Exceptional and Extraordinary: Avatar

by Niti

As we look out and around we see technology improve at an astonishing speed, making what seemed impossible a reality. To close out the decade, Avatar, a highly anticipated movie with exceptional graphics was released in December of 09. Although the movie lacked star power, it was directed by a widely known director, James Cameron. The Canadian Film director has a spectacular resume, as his works includes The Terminator starring the current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

As James Cameron’s reputation in the cinematography proves he is worthy of great works in art. He surely did not disappoint the world with his latest creation. Avatar takes place in the year of 2154 on a moon called Pandora, where humans are mining for a precious mineral for a source of energy. A vast amount of the precious minerals called unobtainium is located in a tree called the “Tree of Souls” where the native population of Pandora resides in. In order for humans to interact with the native population known as the Na’vi, they must use genetically engineered bodies as the humans are unable to breathe the air in Pandora. As the humans are on the mission to exploit the unbotainium, they are forced to destroy parts of the Pandorian ecosystem, and the Na’vi resist the expansion of the humans. Even though warned by a researcher that if they were to destroy the “Tree of Souls”, they would as a result destroy the entire ecosystem of Pandora as the ecosystem is interconnected, the head of the military unit chooses otherwise and goes forward his plan in search for unobtainium.

Avatar has a very intriguing yet complicated story line, but that simply is not the reason for the vast amount of praise for this dazzling and exceptional work of art. With a budget of 237 million dollars, it is truly a work of beauty. The Pandorian ecosystem is exceptionally stunning and striking with colors unthinkable and unimaginable and the landscape is simply extraordinary, as the floating mountain were inspired by the Chinese Mount Huang which is huge tourist attraction in China. The organisms in Pandora seem to be a mix of the many creatures we see today. The organisms themselves seem so real due to the exceptional graphics, and the addition of 3-D effects simply makes this film a must see.

To date, Avatar has reported 5.54 million dollars in United States alone and has grossed in 1.859 billion dollars internationally making it the the highest grossing of all time in the world. Cameron’s Avatar overtook his other brilliant piece of work Titanic, which was the highest grossing of all time which was released in 1997 and grossed 1.844 billion dollars. However, Avatar sill needs another $45 million to beat the Titanic’s domestic gross of $600 million, which is predicted to be accomplished in the next two weeks. Avatar has been number one at the box office for six weeks since its release, and won a Golden Globe earlier this month for Best Picture, Drama. A few reports have also said that Cameron has in fact confirmed the possibility of a sequel to Avatar.

Avatar has impressed the world with its exceptional and extraordinary graphics and 3D effects. However, it just maybe only a preview to what the Cinematography industry has to show us. Be prepared to be dazzled once more.

New Moon, the Movie: One Fan's View

By Niti

November 20, 2009 was the premiere of New Moon, the second installment in the Twilight Saga Film series, and also the sequel to the movie Twilight. Twilight and New Moon are both a part of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series. Twilight, the novel, was first released in 2005 after being rejected numerous times, but once released it became an immediate best seller. The noveldebuted #5 on The New York Times Best Seller List but in later months rose to #1. After tremendous success, a movie adaptation of the novel was released in November of 2008 which grossed in more than 382 million dollars worldwide. After much success in the box office, New Moon was called for a film adaptation.

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner take stage in the Twilight Saga Series, who portray Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black respectively. At the end of the Twilight, Edward Cullen rescues Bella Swan by sucking the venom from her blood; the story ends peacefully when Edward takes Bella to prom. On the other hand, New Moon is more centered toward how Edward leaves Bella, and in turn Bella becomes closer to Jacob Black. Both Twilight and New Moon just have this touch of romance that tends to touch the heart of the audience whether you’re reading the novel or watching the movie.

Personally, I’m a fan, I must confess. However, I’m not a big one. The overall picture of the Bella and Edward relationship is very entertaining and sweet in my opinion. This series reminds me much of William Shakespeare infamous tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which is by far one of the best pieces of literature I have ever read. Through my eyes, these two pieces of literature have many similarities since both stories have the lovers from different worlds, danger is present when the lovers are together and lastly society keeps them apart. Twilight and New Moon are simply a more modern version of Romeo and Juliet, just adapted to fit more to the current time frame. Both are marvelous pieces of literature, thus both have resulted in tremendous success. Through conversation with my friends, I feel as if I keep on hearing that they enjoyed New Moon more than Twilight. However, almost all of them failed to answer why they felt that way. It seems as if they just liked the continuation of the tale, and simply just the romance and obstacles that Edward and Bella endure. Even though the acting in the movie was not spectacular, the plot of the story seemed to override that fact. Overall, it was a well rounded movie, although in my opinion the book was better in numerous ways like it always seems to be.

In terms of the box office, New Moon has showed great success as the box office as it set records as the biggest midnight show with $26.3 million. It also set the biggest single-day opening in the U.S.A with $67.2 million beating The Dark Knight. At the end of the opening weekend, New Moon grossed in $142,839,137 domestically which is the third highest opening weekend only behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. Internationally, the New Moon grossed in $247.9 million which is the 6th highest worldwide weekend opening total.

