AVATAR: THE WAY OF THE WATER, BABYLON, THE FABELMANS, BARDO, EMANCIPATION, EMPIRE OF LIGHT,

AVATAR: THE WAY OF THE WATER | 20th Century Studios |
Writer/Director James Cameron | Co-Writers Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

I don’t remember falling in love with AVATAR in 2009, I remember respecting the grandeur and ambition of it, but I don’t recall being that pulled into the story or characters. Then in 2017 it was screened during the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival and watching it a second time, I thought oh, that’s really very moving and a good sc-fi epic. I totally wondered why I didn’t feel that way the first time. Now I’m feeling the same thing again after watching this long awaited sequel. I think it’s technically and visually magnificent. I would also say I was properly entertained, but I wasn’t connected. Perhaps, like the first one I need to watch it again. But at 192 minutes it won’t be any time soon. Will this be my pattern for the next 3 future installments? The others films are slated to open in two-year intervals through 2028, ($250 million each film). Barring another pandemic, these should stay on track, as the screenplays and most of the production for these sequels are already completed.

Avatar: The Way of the Water picks up a couple years later from where Avatar ends. Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are now the leaders of the Omaticaya tribe. They have a son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) strong and responsible; an adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver). It’s said they don’t know how or who impregnated Dr. Grace Augustine’s suspended Avatar, but Jake and Neytiri raise her child as one of their own. They have a second son, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) he’s head strong and too adventurous; and a young daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) she’s of course adorable and the apple of everyone’s eye. The kids have a super close playmate, Spider (Jack Champion), he’s a human child who was too young to travel back to earth when the others were sent packing, so he’s grown up around the Sully kids and thinks of them as brothers and sisters. Jake and Neytiri tolerate Spider, but are somewhat mistrustful of him as well.

The family is happy, there’s a song about how happy they all are, for about 15 years or so, but then here comes the colonizers back to wreak havoc. Earth is dying and they want to not only once again mine the planet, but take it over as a new earth. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) the adversarial RDA Security Operations Commander from Avatar is back. Well, at least his consciousness has been uploaded into a Na’vi Avatar and he’s still pissed at Jake and Neytiri for killing him and seeks revenge. He’s more determined than Les Misérables’ Javir and The Fugitive‘s Gerard put together. Not wanting to put their tribe in danger again, Jake feels it’s better for he and his family to take off and find a place to lay low for a while. They land on Metkayina the place of the Na’vi reef people, who rather reluctantly give the family sanctuary. However, forest people & reef people are different species and it’s not easy for the Sully children to fit in.

I read that most of the water scenes are actually filmed underwater, blending underwater filming and performance capture, something that took the team a year and a half to develop. It’s a bright, vibrant underwater ecosystem. All very effective and aqua-ific. But I don’t feel I needed to see it in 3D to be impressed.

This is actually the 3rd water-centric film of 2022. Black Panther Wakanda Forever developed their own version of Atlantis; the animated film The Sea Beast is completely nautical. Not to mention, Triangle of Sadness takes place on a ship and an island; The Menu has the patrons delivered by boat to the Chef’s island; the cast of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery endure murder on an Island paradise; and The Banshees of Inisherin takes place on a picturesque Irish coastal island. And finally, not as much a water theme, although some, but the Agojie fighting off the colonizers in The Woman King feels similar to the battles against the military colonizers in this Avatar 2.

T&T rating: 3.75 outta 5

BABYLON | Paramount Pictures | Writer/Director Damien Chazelle | Music Justin Hurwitz

As I said in the below review for Empire of Light, most celebrated directors eventually do a movie that’s an ode to Cinema and/or Hollywood itself, but Damien Chazelle already had his in the can, the successfully received La La Land (which almost won the Oscar). Yet he felt the need to dive back in – starting at the beginning, the silent movie era of Hollywood and the introduction of Talkies. 

