By Hope 103.2Tuesday 22 Dec 2009MoviesReading Time: 2 minutes
FILM: Avatar (releases nationally December 17)
The block-buster release for the Summer holidays, and the latest film from director James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator 2, Titanic, True Lies).
In the future mankind makes contact with a race that is reputed to be strange and violent beyond all redemption. These savages occupy land that contains a priceless mineral. A young soldier infiltrates the aliens’ ranks in order to destroy them, but begins to understand them.
Rated M for battle violence, this special effects bonanza is certain to be appreciated by fans of Cameron’s other films.
But when the guns and CGI are stripped away, what’s left? A science fiction parable that has uncanny parallels with the West’s struggles to come to terms with oil and the Middle East, and the familiar theme of the need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
FILM: Nowhere Boy (releases nationally December 26)
The early life of John Lennon and the tragedies that shaped one of the most memorable personalities of the 20th century.
Viewers learn that John Lennon was a rebellious teen who was raised by his aunt. His anger and disrespect for authority apparently stem from his abandonment by his mentally ill mother and shiftless father at an early age.
Nowhere Boy describes how great talent emerged from great struggles, and in so doing takes on the nature vs. nuture debate. Are we born to be someone or is it life that makes us so?
The film puts the majority of the blame on our background. However Nowhere Boy manages to completely erase significant real-life decisions John Lennon made for himself, including his marriage to teenage sweetheart Sylvia Lennon, her pregnancy, and his continued pretense at being single.
It just goes to show it takes a lot of editing to make anyone look completely innocent. Still it’s certain to be big film with baby-boomer audiences and music fans.