In all, the Twilight Saga has been quite successful as it has a wide fan base, not only in the United States but worldwide as well. This ongoing saga continues with the premiere of the third installment in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn on June 30th 2010!

Guy's Perspective: Twilight Movies

by Peter

New Moon was a very interesting movie. At first I was very lost but than I started to understand the point. I would only recommend seeing it if you’ve seen Twilight first. If you have not seen Twilight and go into New Moon blind, you won’t have any idea what’s going on.

From a guy’s perspective of the movie and not being a huge fan of Twilight, it was an okay movie. It was a little slow in my opinion at the beginning but it sped up later and it had some good computer animation. The acting was decent in my opinion, but not great. Kristin Stewart wasn’t horrible but she wasn’t great. I thought she could have done a little better but I didn’t read the books so I don’t know how she was supposed to act; I just didn’t think she was that convincing. Robert Patterson did a great job I thought, he didn’t have a big as a role as I thought he would but when he was on scene I thought he was pretty good.

So overall I thought the movie was pretty good, it wasn’t totally appealing for a guy but I was impressed, and it leaves you interested on what the 3rd movie will be like.

See "New Moon" in these local theaters (out November 20, 2009):

AMC Loews Georgetown 14
3111 K Street N.W., Washington, DC
Regal Ballston Common 12
671 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA
AMC Loews Uptown 1
3426 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Washington, DC
Regal Potomac Yard 16
3575 Jefferson Davis Highway, Alexandria, VA
Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14
707 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC
AMC Mazza Gallerie
5300 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC
AMC Hoffman Center 22
206 Swamp Fox Rd., Alexandria, VA
Regal Kingstowne 16
5910 Kingstowne Towne Center, Alexandria, VA
AMC Tysons Corner 16
7850 Tysons Corner Center, McLean, VA

Keep Boredom at Bay at Your Local Library

by Alison R.

Bored? Arlington’s public libraries offer a lot of choices for those in need of time to kill.

The Good Stuff: You know what it is – movies, music, audio books, featured titles, graphic novels and – most importantly – free Internet. All locations have computers available for public use; Central, Aurora Hills, Columbia Pike, Plaza and Shirlington all have free Wi-Fi. Playaways, handheld audio books, are available at all locations as well. Some branches don’t have music or video sections dedicated solely to teens, but the adult sections serve just as well, folding in YA movies as well as additional foreign films (anime fans, though, should check out Central’s YA DVD collection). The biggest collection of graphic novels is at Central, split into J, YA and adult sections. For reading ideas, check out the high school TAB blog and the teen library blog list of new books. You can also browse the Arlington Public Library Catalog and place holds at any time on ACORN.

Spanish Language Conversation Group: Looking for an informal place to practice your Spanish skills? The Spanish Conversation Class meets every Thursday at seven at Central Library on a drop-in basis.

English Language Conversation Groups: Looking for an informal place to practice your English skills? English Conversation Classes meet at Central, Shirlington and Columbia Pike at different times most Saturdays for non-native speakers on a drop-in basis.

Technology Classes: Did you skip technology in ninth grade? You’re in luck! Arlington offers technology classes of all types for all ages, from basic computer skills to online blogging and job hunting. Most classes are at Central, Shirlington and Columbia Pike. All classes are free and open on a first-come, first-serve basis; some individual classes do have basic requirements.

Art Exhibits: Do you enjoy the visual arts? Would you like to see great art for free without trekking into DC? The Central and Shirlington locations rotate art exhibits featuring local artists, including school competitions, and almost always have something to see.

Films: Shirlington offers the most frequent movie screenings (sometimes almost daily). There is also the Cross Cultural Cinema program, which screens international films about once a month, and each is followed by an audience discussion. All Cross Cultural Cinema screenings are at the Central Library Auditorium on the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m.

Volunteering: Librarians are always grateful for extra help! Volunteering can be fun, plus you also get hours. General jobs include sorting, shelving, organizing and retrieving items; you can also do short book reviews, help with story hours, make posters and flyers and organize library files. An application form is required; and an additional Talent Release form is required for posting your name and work online. See the Teen Portal page on volunteering for more information.

For a complete list of events at all branches organized by event type, visit the Library News and Events page or the Library’s Teen Blog, TATAL Online.

Suggested Reading

Middle School: The official Reading List and the 2008 TAB picks of all the middle school groups

High School: The official 2009 TAB list; also check out the YA Authors Café blog and other teen author blogs

Teens in General: New Books at the library from the TATAL blog, the H-B Woodlawn Library Bookspot and YALSA’s booklist page

Movie Review: "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"

By Alison R., Teen Portal Staff Writer

Considering the fifth movie’s comparatively uplifting ending, the sixth one begins in a much darker tone: A flashback to the end of the last movie, Dumbledore guiding Harry through the atrium of the Ministry of Magic headquarters, surrounded by the suddenly-worshipful press and in shock over Sirius’ death. It sets the tone of the sixth movie perfectly.

