The past weekend I was able to crash the movie theatre for a double dose a cinemas finest. To start off my blockbuster weekend was a Friday night with Scorcese’s lastest work “Shutter Island,” a masterful blend of suspence and Hitchock-esqe thrills. Next, on Saturday night after a competetive game of bowling with the fam, I dove face first into fantasy and adventure with James Cameron’s blockbuster, “Avatar” in 3D. All together it was well worth the money dished out. Here is the inside scoop before you go spend your $10.50 to see it. Warning! This article contains spoilers! This means that if you DON’T want to know how the movies ended STOP reading now! However, if you don’t mind then continue to read.

Avatar

Now I must mention that I already had seen Avatar in December minus the wayfarer 3D shades (which I’m still sporting) and loved it! However, seeing it again within the realms of three dimensions made the movie about 3 times greater. To say I was awed by the overall experience would be an understatement. Out of 24 years on this earth Avatar was the greatest cinematic experience I’d ever had. Hands down. Avatar is definitely 5 out a 5 stars. A must see.

The Story: Spoiler!

PLOT- Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a Marine who was paralyzed in battle.  His twin brother, Tommy, had been training for three years to control an Avatar on Pandora, a planet that humans have invaded in hopes of getting Unobtainium, a precious metal.  Jake is recruited when his brother dies to take over his Avatar, a hybrid of the DNA of a human and a Na’vi, one of Pandora’s indigenous people.

ENDING! Grace dies from her wounds. Jake manages to unite all the Na’vi tribes against the humans, and stops their plan to extract the Unobtainium. In the process, Neytiri kills Colonel Quaritch. All the humans, except for those who sided with the Na’vi, are forced to return to Earth. The great tree deity grants Jake his wish and transfers his spirit to the Na’vi avatar so that he can be with Neytiri forever.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island was a great movie to watch…from a cinematic standpoint. The film stands alone in my opinion, not quite as classic as some of Scorcese’s prior works like 2006′s “The Departed” and classics like “Casino” and “Goodfellas.” Despite this Shutter Island still held its own as a work of excellence. Scorcese is excellent at storytelling through visuals and angles. He begins to create the films dark ambience and suspence within minutes after the movies opening sequence.

The main issue with Shutter Island is that it’s somewhat predictable to the average movie-goer and after one watch will most likely be forgotten. In other words, it’s not as if people around the globe will say, “Yay! It’s Saturday night, hmmm lets order Pizza Hut and pop in Shutter Island for the 4th time.” Overall, I give Shutter Island 3 out of 5 stars. I recommend it for people who don’t mind racking their brain to solve clues on an Easter egg hunt. However, stay at home if you want something less harsh on the brain!

The Story: Spoiler!

PLOT- U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are going to the island because a dangerous female patient named Rachel had escaped the day before.They meet Dr. Cawley, who says  that there is a war going on in psychiatry, with one faction who believes in surgical techniques like lobotomies to treat patients, where another side says that the new psychotropic drugs are the way to treat people.  He believes that sometimes just listening to a patient and quietly making their life comfortable is the way to go. 

There are frequent dream sequences, flashbacks to Teddy’s time in WWII as a soldier, and Teddy often has internal conversations with himself in which his dead wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams), talks to him and gives him advice. Teddy’s wife Dolores was killed by a fire bug named Andrew Laeddis who was later apprehended and transferred to Shutter Island. Laeddis is now missing and he suspects that there is some greater conspiracy going on. 

THE ENDING! Dr. Cawley tells Teddy he is really Andrew Laeddis and that he has actually been a patient at the hospital for two years.  Teddy was a U.S. Marshal but was sent there after his kids were drowned by his wife. Teddy had then killed his wife for what she had done. He has been one of the most dangerous patients and some want to lobotomize him to make him manageable.  The whole last couple of days was an attempt to do a massive role-play to get him to finally realize the truth.  Chuck is really Dr. Shaheen, a psychiatrist who agreed to play along with Teddy’s fantasy and to keep tabs on him. The next day Teddy pretends to still be insane because he can’t live with the pain of his past. Unbeknownst to the orderlies Teddy willingly goes with them to get a lobotomy.

Recent Posts:

None Found