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Robert Downey Jr hasn’t even had the time to thrill audiences with the new reinvention of Sherlock Holmes and Paramount Pictures goes and releases this.

Fanboys will be foaming at the mouth. I am crossing my fingers that they can recreate the kick ass good time that the first movie provided. What do you think? Exicited or wary?

Aquí está la versión sin editar de mi reseña de Avatar que fue publicada este pasado viernes en El Nuevo Día y en www.endi.com

Reseña de Avatar
Por
Juanma Fernández-París

Desde que el séptimo arte fue reconocido como medio de comunicación en masa, su historia ha sido marcada por varios eventos cinematográficos que han revolucionado la tecnología, el comercio y el arte de contra historias con imágenes. La primera versión del lenguaje cinematográfico con Birth of a Nation (1915), su reinvención moderna en Citizen Kane (1941), la fusión de tecnología nueva con la magia de narrativa clásica que fue el estreno de Star Wars(1977) y la reinvención de las implicaciones artísticas y comerciales de una trilogía con él éxito de The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003).

Esta semana el estreno de Avatar se une a esta lista de sucesos trascendentales en la historia del cine. Con esta épica, que mezcla elementos de ciencia ficción, drama, guerra y romance, el director James Cameron ha creado un filme que solo puede ser descrito con elogios superlativos. Aunque lo más evidente de este logro es como su creador ha expandido el alcance de la tecnología digital para crear un espectáculo de proporciones inmensurables. Sin embargo eso es solo una fracción de lo que convierte a este filme en un evento histórico que obligatoriamente tiene que ser visto en la pantalla grande. El verdadero logro de esta producción es como su director utiliza la tecnología para exaltar lo que es la esencia del cine: contar una historia que capte la atención del público, sacuda sus emociones y expanda su imaginación. Avatar hace todo eso y más.

Si todo esto le parece la retórica de un crítico que ha quedado hipnotizado por una épica en 3D, considere lo siguiente: James Cameron es el director de Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2, The Abyss, y Titanic. Tome todo el brío visual de esos filmes y multiplique la cuota de entretenimiento por 100. Esto parecería crear expectativas imposibles de cumplir, pero Avatar las cumple con facilidad.

Aquel que asuma una postura cínica ante la magia indiscutible que posee este filme podría atacar la trama del filme por su falta de originalidad. Y en un nivel superficial tienen razón. Este filme no es el primero en contar una historia que tienen un romance entre dos protagonistas que pertenecen a bandos opuestos que eventualmente van a tener un choque sangriento. De la misma forma los mensajes ecológicos del guión y sus críticas a la guerra y a la colonización nunca dejan de ser simples en su presentación. Pero precisamente al ser este el núcleo del filme, el espectáculo efectivo y deslumbrante que genera Cameron alrededor de el se convierte en un logro superlativo que merece ser celebrado.

En un panorama donde el cine comercial esta inundado de secuelas, reinvenciones de filmes clásicos y filmes que se conforman con reciclar fórmulas, Avatar revitaliza el medio literalmente creando un universo nuevo que dejara al público exaltado ante el impacto convencional del entretenimiento que ofrece.

Aqui está el link a mi Entrevista Exclusiva con Zoe Saldaña que fue publicada hoy en El Nuevo Día y en www.endi.com

A new Disney animated movie does not always means a new box office champ, but the charming The Princess and The Frog took the number one spot in the US and in Puerto Rico. The other surprise of the weekend is how well movies that are aimed for adults are doing well at the box office. Invictus, the new critically aclaimed Clint Eastwood drama, landed in third place with almost 10 million in ticket sales, while the Blind Side continued to do well at number two with 15 million. The rest of the US top five was rounded out by New Moon and a Christmas Carol.
Meanwhile in Puerto Rico it seems adults dont have too much time for themselves to go to the movies. Its either that or everyone is sufferin a severe case of arrested development.
The top five movies in Puerto Rico last weekend were:

1. Princess and the Frog

2. Ninja Assassin

3. Old Dogs

4. Armored

5. New Moon

How can something like Old Dogs make money while an excellent movie like The Blind Side gets ignored is beyond me. I guess people will have to wait until the Oscar nominations to come out to feel any pull to go to the theaters.