In the film version of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the world has both shrunk and warped. In the face of outright attacks, the wizarding world has retreated to the fear and suspicion of the pre-Harry Potter days. The Order of the Phoenix appears in a single scene, while the Ministry exists in retrospect only. The tone is, if possible, darker than it was in the previous movie while at the same time appearing to harbor even more humor.

This is accomplished by the paradox of the setting at Hogwarts: The world outside may be more dangerous, but life inside is almost more carefree than normal – until evil strikes. And when it does is most often right in the middle of the fun. It is visually comparable to the scene where Harry and friends exit the joke shop run by Fred and George and we are able to appreciate the desolation of Diagon Alley surrounding it all the more. These changes are so abrupt and extreme that the effect is comparable to watching the mind of a bipolar person in fast-forward, only that BD doesn’t change a person’s emotions from dark terror to gasping hilarity. One of the funniest scenes of the entire movie is over for only moments before it twists into one of the most heart-stopping parts of the film. The scene then skips into a girlfight right in front of the school’s head staff, highlighting another artful but slightly uncomfortable aspect of the movie, the mixing of plotlines.

Though in fact more realistic, these effects add a sense of surreality to the film. This is aided by the sheer incredulity of some events, which, if you are rusty on your Pottermania, will make you doubt their loyalty to the book. In fact, the film remains quite true to the happenings that did make it onscreen, with few major changes and well-adapted minor ones, even keeping much of the original dialogue, though the ordering is suspect. But incredulous they remain, along with some awkward moments with Dumbledore and some simply weird coincidences. Other effects, such as continuing dialogue audio from the end of one scene into the beginning of the next and using the same constant sound effects for different purposes through a scene change add a more subtle sense of the uncertainty between reality and dreams in this world shattered by Voldemort’s return to power where the general mindset has not yet moved past disbelief.

The movie has three separate story lines, the most central one being Harry’s steps toward fighting Voldemort, whether in following Malfoy, wooing Slughorn or traveling in real life or through memories with Dumbledore. It blends well into the first subplot, that of Hogwart’s social life, meaning mostly its love life, both the school’s general backdrop and the film’s main source of comic relief. The second subplot stands apart, though, and that is of Malfoy’s painfully slow descent as his struggle to complete his mission for Voldemort consumes his childhood. He is the continuous dark streak throughout the entire film, connected to all the events that remind Hogwarts of the dangers beyond its walls, and appearing at the most unexpected of moments and in great contrast to the carefree world around him.

In fact, there were many masterful characterizations in this in film; this installment comprised some of the best acting the series has seen yet. In addition to Luna being Luna, we get to see more of Bellatrix Lestrange, who always looks slightly under the influence of something but no less deadly for it, and the new Lavender Brown (played by Jessie Cave) who involves most of the love live action and does so with hilarity. Speaking of hilarity, Harry and Ron both have a scene involving temporary character change by magical inducement, Ron under the effects of love potion and Harry on Felix Felicis, which is rather like seeing both of them on drugs. Both Hermione and Harry have scenes of bittersweetness, while Ginny, for her part, spends half the movie trying to kiss Harry while not also following him into, or helping him out of, danger.

The first movie in three to share a director with another in the series, the film blends well with the fifth and continues David Yates’ style. The cinematography is excellent, or, if you disagree, at least a nice break from the rote, trite style of many films similar in theme. The music, composed by Nicholas Hooper, announces danger less often and never goes above the actual intensity of the plot (though the prolonged heartbeat simulation at the beginning is quite nerve-wracking); it also appears at poignant moments and even brings attention to scenes where other directors would have placed dark music, instead bringing forth the humanity of this soon-to-be-epic conflict. Yates is not afraid to omit information he deems unnecessary, be it events, logistics or background information. This allows him to focus on the essentials, but it’s at least slightly confusing even for the Potter film veterans, and I suggest that all newcomers at least read a plot summary of the book (or of the movie itself, if they really must). You have to keep track of things in your head as you go along, because Yates doesn’t give concessions lightly.

Then again, the film is practically overflowing with foreshadowing, setup and symbolism, goodies that Potter fans will gobble up. Many of the beautiful moments in the film involve symbolism, others foreshadowing. My favorites are Malfoy’s trials with the two birds, the parallels between Harry and the young Riddle, the burial scene followed by Harry’s conversation with Slughorn, and the school’s last service to Dumbledore. But plenty of the foreshadowing also belongs with the setup for the next two films, which readers of the seventh book will enjoy picking out, though they may be distressed by the absence of some essential events present in the book.

There are some other slight problems with the film, though most are only noticeable in conjunction with the others. The faces of several characters have changed, including those of Pansy Parkinson, Lavender Brown and the Patil twins, as well as the young Tom Riddle, who does not resemble his first teenaged representation at all, though who matches his child representation quite strikingly. There is also Ginny’s behavior, which is a bit intense for not having been as foreshadowed onscreen as on the page.

Overall, though, the glitches take away hardly anything from the film. With such superb and enjoyable acting, directing and cinematography, I consider it at least as good a film as the fifth, if not the best of the whole set.