I feel the need to vent them here.

I should have gone in halls. On Facebook, every day there is a reminder of how many friends everyone else has made, how much of a good time partying they’re having. Friends talk about how they’ve gotten off with some girls. And here I am, sitting at home, typing away on a computer, or playing Modern Warfare 2, e.t.c. I’ve missed out on so many experiences, so many friends I didn’t make, so many fun nights missed. Everyone is having a good time but me.

I’m such an idiot, such a Mummy’s boy, such a square (yes that term is way old and never used any more but sue me). I’m afraid of new experiences, of moving outside my comfort zone. But my comfort zone is so small, so restrictive, so impossible to escape from, that it is ruining my life. I know it’s too late. In some ways, I wish I fail this year so I can go to another uni, far, far away, where I can go in halls and have a good time, expand my horizons and draw so many things into my comfort zone so that I will never have to worry about social situations ever again. But that won’t happen, because a good student, who lives at home with his parents. I’m doomed to a life of boredom, loneliness and no sexual experiences whatsoever.

I can hear you thinking: ‘that’s all this is really about, isn’t it? Sex, kissing, all that.’ And you’re probably right. But it is something I am concerned about, because I know how this experience not will affect the rest of my life. And from what I see from the current picture, my life is going to suck.

So if you don’t mind, I’m now going to comfort myself by looking at pictures of the good times I had with me college friends. Goodnight.

Avatar (Important Films Part 3)

Avatar was the last film I saw in the “noughties” (I watched it on 31st December 2009). It was amazing! They take a plot that is, essentially, quite cliched – a person infiltrates a ‘hostile’ group but ends up being turned and becoming one of them – and makes it brilliant. The characters are so well-rounded, the ‘aliens’ so human and believeable, the world the creator creates so stunning that you cannot help but be deeply moved by it and feel a real connection with the characters. It’s one of those rare films that surpasses the hype and seems to be greater than the sum of it’s parts.

I particularly liked (of course) the romance between Jake and Neytiri. I did suspect it would happen from the moment they meet in the film, because that’s how films work, but they managed to still execute it in a fairly natural way, unlike, say, Spock and Uhura in the recent Star Trek film, so it doesn’t seem contrived (though it is). It is the prime reason that Jake defects from the humans to the Na’vi (aliens) and I like it because it demonstrates (okay, again, it’s a film, but still) the power of love to change people. I know that seems like hyperbole but that’s just how I think, okay? (Sorry to be rude. Just ignore me. I really ranting at myself there, pay it no heed.)

Get Over It (Important Films Part 2)

Get Over It is a film in which a guy gets dumped by his childhood-sweetheart-turned-highschool-lover, and then gets into the school’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream in order to win her over again. He enlists the help of another girl, played by the fantastic Kirsten Dunst, to improve his acting skills. During this time they become increasingly attracted to each other but he still wants to try and get back with the other (supposedly really hot but kinda bitchy too) girl, not quite realising where his true feelings lie. In the end he decides not to get back with his girlfriend but instead declares his love for Kirsten Dunst’s character on-stage during the production.

I like this film because of the decision he makes, the type of girl he goes for – the right type. He realises that what he chasing maybe hot, but ultimately, she doesn’t love him. He realises that the sweet, shy girl is the right person for him. And, as you probably know, the geek or the shy one getting the girl, or in this case, the boy, is really something that I want to believe is possible. It also shows that guys should not think with their cock like they usually do but actually think who is right for them, who is the right one, who is the one for them. Not some silly, granted, hot, but trophy, girlfriend/wife e.t.c, but a sensible, down-to-earth, shy but beautiful girlfriend/wife that he can love, and who will love him. As you know, I think our society’s obsession with looks is detrimental to our well-being and the healthiness of society, so the fact he goes for love, not looks, is what is so commendable about this film.

At this point I hear you say ‘but there are lots of films like that’, and, kind of, you are right. However, that is usually a hot girl or hot guy falling for a shy girl/shy guy, but with this they are both more or less ordinary, which for me makes it special, as not many films do that. It gives me hope that an ordinary guy like me can get, yes, an ‘ordinary’ girl, but also, at the same time, although she is ‘ordinary’, she is, because of that, extraordinary. One day, a ordinary, nice girl will find me, I hope, and will love me for who I am.

The Truman Show (Important Films Part 1)

Yesterday I mentioned that I have to start doing more interesting posts. Funnily enough, I came up with one today! I just watched The Truman Show on Film4 and it was great. It was the first time I’d seen it. I’d heard about it before but never got around to watching it. Now I have, I have to talk about it! Also, over the next few days I think, I’ll discuss other films I have particular attachments to. It won’t be films I just really like, like Star Wars or Airplane! or something, but a film that actually means something to me.

For those of you who don’t know The Truman Show, it stars Jim Carrey (one of my favourite actors) as a man called Truman whose life is a reality soap opera, televised 24/7 to billions across the globe, unbeknownst to him. It basically shows the exploitative nature of reality TV (which I dislike), but I’m not going into that. I want to talk about how he ends up escaping from his constructed life.

Basically, he slowly discovers it through random events, but underneath all that, really, is his love for this girl he briefly met, who tried to tell him what was going on. His love for this girl clearly occupies his life and it is really his quest to find her that leads him out. I like it because it shows the power that love can have. You could argue that it isn’t properly love because he never really knew her, but somebody can still love someone just from one fleeting moment, precisely because it is brief and the person always wonders what it would be like if they’d got with that person.

I always wonder ‘what if’. ‘What if’ I’d done this, what if I’d done that. How that would of affected me. How it could have made me a better person. Practically every decision I make, I question myself about later. Why did I choose one path? Why did I not go the other way? Often I want to go back and change whatever decision – but I can’t. I’m struck with me how I am.

One thing bad I would say about The Truman Show is the ending. Yes, he escaped, but they didn’t show the reunion of him and the girl he fell in love with. That to me suggests that perhaps it didn’t happen and therefore my conclusion that this film shows the power of love falls flat. I really hope they did get together at the end. I don’t know what I’d do if they didn’t.