Did anybody in Puerto Rico who reads this blog went to see Blind Side? If you didn’t could you please let me know why?!

Ok, I’ll keep it brief cause I’ m tired from the treck from PR to London. The new Warner Brothers film is fantastic! I wish the movie had come out during the summer so everybody who flocked to Bay’s empty opus of a sequel would have seen what comercial moviemaking is all about! Mark your Calendars Sherlock Holmes opens on Christmas Day in the US and January 1st in Puerto Rico.

Award season is tricky, even so in the last couple of years surprises are not really part of the deal. But this year one the most unexpected turn of events has happend to the new Peter Jackson movie. After Paramount decide to bet on it as the film that was mots likely to get nominations in all categories, now the movie is looking like the closest thing to a long shot.
How is that possible? With this much talent on board?!

From what the lukewarm reviews have mentioned, everyone is faulting the adaptation of the novel for being to clean of the dark violence of the crime that kicks the plot into gear. In interviews, Jackson has mentioned that he “could not bring himself” to film the murder scene. Somehow those who are familiar with his early work are left baffled with that notion. After all, he did not shy away from showing two young girls comitting a murder in Heavenly Creatures. Has Peter Jackson gone soft? Or is it that The Lovely Bones is just one of those novels that works on the page but not on the screen?

Whatever the reason, the only nomination the movie might get is for Stanley Tucci in the supporting actor category. But the Academy might decide to recognize him for Julie and Julia instead.

As a critic it’s equally easy to write a rave review as it is to write a really negative one. It’s been surprising to find out that the ones that are for average movies are the most difficult to write. That said, Nine, the new Rob Marshall musical, is not an average movie. The problem is, it is not CHICAGO. The dramatic concept that worked so well on that movie-every time there is a song we are in someone’s head- does not work in this one. Still for anybody who admires great acting this movie will be a treat. The cast is spectacular, particularly Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman and, of course, Daniel Day Lewis.
Take a look at what is one of my favorite scenes from the movie

Look for this movie to be showered with Golden Globe nominations next week and then be largely ignored at the Oscars, which it’s too bad. Had Chicago not been such a movie musical gem this would had dazzled across the board.

Did You Here About My Interview with Hugh Grant? Here’s a sneak peek at the interview during the junket for Did You Hear About The Morgans which opens next week in Puerto Rico and the US on December 18.

Do not judge my rumpled shirt, his was rumpled as well! Do judge my ability to riff with him and make him laugh.

The much anticipated James Cameron movie just got its first rave review at Variety . Given that as a film critic I have to write my own review, I did not read the whole thing. But I have to say that as a movie lover/geek I got very excited about the first paragraph of Todd McCarthy’s rave.

Which goes like this “The King of the World sets his sights on creating another world entirely in “Avatar,” and it’s very much a place worth visiting. The most expensive and technically ambitious film ever made, James Cameron’s long-gestating epic pitting Earthly despoilers against a forest-dwelling alien race delivers unique spectacle, breathtaking sights, narrative excitement and an overarching anti-imperialist, back-to-nature theme that will play very well around the world, and yet is rather ironic coming from such a technology-driven picture. Twelve years after “Titanic,” which still stands as the all-time B.O. champ, Cameron delivers again with a film of universal appeal that just about everyone who ever goes to the movies will need to see.”

Are you excited yet? Mark your calendar, next week Cameron takes over the world again!

So in regards to the release of Brothers, here at filmotico I have been focusing exclusively on Natalie Portman. But since this is an equal opportunity blog, and we want as many hits as possible, I give you interviews with Spiderman and The Prince of Persia-I mean with male leads Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. Enjoy!