Avatars and Surrogates

My intention was to only write about movies I have seen at a movie theater. I changed my mind. Movies are always best at the cinema. They were invented to be shown in the big screen. (do you know any good tv-movie?) I wish cinemas here were opened 24-7. Since they are not, I have to obey my movie thirst at home. For some strange reason I am not a LED/LCD/Plasma- "big sized TV"- addicted. I am satisfied watching films on my Mac, 15 inches. Some days ago I watched Surrogates for the first (and probably only) time. I remember reading about and studying the poster of the film at approximately the month of august 2009. (the reason why I usually refer to posters of movies is that I work at a movie theater) The Avatar posters were up almost a year before the premiere. So Avatar was very present during most of 2009. The first two posters were the faces of the Avatars Jake Sully and Neytiri. Very minimalistic, only showing their faces. The whole marketing strategy was to give us information little by little. What and who were the blue faced creatures? What world would they present us to? I knew it was going to be big, a big success or a big flop. On the 16th of October I attended a sneak preview of Avatar at Colosseum cinema (Oslo, Norway and home of the largest THX theater in the world) The showing consisted of approx. 10 min of the movie and 5 min interview with James Cameron. I must confess not being overexcited about what I saw. I dint´t know if I could take of the tacky fluorescent forest seriously. The font chosen for the subtitles reminded me of Lord of The Rings. I guess my expectations were so great that all details molded my perception. It is interesting to see how the marketing strategies are different. Avatar´s distributors started teasing us early with the first posters. They gave us little info, letting our imagination go wild. I remember another interesting strategy, for the film United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006). The trailer only showed images of a radar and voices from the control tower and passengers phone calls. It was no mystery that the movie was about the plane that crashed on a field in 09/11. The lack of the film images in the trailer made it very mysterious and appealing. This strategy is mostly used when there are no big stars to push the sales or the film did not please on the prescreenings. An average film like Surrogates must use Bruce Willis to front the marketing. One exception of the rule is for example Avatar. The Avatar team did not choose to use the sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver in it´s strategy. In my opinion the special effects, the new technologies developed, were the key marketing elements. My plan to write about Surrogates in this post but I guess I did not have much to say about it...

It has been some weeks since my first post and I guess I was right, Kick-Ass is becoming a cult movie!

Kicking some Titan Ass!

Yesterday it became clear to me the power a movie can over my mood. I went from depression to exaltation. The depression took over my head while watching The Clash of the Titans. I had such great expectations! I mean, Titans, Worthington, Neeson, Fiennes, Mikkelsen, 3D. The actors became mere puppets in a nightmarish computer animated epopee. (for the record: I love Avatar!) Were they left to their own device? It is difficult to understand why use such big names in a movie totally dedicated to creatures. I think it is actually better to have unknown faces, faces that does not makes you expect. I guess the big names are there to attract all audiences. The target audience, I guess, male 15-25, goes because of the title. The rest of us, for Neeson, Worthington, and so on. It is not enough.
Is Worthington buzz hair cut a desperate link to Avatar? It does look stupid among the long and rustic look of the other characters.
Clash was originally made for 2D viewing. To take an even greater share of the marked it was converted to 3D. (a last minute decision I have heard) Bad, bad idea. In this case 3D may have caused more damage then good. But I will not give my own opinion since I have only watched the 3D version. Actually, I´m planning to watch the 2D and see if it is the 3D that depressed me or the whole thing.
Over to the bright side of yesterday´s movie night. The movie that turned depression into Life is pretty cool: Kick-Ass. I dare say it will become a cult movie in no time. Kill Bill meets Superbad. It is funny, dramatic and violent, pretty violent. Looking at one of the posters, the one with the four characters on a roof top, the first link I made was with bad Japanese series from the 80´s (Changeman and others) It did bring me a nostalgic feeling for some seconds. The title sounded totally childish. From the perspectives of the poster and title the expectations were low. I was fulled because this movie is totally cool. The story is well written, the characters interesting, the effects, bright colors and cast are in harmony. Nicholas Cage´s presence was a surprise. (I have lost fate in him lately) He pulled this one off. The movie is full of references from comics, tv-series, movies. An homage to popular culture. (we can see a huge outdoor of the directors wife, Claudia Schiffer!) The movie premiered first in Europe. The American release is on April 16. Afraid of The Titans? The should not! Do not miss Kick-Ass! Best in the big screen!!!