Constellation Review

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(More customer reviews)"Constellation," which begins in 1940's Alabama, tells the tale of a secret, forbidden love between a black woman named Carmel and a white soldier named Bear, whose romance is cut short when he is shipped overseas to fight in the war. Flash forward fifty years to the funeral of Carmel - who never married after breaking up with Bear - which serves as the pretext for all the principal people in her life to gather together to air out their grievances and to thrash out the personal relationship problems that have haunted them all their lives. The participants include her emotionally distant brother and his two ex-wives; her two adult nieces and their respective men folk; and Bear himself, who, despite the fact that the two of them were kept apart all their lives by the restrictions of a racist society, has decided to pay not only for the services, but to put all these people up in one of the swankier hotels in Huntsville, Alabama.
Though there are a goodly number of insightful, touching moments in "Constellation," the movie probably would have been more effective had the screenplay (by director Jordan Walker-Pearlman) not tried to cram so many different characters into such a relatively short space of time (the movie runs barely over an hour and a half). Yes, I understand that the theme of the movie is all about how we form "constellations" with the people who are most important to us in life, but speaking strictly in narrative terms, much too often, the genuinely compelling travails of one character are shunted aside to make room for the far less interesting problems of another. Moreover, the romantic relationship between Carmel and Bear, which is supposed to function as the emotional cornerstone of the movie, is never made all that convincing. We are TOLD that these two people are in love with each other, but we aren't made to FEEL it. In addition, Aunt Carmel is portrayed as such a wise and ethereal earth-mother presence even after death that she is essentially robbed of her own individuality and humanity as a character.
Still, there is much that is good in the movie, starting with the performances of Billy Dee Williams, as a man incapable of making emotional connections with the people in his life, and Rae Dawn Chong, as the daughter who has the most trouble dealing with this reality. They are ably abetted by Lesley Ann Warren, Zoe Saldana, Melissa De Souza, and Hill Harper. The movie also boasts a flavorful soundtrack, filled with an eclectic mixture of musical styles, ranging from classical to hip hop to spiritual. The Huntsville setting also provides a refreshing change for audiences weary of seeing New York, Los Angeles and Chicago constantly being recycled in film after film, as if they were the only urban centers moviemakers had to choose from.
The movie does lay its message on a bit thickly towards the end, employing heavy-handed speech-making and rather obvious symbolism to get its points across. It really doesn't need to go to all that effort, since the viewers could probably figure the themes out on their own given half a chance.
Yet, although "Constellation" is a decidedly mixed bag as far as family and social dramas go, it has enough elements of quality to make it worth checking out.

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Item Name: Constellation; Studio:20th Century Fox

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Crossroads (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie has everything you could ever wish for to become an Academy Award Winner. With each passing minute, the plot thickens and leaves you wondering what will happen next. "What happens after Britney sees her long-lost mom? Who's the real father of the baby? Why did Britney give up her virginity to that guy and not to the other one?, etc." Such issues would have a profound impact on how the viewers would look at their own lives and would make them reflect on what they have been doing for the past 1.5 hours of watching this film. Indeed, the issues presented in this movie such as getting deflowered, getting pregnant without the guy knowing, running away from home to discover oneself and then found by dad and then to run away again to be with the boy who popped her cherry, etc. are very unique and settled in a very appropriate and convincing way as the viewers are treated to a finale of a croaking, whining, earwax splitting vocal spectacle which drills into the minds of the viewers that we should always remember to treat Britney as someone special; not a girl, but not yet a woman. Britney drives home the message that she's a little girl trapped in a woman's body; which of course makes pathetic, lifeless, looser men like me want her more. It's like reaching out to something so near yet so far away but then I just can't keep my eyes off her navel. I'm sure that Britney would surpass her mentor Mariah Carey in terms of acting talent and would get the recognition she deserves. With her starry-eyes transfixed on everything and everyone at the same time, she makes acting look so easy and dumb. Of course, it's not surprising because it seems so natural for her to look like that. All said, this film thrives on Britney's charm and persona, and nothing else, which is enough to make me patronize every move she makes and consequently, pour more money into her deep pockets so that she could pay her house, while I watch her from my trailer.

