AVATAR - Movie review

I'll start off by saying that this movie wasn't just good...it was REVOLUTIONARY! Meaning this has changed filmmaking and the way we will look at movies from this year forth. I'm talking about AVATAR.

When the film was first advertised I honestly had no interest at all to see it, I thought it was going to be another hyped up fantasy blockbuster that ends up being cheesy and cartoonish for kids to enjoy. I was so wrong. I went to see the 3-D version with my friends, which I think is the only way to get the real feeling of the film.

STORY
The story takes place in the future on a distant planet called Pandora. Jake Sully, an ex-marine who is now paraplegic and bound to a wheelchair, is offered to join a military program on Pandora that is conducting research on the planet and its inhabitants, the Na'vi. Because the air is toxic to humans, each person uses an Avatar that is controlled by their mind at the base, which looks and breathes like the blue Na'vi creatures. Jake's Avatar befriends a Na'vi princess named Neytiri, who brings him to her colony. At first the rest of the Na'vi race wants to kill him, knowing he is just a human using a Na'vi body to explore the planet. He tells them he is there to learn their ways of life, and they accept him. As Neytiri introduces Jake to this beautiful utopian world, he begins to realize that life on this planet is filled with beauty and love for nature, every living thing is connected with each other. The Na'vi are just simple beings who appreciate the beauty of life and the world around them. The only true enemy to the planet is mankind, who is trying to take over and destroy the beautiful Pandora land to obtain a special mineral that is only found there. Jake must choose a side, continue taking orders from his human race, or help the alien Pandora race.

The film runs at about 2hrs and 40min, which may seem long, but there wasn't one minute where I wanted to look away. The world of Pandora that is introduced to us is so beautiful, full of never before seen colors, plants, animals, purity, peace...a paradise world that brought chills down my spine. While I was watching it I thought to myself, wow what an ugly world WE live in, our planet could have been like that but mankind has destroyed it. Watching it in 3-D is a roller coaster ride, for the first time in years I was transported from my seat in the theater, and into another world. That's what movies should do, they should transport the audience through a journey, and that's exactly what Avatar does. What's extraordinary about this film, is that the computer generated creatures used to show the Na'vi race are the actual actors talking and moving, while a sensor copies the movements in a computer animating the creatures. The facial expressions, the way they talk, move their hands, everything is in real time. A new revolutionary way of filmmaking, rather than creating the characters later in CGI and animating them like a cartoon. This film was shot on the set, in real time. Finally someone has brought something new to the table, and James Cameron has proven himself again. Also the music plays a HUGE role in the film, so soothing, thanks to James Horner who always works with Cameron, including in his other box office hit Titanic.

For Avatar, writer and director James Cameron created an entire new visual world, even with its own native language. The language of the Na'vi spoken in the film has an actual dictionary of words created by James Cameron himself. The man is amazing.

With all this said, if you haven't seen this movie yet or feel skeptical about going to see it, YOU MUST SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT! That's all I can say really, you will not appreciate it fully until you see it for yourself. Enjoy.

-Giovanni Tartaglia-

TIME

TIME. It’s amazing what TIME can do. One of the most powerful forces of every living thing. TIME is the essence of the human mind, heart, and spirit. Only with TIME you can forget, remember, or cherish a feeling or moment. It can take pain and transform it into pleasure, or take pleasure and transform it into pain. It can take a person you thought life could not go on without them by your side, and make you eventually realize life is actually better without them around. Something so beautiful can become ugly, or something ugly can become so beautiful, all with the power of TIME. Images, sounds, smells, all change through TIME. It can make your enemies your friends, or your friends your enemies. Only TIME can make you stronger physically and mentally. Only with the help of TIME you can remenisce a moment of fear, pain, or sadness, and now it may bring a smile to your face instead of tears, or simply do nothing, numbness. Hope would be useless, or worse inexistent without TIME. It’s amazing what TIME can do.

Written by Giovanni Tartaglia

I had the strangest dream...

It's so weird how the mind creates scenarios while we sleep...I had one of the strangest most significant dream I think I've ever had in my life:

I was in a car with 3 other people, I was in the passenger seat, and I suddenly get out to say goodbye to my grandfather (who passed away a few years ago). I don't even know where I was going or why I was saying goodbye to my grandfather, but as we hugged tears would come out of his eyes. I turn to go back to the car only to realize that they've been hit by an oncoming car and the only side that was destroyed was the passenger seat, my seat. Everyone else got out unhurt. It's as if my grandfather saved me from being in that accident.

When I woke up I immediately searched Google for dream interpretations, and this is what I found:

INTERPRETATION: "To dream that you nearly escape from the impact of an automobile, denotes that you will successfully overcome any rivalry."

Life is Fragile

Last night at work I approached a man sitting quietly alone at his table waiting to order his dinner, he was a foreign man from Japan visiting the U.S. All night I wondered what this man was doing by himself, a blank look on his face but didn't seem sad, just blank. He quietly finished his meal as he befriended a couple sitting next to him. The woman was nearly in tears, as she and her husband offered to pay for the Japanese man's meal.

When the man left I discovered that he is dying of cancer and has limited time to live. He came to the U.S. as his last vacation to fulfill his dream to watch a baseball game live in a stadium and to explore America. This brought chills down my spine, just putting myself in this man's shoes, knowing I will die anytime soon.

Why did I decide to share this? Because many of us take our lives for granted, instead of appreciating each day we are alive. This is exactly why I live each day as if I will not be here tomorrow. You never know.

Introduction 2009

Dear Readers,

I've decided that for this new year 2009, I will start a blog page. This is where I will share my beliefs, opinions, and talk about just anything that has to do with life. There is a lot to talk about, and I observe EVERYTHING. I hope you enjoy reading my blogs as they emerge through time.

Sincerely,
Giovanni Tartaglia