Change Your Image
Pacifist_Pete
Reviews
Avatar (2009)
"LAvatoire" would be a better name...
"LAvatoire" would be a better name because that's where you'll want to visit after watching this shameful piece of corporate spinnery. The Jungle Book meets The Last of the Mohicans, Star Troopers and Aliens....The dialogue is the usual "cut-and-paste" stuff. Maybe the producers simply used a computer program to chop up other movie scripts which they already owned, change a few words, slap a new label on the box and then hired some CGI personnel. This seems more about creating maximum corporate shareholder profit then creating entertainment for the public (consumer).
The Na'vi look like something from one of Walt Disney's children's movies. Their silly tails function like USB cables linking them up to other animals and their tree network. Wow such imagination - NOT! Let's see.. toys, video games, t-shirts, and then theme parks... ka-ching... ka-ching! The two stars I gave this movie were for the talented CGI artists and modellers who I'm sure never got any significant portions of the massive profits.
I had very low expectations from the trailer but this blatant reference to "internet marketing" left me put off. I was rather disturbed that a monopoly like News Corporation can profit so much when there are so many excellent books to draw on and talented people out there who never get the opportunity to produce something intelligent because the "bottom line" is the only line these spin doctors can walk. If you want to see a recent science fiction movie that had a lot more heart and intelligence, I recommend "Moon" by Duncan Jones (original story) Nathan Parker (screenplay). When can be have a "good" non-violent sci-fi for grown-ups?
Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire (2001)
A Beautiful Piece of Anti-education
Many images shown in this episode are totally inaccurate. First of all, the ancient Egyptians during the New Kingdom (1560 BCE-1080 BCE) never ate "corn" (maize) - which is a visual error repeated throughout this episode. Maize never existed outside of the Americas until after Columbus in 1492 CE. If the producers and writer were referring to the biblical reference in Genesis 42:3 of the Old Testament "So the ten brethren of Joseph went down, to buy corn in Egypt", the old word "corn" actually means "grain", which refers to barley or wheat. The Egyptians were very fond of beer, so a more accurate set of images would have been fields of wheat or barley waving along the river banks of the Nile.
The other major error displayed in this episode are the images of metalsmithes hammering and forging steel. Unfortunately, this was not likely from the beginning of "Part I" with Makare Hatshepsut to the end of Usermare Ramesses II (1503-1212 BCE) in "Part III" because refined iron tools and weapons did not start to transition out of the Eastern Mediterranean until around 1200 BCE . Richard Cowen, Geology, University of California, Davis (1967-2003) states that even though Nebkheprure Tutankhamun (reign:1334-1325) was found with an ornamental iron dagger and several small iron chisels, "(w)rought iron was usually softer than well-manufactured bronze, and rusted quickly". So how could they have carved a hard stone like granite? With, as others have suggested and shown, equally hard stones like dolerite. I know this because I have done a fair amount of stone sculpting myself. As long as your tool-stones (pounders and mauls) are harder than the working stone, you can do it. Interestingly, PBS has a NOVA online "Secrets of Lost Empires - Pharaoh's Obelisk" which explains some of these possible techniques.
It makes me wonder if there were other errors made of which I am not aware. What is most disturbing and intellectually dangerous about these colourful documentaries are that they are simple to understand and are also probably very popular, therefore they are like "anti-educational" tools, creating ignorance instead of knowledge. If you were to ask any child after watching this show "What were some of the foods eaten by these Egyptians?", I would bet you one of those rings of gold that they will say "corn" in the list of items. My suggestion is to look elsewhere for accurate educational information on Ancient Egypt.
Herz der Welt (1952)
The story of Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner, a secretary of Alfred Nobel
First of all, the title is misleading: the film is primarily focused on the life of Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner and not Alfred Nobel. The other major flaw was the excuse given for Alfred Nobel selling his patents for dynamite to arms trader and financier (Parisian Banque de la Seine) Basil Zaharoff (assuming they ever met in real life): that he was preyed upon by Zaharoff because he was a "lonely guy". In reality, he was a member of the very prominent and wealthy Swedish Nobel family. His father, Immanuel, founded a war supplies factory (Fonderies et Ateliers Mécaniques Nobel Fils) producing explosive sea mines for the Russians in the Crimean War, and his younger brother, Ludvig Immanuel Nobel, became a wealthy oil tycoon (Branobel). How could Alfred be the frail, unknowing pawn the film makes him out to be? In the movie we see Alfred Nobel demonstrating his dynamite to military personnel. Then it shows Zaharoff convincing him that if it is sold to them then world peace will be had through the deterrent of "mutual assured destruction". How can we honestly believe that such an intelligent man could be so naive? The movie is preachy and the acting is terrible. I would suggest another source if you really want to learn something about Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Family. His "invention" made Alfred Nobel a multimillionaire.
A special note: The Nobel Prize for economics is actually given by the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. This "privilege" of using the Nobel name began in 1968, when the Swedish Central Bank (Sveriges Riksbank) began making annual endowment payments "in perpetuity" to the Nobel Foundation.
This movie seems more like a deflective propaganda piece riding on the back of a pacifist (Bertha Felicie Sophie von Suttner).