Avatar 3D [REVIEW]

Okay, let’s make this clear at the start, Avatar is not a great film.
It is not a film that will surprise you and offer you things you have never seen before. You do not get sucked in to a world of new colours, dimensions and landscapes, what you do get is the same old familiar fantasy stuff just presented a little differently. And that’s the driving force of this film, not what you see but how you see it.
James Cameron is on very familiar ground with many of the story elements  of this film, but it’s the technical advances that seems to be getting all the column inches and blog postings, probably because the story’s so familiar.

It takes great skill in creating a totally believable world in cinema, and at this Cameron excels.
In the years he was waiting for the technology to mature enough to start filming he obviously poured over every aspect of the world of Pandora, and it certainly shows on screen. It’s a lush and very detailed world with a well thought out and realised methodology and ancestry that it could’ve been lifted straight from a documentary of indigenous peoples. Pandora is fully realised and totally believable, at least in concept if not execution. This is where the film started to fall down for me; the CG realisation.

The very first time we see Sam Worthington’s character (Jake Sully) in avatar form, it looks so fake. The whole scene needs proper attention to the blending process to integrate the CG with the live action, because it just looks cheap and well below par for any big budget film these days. The whole sequence is very unnatural in it’s movement and the cartoon skin doesn’t help in the least. This scene isn’t the only one that actually takes you (or me) out of the film and draws your attention to the artifice of the medium, but as it’s the first scene that does it in a very easily recognisable sense then it deserves mention for that. Cameron should look to District 9 as a lesson in how to blend CG and live action seamlessly.
Once emerged in the world of Pandora the CG becomes much more believable but there’s something about the way things move, it’s very unnatural in it’s execution. Again, this takes the viewer out of the film and draws attention away from verisimilitude.

The script is typical Cameron fare. Don’t go expecting anything approaching complex dialogue, because that’s not what he does. What he does do is create spectacle, and in this he certainly hasn’t failed, though some aspects need a little work Avatar is by no means a bad film, but by the same token it’s not great either, and this is where I came in.

So, is 3D going to be the saviour of the film industry? Based on this film I’d have to say “nope”.
While it undeniably adds depth to the image there’s a few problems I have with it (even though it is still very much an emerging technology).
The glasses were a major problem for me. Not being a person that requires any kind of correctional eye facility I found wearing the glasses a distraction. Not only could I constantly feel the pressure of the arms against my head I found the rims of the glasses a constant distraction. The CG movement I’ve already gone in to so I won’t rehash but as a gimmick I can see 3D catching on in a small way, but I certainly don’t think I’ll be going to watch another 3D film at the pictures again any time soon.

New Photography ’site

Shameless self promotion time folks.

I just launched a new website centering around my photography.
I have, in the past, made posts here concerning photography but now I have the dedicated ’site, that’ll no longer be happening and things can get back on track with this blog. Hopefully.

The aim of the new ’site is to get a much needed profile in the already crowded market place of people (ultimately) wanting to make a living out of their photographic efforts.
I’ve already had small success in this area and would obviously like it to continue and grow, so if any of the readers of this (that’s you) know of someone or some organisation that could benefit from my services then please pass on my details.

The new website address is SFGPhotography.co.uk and thank you for reading.

The Films of 2009

For those not familiar with the concept, I keep track of all the films I watch (I’ve been doing this since 2006) on a monthly basis over the course of the year, just so I can post the list up on my blog at the end of December. Due to personal circumstances I’m a little late with the post.

After starting to give the films ratings in 2008 I carried on this tradition in ‘09 but life events got in the way and due to my mood in the second half of the year I decided to not rate those films, because I’d probably be under rating the films, and I didn’t want to unfairly judge films that I more than likely enjoyed. So the first half of the hear has ratings, the second doesn’t.

Highlights of the past year include Watchmen, In Bruges, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Lowlights included Southland Tales and Star Trek
Special mention goes to Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus and Where the Wild Things Are.

June and July have been lumped together because I totally lost track of when one month ended and when the other started, so there’s no solid line I can draw between those two months.

I said last year that I’d like to watch more sci-fi pictures as well as see more films at the pictures. I think both those two comments can be rolled over to 2010 though I don’t think I’ll have the money to see more at the pictures, but I’d certainly like to see more science fiction films this year than I did in previous years.

Follow the link below to get to the film listings for 2008.
Happy New Year to all my readers.

Patently Crazy(?)

Let’s get the definition out of the way first, shall we?

patent
noun |ˈpat(ə)nt| |ˈpeɪt-|
1 a government authority to an individual or organization conferring a right or title, esp. the sole right to make, use, or sell some invention

Right then, with that in mind I would now like you to read this article.

So what exactly is it that the patent covers?
In the film it’s a bit of paper that’s found in an unearthed time capsule that contains numbers. These numbers are then analysed and found to be of historical significance.

So, I’m guessing that for this patent to actually be used as grounds for suing then it must cover the writing down of numbers on a bit of paper.
I’m sorry, when did that become grounds for suing? I’m pretty sure there’s at least one or two examples of prior art concerning the use of written numbers on a bit of paper.

I’m sure the people that got the patent granted to them did so on sound knowledge and principles of originality *cough* but come on!
For crying out loud, everyone from mathmaticians to bingo players would have to be sued to uphold the rights of this particular patent holder.

I’m all for the intellectual property of originators to be upheld if proper infringing of those rights has taken place, but I really do hope that this case gets laughed out of court.

Avatar

This article prompted my thoughts on this film.

