text reviews
New Birth, Blue Birth in AVATAR
March 3rd, 2010
“Every person is born twice. The second time is when you earn your place among the people forever.” – Avatar
(click here for the introduction to our series on Avatar)
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do [...]
DeprAVATAR of man
February 25th, 2010
The human race sucks.
Seriously, if there’s one thing James Cameron and John Calvin might agree on, it’s the depravity of man. The pivotal scene in Avatar, where Colonel Quaritch fiddles with his coffee while Hometree burns, best exemplifies this notion. In fact, the humans who aren’t worthless sacks of flesh in Avatar can be counted on your fingers [...]
The Great Divorce in AVATAR
February 23rd, 2010
For introduction to our Avatar review thread from the beginning, click here.
“You’re not in Kansas anymore. You’re on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact, every second of every day. If there is a hell — you might want to go there for some R & R, after a tour on Pandora. Out there beyond [...]
AVATAR: Creation, shortsighted pt 2
February 19th, 2010
For the first part on AVATAR: Creation, click here or follow the link for the introduction to AVATAR..
But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare [...]
AVATAR: Creation, Shortsighted pt 1
February 19th, 2010
In my introductory post on AVATAR, it was mentioned that some moviegoers are reportedly “suffering from “Avatar blues”, surrounded by the glorious 3-D world James Cameron and a team of visionaries designed as a feast for the senses and leaving with a reality-crashing sense of dissatisfaction and loss. One online forum administrator is quoted [...]
Brokenness & Sin in AVATAR
February 16th, 2010
In James-Cameron’s groundbreaking, record-shattering, world-building film Avatar (see Cinemagogue’s introduction) we begin the fantastical journey en route to planet Pandora. Except for Jake Sully’s hyper-sleep flashbacks we never see the planet Earth, and even these are tight camera shots focused on his twin brother’s death and cremation. We know little about the state our world [...]
AVATAR Attacks!
February 12th, 2010
A little film came out in 1977 called Star Wars and raised quite a controversy amongst Christian fundamentalists. I remember a couple kids I carpooled to Christian school with informed me that they were forbidden to watch Star Wars movies because “Yoda was a demon” (for the record, so was E.T. the Exorcist Terrestrial). Many [...]
STAR TREK (part 1) Has Gone Before
October 14th, 2009
It’s about time I talked about the hottest ticket this summer. But first (as the film itself does) let’s take a trip back in time…
The Starship Enterprise had already been trekking for several years before I was born. My science-fiction loving dad would stun me with syndicated episodes during my impressionable youth, forever inflecting me [...]
Review of KNOWING part 3: CHOSEN
May 22nd, 2009
“Many are called, but few are chosen” – Jesus, Matthew 22
“He said only the chosen must go, those who have heard the call.” - Caleb Koestler, KNOWING
(For the introduction to our series on KNOWING, click here)
A buried page of numbers reveals that the world is determined, plotted and planned and calculated and destined to end. John [...]
Review of KNOWING part 2: APOCALYPSE
May 14th, 2009
The dead rise from the grave. The sky turns red as blood. Straggling survivors seek shelter and struggle to survive. Since we’ve been telling stories around campfires to our latest modern cinematic marvels, it seems the end of the world just won’t die. KNOWING Director Alex Proyas says “it touches on something in our psyche [...]