Marc Ong 2i218

Firstly, I would like to talk about Avatar because it was the movie that I saw first. I did see Avatar in 3-d, but I have to say that that was not a good thing. The 3-d glasses were uncomfortable and kept slipping of my nose. Not only that, but they doubled as sunglasses, dimming the screen and making it hard to see most details in the movie. As a result, I spent half the movie with the glasses off, choosing to deal with a blurry screen instead. Now, on to the movie itself. Avatar definitely deserves to win Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. Despite my aforementioned difficulties with the 3-d part of the film, the visual effects still blew me away. The virtual universe that James Cameron has created is certainly breathtaking and intriguing. On the other hand, however, I feel that the plot was somewhat lacking. It was a bit on the cliche side, with the evil humans being ignorant of the tribal Na'vi who were right in the end. The movie also shows how humans love war and do not care about the Na'vi and the greedy corporations that want the alternative energy source on the planet. Yet another cliche in the movie is how the scientists, who understand the ways of the Na'vi, try to get the other humans to use a diplomatic approach, but instead get brushed aside. In the end, predictably, they turn out to be right after all.

Therefore, I feel that Avatar should win Best Visual Effects, but definitely not Best Picture. In my opinion, it would be a shame a film with such a cliche plot won.

My opinions on the Hurt Locker will be expressed in part 2 of this post. Part 3 will be written after the release of the results, and my thoughts on them.