Welcome to another edition of LAMB Chops. Christmas is getting nearer (only one more LAMB Chops until the big day, send in your Christmas themed articles now!). So today’s Choice Chops hails from the site Ross v Ross. It’s an unexpected take on the Christmas-themed listed going around right now: Top Five Christmas Villians! When I read the subject matter, I thought he’d have a hard time coming up with holiday bad guys, but he got five of them, and they’re all pretty scary. For example, number five (don’t worry, I won’t give the whole list away) is Frank Cross from Scrooged:
Forget the happy ending where Frank (Bill Murray) gets all touchy feely – he’s at his best when he’s being mean. From the writing on his office wallpaper (‘Cross: (n) A thing they nail people to’) to his solution for fixing antlers to a mouse (‘Did you try staples?), he really is one of the bad guys.
Read his full review here to find out what the rest of the holiday season’s worst villains are.
There was no place to put this on the person’s blog, so I guess I’ll have to say it here. For those who haven’t read the article, or those who just don’t care… feel free to ignore me.
I had extensive issues with the “20 Reasons Not to See Avatar,” least of which was the fact that the list seemed to be apparently written without the author having even seen the film and just basing it off the trailer.
Now, I didn’t think the film was perfect, nor am I a Cameron fanboy, but most of those reasonings were just ridiculous. Problems with the reasons:
1. I didn’t find the dialogue distracting, really… but cheesy dialogue can be ignored if it’s acted well, I suppose. At least for me.
2. Since when is a military cut a mullet? You don’t want people to see a movie because a guy has a haircut you don’t like for about 5 minutes of the movie?
3. You act like Michelle Rodriguez has been the only person ever typecast.
4. From watching the trailer, I, too, thought the Na’Vi were a bit shifty. But in the context of the film, they’re bloody amazing.
5. Ever present? Even as you stated, Worthington’s been in 2 major films this year, and they were on opposite ends of the year.
6. Length is only an issue if the movie’s boring. The movie isn’t boring.
7. Again, it’s like you’ve never heard of a director being an a-hole.
8. I actually agree with Cameron here. The movie is an action/adventure fantasy more than a sci-fi film. As a writer, I deal with genre all the time, so I know how you can mix and match genre.
9. This one is just stupid. How is it Cameron’s or the movie’s fault that Sigourney Weaver is human and, you know, ages? She actually looks pretty young in the movie, surprisingly.
10. Um… when you create a new world, you ARE a god. When you’re the creator of any fictional work, you are essentially the god of the world at your fingertips. I think your comment about this was more pretentious than Cameron’s.
11. There are surprisingly not that many explosions, but the special effects are brilliantly amazing… even revolutionary.
12. This comment annoyed me. Why do breasts have to be big to be good? This is such a chauvinistic comment and a reason American women are perpetually uncomfortable with their looks.
13. People don’t learn Klingon or Elvish because the shows/movies are popular, but because people like and/or appreciate the languages. So even if the movie fails, if people like the language, they’ll learn it.
14. Or maybe he just didn’t want to white-wash his alien race and saw them more as tribal natives?
15. It’s a strong PG-13… the rating doesn’t hinder the movie at all. I’ve especially learned to ignore recent ratings, particularly after the last Harry Potter (which was PG regardless of its darkness)
16. OK, I’ll give you this one. I thought the same thing when watching the movie. But, it surprisingly wasn’t the ‘white man’ who gives the final killshot. And it’s nearly a moot point because of the ending.
17. Yes, the story is not original in the slightest. But panning the film because Ribisi said otherwise is no reason to boycott.
18. I didn’t know this. Now *this* is actually a good reason to put on the list.
19. SPOILER: This reason would work if the humans won out in the end… which they don’t. God forbid, though, that a movie have a social message.
20. I think the Cloverfield comparison is unfair. They’re nothing alike, even by camera-use standards. There’s no shaky cam… in fact, I think this reason should be thrown out all together. I didn’t once feel that anyone could get queasy watching the movie, unless they’re just super sensitive.