plus 4, Movie openings and capsule reviews - San Jose Mercury News

Movie openings and capsule reviews - San Jose Mercury News
Arts survey finds drop in movie, museum attendance - Times Union
AP movie review: James Cameron's `Avatar' wows with effects, but limps ... - San Francisco Examiner
Invictus’ is predictable but still a feel-good movie - Bradenton Herald
Willie Maxine Perry, mother of movie maker Tyler Perry, dies at age 64 ... - Washington Examiner

Movie openings and capsule reviews - San Jose Mercury News

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 12:07 AM PST

[fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content]

"2012": The apocalypse hits and it's a great ride — and funny. Naturally, great special effects from the folks who brought us "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow." With John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Amanda Peet. — R. Myers. (PG-13 ...

Arts survey finds drop in movie, museum attendance - Times Union

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 02:02 AM PST

If you haven't gone to a movie, jazz concert or an art exhibit in recent years, you are in steadily growing company.

A new study from the National Endowment for the Arts finds a notable decline in theater, museum and concert attendance and other "benchmark" cultural activities from 2002 to 2008 for adults 18 and older, and a sharper fall from 25 years ago. The drop was for nearly all art forms and for nearly all age groups and levels of education.

The NEA's senior deputy chair, Joan Shigekawa, listed a few possible reasons: the rise of the Internet, less free time and cuts in arts classes.

"These numbers definitely represent a challenge," Shigekawa said.

Released Thursday, the NEA's 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts is the sixth such report to come out since 1982, when 39 percent of adults attended a "benchmark arts activity" at least once in the previous year. The percentage peaked at 41 percent in 1992, just as the Internet was taking off, and dropped to 34.6 percent in 2008.

From 2002 to 2008, percentages fell for moviegoing from 60 to 53.3, for jazz from 10.8 to 7.8, and for museums/galleries from 26.5 to 22.7. Other categories with lower attendance include ballet, opera, musical and nonmusical theater, and art/crafts fairs and festivals.

The reading of "literature," defined as "plays/poetry/novels/short stories," was an exception, rising from 46.7 to 50.2, an increase NEA research director Sunil Iyengar credits, at least in part, to the growth of online reading. But the Internet did not stop a decline, from 56 percent to 54 percent, of reading of any kind that was not required by school or work.

Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, was concerned by the attendance numbers but encouraged by the substantial number of adults, estimated by the NEA at around 40 million, who watched or listened to classical music through electronic media, including online.

"There is a fundamental change happening in our lives. There's a sense that we have an old way of defining participating in the arts and that the public is redefining what participation means," Rosen said. "The challenge for us is to see where the public is and engage with them and adapt."

Rosen cited interactive concerts, multimedia concerts and shows of varying lengths, at different times of day.

"A lot of concerts remain absolutely essential, but it's not a contradiction to say that the public is showing an interest in new ways of engaging and that we need to a grow our bag of tricks," said Rosen, who was among the arts representatives, from about 40 organizations, scheduled to discuss the report in a live Webcast Thursday morning.

Also in the NEA report:

Classic/rock oldies was the most popular form of music, with 48.1 percent of those surveyed saying they liked it. The runner-up was country/Western, at 36 percent.

Mysteries were the favorite books, liked by 32.5 percent of respondents, followed by health/fitness/self-improvement and religious works.

Visits to parks/monuments/historical buildings fell from 31.6 percent in 2002 to 24.9 percent last year.

Information about the Webcast is on the NEA home page, http://www.nea.gov.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

AP movie review: James Cameron's `Avatar' wows with effects, but limps ... - San Francisco Examiner

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 02:02 AM PST

When a film brashly asserts that it will change moviemaking forever, one feels the urge to either take its "king of the world" arrogance down a notch or hail it as the masterpiece it claims to be.

But — and forgive us if this sounds too much like the dialogue in President Obama's war room — what if there's a third option?

James Cameron's 3-D "Avatar" has all the smack of a Film Not To Miss — a movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film.

"Avatar" takes place in the year 2154 on the faraway moon of Pandora, where, befitting its mythological name, the ills of human life have been released. The Earth depleted, humans have arrived to mine an elusive mineral, wryly dubbed Unobtainium.

The Resources Developmental Administration, a kind of military contractor, is running the operation. At the top of the chain of command is the CEO-like Carter Selfridge (an excellent, ruthless Giovanni Ribisi), who's hellbent on showing quarterly profits for shareholders. His muscle and head of security is the rock-jawed Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who curses Pandora's inhabitants (the Na'vi) as savages and considers the place worse than hell.

In fact, it's a paradise. In Pandora, Cameron has fashioned a sensual, neon-colored, dreamlike world of lush jungle, gargantuan trees and floating mountains. Its splendor is easily the most wondrous aspect of "Avatar."

Cameron, like the deep sea diver that he is (his only films since 1997's "Titanic" have been underwater documentaries), lets his camera peer with fascination at the glow-in-the-dark plant life, the six-legged horses and — especially beautiful — the nighttime frog-like creatures that, when touched, open a bright white sail and spiral into the air.

It's this sense of discovery — in Pandora, in the wizardry of the filmmaking — that makes "Avatar" often thrilling.

Our main character is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a brawny former Marine who lost the power of his legs in battle on Earth. His scientist twin brother has just died and Sully, having a matching genome, is invited to replace him in a mission to Pandora.

He joins a small group of scientists lead by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who are attempting to learn more about the Na'vi by conducting field studies and doing a bit of undercover science. They've created avatars of themselves to go about Pandora as a living, breathing Na'vi, while their human bodies lie dormant in a sort of tanning bed (they return to them when their avatars sleep).