We’re introduced to the sheer pioneering, wild, wild west spirit of movie making through the eyes of Manny (Diego Calva) a handsome, young Mexican-American who aspires to work on a movie set; but he has to get there the hard way, starting with delivering a reluctant elephant as the centerpiece to a rollicking, frolicking, outrageous orgy of a party at a studio executive’s mansion.  It’s one of the all-time best party scenes ever filmed. There’s so much debauchery and revelry going on at once, filling the frame. Someone said they saw one of the extras screwing a goat. I didn’t see that in my theater viewing and still couldn’t find that particular transgression when watching the screener, because there’s just that much going on! The only people at the party fully dressed are the black band members and the great Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) THE leading man of the silent era, currently at the pinnacle of his career and on wife #3 (a well-done cameo for Olivia Wilde).  Pitt is fine in the role, but he’s certainly not giving us the kind of charisma or putting in the kind of work he brought to Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Then enters one of the main problems with the movie, Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy, who is just entirely too contemporary for this time period.  I see that Chazelle was going for a different kind of 1920’s then what we typically envision, and Robbie has no control over dialog, wardrobe or hair, but she’s channeling Harley Quinn without the makeup. I didn’t enjoy any of her performance as the accidental extra turned Hollywood starlet.  She’s too brash and loud and over the top, dominating the movie in the worst way.  

I’ll tell you who I did love, Olivia Hamilton, Chazelle’s IRL wife. She plays Nellie’s director, conveying so much with little dialogue – a look, a smirk, a nod of her head, sets the tone of the scene. In all honesty, he should have cast his wife in the starring role.

The quick, frenetic, humorous pacing of the first hour of the film is very entertaining. The scenes in the middle of the dessert where 5 or 6 movies are all shooting at once, something that was possible when shooting silent films. And yet, despite no sound being recorded, the studio would provide a 50 piece orchestra, just to get the actors feeling the mood.

We’re also introduced to a Queer Asian Actress/Cabaret Artist, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) representing Anna May Wong and Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) a trumpet player turned movie star, representing Louis Armstrong. Both are almost accepted as equals in this anything goes period of Hollywood, and yet each to their own still experiences racism.  

Then the movie loses me in the second half.  There are still some great individual scenes, but once the tone is slowed down to traditional pacing, these scenes don’t seem to hold together as a whole.  Perhaps it’s because he tries to tell each character’s trajectory and downfall too separately. Perhaps it simply got too ambitious? Babylon is grand in scope and yet doesn’t capture the type of saga where you feel you’ve been on a great journey with these people. Or perhaps it’s the message that movie making could be a dangerous, lewd, cutthroat, disloyal business and yet in the end, isn’t it all worth it.

T&T Rating 3.5 outta 5

THE FABLEMANS |Universal Pictures |Writer/Director Steven Spielberg |Co-writer Tony Kushner

I saw a critic get skewered on Twitter for suggesting he didn’t like the choice of actors playing Spielberg’s parents (Michelle Williams & Paul Dano). The Tweets piled on basically saying, how dare he tell Spielberg about his own parents!  Of course, I understand the point being made, if Spielberg feels these two actors remind him of his parents… But still, I agree with that critic.

Well,  I don’t care one way or the other about the Dano choice, but in looking at pictures of Spielberg’s Mom Leah, that’s a woman with a very particular face that would come with a big comedy/tragedy personality, Michelle Williams is an incredible actress with many gifts, but she doesn’t quite fit this idea. Back in the day, you had comedic actresses like Carol Burnett, Imogene Coca, Lucille Ball, Goldie Hawn, maybe even a toned-down Joanne Worly, but try as I might, I couldn’t come up with any A list character actresses of this caliber among today’s celebrities.  The closest would be Kristen Wiig, but I don’t find her all that versatile.

The movie begins with a young Spielberg, called Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) a boy of 5 or 6 reluctant to want to see his first movie in a theater. At such a young age he’s already fearing the impact on his anxiety.  The movie is Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth”, he’s riveted. Afterwards, he becomes obsessed with recreating the train scene in which a car on the tracks is hit head on.  Mr. Fableman forbids his son from abusing his train set in this way.  Mrs. Fabelman gets the idea to film it so that Sammy can watch the destruction as many times as he pleases.  And with that a budding filmmaker is born.

