La misma vaina

Me pregunto que hago mal al bailar. Parece ser que casi nadie me concede un baile y cuando lo hacen, no repiten el favor. "Pronto llegará el día de mi suerte, se que antes de mi muerte, mi suerte cambiará" Si, aja.

Miedo al navegar

A veces cuando el marinero cree ver el faro en la costa, es cuando más se arriesga a naufragar. A veces me dan miedo las decisiones que constantemente tengo que tomar. Siempre parece como si en el momento se lo que estoy haciendo y después me encuentro con una roca debajo del agua que jamás pude ver. Tengo miedo a terminar hundido en un mar de sueños fracasados y soledad.

Inmadureces

A veces cuando alguien me hace un falta menor, creo una situación imaginaria donde la falta es mayor. De esa manera justifico el rencor que siento. Que inmaduro e inepto soy a veces.

Nada

No se porque gasto mi tiempo en la nada. La nada nada produce y solo produce nada. Tengo cosas que hacer y no las quiero hacer, porque por un breve momento quise dejar de ser productivo. Al fin de cuentas mi conciencia me deja hacer lo que quiero por solo ese momento para después castigarme a latigazos. Parece ser que solo estaría contento siendo un robot y produciendo constantemente. Paso mi tiempo viendo nada leyendo nada y pensando en personas que en mi vida no llegarán a nada. Es como estar atrapado en un hoyo negro donde ni la luz escapa y que todo lo convierte en nada. La procastinación es una cuera.

De vuelta al puerto

Ya mismo me toca volver. A que es que vuelvo? Vuelvo a mi vida...o a la falta de ella debería decir. No se como sentirme. Definitivamente me hace falta mi familia, mi hogar, y hasta mis estudios. Pero me hace falta la soledad que implica estar de vuelta? Serán las cosas como siempre lo han sido? Mientras he estado en esta barca, he disfrutado de constante compañía. No se si quiero volver a estar como era antes. Es posible que sea imposible. Esta experiencia me ha cambiado y de alguna manera quien fui ya murió y solo puedo ser quien soy hoy. Estoy apunto de embarcar en el viaje más largo que he dado en mi vida. Estaré en el puerto por solo un año. Después no volveré por quien sabe cuanto tiempo. Solo se que me gustaría un poco de compañía en ese viaje.

Acuerdate

Cada vez que sientas que tus problemas son muy grandes y que no puedes más, recuerda, nuestro planeta no llega a ser ni un micro-pixel en una foto de la Vía Lactea. Cuando sientas que la vida la tiene en contra de ti, recuerda que eres el resultado de cuatro mil millones de años de evolución y que cada uno de tus ancestros evolutivos se las vió más negras que tu. Cuando te caiga mal alguien, acuerdate que al fin de cuenta las diferencias geneticas entre tu y esa persona son menores que 1%. Cuando llegues a viejo, acuerdate que nosotros antes teníamos una edad maxima pronosticada de 30 años. Cuando te sientas superior a toda la vida en la tierra, acuerdate que la mayoría de este planeta es agua.
Cuando te sientas inadecuado por tu altura, acuerdate que hay microorganismos que no llegan ni a un milimetro. Cuando te sientas mal porque no consigues pareja, acuerdate que algunos organismos tienen que brotar una yema y clonarse. Cuando sientas que tu cuerpo trabaja en contra de ti, acuerdate que estas compuesto por miles de millones de celulas que trabajan en cooperación casi perfecta para que puedas tener esa mente tan quejona. Cuando odies a la fisica, acuerdate que puedes leer esto solo porque tus neuronas se comunican entre si a traves de cambios en su potencial electrico. Cuando odies a las matematicas, acuerdate que puedes leer esto solo porque alguien las sabe usar. Cuando odies a la quimica, acuerdate que vives porque eres un sistema termodinamicamente inestable y al fin de cuenta en la micro/nano escala eres esencial una reacción química andante.
A fin de cuentas aprende a ser humilde porque no importa de que escala se esté hablando, eres solo una miniscula parte de ella.

Avatar

Versión corta:

Avatar es una buena película. Sus fuertes son aspectos técnicos como el cgi y las escenas de acción. Los personajes son ,en su mayoría, bastante genericos, aunque su ejecución es bastante buena. La trama es reciclada y predica su mensaje de una manera que es poco sutil. Sin embargo, Avatar es una buena película de fantasía/ ciencia ficción, aunque no sea una gran película al nivel the "El Señor de los Anillos" o "Star Wars". (Nota: La sinopsis completa de la película se encuentra abajo, después de la traducción al inglés de esto. La sinopsis completa esta en inglés.)

Short Review:

Avatar is a good movie. Its strong points are its technical aspects like its cgi and action sequences. The characters are mostly generic, but are in general enjoyable and well executed. The plot is recycled and is preachy in a way that is not subtle at all. However, Avatar is still a good fantasy/ Scifi movie , even though it is not a great movie like "The Lord of The Rings" and "Star Wars" (The complete review is down below).

