Russell Brand:

These young people have no sense of community because they haven’t been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron’s mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there’s no such thing.

If we don’t want our young people to tear apart our communities then don’t let people in power tear apart the values that hold our communities together.

As you have by now surely noticed, I don’t know enough about politics to ponder a solution and my hands are sticky with blood money from representing corporate interests through film, television and commercials, venerating, through my endorsements and celebrity, products and a lifestyle that contributes to the alienation of an increasingly dissatisfied underclass. But I know, as we all intuitively know, the solution is all around us and it isn’t political, it is spiritual. Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

In this simple sentiment we can find hope, as we can in the efforts of those cleaning up the debris and ash in bonhomous, broom-wielding posses. If we want to live in a society where people feel included, we must include them, where they feel represented, we must represent them and where they feel love and compassion for their communities then we, the members of that community, must find love and compassion for them.

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Power up your TARDIS, turn on your lightsaber, and set your phasers to stun because we are about to geek out kids.

Not content with making over $2 billion worldwide, James Cameron is re-releasing “Avatar” in theaters. Supposedly, a lot of people couldn’t see it in 3D because there were other films in theaters at that time hogging up half the screens. How dare they? Who do those people think they are?

In the same L.A. Times interview where Mr. Cameron explains his re-release rationale, he opines that he is making a franchise with “Avatar” that will compete with the works of Tolkien. He thinks the story of the Cat Smurfs will have the same staying power as “Star Wars.”

This die-hard film geek and sci-fi fan begs to differ.

Great franchises need amazing worlds, rich characters, and far reaching themes. They also need to have a first episode that strikes a deep chord in the fan community. You know, the complete opposite of “Avatar.”

Part of what makes a franchise successful is that the audience doesn’t merely want to watch the world of the film, they want to live in the world of the film. Who wouldn’t want to go to Hogwarts and learn to cast spells? Who hasn’t picked up a flashlight and spun it around, humming, like it was a lightsaber? Who wouldn’t want to serve aboard a starship commanded by James T. Kirk, traveling to the far corners of the galaxy? Well, as long as you’re not wearing a red shirt that is… (more…)

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Hard to blame Cameron for not showing up to the gunfight he asked for. After all, he has no ammunition; just cooked numbers, lies, hysteria, emotion, and the inability to scream “cut” and ask for another take when things don’t roll out the way he wants.

We here at Big Hollywood are still trying to figure out which is more fun, Cameron getting his clock cleaned at a global cooling global warming climate change debate, or the ongoing ridicule that can be mined from his running like a punk from his own challenge.

Six of one, really.

About 6 hours into the original film, remember asking yourself, “Could this be any more anti-American?”

Ask a stupid question.

From an interview with director James Cameron discussing the new scenes added to tomorrow’s Avatar special edition re-release:

A scene Cameron calls “the drums of war,” which he hopes will clarify why the humans choose to wipe out the Na’vi. He compared it to America’s decision to invade Iraq. “We had to provoke Saddam to do something stupid, and it’s like that with the humans invading Pandora,” he said. “I felt when I was writing it that the Na’vi had to counter-react and do something that is called an atrocity that gave [humans] the moral right to go in and destroy and displace them. The additional footage is pretty short, but it fulfills that purpose.”

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Will Avatar 2: Big Oil include embarrassingly bad dialogue and a character along the lines of a feckless and indecisive President attempting to plug the damn hole from Martha’s Vineyard? We’re betting on one of those.

IMDB:

Cameron said, “Every experience that you have in your life as a filmmaker is going to affect what you do, and those were both situations where I was directly involved.” Cameron, who called Bp officials “morons” for their handling of the oil spill, added, “Sure, absolutely I’m going to use that for my further condemnation of corporations wrecking the natural world.”

More here. (more…)

I finally had the opportunity to see James Cameron’s paean to nature, “Avatar.” It is definitely beautifully filmed and there is an edenic quality to the alien planet of Pandora that probably reflects the director’s image of the biblical garden. It is typical, however, of Hollywood denizens to find paradise in another realm than to look at what is already here without criticizing the negative human impact on our blue planet. 

The Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation prompted many apocalyptic films in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. As a child I watched films of giant tomatoes, giant alligators; giant frogs and rabbits and more all caused by mutations generated by nuclear accidents. Is it any wonder that the hippies and leftists protested, very effectively I might add, against the building of nuclear facilities and power plants? ‘The China Syndrome” was a movie that stuck in the minds of many in the movie industry even though nuclear accidents rarely occur here. Three Mile Island did not cause any injuries. Chernobyl’s disaster happened because the Russian reactor was built in an old military installation without the strict guidelines we use in the United States. 

The ‘60’s were fraught with cautionary tales of impending doom. One of my favorite films, La Dolce Vita, depicted the angst and melancholia of the intelligentsia over the threat of nuclear annihilation The brilliant Steiner worries so much about what the future holds for his two beautiful children; that “the end of the world could be announced with a phone call’; that he kills them and commits suicide. Honestly, nihilists have so few options, we must pity them.   (more…)

Either James Cameron is a genocidal maniac or a black-hearted liar. How else to explain the vast divide between his words and deeds? Yesterday on “Hardball,” Cameron ripped we Global Cooling Global Warming Climate Change deniers as “dangerous.” The takeaway from the interview is that the director really, really, really believes that consumerism and energy consumption put our planet in peril.

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Okay, fine. But then why is he trying to kill us all off with his own lifestyle? Forget about the mansion he currently resides in, look at how his work contributes to the extinction of all life on Earth.

1. The energy consumed to make films.
2. The energy consumed to distribute his films worldwide.
3. The energy consumed to promote them.
4. The energy consumed by those going to see them.
5. The energy consumed to create, distribute and promote DVDs
6. The inevitable landfill waste that comes with millions and millions of DVDs produced all over the world.

If you take Cameron at his word regarding his fevered belief that Climate Change is real and man made, the next logical question can only be: James, why then are you so aggressively engaging in the kind of behavior you yourself believe will destroy Mother Earth? (more…)

At least as far as movies go, I believe the above headline to be accurate. The Best Picture nominees at the Oscars that year were Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Quiz Show, and The Shawshank Redemption. In this series, I will look back at the Best Year Ever, cleverly focusing on a different movie each week. Starting with…

The key to any great year at the movies is a great summer at the movies, and 1994 had that. I can’t personally decide which movie that summer was my favorite, so I’m starting with my wife’s favorite. My wife grew up in a small town in South Georgia. They didn’t have a movie theatre. Not that she was in the stone ages, but going to a movie was, to her, an event, not a regular occurrence. We had been dating for only about a month, when one Tuesday afternoon in December of 1991, I said, “Hey, let’s go to the movies.” Puzzled, she replied, “It’s Tuesday.”

As good a day as any, I replied, before whisking her off to see “The Last Boy Scout.”

Three years later, she was worse than me. We would watch two movies in an afternoon, three if they weren’t playing at the General Cinema theatre, with its uncomfortable red seats. Our tastes were not discriminating, we would see anything. On July 15, 1994, we went to see Disney’s Angels in the Outfield (co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Adrien Brody!), then ducked into the next auditorium to watch True Lies. My wife saw it at least ten times that summer. (more…)

It’s that time of the year again — Oscar time!  (Cue “Hooray It’s Hollywood!” music.)  I know it’s supposed to be uncool to care, but I grew up watching the Oscars with my mom every year, and just can’t kick the habit.

Like some grim tribal ritual whose original meaning is lost in the mists of time, I will most probably sit down in front of the tube at the appointed hour, and brace myself for the onslaught of awkward acceptance speeches, corny jokes, and interminable dance numbers (please, God, no dance numbers!).

The experts agree there are two main contenders for Best Picture.  (What would we do without experts?)  One is a movie about a peaceful, idyllic land invaded by an evil military force trying to steal their resources.  The other one is called Avatar.

The struggle between Avatar and The Hurt Locker has gone back and forth.  Avatar was an early favorite, but Hurt Locker seems to have enjoyed a late General Petraeus-like surge.