From there we get to know the Fabelman’s which also includes 3 sisters, 2 grandmothers and Mr. Fabelman’s best friend and co-worker Bernie (Seth Rogan). We see how their moves from NJ to Arizona to California affect their lives and what ultimately tears the family apart.  But most importantly we see Sammy Fabelman’s talent for filmmaking continue to evolve, encouraged by his mother, yet told to keep it a hobby from his father.

Speilberg’s mother lived to 97 and his dad till 103!  But he says he didn’t wait for their passing to make this semi-autobiographical film:

“He’d spoken to his mother about it when she was still alive, unsure whether she’d want him to tell their family story in such a public way. “There’s a little bit of this story in all your films. But you’ve always felt safer using metaphor,” his mother said. “And I think you’re probably scared of the lived experience.” She told him if he thought he could make something he would be proud of, he should go ahead and make it.” READ MORE

“The Fablemans” is a good yarn. It doesn’t feel at all self-indulgent to me. Certainly a much better coming of age story than last year’s “The Tender Bar”.  It probably won’t crack my top 10 of 2022, but definitely will be among my Top 20. 

T&T rating: 4 outta 5

BARDO (False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) |Netflix|
Writer/Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu

I was taken with the opening scene of BARDO – a figure of which we can only see the shadow and hear the motions of – runs and takes flight, then seemingly comes down briefly only to run and leap into the air again. All the while the camera is focused on a barren and cracked desert.  I guess I liked the scifi feeling of this beginning.  From there however, it becomes the kind of absurd, dreamlike, Fellini-esque type of film that I really don’t have the patience to enjoy.  I don’t want to figure out symbolism, and weird shit that only really means something to the filmmaker.  I want to be entertained.

BARDO is Iñarritu’s return to Mexico since his 2000 breakout “Amores Perros,” partly using his own experiences to talk about Latin American identity in broader terms:

“I think the ones who feel displaced will understand it,” Iñarritu said. “Distance and time can make you feel that way. Your roots and your identity start to get dissolved. It’s a feeling that’s almost impossible to grasp if you haven’t been through it. I think I just use some of my memories, experience and feelings to do something very, very particular and very honest.”

The film’s protagonist is journalist and documentarian Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho) he and his family live in Los Angeles, but they are in Mexico because Silverio is being honored with some sort of lifetime achievement award from his country. Silverio seems embarrassed by this show of affection from his peers and countrymen. It’s hard to say if he feels he doesn’t deserve it or he doesn’t think it’s that impressive of an award.

A surreal scene near the beginning of the film shows his wife (Griselda Siciliani) giving birth to a son and then the doctor tells the couple that the baby doesn’t want to be in the world and wishes to climb back into the womb. So there it goes back up the birth canal.  I will say this was an interesting way to depict the loss of a still born baby; of which, what appears to be sometime later, the couple is still grappling with the grief.  Silverio’s teenage son Lorenzo (Íker Sánchez Solano) mocks his father for what he considers inconsistencies in his philosophies, while his teenage daughter Camila (Ximena Lamadrid) cannot find her place in American schools. Silverio cannot face his former partner Luis (Francisco Rubio) and stands him up for an interview on live TV.  Meanwhile the weight of Mexico’s history continues to weigh on his shoulders. As he dives deeper into the culture he left behind, the movie has fewer and fewer scenes taking place in reality.

In case you forgot, Alejandro Iñarritu is the director that won back-to-back directing Oscars for “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” both of these movies were creative, but grounded in reality and I rooted for them both during their respective awards seasons.  I don’t see me doing that for this film. I did find his interviews for different publications interesting as he seemed very open with his feelings on past success and how BARDO is being received:

“It absolutely made me feel more vulnerable,” he said. “This relationship with success is always complicated. It poisons you and it puts you much more on the spot, so you become an easier target.” He felt a queasy disconnect between his Mexican heritage and growing Hollywood stature. “I may be too American for the Mexicans and too Mexican for the Americans,” READ MORE

