Avatar is gully-licious!

What can I say… Avatar rocks!

I really don’t know a lot about this movie and didn’t really want to watch it until someone invited me for a free viewing. I’m just glad I didn’t turn the invite down because this movie is really really really worth watching.

No! Don’t download it. There are movies that you just don’t bother watching over the web, but for Avatar, you have to see it in the big screen or you’ll miss the whole movie experience.

The first five minutes though is quite like the usual sci-fi start. Space.. spaceship.. space suits.. shots of planets and stars.. ridiculous machines.. then you get introduced to the main character, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who’s a crippled marine brought to replace his murdered twin brother in becoming the “driver” of his brother’s Avatar (yep, it’s a bit confusing so you gotta stick with it for the mean time). Then they introduce you to heavy-hitting actors like Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi, only then the plot becomes believable and more understandable.

The movie though is damn long. 3-friggin-hours long. Then I remember. James Cameron. Titanic. Long movie. Good movie. Just make peace with it coz it’s happening.

And although the movie is about 90% CGI-rendered (more than what they did for the Titanic), the good thing is that the human feel for the story doesn’t get lost with all the visual effects. It also has a simple plot and well-written characters.

But it’s not all good praises. I do have some minor rants about it.

The soundtrack makes you feel like you’re watching Titanic.. in Pandora.

Also, it’s a bit preachy. It’s like Pocahontas in a grand scale. Better yet, it’s like Fern Gully on roids.

Anyway, go watch the movie.

Revisiting the Field of Dreams

Tonight showing on HBO…

We recently caught up with 1989’s hit movie “Field of Dreams” on HBO and, like how I felt when I first watched it, the film still hits something inside me.

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is a farmer in Iowa who built a baseball field in the middle of nowhere all because he heard a voice telling him that “If you build it, He will come.”

He risked everything from foreclosure and bankruptcy.. to alienating his family.. to being the town’s humiliation.. and so on and so forth, all because of a belief to do one thing. To build a baseball field.

And for whom?… Now that’s the whole point of the story.

Twenty years later after they’ve shown this film and a couple of economic downturn, here I am again watching the Field of Dreams. Watching Ray Kinsella make sense of all the things that life has thrown at him. Going through the obstacles not knowing for sure what’s in store for him. All he knows is.. that there’s something good for him at the end of it all.

If you look at this movie closely, you can find some ways in the story to connect with him.  Ray is in his 36th year and is looking for a meaning in life. One night, he thought to himself that he is turning into his father. A little league pro who never quite made it in his heydays until life caught up with him and left his dreams to work to pay the rent.

Ray told himself that he doesn’t know what the voice is telling him, but deep inside him, if he doesn’t do it, he’ll end up with nothing just like his dad. Nothing to pursue. Nothing.

But in this story, Ray had his family’s consent to draw strength from. To say, “Go ahead, Ray!” To give him that extra push.

This is a feel-good story that I know is still relative to today’s situation. In this trying times, anyone should have that drive to pursue his dreams. No matter what others think or say.

But no one can make through this journey alone. As they say, no man is an island.

You need your loved ones to support you by any means.. even with kind words. Trusting you all the way. Hoping that you’ll never give up.

Ray have drew strength from his wife, Annie.. his daughter, Karin.. and Boston-based author, Terrence Mann. From these three people, he pursued his calling that lead to a happy ending.

I know you’ve heard this before, but this much is true. Everything happens for a reason. But never just leave it all to that. Things happen for a reason because it leads to a greater good. You have to go beyond it. To resolve whatever there is that needs resolving. To achieve whatever there is to achieve. And to believe that in the end, you did everything and live life without regrets.

Blind faith.

There’s a lot of things in the movie that may be illogical, like Ray time-traveling to 1972 to meet Moonlight Graham. But this does not matter. All you need to do is listen to their conversations and you’ll repeatedly hear how faith can lead to many things. Good things.

I personally like this movie quote from Ray’s wife, Annie, when he went to Minessota and called her to check on them. She was wondering why Ray was in Minessota and all he can say is that she won’t believe him how they ended up there. All she can say was ok, and.. “someday, explain to me what is going on.” She bid her farewell and asured him that everything’s ok eventhough it’s not.

Blind faith.

And things have their funny way of working out for you. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to trust in life no matter what.

—

Okay, there is one thing that I can’t get over with this film, and that is James Earl Jones. It’s not that he’s bad for the part. No. He is quite a good fit for it, like being the voice of wisdom over Ray.

Funny thing is that he still sounds like Darth Vader. Whenever I look away from the TV and hear him say his lines, I can’t help but wonder that it’s Darth Vader who’s saying his lines. And these are the lines that I imagine Darth Vader play Terrence Mann.

“I’m gonna beat you with a crowbar.”

“You’re from the sixties. Get away! You don’t belong in the future!”

“I’m not going to get rid of you, am I?”

“I want a dog and a beer.”

But this is the one that I like and take seriously..

“I like your passion. Misdirected, but still passion.“