AVATAR: The Greatest Movie Experience Ever?

By James Davis

On December 18, 2009, James Cameron, famous director of the eleven time academy award winning, 1 billion dollar grossing movie Titanic, returns with an epic adventure that will go down in history as a milestone in filmmaking.

Avatar, a movie based 150 years in the future, is a story about a crippled soldier named Jake Sully who is sent to the mysterious forest planet “Pandora” to persuade the natives who live there, the “Na’vi”, to leave their homes so that the humans may mine “Unobatainium” from the ground under their homes. However, as he gets to know the Na’vi and learns of their culture and tradition, he realizes he’s fighting for the wrong cause. The movie, though simplistic in some areas and heavily derivative, can be described no simpler than jaw -dropping. Even those who did not enjoy the movie cannot deny they were impressed. The visual effects are stunning and the cinematography and film editing make it an incredible viewing experience. The movie builds up to a climax that is worth the wait. You will never find yourself bored while watching this movie and any movie that deems itself worthy of 2 hours and 40 minutes of someone’s time better be good, and Avatar delivers.

The acting in this movie is incredible and enjoyable to watch. The use of motion capture technology brings the characters to life in a way that no other film has previously done. The script, though cliché was solid.    What the movie lacked in writing was made up by the visual images. Never at any point was the movie “cheesy” due to the quality of the filmmaking.

This movie has received universal acclaim and was nominated for 9 academy awards: best Art Direction, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Directing, Editing, Sound, Sound Editing, Music and best picture of the year. It won awards for Cinematography, Art Direction and Visual Effects.

This movie, dazzling from start to finish, is a movie masterpiece, for it credibly created a new world by combining all things that make a movie great. When I walked out of the theatre after watching it, I was in awe, and for that, I give this movie a 9.5/10. Once again, Mr. Cameron is the king of the world.

Book Review of “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton

By  Nell Simon

The novel Ethan Frome was inspired by a sledding accident that Edith Warton heard about in Massachusettes in 1904.

Ethan Frome opens in a fictional New England town, “Starkfield”, with a description of “a ruin of a man”, a state he has been in since his “smash-up” years earlier. For the first few pages, the narrator collects pieces of Ethan Frome’s story and then puts them together for the reader. Not only does the story focus on Ethan, but it also focuses on his wife Zeena and her cousin Mattie, with whom Ethan becomes very close.

Although slow-moving at times, his story contains secrecy and a forbidden affair which ends in tragedy. The book is captivating and it is also a quick read.

Ethan Frome is considered a classic American novel and is well-deserving of that reputation.