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THREE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS, AND A GUY THEY JUST MET, TAKE A TRIP ACROSS THE COUNTRY, FINDING THEMSELVES AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP IN THE PROCESS.

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Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm primarily interested in the storyline differences between special sets and their theatrical counterparts, so here are the differences between the two (NOTE: SPOILERS FOLLOW).
The extended collector's edition runs 16 minutes 28 seconds longer than the theatrical cut, and listed below are the major differences.
1) The opening scene is different, and starts with Jake in a wheelchair on Earth, in a Blade Runner-esque Earth city. The scene moves to scenes of Jake in his apartment, then taking liquid shots in a bar. Jake's narration of "I told myself I can pass any test a man can pass" and "They can fix the spinal if you got the money. But not on vet benefits, not in this economy" are inserted during this new opening scene.
Jake beats up a bar patron who is mistreating a woman, and then Jake and wheelchair are unceremoniously thrown outside by bouncers into an alley. While in the alley, Jake meets the two RDA representatives who bring him news of his brother's untimely death. Then the movie cuts back to the original theatrical cut where Jake sees his brother's body cremated, then awakes in space.
2) During Jake's initial flyover of Pandora in his avatar, they witness a herd of Sturmbeasts, buffalo-like creatures.
3) After seeing the Sturmbeasts, Grace, Jake, and Norm stop by Grace's old English school for the Na'vi. The school is now closed, abandoned, and some walls are riddled with bullet-holes. Norm finds a Dr. Seuss book, "The Lorax", on the ground. This scene explains how Neytiri knew English so well, and certainly gives some further backstory into Grace Augustine's character.
Interestingly, The Lorax can be seen as a metaphor for the Pandoran story. Recall that the seemingly simple Seussian book is actually a lesson on the plight of the environment and industrialization.
4) We see some other different Pandoran flora and fauna, particularly with scenes of the luminescent forest floor.
5) Jake's first dinner with Neytiri is longer and extended, and it's here that she tells him her full name.
6) When Jake, Grace, and Norm first visit the Hallelujah Mountains on the way to the remote uplink station, Grace explains (in a Jake voiceover) that the mountains are levitated [via the Meissner Effect], because Unobtanium is a superconductor. There's a pretty spectacular CGI shot as the characters look around in awe at the suspended mountains.
7) Pictures of Grace and Na'vi children at her previously functioning school. Dr. Augustine tells Jake that she previously taught Neytiri and her sister, Sylwanin. However, one day, Sylwanin and some hunters destroyed an RDA bulldozer, and RDA SecOps troopers killed them at the school, which explains why the school walls were previously seen pockmarked with bullet holes.
8) Sturmbeast hunting scene after Jake tames a Banshee. After Jake successfully kills a Sturmbeast with an arrow, he and Neytiri chortle a "Heck yeah!" and whoop.
9) Jake and Neytiri's love scene comprises them linking braids together. Some kissing, nothing explicit.
10) Tsu'tey leads a war party that destroys the RDA's autonomous bulldozers, as well as the RDA SecOps squad that was guarding them. Corporal Wainfleet leads the search party that uncovers the evidence, via real-time helmet cam footage. Not sure why they cut this scene from the theatrical cut, as it persuades Selfridge to attack the Home Tree.
11) Attack of Hammerhead Titanotheres on RDA forces has been extended slightly; additional scenes of AMP-Suits getting destroyed.
12) Fight between Colonel Quaritch in AMP Suit and Neytiri on Thanator slightly longer.
13) Tsu'tey's death scene; in the theatrical cut, he falls off the RDA shuttle's aft ramp to his death. In the Collector's Edition, he falls to the forest floor, mortally wounded. He passes on leadership to Jake, and asks Jake to ceremonially kill him e.g. hara-kiri, so that Jake will be the last shadow that Tsu-Tey sees. Jake does so.
I preferred the original Tsu'tey death scene, which was more dramatic. Jake, had afterall, already become the de facto clan leader by that point in the movie, so further formal transfer by Tsu'tey (a minor character) seemed unnecessary.

