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Avatar (2009)
Enter the world of Pandora.
Filmmaker(s): James Cameron

In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.

Pocahontas of the Southern Hemisphere comment is on the IMAX 3d version. There aren’t many stories, are there? There are not many good storytellers either. Nor, it turns out, many filmmakers who can make even moderately big movies with a single governing imagination. That is the...


Published May 16, 2023
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Beautiful Kate (2009)
The past is always present.
Filmmaker(s): Rachel Ward

Ned Kendall is asked to return to the remote and isolated family home by his sister, to say goodbye to his father who is dying. Ned also brings his young aspiring actress fiancee who struggles with the isolation. When home he starts having memories of his childhood many involving his beautiful twin sister and his older brother. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.

Writer’s Blocks the last year, I saw a film (“In My Father’s Den“) with much the same themes. In that New Zealand film, a man, a celebrated war correspondent returns to his rural home on the death of his father. There are significant unresolved frictions...


Published May 16, 2023
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Invictus (2009)
His people needed a leader. He gave them a champion.
Filmmaker(s): Clint Eastwood

Newly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

Locker Room Lockup my mind, this is less about South Africa, sport and Mandela than about another man. Oh, the drama was really there. It doesn’t matter that it was not as significant in uniting a nation as depicted. How could it be? How could it? But...


Published January 19, 2024
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2012 (2009)
We Were Warned.
Filmmaker(s): Roland Emmerich

Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.

Foreground - Background you make a film that is nothing but flavoured special effects, when you make the matter of those effects into a character, you have two decisions to make. The first is whether you are dealing with object or environment. This is a fairly...


Published January 22, 2024
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Bluebeard (2009)
Filmmaker(s): Catherine Breillat

Anne (Daphné Baiwir) reads her younger sister, Marie-Catherine (Lola Créton), the story of Bluebeard. In 17th-century France, another set of sisters — also named Anne and Marie-Catherine — are left impoverished by their father's death. Marie-Catherine dreams of marrying into money, and soon falls for wealthy divorcé Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas). Grateful for the chance at a life of comfort, Marie-Catherine marries Bluebeard — in spite of rumors that he has made a hobby of murdering his wives.

Bresson’s Beast is a sad thing to see the tragedy unfold, that tragedy of growing weariness of life we have impressed on the story of the lost innocence of a girl. There are three such stories here. The least interesting is the 'fairy tale' itself: an...


Published February 1, 2024
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Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009)
A true story of faith, devotion and undying love.
Filmmaker(s): Lasse Hallström

A drama based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home.

Multiple Watchers don’t know the original Japanese film on which this is based, but of course I do know the real life story. I watched this with 3 and ten year olds, and watched them squirm with the slow, very slow pacing. I found it not...


Published February 5, 2024
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Gamer (2009)
In the near future, you don't live to play... you'll play to live.

Mind-control technology has taken society by a storm, a multiplayer on-line game called "Slayers" allows players to control human prisoners in mass-scale. Simon controls Kable, the online champion of the game. Kable's ultimate challenge becomes regaining his identity and independence by defeating the game's mastermind.

Controlled Iris story is that insipid kind made fun of even by Robert Rodriguez. The characters are not worthy of the concept. But never mind that. What interests me in these projects is how the cinematic vocabulary is pushed, and how we adapt our ways of...


Published February 9, 2024
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Valhalla Rising (2009)
Filmmaker(s): Nicolas Winding Refn

Scandinavia, 1,000 AD. For years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self.

Teen Dorm Room Posters recently saw ‘Drive‘ and it puzzled me a bit. It was more effective filmmaking than I was prepared for, and at the same time had less to deliver that I require. The puzzle was why had I not encountered this filmmaker...


Published February 9, 2024
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MasterChef Australia (2009)
Filmmaker(s): Dario Argento

MasterChef Australia is a Logie Award-winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by Shine Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as the show's main judges. Journalist Sarah Wilson hosted the first series, however her role was dropped at the end of the series.

The Monk's Government basic idea here is that the fundamental story in life is as a contest. Everything is a competition, and every competition has a single winner. The intrigue in observing such a story is the level of character brought to the context. We...


Published February 10, 2024
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Inspector Bellamy (2009)
Filmmaker(s): Claude Chabrol

A well known Parisian inspector becomes involved in an investigation while on holiday.

Woman-defined Identity was never a champion of Chabrol, but I am amazed at what he left as his last film. The film is superficially framed as a detective story but as it progresses it slowly turns inside out as it becomes a discovery about the...


Published February 14, 2024
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