Phantom Menace Reviewer Takes on Avatar

In December, we made a post about a guy named Mike from Milwaukee, WI, who created a 70-minute video review of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. The 7-part dissection tore apart George Lucas' first installment of the prequel trilogy, and was linked by almost every website known to man. In fact, the video now has over 1.25 million views on YouTube alone. Even geek celebs like Damon Lindelof commented on the review. If you are one of the few who hasn't seen it - click here now!

Well, Mike is back, this time with a less elaborate 18-minute video review of James Cameron's Avatar. Watch the two-part video review now, after the jump.

Part 1 focuses on the story, the forced cultural message, comparisons to Cameron's Titanic, the problem with the two-dimension villains, the unexplored problems of savage races without technology, how Cameron tricked audiences into falling in love with an alien race.

Part 2 focuses on the secret meanings behind the words of the world of Avatar, the Titanic/Aliens mach-up, the argument of the film being more about the experience than about the plot, how Fox/Cameron took advantage of a strategic release date, and Mike's conclusion about the film.

Thanks to MikeyK for the tip.

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'Hope for Haiti' Compilation Is the First Digital Album to Rule Hot 200

This star-studded charity effort also scores another record, becoming the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history.

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Beautiful New Alice in Wonderland Concept Art and Character Stills

Disney have declared that we are in a season of Wonderland Wednesdays, an era of mid-week updates on the upcoming Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland movie. Each week the studio releasing a new video, some new text copy and a nice, tidy little pile of art work. Wrangling it all into a single post would be quite tricky - not to mention fairly time consuming - but I certainly want to share what I consider to be the best bits.

After the break are the official Disney-issued character descriptions for five of the characters, alongside images of said characters. And then, there's some more pictures too, including a close-up of the caterpillar that I found quite astonishing.

IRACEBETH, THE RED QUEEN (Helena Bonham Carter) is the tyrannical monarch of Underland. With her oversized head, fiery temper and propensity to scream for people's heads to be chopped off, she rules her subjects through fear. "She's got emotional problems," says Bonham Carter. "It takes nothing, practically, for her to lose her temper. Her tantrums are that of a two-year-old." Her younger sibling, the White Queen, has designs on the throne and crown that Iracebeth once stole from her.

ILOSOVIC STAYNE, THE KNAVE OF HEARTS (Crispin Glover) is the head of the Red Queen's Army. Seven feet, six-inches tall, with a scarred face and a heart-shaped patch covering his left eye, Stayne is an arrogant, tricky character who follows the Red Queen's every order. He's the only one capable of pacifying her and calming her dramatic mood swings. "I am the martial element for the Red Queen," says Glover. "The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so my character has to be quite diplomatic." His darker side emerges in the shadows of the castle hallways.

NIVENS MCTWISP, THE WHITE RABBIT (voice of Michael Sheen) is always late, always in a hurry, always rushing about. Charged with finding Alice and bringing her back to Underland so that she can fulfill her destiny, he shows up at her garden party in an effort to lure her back down the rabbit hole. "He's a warm character," says Sheen, "but, at the same time, he can be quite fussy and quite strict with Alice as well. He has an edge to him, a nervous energy, always feeling like he's behind time. Time is very important to him, but he's quite brave when called upon."

MALLYMKUN, THE DORMOUSE (voice of Barbara Windsor) is a swashbuckling mouse in Underland who wears riding breeches. She refuses to believe that the White Rabbit has found the right Alice, the one who can help return Underland to its true splendor, and is only too happy to poke poor Alice in the ankle with a hat pin when Alice insists she's only dreaming. But the tough little mouse comes through in a pinch when Alice is threatened by a clawing creature called a Bandersnatch. Her loyalty to the Hatter is unmatched, and she willingly faces the prospect of death to stand by him.

ABSOLEM, THE CATERPILLAR (voice of Alan Rickman) is the all-knowing and absolute guardian of the Oraculum, an ancient document that depicts every major event, past, present and future, in Underland's history. Alice is taken by the White Rabbit and the Tweedles to meet Absolem, so that he can ascertain whether she is, in fact, the real Alice w

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Corinne Bailey Rae Showcasing New Song Live

The 'Put Your Records On' hitmaker appears as a musical guest on the Tuesday episode of 'TODAY' show, delivering 'Closer'.

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Paula Abdul Proposed to Judge 'DWTS'

She may have to make a quick decision since ABC allegedly wants her on duty as soon as the tenth season begins this spring.

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John Requa and Glenn Ficarra To Direct Steve Carell Comedy

Not too long ago, word came that Dan Fogleman had sold a spec script to Warners and it was now being set up as a Steve Carell vehicle. The premise, Russ reported, was simple enough:

Carell would be "a father whose life unravels while he deals with a marital crisis and tries to manage his relationship with his children."

