Avatar & Up

If I had $300 million then undoubtedly I would do something ridiculous. Probably have a statue made of me riding a dinosaur. I'd have it in the middle of my garden. Be great really. Not far from this idea is one of using the money to take ten years to make a film about a war between a load of marines from Halo and some over-sized smurfs that live in a jungle. You can pretty much summarise the plot of the film on a beer mat. Or a stamp. The dialogue is also up there with great George Lucas' as well, terrible one-liners and ham-fisted narration that is more like commentary for the blind than subtle thoughts. Anyway, now the negatives are out of the way I can say why this film is great. It's in the 2012 vein of "cinema blockbuster" and, unlike the underrated comedic highlight of 2009, actually achieves it. I only saw the film in 2D. But it was stunning. The action, the environments, just everything looked amazing. The look of the film is also pretty original, the jungle and it's inhabitants are especially something new. This is also coming from someone who's endured several space marine FPS' so I've seen a fair few aliens in my time. Avatar is a film that has to be seen at the big screen to be believed. It's easy to say it's crap before you've seen it, but you'll be surprised how quickly the acutely dull Sam Worthington and co suck you in to their world.

I don't know where we'd be without Pixar, they are the only company that can make consistently amazing films (Nobody mention Cars). Up is no different, although it's premise is a bit zanier. The film begins with what can only be described as a heart-warming walk through a man's life. I challenge someone not to watch this segment of the film and not be moved at all by it. This has always been Pixar's talent, establishing great characters that you instantly like. Then, through unfortunate incidence, ends up floating his house away on millions of balloons. Something everyone saw coming as it was all over the posters. The rest of the film is classic Pixar fair, with mix laugh out loud moments and some genuine heart-warming times. But all of this goes without saying. Pixar films are always brilliant and this no different. They pretty much have the formula to perfect animation nailed.