Review: "Avatar: The Way of Water"

On December 18th, 2009, James Cameron’s blockbuster film Avatar was released to theaters. The film became the biggest movie in the world, grossing a total of $2.9 billion dollars at the box office and winning three Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. This week—13 years later—James Cameron released the long-awaited sequel to the film Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Here’s my review:

Jake Sully has happily adjusted to life on Pandora with his Na’vi mate, Neytiri and their children. They have three biological children: Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuk and one adopted daughter, Kiri. Life is bliss, until suddenly Jake Sully’s enemy, Colonel Miles Quaritch comes back into the picture. He, too, has been reincarnated as a Recombinant, “an avatar who has a memory of being human,” and he is out to exact revenge on Jake and his family along with the same gang of Marines from the first film. Hence, Jake and his family must team up with the rest of the Na’vi to protect their home planet, and in doing so, they befriend a new tribe of Na’vi called they Metkayinas who live on Pandora's eastern seaboard.

Jake Sully has a line in this movie “Sullys stick together!” His family is everything to him, and while it may be complicated, he believes sticking together is the only way to win. Family is the main message of this movie, which is different from the first film because that was about how Jake started as a marine, but then decided to join the Na’vi in favor of protecting them over serving under the corrupt Colonel Quaritch (not to mention his and Neytiri’s love story).

The movie is 3 hours and 12 minutes long, totaling at 192 minutes, 30 minutes longer than the first film’s 162 minutes. While that may require a snack and/or bathroom break for some people it all becomes worth-it in the end! (It makes you wonder how long the the third, fourth, and fifth Avatars will be!)

  “The Way of Water,” reunites the superb cast of Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri and Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, along with original film cast members: Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder, and Giovanni Ribisi. The film also inducts Kate Winslet into the Pandora World as Ronal, the wife of Chief of the Matkayinas, marking Winslet’s first time under James Cameron’s direction since Titanic (1997). Once again James Cameron directs, co-writes, and co-produces with Jon Landau, and he is also is one of four credited editors for the film along with Stephen E. Rivkin, David Brenner, and John Refoua. The film’s Cinematography was done by Russell Carpenter who won the Best Cinematography for “Titanic,” though the first “Avatar’s,” Cinematography was done by Mauro Fiore. The film’s music was composed by Simon Franglen, and while James Horner composed the first “Avatar” score, Franglen received a Best Original Song Golden Globe Nomination for writing the song “I See You,” for the first “Avatar” along with Horner and Kuk Harrell. 

All in all, “The Way of Water,” is a beautiful film. One could say it doesn’t quite equal the awesomeness of the first film, but its beauty can entertain whether you were a fan of the first film or not. It underscores the visionary that is James Cameron and it is another one of 2022’s best films. “The Way of Water’s” predecessor didn’t win the Best Picture Oscar, but this one might!

Review: "Spirited"

The very first film version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was released in 1938, in which the leading role of Ebenezer Scrooge was portrayed by Reginald Owen. Since then, the beloved Christmas story has been readapted numerous times in movies and television: Oscar-Winner George C. Scott played Scrooge in the television movie A Christmas Carol released in 1984, Emmy Winner Guy Pearce played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (2019) miniseries, and Oscar Nominee Bill Murray played a modernized version of Scrooge named Frank Cross in Scrooged (1988), a film that told a comedic, modernized version of the story. On November 11th, 2022, AppleTV+ released a Spirited, a musical-comedy film that makes fun of every version of A Christmas Carol throughout the last century—but has a lot of fun doing it. Here’s my review: 

In “Spirited,” the Ghost of Christmas Present (played by Will Ferrell) has been at his job for almost 200 years and is seriously considering retirement. But, he wants to help one last “unredeemable” soul before he does. That “unredeemable” soul is arrogant, greedy media consultant Clint Briggs (played by Ryan Reynolds). When “Present” and Clint first meet, they instantly become enemies, but a unique friendship develops, as they both help each other improve their own faults and even find true love in the process.

Like “Scrooged,” “Spirited,” sets the story of A Christmas Carol in modern times, but it also pokes fun at it. It shows that the world is really full of “Scrooges” at Christmas and that some people are hard to get through to. But on occasion they might be able to see the “errors of their ways.” 

The musical-comedy features songs written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Pasek & Paul wrote the songs for the movie versions of La La Land (2016) and The Greatest Showman (2017), both which earned them Oscar Nominations for Best Original Song. (They won for the song “City of Stars,” from “La La Land.”) They also wrote the Broadway Musical Versions of A Christmas Story: The Musical (2013) and Dear Evan Hansen (2017), which won them the Tony for Best Original Score. Looking at that body of work, one could easily say that Pasek & Paul have become the new Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and “Spirited,” is no exception. Pasek & Paul also wrote songs for Columbia Pictures’ Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) released October 7th.

In addition to Ferrell and Reynolds, “Spirited’s” supporting cast includes Oscar-Winner Octavia Spencer is Kimberly, Briggs’s assistant who later becomes Present’s love interest and Tony Nominee Patrick Page as the Ghost of Jacob Marley. The film was directed by Sean Anders who directed Will Ferrell in Daddy’s Home (2015) and Daddy’s Home 2 (2017). Anders also co-wrote “Spirited” and both the “Daddy’s Home” films with John Morris, and even cast his sister, Andrea, as Carrie, Briggs’s sister in the movie. The role of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is shared by two actors: NBA player Loren G. Woods wears the costume while Tracy Morgan supplies the voice. The film also features two celebrity cameos by Jimmy Fallon and Oscar Winner Dame Judi Dench.

Overall, “Sprited,” is, very surprisingly quite an entertaining movie! If you’re looking for a new, more modernized Christmas movie to enjoy multiple amounts of times throughout December, this is perfect! Especially if you’re a Pasek & Paul fan, there’s no way you wouldn’t be entertained. This film will totally put you in Christmas Spirit!