Then in the final days, an ugly controversy struck Hurt Locker as one of its producers had the gall to ask people to vote for his movie.  Imagine that!  Doesn’t he know that Hollywood is a respectable place where aggressive self-promotion and crass commercialism are strictly off-limits? (more…)

How much carbon did the Malibu Mansion-dwelling director emit to create and promote ”Avatar?”

If Cameron and all the other elitists who so casually spew this socialism-disguised-as-nonsense enviro stuff really believed Global Warming was a dire threat, they would behave accordingly with respect to their own  jet-set lifestyles and carbon-spewing professions.

I don’t believe in Global Warming because — well, because I have a brain — but mainly because the James Camerons and the Al Gores of the world don’t believe in it, either. They get rich off of it. They puff their insecure selves up with it. They feel a sense of superiority over it… (more…)

With the success of James Cameron’s Avatar, audiences are once again being assaulted by Hollywood’s assumption of self-hate and false politically correct “truths” about who America is today and what we were in our past.  Of course we shouldn’t be surprised, a look at James Cameron’s past films with military characters like Aliens and The Abyss show a similar disdain for the military.  His scientists are always good and noble, but his military types, whether official or the contractor type as in Avatar remain uneducated, redneck killers.  After all this is a film that lying propagandist, so-called “filmmaker” Michael Moore has declared, “a brilliant film for our times.”

I much prefer the balance of say the great 1951 black and white classic The Thing, where James Arness’s murderous, but very smart alien runs amok in an isolated Arctic research station.  That is until captain Ken Toby and his wisecracking Army Air Corps crew and few common sense scientists manage to fry said killer alien’s ass with a makeshift electric chair.

The Thing’s military guys get all the really good lines, too.  In level headed response to the naive head scientist’s crazy insistence that “…our lives do not matter.  Knowledge, that’s the only reason to live, it knows far more then we do.  We can learn from it.  Just think we’ve split the atom.”  Toby’s co-pilot responds wryly, “Yeah, and that sure made the world happy didn’t it.”   But what do I know?   I love westerns and military films; only the rare common sense science fiction film like The Thing or a grand adventure like Star Wars captures my fancy. (more…)

Last night, the 67th Golden Globes Awards were given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). According to the HFPA mission statement, one of the goals of the organization is to “recognize outstanding achievements by conferring annual Awards of Merit, serving as a constant incentive within the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television…”

At the beginning of the show, the Globes did just that but there were other times (including the conclusion of the program) when undeserving victors beat out more worthy competition.

The awards show cast a new light on two deserving performers who were not well-known for their strong acting abilities. First, in what I thought was the highlight of the night,  Mo’Nique won the award for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” for ”Precious.” She was given the first award of the night and gave a wonderful speech. In her brilliant performance, the comedienne portrayed a selfish and cold woman who abuses and enables the abuse of her own daughter. At the Globes, Mo’Nique started her speech by thanking God for “the amazing ride.” Later she spoke of all the “Preciouses” and about speaking up about abuse. It was a classy moment. (more…)

To fully appreciate the absurdity of the statements uttered by “Avatar’s” writer/director James Cameron in defense of his film the other night, you have to get a feel for the setting. The Q&A took place during an industry screening of “Avatar.” That means an exclusive audience packed with fellow frat boys, sorority girls and a gaggle of suck up pledges. Trust me, there have been Ku Klux Klan meetings with more ideological diversity. Better still, this was an industry screening at the ArcLight Theatre, and for those of you fortunate enough not to be familiar with Los Angeles — that means this was a frat party at THE frat house.

Welcome to Inside-Inside-Inside Hollywood, where James Cameron is Doug Niedermeyer, the Big Man on Campus:

“Avatar” director James Cameron responded to right-wing critics of his blockbuster hit movie on Tuesday night, saying that “as an artist, I felt a need to say something about what I saw around me.” …

But he rejected comments by critics that the film is un-American even if it is an allegory for American military forays. 

