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“Avatar Day” was just Friday, August 21st for some but there was definite anticipation in the air for a select few people in theaters across the country. When the giveaway site launched Monday I had a choice between Albany and NYC as my two options and chose Albany has it’s half the distance. I registered enough for myself and some guests for both show times with the plan of giving away anything I couldn’t use. I planned on attending the 6:00 pm feature and doubted attending the 6:45 showing because ‘Inglourious Basterds’ started at 7:00 pm but that all changed when the theater changed it to 8:00 pm.

We poured into the IMAX screen (the smaller digital type that Aziz Ansari notoriously hates as do I) and were seated in the middle section. The glasses we were given seemed like your regular pair of of digital 3D glasses but they were cheap and didn’t even have hinges. Also worth noting was that the lenses were like plastic film, and not hardened plastic, basically they made the glasses we got at Pixar’s ‘Up’ look like designer frames. They did seem darker than any other I have seen or used so there was most definitely a shading effect when you looked through them and this may have led to a better outcome. The lights dim and onscreen comes the talking head of James Cameron with an intro to the film and a disclaimer about it being first half shots so there’s no major spoilers. I’ve included some screen grabs from io9.com and their breakdown of the trailer in order to help:

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One of the biggest Attention Whores out there, excluding celebs, is film critic Armond White. White continues to implant his often race-fueled agenda into many a movie review, the latest being ‘District 9′. He’s often the first on the scene with a negative review and he does it with a tenacity and ignorance that other AWs often times envy. There’s limitless speculation as to why White chooses to act out this way but the logical conclusion is that it’s a numbers game. If he’s single handedly driving traffic to his employer then they will continue to condone and defend him until people cease paying attention to him. Here is some of what White would say on ‘Avatar’ when it’s released:

AVATAR is nothing but an elaborate retelling of Walt Disney’s POCAHONTAS told through the veil of science fiction. It even manages to keep the lame cartoonish factor and predictable plot devices we’ve all come to expect from a Disney feature. It also keeps the same racist overtones.

Imagine a story where a group of people come from a distant place to a New World and find it violent and a practically inhospitable place full of danger and discovery. Further imagine this story as the lead character from this Old World becomes friendly and involved with a female native and a Shakespearean love feud commences between the two sides. This is further fueled by the fact the newcomers are in search for valuable materials found in the ground and the natives feel the oncoming threat and prepare to defend themselves and their homes from these alien intruders. Oh, and the lead male’s initials are J.S.

At first glance you might think that this is a fantastic new adventure never before seen or imagined. Others might look deeper and see an alien invasion story flipped on its head as humans are now the ones with the superior technology are are invading someone else’s planet and disguising themselves in fake bodies that resemble its inhabitants.

But you would be wrong.

It’s nothing but a more expensive rehash of one of the world’s classic culture-rape stories. In comes the white man to do what he wants with the colored natives, and in addition to stealing and thieving everything he can he might just stick around long enough to steal the hearts of the native women as well. It doesn’t matter if it’s Captain John Smith or marine Jake Sully it’s the same unoriginal story with borrowed theme after borrowed theme: A plethora of technologically superior white men arrive in strange looking vessels to rape and pillage the land and (in one movie literally) open Pandora’s Box.

Now these are not my views on it but the point is that it’s easy to bash something and twist it into negativity. In fact I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Armond White comes up with this very same idea which is why I’m writing it down now. He might bitch about predictability but in the wide wide world of film criticism, no one is more predictable than Armond White.

With his physical stature in mind, maybe Armond “I Wish My Last Name Wasn’t” White is actually the biggest AW on the internet after all. Here’s a listed example of his past transgressions, I don’t have a source on it unfortunately:

Also worth checking out is a previous entry from way back in March (opens in new window):

The Movie Critic: America’s Newest Trolling Attention Whore

Just updated:

Avatar Day Screening: A Complete Breakdown And First Impressions On 15 Minutes Of 3D Footage