It’s one of those occasions where you have to assess what you want to do beforehand.
Do you want to believe the hype and go and see it on that basis.
Do you want to go and see another James Cameron film, where the acting is okay at best, the effects and world realisation are second-to-none and the script is bilge.
Do you want to go and see a saccharine love story, the likes of which you’ve already seen hundreds of times anyway.
Do you want to go and see the most expensive film ever made just so you can, many years from now, say that you saw the film in the cinema.
Do you want to go and see a film that could quite possibly sink a major Hollywood studio.
Do you want to go and see a film that could, quite possibly just blow your mind.

I’m sure there’s also other reasons you may want to go and see it for as well.

I’ve tried to avoid all of the marketing hype surrounding this film.
I caught a very early teaser trailer for it, and I’ve seen nothing else of it. This article was the first one I’d read about the film for years, and I’ll likely not read any more until the film comes out.
I’ll probably go to the pictures and see the film, but not in it’s opening week, as the marketing buzz will be driving hordes of people to go and see it during that time.

I have no expectations of this film but I’ll post back with my views once I’ve seen it.

Q

Judges have overturned a legal ban on science fiction fans naming their son ‘Q’ after their favourite Star Trek character.

John De Lancie as Q in Star Trek : TNG

The parents, from Jamtland, Sweden, appealed to the Swedish Supreme Court after two previous hearings upheld a court order saying the name could cause the boy “mental anguish”.
Appeal judges have now lifted the ban saying there was no proof the boy – now nearly one year old – would suffer because of the name.
Dad Rickard Rehnberg said: “He’s been called Q almost since day one. He listens to the name and can actually say his own name.
“He is a unique child and we thought he should have a unique name.”

Original story : Ananova

100 Top Sci-Fi Films

I’m looking for submissions to help compile my personal top 100.
I already have a long list of films to sort through, some of which won’t make the cut, but I’ve found it tough to come up with all the sci-fi films I’ve ever seen, so I’m looking for submissions to see if (a) there’s any I don’t already have in my list and (b) if there’s any good suggestions made that I haven’t yet seen so I can try and hunt them down and watch them before the list gets compiled.

I’m not just looking for Hollywood sci-fi either, U.K., European, Russian, Hong Kong … in fact any film that you think is seriously worthy of being in a top 100 I’m willing to accept as a valid submission.

The genesis for this idea came from another top 100 films that I’ve been following all this past week being published by Anthony Quinn of The Independent.

Click the link below to see a list of titles that I’ve already compiled and to see if you can think of any films that I don’t already have.
Please leave any title/s in the comments that you think worthy of inclusion that I’ve overlooked.

Torchwood : Children of Earth (parts 1-3)

Yes I’m watching it, and yes, I’m enjoying it tremendously.

This post will contain some spoiler material that those that haven’t viewed the episodes yet may not want to know about.

To answer a couple of points that a poster (Paul) made on my forum (in this Torchwood thread), the concrete cell didn’t even register with me as being remotely like the interior of that concrete house made by Rachel Whitehead, but then, I have major problems with that particular story element, namely, it dried too fast, it should’ve ripped Jack apart when it broke up on impact, it really shouldn’t have broken up on impact (it should have buried itself more than breaking up) and Jack should have been cooked alive as the concrete dried.

Now knowing that Anthony Gormley, who did the Angel of the North, did something similar to the container that the 456 are in adds nothing to the story line to me.
I actually thought it more reminiscent of ambassador Kosh in Babylon 5 and the encounter suit. When he was out of the suit he had to remain in a sealed off portion of B5 with his own atmosphere.

I thought that the blowing up of the Torchwood Hub was a budgetary decision.
This has much larger ramifications in the mythos of Torchwood though, what happened to the people and creatures contained within it? What about all the alien tech that has seemingly gone up in smoke?
It’s all a bit too clean at the moment. These things need to be addressed if the show lives on after the end of this week.

On that note, if this is the future format of this show, then please, can we have two per year?
This is proper event TV and having just one week a year isn’t going to help with maintaining audiences – even though the BBC shouldn’t really be about the audience figures.

Terrorism Act & Photography

A document by the National Policing Improvement Agency gives guidance to police officers accross the UK.

“The Terrorism Act 2000 does not prohibit people from taking photographs or digital
images in an area where an authority under section 44 is in place. Officers should not
prevent people taking photographs unless they are in an area where photography is
prevented by other legislation.”
“If officers reasonably suspect that photographs are being taken as part of hostile terrorist
reconnaissance, a search under section 43 of the TerrorismAct 2000 or an arrest should be
considered.”
“Film and memory cards may be seized as part of the search, but officers do not have a legal power to delete images or destroy film. Although images may be viewed as part of a search, to preserve evidence when cameras or other devices are seized, officers should not normally attempt to examine them.”
“Cameras and other devices should be left in the state they were found and forwarded to appropriately trained staff for forensic examination. The person being searched should never be asked or allowed to turn the device
on or off because of the danger of evidence being lost or damaged.”

Further more The Metropolitan Police have issued a tactical review of procedures of section 44 of the Terrorism act.

Northern Ireland by Camera

On the weekend of the 1st-3rd of May a friend of mine paid me a visit with his camera with the sole purpose of creating another in his series of …by Camera books.

There’s a Flash preview of Nick’s images available here and the contact-sheet style image below is a preview of mine. As soon as Colin has his images ready then we’ll ship them all off to Nick who’ll put the book together, fire off a preview to myself and Colin where we can make any changes (if any are needed) and then we’ll go to print.

Point of note, Images 1 and 21 have been removed from the finished listing.