Present Tense: No Lord of the Rings, But the Diabolical Mr. Tucci is Worth the Price of Admission

The Film: The Lovely Bones (WingNut Films, 2009). Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli.

Pictured: Stanley Tucci's Mr. Harvey, builder of doll houses, in The Lovely Bones.

This, That & The Other: Poor Peter Jackson. Once you've directed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, what else can you do to top it? Well, The Lovely Bones does not offer much in the way of competition. It is a garden variety fusion film - part fantasy, part murder mystery (even though you know whodunnit), part suspense. The reason to see this film is Stanley Tucci, whose deliciously sinister bad guy completely steals the show. I've loved Tucci since his magical film Big Night - a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. Tucci is magnificent in The Lovely Bones. He stands out so far and so above everybody else in the film that all the rest of his fellow actors appear to be sleepwalking. Tucci's thoroughly disturbed George Harvey is a fully realized film character - fastidious yet mumbly, sinister and, at the same time, tragic. If there is any justice, The Lovely Bones ought to finally net him the Oscar he is long overdue to receive. The rest of the characters? Mostly cardboard cutouts. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of Saoirse Ronan, the sour-faced younger sister of Keira Knightley's character in Atonement. Of course, Ronan was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Atonement, and maybe should have won it. Her character in The Lovely Bones - Susie Salmon - is much more likable, yet her melodramatic narration is extremely grating after a while. Only Tucci and Ronan manage to elevate The Lovely Bones to something slightly compelling. Once you walk out of the theater, you will pretty much forget everybody else in the movie.

The Bottom Line: I can't say I loved this film, but I quite enjoyed it and it kept me watching to the end. The CGI effects were thought-provoking yet limited. The screenplay contained no flagrant shortcomings, but there weren't any memorable lines to speak of. The film's suspenseful moments will make you grip your armrest. As I said, it cannot be easy for Peter Jackson to live in the shadow of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His 2005 King Kong was admirable and had some spectacular moments, but, on subsequent viewings, it doesn't hold up quite as well. He also produced last year's slightly overrated District 9, a political/allegorical science fiction film set in South Africa. Like King Kong, D9 was compelling (and it was much more original than Kong), yet it wasn't really Jackson's film, despite the name association. The Lovely Bones will not be studied decades from now, the way The Lord of the Rings will. But it still has much going for it. It beautifully recreates suburban America the early 1970s, in a way that few films do. It rattles the nerves in certain scenes. There are interesting touches of existentialism and spirituality throughout the film. And the diabolical Mr. Tucci lights up the screen every time he is on it.

These factors made it worth the price of admission.

Present Tense: Avatar (2009) - a science fiction masterpiece for our times

The Film: Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox, 2009). Directed and written by James Cameron. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi. Running Time: 162 minutes, though it feels like 62 minutes.

In a Nutshell: For once, the hype holds true. There are movies. And there is Avatar. The film is in a league of its own. If there was ever a movie mold, Avatar has shattered it. The film costs gazillions of dollars to make and, believe me, you can see every single nickel of it on the screen. Visually, there simply hasn't ever been another film like it. The crystal clear images - rendered in state-of-the-art 3D - lack the smudgy blurriness earlier generations CGI (computer graphic image) effects. Avatar, in other words, sets the special effects bar at a whole new level, the way Star Wars did back in 1977. Let me say this in big, neon letters, surrounded by blinking lights: YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS FILM IN THE THEATERS! If you don't, you'll be depriving yourself of one of the most incredible filmgoing experiences in recent history. The plot? Well, there seems to be a culture of silence surrounding this film. People who've seen it just don't talk about the plot very much. My son saw it last month and all he could say was that he loved it. Briefly: Corporal Jake Scully (Sam Worthington) is a gung-ho disabled Marine who takes the place of his recently deceased twin brother in an experiment pioneered by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). Turns out that Jake, Dr. Grace and Norm (Joel David Moore) are the key players in the Avatar Program. They control genetically-engineered Na'vi versions of themselves. The Na'vi inhabit the planet Pandora. They're much taller than humans. They're blue. They're cat-like. They have lithe bodies and they live in dense jungles, amidst colossal trees and cliffs that will make you uneasy if you have vertigo. The three human avatars - Jake, Dr. Grace and Norm - use their genetic shells to live among the Na'vi in order to win their hearts and minds, to pave the way for a corporation that plans to mine the planet. Adding to the intrigue: Jake has been tapped to help the Marines led by sinister Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the sinister corporation conquer the blue race of feline beings. To make a long story short, Jake falls in love with female Na'vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and, like John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) in Dances With Wolves, he comes to love the people he is sent to conquer. As for the rest of the film, well... See it for yourself. I have probably already given too much away. I'm glad this Blog wasn't around when The Crying Game (1992) was out in the theaters. I probably would've given the twist ending away in that film.

Why I Loved This Film So Much: This truly is an astonishing film that leaves the viewer flabbergasted. James Horner's moving musical score harkens back to his score for Glory (1989) in its emotional power. We'll be seeing a lot more of Sam Worthington, an Australian actor who was apparently living out of his car when James Cameron cast him in the film. He delivers a heartfelt performance in the film. The rest of the actors are in top form, too, and the incredible alien animals steal all of the scenes in which they appear. Avatar is perhaps the most intensely political film to come out of Hollywood in years. But it doesn't beat you over the head with its politics. Instead, it allows you to feel the emotion of the tale, in much the same manner as the aforementioned Dances With Wolves. Avatar has been sixteen years in the making. Apparently, Cameron wrote a treatment for the film back around '94, and he believed in it so passionately, he spent much of the 2000s developing and filming it. The result is science fiction on a grand scale. It has to be seen to be believed. It is truly a work of art.

Parting Shot: Avatar should cement James Cameron's place as an auteur of the first order. Avatar is a monumental achievement. Hundreds of years from now, it will be regarded as one of the cinematic gateways into the new millennium, a seismic moment when filmmaking took a quantum leap forward. (And, damn it, after watching history in the making, I wasn't about to chuck my Avatar 3D glasses into the 3D glasses recycling bin at the movie theater). Grade: A+.