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Experience the spectacular world of James Cameron's Avatar as never before with this all-new three-disc extended collector’s edition. The journey begins with three movie versions: the original theatrical release, the special edition re-release, and the exclusive extended cut not shown in theaters. The set's bonus feature run more than three hours and include over 45 minutes of deleted scenes and a feature-length documentary on the film's groundbreaking production. The greatest adventure of all time just got bigger and better.Versions of Avatar on Blu-ray and DVD
Contents of the DVD Extended Collector's EditionReview of the Original Theatrical EditionHere's what we had to say about the original theatrical edition of Avatar after seeing it on the big screen:After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na'vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he's supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who'd like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na'vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron's complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na'vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron's crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it's the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves--awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering--that makes Avatar's pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron's dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you're won over by the movie's trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might be able to overlook the unsurprising central plot. (The overextended "take that, Michael Bay" final battle sequences could tax even Cameron enthusiasts, however.) It doesn't measure up to the hype (what could?) yet Avatar frequently hits a giddy delirium all its own. The film itself is our Pandora, a sensation-saturated universe only the movies could create. --Robert Horton

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The Losers (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)On the surface, it's just another action movie. Stuff blows up, people get shot, the bad guy is trying to destroy the world and the good guys are trying to stop him. It's the perfect popcorn movie.
But take a closer look at The Losers and you'll start to see that there's more than just mindless entertainment going on here. It's not trying to deliver a message, thank god, and it's not an action movie with pretentions of being great art. But it's smart, well written and well acted, and that separates it from the last 10 action movies you paid good money to sit in the dark and stare at.
[...]

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An explosive action tale of betrayal and revenge, The Losers centers around an elite Special Forces unit sent to the Bolivian jungle on a search-and-destroy mission. But the team – Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar – soon find that they have become the target of a deadly double cross instigated by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Making good use of the fact they’re now presumed dead, the group goes deep undercover in a dangerous plot to clear their names and even the score with Max.

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Death at a Funeral (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)WHY? A gag filled story filled with humor in a situation that's not supposed to be funny. You have to like this type of off-the-wall comedy drama. It is quirky humor. You have to decide if you like this US version or stick with the UK original of 3 years earlier. Both have great, top stars, doing awesomely in the roles of unusual characters through a bazaar affair.
Chris York is the deceased man's son in America. Well done. Or do you prefer a British Matthew MacFadyen taking a giant leap from Mr. Darcy in "Pride & Prejudice" for his work as the same character in the British film? Both top actors, both convincing, and creating laughs, although playing a solemn role. Directors have both done well with the same script. Even the blackmail amount of 15,000 pounds was accurately converted to 30,000 US dollars. Neil LeBute (US film) gets the most out of an American cast, Frank OZ (actually British born) puts together his cast and the story, which is as imaginary as OZ-the-Wizard's tale. Both the US & UK versions come with a munchkin-size star, Peter Dinklage (Frank in US; Peter in UK) who is fantastic in a difficult role, made only more difficult and strange in the US version due to skin tone significance. Dinklage is the only cast member to do the same role in both films.
The question is "Why?" first and then "Which?" for the viewers. Which may be best decided by buying both and making your own comparison. If you are one of the public that likes viewing the same movie multiple times, this story will give you some diversification in repetition, WITHOUT LOSS OF QUALITY.
You'll laugh till the film's end, when the bereaved son, after a day of mishaps, delivers a touching, philosophical ending that seems alien to all that happened beginning with the delivery of the wrong body to the family home on the morning of this "Death at a Funeral."
So do you want American scenery or British? American accents or British? English subtitles or ENGLISH??? This remake of a British hit for the American public reminds me somewhat of a British TV series "Life on Mars: UK Series" that was redone for American TV. Why? But both versions have their fans. There I preferred the UK.
Bottom line. If your not looking for depth in a movie, just weird stuff, this will fill your basket, US or UK. It's like picking your favorite chocolate variety--it all tastes like chocolate, and it's good.

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A funeral ceremony turns into a debacle of exposed family secrets and misplaced bodies.Studio: Sony Pictures Home EntRelease Date: 08/10/2010Starring: Keith DavidRun time: 92 minutesRating: RDirector: Neil Labrite

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