Variety's report is a bit fuzzy but it seems I Love You Phillip Morris directing duo John Requa and Glenn Ficarra have come on to realise the screenplay, or at least something that will grow out of it.

I'm glad that Requa and Ficarra have been repeatedly redeemed from their early job writing Cats and Dogs (and by extension offering a hope of future redemption to Cats and Dogs 2 director, Canuck short films hotshot Brad Peyton).

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Samuel L. Jackson Denies Nick Fury Appearance in Thor, But Has New Self-Created Franchise Coming

Having signed Samuel L. Jackson up for a many, many picture deal to reprise Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD across a whole range of tied-together movies, I can't see Marvel would fail to employ him in a single one. We've know for a while that he's definitely cropping up in Iron Man 2, and it was reasonable to assume he'd also show for Thor.

Perhaps, though, he won't… At least, that's the inference of a new interview that delivers the following quote from Jackson:

Nobody's told me anything. I was reading the trades last week and I saw the [Thor] cast list. My name was in it, so maybe I am doing something that I don't know about and I'll hear about it soon.

I think he's just being coy. Maybe these stars are told to act like this in interviews - I mean, it certainly generates a lot of discussion about the films in question. It's hard to believe he's as naive about the whole process as he claims to be. Or maybe I'm wrong, and he's out, Clark Gregg representing SHIELD instead.

In other Sam Jackson comics news, the first image has been unveiled of his upcoming book Cold Space. You can see it in full after the break. I think you might find the lead character rather recognisable…

If it isn't the man himself. It looks to me like he could be carving out his own franchise from the ground up. If these books get optioned for films (do any comics not get optioned for films these days?) the lead-role casting should be a piece of cake anyway.

Bleeding Cool, who broke news of this comic and scored the image before anybody else, described the lead character thus:

…an on-the-run-outlaw crashlanded on a planet in the middle of a civil war.

I bet this outlaw has one heck of a way with comedy profanity.

Jackson and his c0-writer Eric Calderon met working on the Afro Samurai TV series, but this is their first strip. Jeremy Rock is doing the artwork, and Boom! start publishing the series this April.

Interview via MTV

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New Iron Man 2 Photo: Tony, You Can Drive My Car

Consider this photo like a letter from Paramount and Marvel saying, "yeah, we know that Sundance is dominating the movie biz right now, but hey, remember us?" Because, yes, that's a new photo from Iron Man 2, and yes, it's Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) driving his race car. Your guess is as good as mine that this takes place shortly before Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) cuts the car into a couple of pieces and attempts to do the same to Stark.

Too bad we can't see a reflection of Whiplash somewhere, or anything else that would juice up the image a bit. But hey, it's Downey, and he's fun. Right? Probably best to just watch the trailer again.

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Leonardo DiCaprio's Alleged Attacker Agrees To Extradition

A woman accused of hitting Leonardo DiCaprio in the face with a glass during a Hollywood party in 2005 will be extradited from Canada to the U.S. to face charges.

Read more!

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Jane Fonda To Make Fitness Comeback At 72

Veteran actress Jane Fonda is set to make a return to fitness instruction - she's filming a workout DVD aimed at older women. The Barbarella star recorded and released a series of hit exercise videos throughout the 1980s, and now at the age of 72 she is planning to make a fitness comeback.

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Seeing Ron Wood's Struggle, Keith Richards Stops Sipping Alcohol

Richards has seen his bandmate falling to the bottom due to hard drinking binge and thus vows to cut the same habit for his health's sake.

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Hope for Haiti: $58 Million Raised in 24 Hours

The telethon initiated by George Clooney and Wyclef Jean gives one of the biggest contributions for the victims of Haiti earthquake beside the album pre-order on iTunes.

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Grieving Liam Neeson Drops Out Of Film

Liam Neeson has dropped out of a major movie project with Jeremy Irons about the saint who brought Christianity to Scotland - citing his grief following the death of his wife Natasha Richardson last year.

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Sundance Video Review: Teenage Paparazzo

I didn't have too much faith when I heard about Adrian Grenier's film, a documentary called Teenage Paprazzo. Grenier's acting has never impressed me on Entourage, and the idea of doing a documentary with a teenage paprazzo seemed like it might be a touch gimmicky. So did Grenier's film impress?

Teenage paparazzo Austin Visschedyk actually proves to be an incredibly fascinating individual and documentary subject. But Grenier also manages to weave in some cultural analysis and some decent drama to create a film that's entertaining from beginning to end. Here's my discussion with Steve from Collider about the film:

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