Full review

The following is a review of Avatar, a movie by James Cameron. None of the images used, characters, settings, etc. mentioned belong to me. They are all copyrighted to their respective owners. The review will contain spoilers...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Also I do not intend to explain the whole movie, because that defeats the purpose of seeing it, and well frankly its a lot of work.

So...today I went to the movies with my brothers and wouldn't you guess it? We ended up seeing "Avatar". Avatar (dropping the air quotes, is the over hyped baby of James Cameron, director of Titanic. Hell its been said that this movie has been "10 years in the making". Naturally two main questions pop into mind: 1. Does it live up to the hype? and 2. Is it worth seeing?

I.Characters/ Plot/ Setting

Plot

Let's start with the meat of the stuff, the center of the movie: the characters and the plot. Now the plot is probably the most controversial of subjects when discussing this movie. The problem is that the plot basically boils down to the classic, boy from imperialist government settling in lands inhabited by indigenous people is sent to spy on said indigenous people, falls in love with the indigenous people (and one of their women...of course), and changes sides to defend them. If this sounds like "Dances with wolves" in space, its because it pretty much is.

Now before I go any further, its important to clear up why the unoriginal plot is a problem. The problem with this plot is not the fact that the general idea seems to be inspired by "Dances with wolves", the problem is that it seems to border on plagiarism. On top of that, lets not forget that this is the movie Cameron supposedly worked on for 10 years.

There are major differences of course. Avatar is sure as hell not a western. It takes place in the world of Pandora, which is a moon of a planet that oddly resembles a blue version of Jupiter named Polyphemus. Humans have come to Pandora in search of a rare and extremely valuable element called unobtanium. The problem is that on this moon there lives a race of indigenous beings called the Na'vi who live around a giant tree which houses the unobtanium. Two options exist, either the natives are eliminated or they're negotiated with.

So, unoriginal plot check, well, what about the characters?

Characters

The acting in this movie is good, most if not all of the cast did a good enough job.

Jake Sully: Protagonist



The main character's name is Jake Sully. Sully is an ex-marine who's paralyzed from the waist down. He comes to the world of Pandora, to substitute his twin brother in the task of controlling an avatar. Avatars are synthetic bodies made from a mixture of human and Na'vi genetic material, that allow human beings to "plug" their minds into them. This allows humans to communicate with the Na'vi and possibly negotiate with them. Our hero, Sully, comes to bear the task of negotiating with them.

In the beginning of the movie Sully is well... a bit annoying frankly. He's this typical Hollywood,f*** the rules, douche bag, antihero that seems to be popular nowadays. Sully's main inner conflict is the fact that he is a paralyzed marine, he has gone from being a soldier to a cripple and that causes him to actually choose to leave Earth to go to Pandora.There, through his Avatar, he's free of his wheel chair. Although he's annoying initially, Sully develops into a smarter, likable character as the film progresses.

Neytiri: Love interest



Neytiri is the daughter of the Na'vi's chieftain and Jake's love interest (seriously who else in the whole tribe would he fall in love with? :P). Neytiri seems to have a role analogous to Pocahontas, but don't be fooled she kicks ass. (That's precisely why I liked this character.)Why is she like Pocahontas? Well because since she's the tribes "princess" if you will, she has to marry some other guy who's poised to be chieftain , but ...she can't... because she falls in love with dear old Jakey! Oh it's so beautiful T.T *sarcasm*. So yeah, she has a stereotypical role, however she still kicks ass and that's awesome.

Dr. Grace Augustine: Supporting character



Dr.Grace is in charge of the scientific investigations carried by the human corporation ( named RDA) and in charge of establishing a diplomatic relationship with the Na'vi. Grace is a botanist so naturally she usually tends to go on about "taking samples" or things having biological relevance constantly throughout the movie. Grace is also the main advocate for the Na'vi and Pandora. So she fills the role of the eco-friendly scientist who wishes from diplomatic solutions. Whats cool about her is her bitchy, arrogant attitude. In the beginning she treats Jake like an idiot (which he is), and constantly bitches about wanting Jake's brother Tommy and not some idiot jarhead. I found this character to be extremely relatable and fun to watch in general.

Colonel Miles Quaritch: Main antagonist



As the name implies this guy is SecFor's (the security division's) colonel and head of its military branch, and wouldn't you guess it? He's actually the antagonist. I don't think anyone will have too much trouble figuring that out though, images of the guy practically scream out VILLIAN.

This character is way over the top army. Every scene you see him in he's doing something macho, bad ass or army/hurraish. Seriously the second time you see him he's pumping iron, without a spotter mind you (being spotted is for pussies). Hell, this guy is so over the top bad ass that he actually goes out into the planet without an air breathing mask and shoots at the hero's ship. I mean the guy's mech actually has a giant bowie knife! WTF is that for?! The answer is very simple, its plot device and its bad ass!

