Regularly Scheduled Tuesday Report

TROPIC THUNDER

[format: Blu-Ray Netflix]

There's a type of elevated joy the comes from comedy which I would like to call "comedy zen". This is when something on the screen is so great to watch because both the comedy being acted out, and the cleverness of the concept of the comedy, are so pitch perfect that I really overwhelmed about what aspect of this amazing moment I can focus on. Tropic Thunder has many of those comedy zen moments, with most of them being whenever Robert Downer Jr. is on the screen. When those comedy zen moments subside, you are still left with incredibly hilarity every step of the way. Non-conventional concept humor and physical comedy all coming together. Loved it.

AVATAR

[format: my FIRST feature length 3-d Imax experience]

OK, time for everyone to hate me for being a glass half empty guy.

THREE VERY MINOR DETAILS THAT MAKE AVATAR LESS THAN COMPLETELY AMAZING

1) Narration - I know mainstream movies can't be subtle and let us think for ourselves how the main character feels, but the sensory overload with this film doesn't require an awkward voiceover every now and then. Not necessary.

2) Ferngully - There's nothing close to a Robin Williams voiced bat in Avatar, but I couldn't help but thinking this was a little too formulaic regarding a big bad enemy in the form of a corporation coming in to destroy nature and the people in it that are more spiritual than we'll ever be. I may not have seen anything like this before, but the story was a little familiar.

3) The minor character with nothing but cliche dialogue that slips under the radar of a giant security apparatus to save the day after the real characters are at a seemingly dead end - there almost has to be someone with a change of heart in an action movie that's goes from bad to good (or at least neutral to good) to reach any kind of conclusions, so I'll give them that, but I didn't like that they just took a random person I didn't care about and made her the catalyst.

OK, am I done? YES. This was an incredible movie, totally lived up to its hype, borrowed from some headier versions of science fiction that I've read, and is on the far, FAR, positive side of movies that I would wish to be the biggest motion pictures of all time.