Captain Kidd against the Black Pearl

I enjoyed Avatar. The world, Pandora, was beautiful, and watching it in IMAX 3D was worth the price of admission all by itself. It doesn't hurt that the religion on Pandora was the sort I love to bask in: everything living has energy and is sacred, taken seriously, and seen with wonder. (Which is to say those of you do not share those tendencies towards that kind of thinking will probably roll your eyes a lot at those aspects of the movie; but it is very very pretty to watch while they are espousing these beliefs, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.)

( Wherein there are many spoilers )

I spent the entire movie waiting for the Evil Technology Money People to destroy the lives of the Noble Savage Forest People. When that conflict actually happened, instead of cringing with annoyance at the trope or with anger at the villains, I found myself thinking about my clients' often antagonistic relationships with classmates or partners. We grow up hearing, "It takes two to fight." But, you know? That's not always the case. Sometimes, if one side is sufficiently determined or powerful, the other side doesn't have a choice. They can only capitulate or fight back.

lynnoxford and I saw Pan's Labyrinth yesterday, with much excitement. The short, non-spoilery review is that it was beautiful, grotesque, artistically solid, and not what we were expecting. Lest I mislead anyone, I will add that, though I would recommend it (mostly for the sake of the first three adjectives just listed), I do not do so unambiguously.

Given ayelle's review, however, I might change my mind about that if I'm able to talk with her about it. I did pick up on some of the references, but I know a missed a number, and more allusion always makes me happy. There are certainly enough layers and allusions that I would see the movie again, to try to pick up more.

( Cut for serious spoilers, for the sake of talking with the two or three people who have seen the movie *cough*ayelle*cough* )

lynnoxford and I have seen a movie. Apparently, this means that I update my LJ. We went to She's the Man, the latest Modern High School adaptation of a classic work (in this case, Twelfth Night), expecting it to be mostly hilariously bad.

It was great.

Viola cross-dressing looked, realistically, like a boy. A 14 year old boy, with a round face and kind of girly cheekbones, but a boy. She and Sebastian looked realistically alike, which was a nice touch. The "madness ensues" portions were funny, and even the part of me that was occasionally squirming in embarassment for Viola enjoyed itself. The two main romances were well done -- Duke was great, Viola was great, Duke and Viola together were lovely, and a background character/plot twist they added made it more believable that Olivia might genuinely transfer her crush on Viola to Sebastian.

Just on a sociological level, the grrrrl power message was well done and consistent, and had no problematic undertones that I could catch. I wouldn't have enjoyed the movie less if it wasn't, but it is just such a relief to come out of a movie and not be quietly fuming on some internal political level.

...I want to see it again.