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Reviews
Nasty Old People (2009)
Surprisingly good
I'm not sure where I first saw links for this movie on the internet. It's the second movie that I've downloaded for free, the first being "Sita Sings the Blues" which wasn't nearly as good as this movie. I finally got around to watching it over the weekend, and was surprised at the quality of the film and of the story. This is as good as any drama I've seen, good story, good acting, and good quality across the board. This is a Swedish film, with the spoken language in Swedish. I played it with English subtitles, but really, Swedish isn't that far from German or English that the subtitles almost disappear.
The film is about what appears to be an average looking 19 year old girl, living in an average apartment. Right away, she reveals she is a Nazi (not a spoiler, this fact is known in the previews), and things get complicated in a hurry. The depiction of the "nasty old people" that she cares for and her interaction with them is well acted, and filmed with great attention to detail.
This is not a movie I would have bothered to go see at the theater, at least, not from the little bit I knew about it in advance. After having seen the movie once, I'm thinking I'll see it again. I'm glad it was available for download, as I doubt I'd seen it otherwise, and it really is worth seeing. One other thing about having the movie as an internet download that you can't do with a DVD -- I can fix the two typos I saw in the subtitles myself.
Avatar (2009)
Not that good, actually
Well. Hmm. Maybe it was the hype. Maybe it was because I liked Cameron's earlier films. I wouldn't pay to see this again. Let's see:
IMax, check
3D, check
Awesome surround sound, check
Great effects, check
Story, ... story... oops, no story.
I thought this was going to be an SF film. I'm a huge SF fan, but this was fantasy. The big blue kittehs reminded me more of Apaches or Kiowas than anything else. The bad guys were protecting the poor, struggling prospectors. Sound familiar? The love story was pretty weak and predictable (1953 western, anyone?) The tech was weak and absolutely nothing new. The bad guy (beats me what his name is, older buff guy, should have been chewing a cigar but wasn't) was wearing fatigues from last year. LAST YEAR! Umpteen someillion dollars on a film, and they shopped at the local Army/Navy surplus store for 2153 clothes. Really? I expected more from Cameron.
Now, the effects were totally awesome, and this is without a doubt the best 3D I've ever seen. They are good enough to make a trip to the theater worth it. When it comes out on DVD, I'll buy it and put it on the shelf next to the Abyss, which ranks in my personal top 10. I gave this film a 5, mostly to express my disappointment in the story. I know this sounds like a negative review, but go see it. It is a different sort of movie, and it is definitely entertaining. It's good, just not very good.