‘Invictus’ a Tough Sell, But…
December 23rd, 2009 by Gregg Senko
I was very surprised at the small turnout for the opening weekend numbers of Clint Eastwood’s latest work, Invictus. The term ‘invictus’ is Latin for ‘invincible’ while there is also a famous poem of the same title. Both of which have strong influences on this film starring the astounding talents of Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as South African rugby captain, Francois Pienaar. The film covers a very turbulent time in South Africa’s history. Continue reading ‘‘Invictus’ a Tough Sell, But…’
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a professional hatchet man. When businesses have to downsize, he’s the guy who gets called in to deliver the bad news. Bingham has no close friends or family, and loves having a job that keeps him constantly on the move from one city to the next, living out of airports and hotel rooms. He finds a kindred spirit in businesswoman Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga). 
After the death of his twin brother, Paraplegic marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) voyages to the alien world of Pandora to complete the mission his late sibling had signed up for. The mission involves transferring Jake’s consciousness into an artificially grown body called an avatar via some futuristic gizmo. These avatars have been created to look like the native humanoid population, known as the Na’vi. 
Finally the release date for Avatar arrived. The street lamp-hung signs at July’s Comic-Con now fulfilled their advertising destiny. The autumn-released teaser trailers and strategically placed glimpses were no longer needed as the real deal had landed. Rumors had swirled for months as to how much the film cost. Some said it was the first $300,000,000 film ever made, the most expensive to date. 
For nearly three hours tonight I sat in the movie theater and completely forgot about all of my troubles, all of my worries and nothing else even mattered to me in the world except the universe James Cameron masterfully created in Avatar. I even forgot I was part of the human race as I sat there in captive bewilderment. Not even the rude patron kicking on the back of my chair could distract me. 
This past week, a very rare thing happened in U.S. cinema. A film was released for one week. Yep, that’s it, seven days. On December 11th, Director Lawrence Jordan’s concert film, Larger Than Life in 3D hit theaters making anything but a big splash. Filmed at the three-day long Austin City Limits music festival in Austin, Texas this past October, Larger Than Life in 3D features the musical work of Gogol Bordello, Ben Harper and Relentless7, and last but certainly not least, Dave Matthews Band. 
With an all-star cast of Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal, how can you go wrong? Well, let’s stop right there because 
Unlike the film’s trailer, I am not going to mislead you with the heading of this article. Everybody’s Fine starring Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale, comes out in theaters this Friday. Thank goodness I am here to save your wallets so your ten-dollar bills do not commit suicide at the box office. The trailer led me and a few others to believe that this movie was a nifty, smile-inducing, heart-felt piece about family and bringing everyone together. 
Rather than try for a slavishly faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The Fantastic Mr. Fox, director Wes Anderson has opted to reshape it to suit his own distinctive style and themes. The basic premise, that Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) steals food and beverages from three mean and nasty farmers, is the same. However, Anderson has added new characters and plot elements to the tale that give the movie a flavor unmistakably his own. 
Movies during the Great Depression offered patrons a chance to escape the outside world with spectacular musicals, screwball comedies and a Little Tramp who always got by. In contrast, movies during the Great Recession seem to offer escape with stories that show a post-apocalyptic vision of the future that is even worse than the reality that exists today. 
I went into this movie without high expectations. Although, when I originally saw the trailer in theaters, I was nearly to the moon with excitement. So in all honesty, my adrenal glands were pumping a bit of juice in preparation for this film. Ninja Assassin stars Asian pop star Rain as our hero, Raizo. Raizo, as with all the film’s ninjas, start out as kidnapped orphans, obtained by any of the nine mentioned clans. 
Once again Roland Emmerich has created a movie that is a thrill ride from the beginning to the end, but this time he grapples with the popular conception that the world is going to come to an end when it reaches the year 2012. Unlike the paranoia that surrounded our journey into the new millennium back at the end of the nineties, which was mainly brought upon by what we thought was going to be a massive glitch affecting all of the world’s computers, the ending foretold for the year 2012 is imagined to be far worse. 
Is basketball really more than a game? Is painting more than some brush strokes with color? What about running? Is it more than just exercise? The answer to all these questions is a simple ‘yes.’ As the old saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, and so holds true for an individual’s passion. While playing some pickup ball on an asphalt court might be a simple release for some, it can be a zone of absolute concentration, paradise and flowing adrenaline for others. 
Upon the conclusion of 2009, some of us staff here at Why So Blu will be compiling our own unique top-ten lists of our favorite films this year. The Blind Side will be on mine. This absolutely brilliant piece of work was not from the thought factory of some Hollywood writers or producers. Instead, this very real and very touching story is the product of none other than life itself. 
I honestly had no intentions of ever seeing the latest disaster flick, Roland Emmerich’s 2012, on the big screen. Had it not been for the recommendation to do so from fellow reviewer Bob Ignizio, then I probably would not have. I actually remember telling my co-worker Sandy this past Friday that there’s no way I will be seeing this. But, I was having a bad day, a somber time in class and I just figured what the heck…let’s watch some stuff get blown up! 
2012 is completely ridiculous trash that turns massive destruction and the deaths of billions of people (including, by implication, just about everyone watching it) into fodder for entertainment. Of course the disaster movies of the seventies did the same thing on a smaller scale, and who can resist The Towering Inferno or Earthquake? 
If you walk out of the theater thinking what you just watched is the world’s longest music video, then you just don’t get it. For those of us who have had any kind of connection to Michael Jackson over the past four decades, you will appreciate this film and revel in its sights, sounds and emotion. When I was just a kid growing up in Highland, Indiana, my first exposure to Michael Jackson as I remember it was the ‘Billie Jean’ video. 
