'Avatar' - BOOK NOW showing in 3D

'The King of the World', James Cameron, triumphantly returns after a self-enforced, 12-year hiatus following the colossal

success of 'Titanic', amidst boastful assurances of purpose-built technology which will change the future of

film production. For once, the hyperbole and excited praise are justified.

Cameron has achieved a milestone in cinema history, in much the same way as 'The Abyss' and 'Terminator 2: Judgement

Day' developed a morphing technique which became the standard for C.G.I. effects ever since. He has also crafted

a film so ravishingly beautiful and jaw-droppingly crammed with a non-stop barrage of special effects - making the

fantastic and surreal so real ( If you're in any doubt about this, just witness people's satisfied expressions leaving

the cinema following the screening of this film ). Whatever your preconceptions or reservations, you will be amazed by

what's on screen.

The story develops quickly. After the death of his twin brother, paraplegic ex-marine Jake Sully ( Sam Worthington )

enlists in the 'Avatar' programme. Overseen by a corrupt corporation ( SecFor ), and aided by 'tree-hugging'

scientists ( 'Aliens' star Sigourney Weaver is Dr. Grace Augustine ), Jake Sully volunteers to have his soul ( or

consciousness ) injected into a genetically grown alien body. His mission is to infiltrate the Na'vi race for

scientific study, but the Corporation ( as represented by a totally wasted Giovanni Ribisi ) and Colonel Miles Quaritch

( the excellent Stephen Lang ) have a different agenda : they intend to displace the alien tribes by force and seize

possession of their precious natural mineral ore resources ( a single kilo fetches $ 20 million dollars ! ). The latter

is worthy of especial mention : the villainous, battle-scarred Colonel steals the show as a marine so

hard-bitten and grimacing that he looks like he chews tree bark for breakfast. Witness the scenes wherein he fights

on, nonchalantly patting his blazing arm or firing after a retreating aircraft, without an oxygen mask. The 'Fast &

the Furious' star Michelle Rodriguez alos reprises her tomboyish image, this time flying gunships rather than

drag-racers, and Zoe Saldana provides a sensual sight as Neytiri, Jake's feisty ( half-naked )concubine warrior.

Over-obvious comparisons have been made with themes already covered in 'Dances with Wolves' : an American frontier movie

that dealt with the invasion and attempted displacement of an indigenous race; and the inner conflict within a soldier

who must choose a side / race to defend and betray. But this does not detract from any potential enjoyment as

nothing quite prepares you for the exotic scenes in this Science-Fiction-Western.

The alien world of Pandora fully encapsulates your attention, whether it's showcasing the massive mechanised

might of the military or its lush nature in all its Pantheistic splendour. Honestly, every scene boasts

flamboyance, originality and an unparallelled scope of imagination. Reawakening as a nine-foot alien with cerulean

skin, indigo tattoos, massive green eyes and elvish ears, Sully's facial expressions and movements are still utterly

convincing. We also regularly see : fleets of gun-ships ( helicopters with twin circular rotors for wing-spans );

alien hybridized beasts such as black viper-wolves and hammer-headed, armour-plated beasts; massive mountain ranges

floating in mid-air with cascading waterfalls; soaring and careening points-of-view astride the back of winged,

sky-diving dragons scraping the sides of cliffs; and the lush, alien, jungle vegetation becomes even more vibrant at

night, with all its purples, pinks and aquamarines of luminescent flora. This is a fantastic, surreal world that

looks believable, rather than cartoonish or animated. The plethora of action scenes also transcend any expectations of

an intense video game experience : they are simply better. This film has a running time of at least 2 hours and 40

minutes, which honestly just zips by. But do yourself a favour : savour this film in the most maximum of comfort or

at least appreciate it in its intended format, 3D. The latter is a richly rewarding experience, heightening the

realism and placing you in the middle of the action. In a year replete with effects-laden blockbusters ( 'Star

Trek'; 'Terminator:Salvation'; and 'Transformers 2'), Avatar easily eclipses the aforementioned, raising the bar to a

stratospheric level that even his contemporaries ( George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson ) will struggle to

exceed or match. James Cameron appears to have a talismanic gift for

blockbuster entertainment, as his half dozen films have become progressively epic in scale, imagination, ambition

and ground-breaking effects. Rather like the cerebral Stanly Kubrick, he is obsessed with redesigning technology

or at least waiting for it to catch up with his fertile imagination. Judging by the effects on the screen, the 12 -

year wait was worth it, but let's hope we do not have to wait too long for his next master-work.

By William Marcus

'Alice in Wonderland' - BOOK NOW

Yet another adaptation of ‘Alice in Wonderland’? Tim Burton’s choice of projects have always been bizarre and

left-field, but he has the alchemist’s touch of turning them into commercially lucrative, mainstream fare. And this

is actually a perfect marriage of director to source material, suiting Burton’s warped, surrealistic

sensibility.

Purists of Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical, literary whimsy may be dismayed, but for the rest of us, it is yet another

visual treat. Truth to tell, it is not a slavishly faithful adaptation of either ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Through

the Looking Glass’ as it merely chooses to incorporate elements, scenes and characters from those two slim stories.

It plays like a re-visitation or sequel ( rather like Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Hook’ was a continuation of Peter

Pan – only this cannot be derided as much ). After the opening ten minutes, wherein a nubile, nineteen

year-old Alice is forced into an engagement with an unpleasant, domineering, ginger-haired noble man, she is

finally given an excuse to escape from the real world and tumble once again down the rabbit hole. This is when the

film becomes visually spectacular. And being a Tim Burton pic, the dark fairy tale elements are very much in evidence

: gnarled, skeletal trees in flamboyant landscapes are darkly shaded in detail, as if by an HB pencil; a bombastic

Danny Elfman score resounds in the background ; and there’s a warped Brothers-Grimm fairy-tale quality,

without being too nasty or scary – a miniature Alice traipses across decapitated heads floating in a moat. The

scenes are bewitching and Dadaistic.　

The cast appear like a roll call of honour for British and international talent : newcomer Aussie Mia Wasikowska is a

likeable enough heroine, all pale-faced and shadows around the eyes, trying to assert herself and make her own

decisions; Burton’s real-life paramour, Helena Bonham Carter plays the Red Queen as a bobble-headed caricature of

Elizabeth I, a harpie from hell; Crispin Glover is a scarred, cycloptic Captain of the armour-plated,

card-guards; Anne Hathaway is gracious and whiter than white aswell, the White Queen ( but looks more like a Goth/

punk groupie with her black eyebrows, lipstick and nails ); and Johnny Depp, unrecognisable as the Mad Hatter, lisps and

lapses into an unintelligible Scottish brogue, allowing himself to be transmogrified into another of Burton’s

lovable grotesques with his orange hair, lime-green eyes and airbrushed pallor. This is his seventh collaboration with

Burton and it’s easy to see why it won’t be his last. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the vocal talents of

Barbara Windsor as a feisty Dormouse, Alan Rickman as Absalom, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky, Timothy Spall

as a bloodhound and a velvet-voiced Stephen Fry as the rictus grinning, cheshire cat, constantly swirling and

disappearing. And with a head like a cue ball, Matt Lucas is slightly digitally altered and duplicated into the

spherical twins, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Burton’s films may never have been strong on their

story-telling ( in this case, it may be the fault of Narnia scribe Linda Woolverton ), but he is a supreme imaginative,

visualist. But this is an original, visually imaginative take on old material. It merely reaffirms Burton as an

individualistic talent. Quite simply, no one makes films like him.

By William Marcus