Parker Selfridge: Second antagonist



This character is the other antagonist of the film. He is the stereotypical corporate douche bag. The first time we are introduced to this character he's playing golf while everyone else works...just in case you didn't have the ability to notice he's a bad guy. Unlike Colonel Quaritch however, he does have some moments when you see he is still human. After the destruction of home tree there is a moment when you can see regret in his face. However as soon as that moment comes, it also vanishes and the character returns to being the embodiment of corporate evil.

Other characters:

There are many other characters in the movie but none of these are worth noting in the review. These characters include the Na'vi's chieftain, the chieftain's wife, other scientists, etc. All of these characters are performed well enough, but are, in the majority of the cases, forgettable.

Setting:

The majority of the movie takes place in a moon of Polyphemus a planet of the Alpha Centauri system. Pandora is simply stunning. This is were the technical aspects of the movie really shine through. The wildlife is imaginative, quirky, and most of all beautiful. The flora and fauna of the moon are very interesting. There exists everything from geckos with shiny helicopter blade like structures that allow to fly, to giant flowers that shrink when touched, to alien versions of lemurs, rhinoceros, wild cats, etc. Most of the moon's biology makes sense, and is a thrill to watch. Other things...well don't make a drop of sense. As I said before, there are geckos that actually have shiny helicopter blades that make them fly when scared. This makes no evolutionary sense, because those geckos just float in place when scared and their wings are fluorescent. All this does is make them easier, more visible prey. Another complaint is the fact that halfway into the movie it is decided that every plant in the jungle should have bio-luminescence. This creates beautiful scenes sure, but come on, why does the GRASS glow when touched?! These complaints are minor though, the wildlife and the atmosphere created by this movie is truly special.

There is however one serious complaint. One thing I can't forgive. Brace yourself...floating mountains! Now, I understand this is a fantasy movie, but the presence of scientists and the effort to make the environment seem real with he use of cgi begs the question, why the hell are there flying mountains? How is this even possible? I mean I could accept them as possible if the world was a gassy planet with a floating surface. Sort of like a natural version of Cloud city from "Empire Strikes Back".But no, we have a fully functional surface world with gravity comparable to the Earth that has floating mountains, that have waterfalls...where does the water come from??? Argh! screw it, I'm giving myself a headache...

II. Technical aspects/ action sequences

Technical aspects

The first thing that anyone will notice when seeing this movie is the beauty and the sheer awesomeness of the cgi used. I mean, I know that its been said before, but everything the characters, and the environment looks real. This movie is revolutionary in the sense that it makes the transition from real life elements into cgi elements almost seamless.

The length of the movie is approximately 2 hours and 41 minutes, making the movie a bit drawn out. I don't really have a problem with this, there are some scenes that were unnecessary but they act more like icing on the cake rather than annoyances.

I am not a film major, or expert so my opinion on the cinematography and other more advanced elements of film is limited and humble. What I can say, is that the fight scenes were recorded in a nice clean way, no annoying shaky camera...which is good.

Action scenes

Avatar was promoted as having more action scenes than it actually does. However the action scenes that it does have are spectacular and some of the best I've ever seen. This is specially evident in the last climatic battle, good stuff.

III. Final Verdict

Avatar is not a perfect movie. In my opinion its not even a great movie. Avatar is a good movie. So to answer the question " does it live up to the hype?" in some ways yes and in others no. In the technical aspect the movie lives up to the hype, it is simply stunning. However the plot is what keeps the movie from being great and from completely living up to the hype. The plot is generic as hell, I'm sorry there is no excuse for this, Cameron had 10 years or more to come up with this movie and he does a movie with a plot ripped off "Dances with Wolves". Another thing that takes away from the movie is the fact that the antagonists don't evolve ,and in the case of the Colonel, are just cartoon versions of human beings. Another characteristic of this movie is its preachyness: this movie conveys an anti-corporation, pro-environment, and anti-army message in a way that is far from subtle. The army and the corporation is BAD, and scientists and the natives are GOOD. This simplicity is expected because the movie is, after all, a Hollywood blockbuster. But still, you can have a smart movie with complex characters and plot and have it be a box office hit.

So finally do I recommend the movie? The answer is: yes. Its an enjoyable ride from start to finish, even though it is seriously over-hyped.

IV. References and Copyright

"Avatar" and all of its rights are owned by FOX. The official movie site can be found at: http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html

I used information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_%282009_film%29

The pictures were obtained from various sites and are NOT mine, they are owned by FOX as well.

"Star Wars" is owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. Official site: http://www.starwars.com/

"The Lord of The Rings" is owned by owned by New Line Cinema. Official site: http://www.lordoftherings.net/