Judging from this week's top stories, people are already in the mood for love. The three most read articles on CultureMap dealt with humor, romance and looking out for your neighbor, three things we here in Austin like to pride ourselves on. So what else made the cut?
1. Someone started a hilarious fake AISD Twitter handle. For more than 36 hours, one elusive hero has been tweeting a bunch of pretty funny things about the Austin Independent School District's decision to shut down school yesterday because it was ... cold?
2. Round Rock, Texas named most romantic. Amazon named Round Rock the 14th most romantic place in the country this week. Well, it's certainly an interesting choice.
3. Famous Wendy's cashier now homeless. Anyone who attended the University of Texas at Austin over the past 15 years or so probably remembers Junior, the lightening fast cashier who worked at the Wendy's in The Texas Union. Junior has since fallen on hard times and one UT alum as taken it upon himself to start a fund for the famous employee.
4. Austin needs another major university. Texas billionaire Mark Cuban spoke with contributor John Egan about why Austin needs another major university if it ever wants to compete as a world class city. People were quick to go on the defensive, reminding Cuban that in addition to UT, Austin has quite a few reputable colleges.
5. Food Network is coming to town. The favorite station of foodies announced that it is heading to Austin to find eight food trucks to compete in a new show called Food Truck Face Off. As we consider ourselves pretty well-versed in the food truck culture here in town, we should probably warn the Food Network that it has quite a tough decision on its hands.
Junior, arguably one of UT's most famous employees is the benefactor for a GoFundMe campaign to get him off the streets.
Photo courtesy of GoFundMe
Junior, arguably one of UT's most famous employees is the benefactor for a GoFundMe campaign to get him off the streets.
For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.
The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).
Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.
Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred 3D viewing method makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.
The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.
Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.
A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.
There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.