“I’ve heard people say this film is un-American, while part of being an American is having the freedom to have dissenting ideas,” Cameron said, prompting loud applause from a capacity crowd at the ArcLight Hollywood.

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This appears to be accurate. Both Ain’t It Cool News and JoBlo.com have posted James Cameron’s full “Avatar” script. To triple-check I went to the 20th Century-Fox site and found that they posted the same script, as well. After being as careful as possible (wouldn’t want to smear Cameron like he did the U.S. Marines. NOTE for Leftist hair-splitters: former Marines), I bring you a scene written by James Cameron that was cut from the final film but serves as a glimpse at the director’s childish prejudices and mindset:

INT. ARMOR BAY – DAY

TROOPERS issue automatic weapons and magazines to a long line of mine workers. The miners lock and load like the redblooded redneck NRA supporters they are.

BLASTING TECHS are setting radio-detonated primer charges into two-ton stacks of EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. The stacks are band-strapped together on pallets.

TRACKING WITH SELFRIDGE, staring around him in growing dismay as he walks through the full-scale mobilization. He approaches Quaritch, who is barking orders amid a hive of activity around the ampsuits.

SELFRIDGE
This thing is completely out of control!

Quaritch ignores him, turning away to focus on ordnance loading.

SELFRIDGE
Listen to me! I am not authorizing you to turn the mine-workers local into a freakin’ militia!

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We should be sympathetic to this. After all, what healthy straight male among us hasn’t been injured after attempting to leap into our 60-inch plasma televisions for a shot at Ann-Margaret in ”Viva Las Vegas,” right?

Right…?

CNN reports:

On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie. (more…)

Having served 23 years in the military and in Vietnam, and having a son who leaves for Afghanistan this month, I look at this film through the eyes of a patriot (one who loves and defends his country).

As opposed to those who don’t.

Certainly the special effects are spectacular. However, portraying our military as fanatical crazed killers who have joined a military mercenary force to destroy a civilization so that corporations can capitalize on some rare commodity prized by earthlings is disrespectful to our soldiers, especially in this time of war.

Showing the commander of the forces on his way to destroy a civilization while nonchalantly sipping a cup of coffee and indiscriminately attacking innocent men, women and children, is meant to demean our military.

Obviously this movie takes place in the distant future but the quotes (“pre-emptive war,” “shock and awe”) are meant to intentionally draw attention to our present war with terrorism, which is now mostly located in Afghanistan. Further proof is the fact that a Marine is the main character. (more…)

Let this end the inane hair-splitting over how it’s okay to smear the United States Marines by making them “former” Marines in the form of mercenaries.

The Marine Times:

Lost amid the staggering commercial success of “Avatar” and obscured by the punditry of the left and right as they debate James Cameron’s social and historical commentary are the real warriors whose heroism, valor and selfless service has allowed the U.S. to leave a war in Iraq that many in 2006 thought was unwinnable and indeed salvage success from the jaws of calamity.

“Avatar” takes sophomoric shots at our military culture and uses the lore of the Marine Corps and over-the-top stereotyping of Marine warriors to set the context for the screenplay. This does a disservice to our Corps of Marines and the publics’ understanding of their Corps.

The Marine Corps embraces a warrior-scholar mentality and prides itself on understanding host country narratives and sensitivities in complex climes and places. Gen. James Mattis, whose catch-phrase is “no better friend, no worse enemy,” better captures the essence of Marines who helped usher in the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province than the cinemagraphically convenient colonel-turned-mercenary antagonist in “Avatar.” (more…)

From my “Avatar” review:

“Steven Spielberg’s sixteen year-old dinosaurs are light years ahead of “Avatar” in the reality department.”

Cameron might have used more terabytes, megabytes, spiderbytes, or whateverbytes to create the Na’vi and the paradise planet of Pandora than Steven Spielberg ever dreamed possible in 1993, but in the convincing me this is real department — in the convincing me this is not computer generated department — “Jurassic Park” blows “Avatar” away. Peter Jackson’s Kong and Gollum are also light years ahead of “Avatar.” (more…)

Highlights: (more…)