Posts tagged Avatar
MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube roundtable talking "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania"

MY 100TH GUEST APPEARANCE ON KICKING THE SEAT PROGRAMMING!

As many of you loyal followers may know, friend-of-the-page Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel has been on a year-long moratorium from comic book movies and shows. It has spanned since last May with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At many times since then, I can’t blame him and envy him. His one caveat was watching things his son wanted to watch. That’s what brings him to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Oh, the woes of being a good parent and a cool dad!

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PODCAST: Episode 97 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For their 97th episode, two turquoise film critics, two teal dads, and two blue-ish school teachers, Will Johnson and Don Shanahan put their swim floaties and performance capture rigs on to debate the highest grossing film of 2022: Avatar: The Way of Water. Coming off of last week's episode on all-time box office kings, our hosts knew the scope of James Cameron's latest epic, but they debate the quality of the personal impact.

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PODCAST: Episode 96 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For their 96th episode, two feckin' film critics, two feckin' dads, and two feckin' school teachers, Will Johnson and Don Shanahan, please welcome to Seattle-based movie afficionado Caless Davis! He joins us during awards seasons to count the remaining fingers on our hands for Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin. This actor's showcase has been impressing critics and awards voters, but it did in impress these three gentlemen. Tune in to find out!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the Kicking the Seat YouTube roundtable talking "Avatar: The Way of Water"

While not all of us on the dais look like Gloria Stuart who said, “It’s been 84 years…” in James Cameron’s Titanic, it has been a long 13 years since the 3D watershed of Avatar. Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast and YouTube channel gathered myself, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, Mark Krawczyk of Special Mark Productions, and Jeff York of The Establishing Shot to discuss the hotly anticipated sequel and holiday hitter Avatar: The Way of Water. We sure talked until a few of us were blue in the face (and tardy from technical difficulties as I was).

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MOVIE REVIEW: Avatar: The Way of Water

Through all the technological spectacle he creates through unmatched skill and sheer hubris– especially in his triumphant return with Avatar: The Way of Water, three-time Oscar winner James Cameron does not get enough respect as one of the best cinematic storytellers for action and emotion the medium has ever seen. With an editor’s eye for precise measurement, Cameron has crafted some of the most elaborate, dazzling, and iconic action sequences for decades now. 

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MOVIE REVIEW: Tomorrowland

Thinly veiled beneath the powerhouse studio running the show, Disney's "Tomorrowland" is your new lightning rod between poignant and preachy.  It is, with absolute certainty, an enormous message movie hiding behind a summer blockbuster.  Brad Bird's film is a platform for big ideas that knows it's on a platform to also sell tickets and merchandise, putting it in that very divisive place between intention, tone, and how people are going to interpret it.  If that surprises you, get in line.  Everyone that was likely expecting a whimsical family-friendly film with gadgets and adventure are instead getting what stands to be the most polarizing film of the season, if not the year.  That might not be a bad thing.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Jupiter Ascending

"Jupiter Ascending" is an utter mess of missed opportunity and misguided world-building.  Just as with a majority of science fiction movies, the visual panache is present in astounding detail.  That, once again, is the easy part.  Unfortunately, none of it (and I mean none of it), is created with purpose or direction that becomes compelling and stirring to you as the audience.  None of its creative ingredients work to earn your investment, acceptance, attention, or even your basic comprehension.  

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