“As I understand it, one of the things that people said is that it is self-indulgent or narcissistic. I think I have the right as a writer and a filmmaker to have access to my emotional baggage. I think that’s the best source that I can bring to a film, and especially to this film.”… It’s also a meditation on Mexican history that some American audiences may not fully grasp. READ MORE

T&T Rating: 2.5 outta 5

EMANCIPATION | AppleTV | Director Antoine Fuqua | Writer William N. Collage

Will Smith is back! No pun intended as this movie Emancipation is inspired by the famous photograph ‘Whipped Peter’ which circulated through out the United States during the Civil War. Peter’s disfigured back helped bring the stakes of the Civil War to life, contradicting Southerners’ insistence that their slave-holding was a matter of economic survival, not racism.  I often wonder what it will take to change the minds of those that cling to the 2nd Amendment like it’s Gospel. If Sandy Hook and the countless other mass school shootings haven’t done it, I don’t think there’s a image strong enough to turn that tide.

“Emancipation” begins as Peter is torn from his loved ones and transported to a Confederate labor camp to build a deadly weaponized railroad. Confronted with staggering brutality, then buoyed by rumors that President Lincoln has ended slavery, he decides to make a break for it. His aim is to make it all the way to Union forces in Baton Rouge. With a ruthless bounty hunter tracking his every move, hounds on his heels, alligators in the maze-like bayou, and hazards of war raging all around, the odds could not be more against him. He has no weapons, no food, no map. All Peter has on his side is an immense spirit of grit, along with a profound internal faith, and the conviction of his own humanity” – Apple TV Production Notes

I watched Smith be interviewed on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah it’s such a moving and honest talk between two friends.  Not only does Will make a good case for why we still need another slave movie, but their discussion of last year’s Oscars and subsequent fall out is so honest. It really makes me hope that the public will give this movie a chance and won’t hold that moment of transgression against him.  Click HERE to View

“I never wanted to make a period film about slavery,” Smith notes. “I’ve avoided those roles my whole career. But the design and structure of ‘Emancipation’ is that of a modern action thriller, which is not what anyone thinks of when you think of films set in this period. The textures and flavors are unlike anything you’ve seen before and that gives a whole new perspective. Antoine and I both wanted to create a movie about a man empowered by a mindset of freedom, faith, love, and believing you can be invincible.” – Will Smith

This being said, it’s kinda why “Emancipation” didn’t crack my Top 20 Movies List.  I understand the reason why the movie mainly consists of Peter’s escape and shows the amazing determination of the human spirit when tested in seeking freedom and family. But the action movie, super slave narrative fell a little short for me.  I’m not certain what I wanted to see, but a whole movie of brutal, harrowing escape wore a bit thin.  Yet, it’s a gorgeously shot film, love the sepia and gray/blue tones; although, I couldn’t help but notice, Will’s skin tone tends to change color from dark to light and dark again in some scenes.  Nevertheless, production wise you can tell Apple Original Films spared no expense and Fuqua can be commended for keeping the tension on high.

In terms of whether or not I feel we need another movie about our heinous history of enslavement? Well, the inhumanity of it is always so hard to take and this movie is no exception. But considering this period of time never stops reverberating to this very moment, means there’s a reason to keep revisiting the pain of some ancestors and the guilt of others – I suppose until there feels like a reckoning.    T&T rating: 3.75 outta 5

CLICK BELOW INTERVIEW WITH THE PRODUCTION/DESIGNING TEAM FOR EMANCIPATION

Ed Novick (Production Sound Mixer), Mandell Winter (Supervising Sound Editor)
Naomi Shohan (Production Designer), Conrad Buff, ACE (Picture Editor), Robert Richardson, ASC (Cinematographer), Steve Pederson (Re-Recording Mixer), Marcelo Zarvos (Composer),
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (Costume Designer), David Esparza (Supervising Sound Editor & Re–Recording Mixer), Robert Legato, ASC (VFX Supervisor), Cynthia La Jeunesse (Set Decorator)

EMPIRE OF LIGHT |Searchlight Pictures| Writer/Director Sam Mendes

Check Back – 2 More Reviews to be added to Extravaganza #11