Neil Arun didn’t want to miss a rare but risky opportunity to embed with an Iraqi police unit, hunting members of al Qaeda. But his employers -- responsible for Neil’s security -- weren’t happy. This film by Richard Pendry nvestigates how a frontline journalist balances risk and reward.
I took James' advice and saw Avatar on the biggest screen I could find, so naturally, I went to the IMAX in Greenwich.
Yes, Avatar is a nice film, very vivid and colourful and it is a really well made sci-fi with nifty 3D. Although, if it wasn't for the 3D stuff, I don't think it would stand up that next to the best the genre has to offer, which is where it seems to have found itself.
But before the film had even started my excitement about seeing Avatar was swiftly snatched away and directed immediately towards one of the trailers.
The film I am talking about is, as you would expect, in 3D. Its title? IMAX Hubble 3D. Now, I am reasonably certain that my childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is not going to materialise, hence why I am now trying my hand at journalism. I am also pretty sure that I won't be on one of those Virgin Galactic flights at any point either. So this idea has pretty much made my head explode with excitement.
In a nut shell, the Hubble Telescope is constantly being adjusted and repaired (it even has glasses). So what the clever people IMAX and NASA did, was take an IMAX 3D camera up on one of their missions and film the whole thing. And if the effects in the trailer are anything at all to go by (and they are usually a pretty good indication), this is going to be one fascinating bit of cinema.
...but is more or less just a glamorous copy of Pocahontas and Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest.
I'm only joking. You're right that it doesn't really stand up as a film, but the whole beauty of it is in the effects, and the effect it has by virtue of being 3D.
It was like living in a late 90s video game for a couple of hours, knowing that the hero would win in the end and you'd get a couple of cliched Hollywood lines if you could only be arsed to sit through it (think Metal Gear Solid, only with a worse plot).
The one thing that did surprise me about it was how obviously anti-war/occupation/resource-grabbing it was, given that it's been absolutely enourmously pushed by huge corporations across the world. But then again, it's fashionable to be green and anti-establishment now (see the hijacking of punk for a previous example of this).
The Hubble thing sounds good, Rob. Next step is to fly the cinema into the troposphere and then drop it for the length of the film - simulates zero-gravity and saves money by removing the need for seats.