I watched a 2001: a Space Odyssey. Basically a film about an intelligent species observing humanity using monoliths from the time of Australopithecus humanity until the future (which was 1999 and 2001). Snapshotting the life of events of various people surrounding the monoliths with only the lightest touch of plot. Much like other Kubrick films, this one was a sleeper hit, having a very low perception at the beginning, and then becoming a major film later on - in fact, today it’s become an ever present reel at indie cinemas.
The story was developed and concurrently novelized by Arthur C Clarke. Those of you who are fans of the Xeno series might know Arthur C Clarke had a massive inspiration on Tetsuya Takahashi, and 2001 was one of those novels/films that influenced Xenogears, although Childhood’s End (by Clarke) was probably the biggest influence. One thing I noticed was a lot of the aesthetic of the 2001 film made it into Xenogears, not just the shapes of some of the technology, but also the different colours of various places.
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The other film I watched was Avatar: Way of the Water for the first time on the small screen. Not much to say other than some thoughts that might be spoilers for those who haven’t watched it. But the non-spoiler version is that Jake and Neytiri had smaller roles in this film, and my thoughts are that they’re going to shift the role of the main character over to Kiri - I mean, you typically wouldn’t make a character based on that ancient story and not have them take over as the main character - that’s generally how it goes in film, novel franchises, and RPGs. Again, this film expands the universe of Pandora, its culture, and expands the theme of colonial period metaphor where humanity plays the role of the mercantile imperialists, and the Na’vi are the indigenous peoples.
The way the film plays out is that it feels less like the first of four sequels, but the first part of the sequel series. I suppose, another way to look at it is The Fellowship of the Rings isn’t so much the sequel to the Hobbit as it is the title of the first volume of the sequel story to The Hobbit. Or perhaps with Star Wars where the first film is a standalone, but Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi is more of a two-part sequel. Way of the Water can function as an independent story, but really the main purpose of it was establishing the new Na’vi demon-crossbreed heroes - and IMO, Jake Sully and Neytiri probably make it to avatar 3 or 4 before getting killed, as they are expendable now.
Another thing I’ll say with the small screen is they could have easily added a whole other hour to this already long film. There were some stories that had a lot of cuts and “leave this development up to your imagination” type shots, and while this works in the cinema, when I’m at home, and have the ability to stop and come back later, I’m definitely OK seeing that extra development unfold on the screen, and I don’t care about the hit to the pacing. Also, most theatrical blockbuster films releases focus on external conflict, the internal conflict stuff is what was cut down - not necessary for a theatrical cut, but would be a lot of fun to see in a directors cut (it’s why I like Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers better, and the Blade Runner directors cuts better, although those two films were more extreme examples where producers sacrificed character development for plot focus and pacing.). So yeah… give me the 4.5-5 hour director cut :D
