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Does Hype Ruin Good Films?

So, how was Avatar Day for you?

The word so far has been a resounding ‘meh‘, but still a somewhat enthusiastic one. Still, it’s nothing compared to the hype that has built up around the movie. A ‘game changer’, Avatar was rumoured to redefine movies themselves – ushering in the golden era of three-dimensional filmmaking. How does a film live up to that hype? In fairness, most of the comments on the preview footage have been relatively positive, but most seem a little disappointed. So, has the Hollywood hype machine spoiled a perfectly good movie?

Is James Cameron still king of the world?

Is James Cameron still king of the world?

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Sequels Separated by Decades…

Flynn lives! Jeff Bridges’ career declines! The viral marketing campaign for the sequel to Tr0n kicks off this week at Comic Con and I’m skeptical – but not just because they haven’t decided to go with the logical title Tr1n. I’m mostly skeptical because it’s a sequel to a cult movie produced twenty years after the fact. How many sequels separated by decades have actually succeeded?

It was cutting edge for the time, I swear...

It was cutting edge for the time, I swear...

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Space Racism = Bad (District 9)

I finally got around to checking out the District 9 trailers that everyone’s been talking about. The movie’s attracted a lot of cult attention – mainly because Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson has plastered his name all over the trailers – but I haven’t seen any sort of advanced publicity in Ireland, despite a fairly deftly-managed viral campaign in the United States. In fairness, we aren’t getting it until two weeks later than the Americans, but it would be nice to see some of these advertisements reaching us – just pretend we’re a semi-important market. For the uninitiated, it’s a movie about illegal aliens settling in South Africa and becoming second class citizens. The catch? They’re from outer space. In fairness, this year looks to be an epic year for science-fiction – Watchmen is already out, Moon is currently on release, Avatar is due out in the next few months and there seems to be legitimate buzz around The Road as an Oscar contender. Still, District 9 looks like it might just be a bit preachy for my tastes, but isn’t most science fiction?

Guess the moral...

Guess the moral...

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