The Na'vi are a 10-foot-tall species with translucent, aqua-colored skin, 3-fingered hands and smooth, lean torsos. They have long, neat dreadlocks for hair and wide, feline foreheads. The smart freckles on their brow faintly light up like tiny constellations.

With beady headdresses and skimpy sashes, the Na'vi are clearly meant to evoke Native Americans, as well as similarly exploited tribes of South America and Africa. They pray over a slayed animal and feel at one with nature. Their tails (oh, yes, they also have tails) even connect — like nature's USB port — to things like mystical willow branches, horse manes or the hair of pterodactyl-like birds.

It's no coincidence that the Na'vi chief Eyukan is played by the Cherokee actor Wes Studi, whose credits include "Dances with Wolves," perhaps the film most thematically akin to "Avatar."

"Avatar" is essentially a fairy tale that imagines a more favorable outcome for the oppressed fighting against the technology and might of Western Civilization. Sully, who quickly takes to life as a Na'vi, begins to feel his allegiances blurred.

Though he has promised Quaritch to spy on the Na'vi (their home lies atop an Unobtainium deposit), he begins to appreciate their ways. He also falls for Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the Na'vi princess and the one who introduces him to the tribe.

Many Na'vi are suspicious of Sully — "a demon in a fake body" — but they eventually embrace him. They accept him as a leader, even though he occasionally goes limp and vacant when his human body isn't connected. This off-switch makes for questionable leadership skills — as if George Washington had been a narcoleptic.

The inevitable battle has overt shades of current wars. Quaritch, drinking coffee during a bombing with a cavalier callousness like Robert Duvall in "Apocalypse Now," drops phrases like "pre-emptive strike," "fight terror with terror" and even "shock and awe," a term apparently destined to survive for centuries in the lexicon.

These historical and contemporary overtones bring the otherworldly "Avatar" down to Earth and down to cliche. The message of environmentalism and of (literal) tree-hugging resonates, but such a plainly just cause also saps "Avatar" of drama and complexity.

It's also a funny message coming from such a swaggering behemoth of technology like "Avatar." As for the effects, they are undeniable. 3-D has recently become en vogue, but only know has it been used with such a depth of field.

The movie is also a notable advance for performance capture, which is how the Na'vi were created. As was done with Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and King Kong in "King Kong," the Na'vi were made with cameras and sensors recording the movements of the actors and transposing them onto the CGI creatures.

Seldom has this been done in a way that captured the most important thing — the eyes — but Cameron employed a new technology (a camera rigged like a helmet on the actors) to capture their faces up close. The green, flickering eyes of the Na'vi are a big step forward, but there's still an unmistakable emptiness to a movie so filled with digital creations.

Ultimately, the technology of "Avatar" isn't the problem — moviemaking, itself, is an exercise in technology. But one need look no further than Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" to see how technique — whether it be antique stop-motion animation or state-of-the-art 3-D performance capture — can find soulfulness at 24 frames per second.

"Avatar," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Running time: 161 minutes. Two and half stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Invictus’ is predictable but still a feel-good movie - Bradenton Herald

Posted: 10 Dec 2009 08:44 AM PST

"The rainbow nation starts here," he tells white civil servants, asking them to stay on the job. "Reconciliation starts here."

His gestures, he knows, won't be enough. That's when he locks in on the embattled rugby team, led by Francois Pienaar. Matt Damon, with a rugby player's build, ennobles this star athlete, making him symbolic of white South Africans who accepted the change in power. The team isn't great, but if they get better in time for the World Cup, they could help the nation heal, Mandela suggests.

The title comes from a 19th-century poem Mandela memorized during his decades as a political prisoner — "I am the master of my fate." Eastwood doesn't beat that to death, sparing us the obvious "Win one for Mandela" speech. But that's the only cliche he avoids in "Invictus."

Mandela is made saintly — a statesman who speaks in slogans. Black-and-white tensions are mirrored on his security detail and Eastwood never shies from showing a black bodyguard paired with a white one.

But Eastwood, returning to race as a theme, has made a timely film about a nation of many races rallying around a leader.

"If I can't change when circumstances demand it," says the newly formed First Fan of the Springboks, "how can I expect others to?"

Heavy-handed, with eye-rolling moments in the middle acts as Clint slides a little limp pop music into the training montages, "Invictus" still works as another Warners feel-good movie with sports as its backdrop, a touching story.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Willie Maxine Perry, mother of movie maker Tyler Perry, dies at age 64 ... - Washington Examiner

Posted: 10 Dec 2009 03:57 AM PST

ATLANTA — Willie Maxine Perry, who helped inspire the character Madea played by her movie producer son Tyler Perry, has died. She was 64.

Tyler Perry announced her Tuesday death on his Web site, where he thanked fans for their prayers. He did not say where his mother died or anything about the cause.

Perry's publicist, Keleigh Thomas, would not give further details Wednesday afternoon.

Perry owes much of his popularity to his portrayal of Madea, a sharp-tongued, iron-willed Southern matriarch played by Perry in a padded suit and wig. She is the central character in films like "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail,"

In an October interview, Perry told CBS' "60 Minutes" that the character is a celebration of strong black women who is based in part on his own mother.

"Madea's a cross between my mother and my aunt — she's the type of grandmother that was on every corner when I was growing up," he said. "... She's a strong figure where I come from, in my part of the African American community."

But the character has also earned criticism from some black community figures who argue Perry is reinforcing stereotypes of black women as overbearing, violent and brash. Film maker Spike Lee recently labeled Perry's TBS sitcoms and films "coonery."

Arlene Barron, executive director at the Jewish Community Center in New Orleans, said Maxine Perry had worked there as a nursery school assistant for about 10 years from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

___

On the Net:

http://tylerperry.com/

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger