The Avatar Apocalypse and the Eventual End of Great Movies

Where would movies be without technological advancements? Imagine what it would be like without the continuous shots pioneered in Birth of a Nation (1915) or without the sound pioneered in The Jazz Singer (1927). The problem has come now with Avatar. While the previously pioneering movies were milestones in terms of technical achievements, they were also great movies. They had great stories, and great actors. In the age created by Avatar, the story is cast aside as a minor element only there to serve the special effects supervisor. As for actors, the computerized blue people will probably replace actors in the next thirty years. Movies will be done entirely on a computer, each simply seeking to outdo the previous hit's 3-d imaging. The real human emotions will be lost as will the magic in the touch of a skillful director and the vitality of the screenplay writer. The worst of it is, that many claim that Avatar is the greatest film of all time. Sure it impressed us with special effects, but did it make us cry like Citizen Kane, laugh like Dr. Strangelove, surprise us like Vertigo, engulf us in a man's ascent to power like The Godfather, or make us feel the pain of a defeated people like Gone With the Wind. Avatar cannot match up to any of these classics, because Avatar lacks the heart that connects us with movies. The important question for us to ask is if we are willing to sacrifice the genuine emotion that can be portrayed in films for a few tricks.

Films of the Week: Foreign Film

This week we will be discussing foreign films. While an award is given to one each year at the Academy Awards, the majority of Americans will go their whole lives without ever seeing a single film from a foreign country. Although America has the world's greatest film industry, American films can sometimes lack the avant-garde approaches used in other countries. It can be very enlightening to see what kind of work is being done in other places, where film is often seen more as an art form than an entertainment form. These are my Picks for the ten greatest foreign films to date.

1. Seven Samurai (Japan 1954)

2. Last Year at Marienbad (France 1961)

3. 8 1/2 (Italy 1963)

4. The Seventh Seal (Sweeden 1957)

5. Le Regle de Jeu (France 1939)

6. Rashomon (Japan 1950)

7. Chungking Express (China 1994)

8. The White Ribbon (Germany 2009)

9. I, Vitelloni (Italy 1953)

10. Ran (Japan 1985)

Classic film Noir

Throughout the thirties, noir films were released, but the genre didn't reach its climax until the forties. Here are some of the classic noir films that contributed to the huge success of the genre prior to its reincarnation in Chinatown (1974).

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Postman Always Rings twice (1946)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Satan Met a Lady (1936)

The Thin Man (1934)

Rebecca (1940)

The Killers (1946)

The Third Man (1949)

Other Neo-Noir Films

Although the term film noir was first coined by film critic Nino Frank in 1946 to describe films of the time, the noir genre was revitalized and reformed through 1974's Chinatown after nearly 20 years of unpopularity. While the Neo-Noir Films lack many of the characteristics of classic noir, these films are still very interesting experimentations within the genre even venturing into science fiction noir, and will usually be enjoyed more than the classics by a contemporary audience. These are some great neo-noir films for any who are interested.

Chinatown (1974)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Mean Streets (1973)

Blade Runner (1982)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Soylent Green (1973)

The Two Jakes (1990)

True Crime (1996)

Sin City (2005)

The Good German (2006)

Film of the Week: Chinatown (1974)

Roman Polanski's Chinatown is considered to be the best noir film ever made, and began the neo-noir movement. In the thirties and forties, black and white detective films featuring hardened private investigators running through the heavy shadows produced by the ingenious lighting of these films. The noir films were typically thrillers or mysteries, all of them attempting to maintain suspense. In an attempt to revitalize the dead film noir genre, Polanski and his screenwriter Robert Towne created this masterpiece that was in full color, but was still able to retain the shadowy lighting that helps to define film noir. In one of his breakout roles, Jack Nicholson plays a private investigator who is caught in a web of deceit and profits when a mysterious woman enters his office offering him a job. Many critics say that Chinatown captures a lost genre, but I think Chinatown recreates noir.