James Cameron, a director who previously could do no wrong in my book, takes a giant step into a big blue turd with Avatar, a movie packed with super visuals but sorely lacking in good writing.

Look, I have no problem with big, vacuous entertainment. If it looks good, and the principals make it fun, then I don’t really care how stupid it is. The worst thing about Cameron’s latest epic is that he wants—practically demands—for you to take it seriously, with its environmental message and “war on terror” parallels. It’s a nearly three-hour message movie that could’ve been written by an eighth grader. No, make that a fifth grader.

Set somewhere in the future, evil earthlings have set their eyes on Pandora, a big jungle planet rich with expensive minerals. Scientists have conjured a way to supposedly make nice with the planet’s inhabitants, the Na’vi.

The Na’vi are sort of crosses between Rastafarians and Wes Studi’s character from The Last of the Mohicans. They are a shiny blue color, and their fashion consists of thongs and big ear piercings. They are a quiet, kind species, although they will hiss at you like a cat if you piss them off, and will shoot you with toxic darts if you go near them without an invite. OK, maybe they’re not that nice.

Here’s the scientists’ idea: combine human DNA with alien DNA to create Human/Na’vi hybrid bodies that can be controlled by humans from sleep chambers fashioned with neural net devices. This essentially makes the sleeper a real life participant on Pandora. Oh yeah, that’s just the sort of thing to make an indigenous species feel comfortable. Make freaky, half human clones that can mix right in with you and your neighbors.

When one of the hybrid drivers, a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), crosses paths with warrior princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek’s new Uhura), she takes him under her wing and shows him the ways of Pandora.

Meanwhile, Jake has a behind-the-scenes shady deal with a nasty Marine commander (Stephen Lang) to get his legs back on Earth. Will Jake help to remove the Na’vi from their land and get evil Earth its precious mineral? Or will Jake turn against evil Earth because he prefers being blue and wearing a thong? Gee … I wonder which way this thing is going to go?

Cameron infuses the film with lame dialogue like “terror on terror” and bulldozers knocking down “spirit trees” to conjure up parallels to current real-life troubles with war and rainforests. He does it in a way that is so insultingly obvious, it kills any chance to be emotionally invested in the film.

I was impressed by fleeting moments in the movie, such as winged beasts flying into canyons strewn with waterfalls, and the wonders of Neytiri’s 3-D blue ass. Actually, do not go to anything but a 3-D screening if you decide to take this one in. God help those who opt for the 2-D version. That must be a slog through hell!

Earlier this year, Bruce Willis starred in a clunker called Surrogates, in which he played a detective in a world where people stayed in their apartments while robot versions of themselves ran around living their lives. It’s essentially the same gimmick as Avatar, although the robots aren’t light blue and they wear pants. Avatar is, essentially, a very rich man’s Surrogates.

Sigourney Weaver plays a head scientist occupying one of the hybrids, and it looks enough like her to give you the creeps. Her avatar is dressed as if it’s in the Peace Corps, wearing cargo pants instead of a thong. And boo to James Horner, whose score for the film often rips off the one he did for Cameron’s Titanic.

Without a doubt, this is Cameron’s worst film since Piranha Part Two: The Spawning, and that film may’ve actually had better character development than can be found in the bloated Avatar. Not a nice way to cap the decade in film.

As the No. 4 site for news on the upcoming Arizona-filmed movie Piranha 3-D, we've got aerial photos of the gigantic "tank" that was used earlier this summer in Lake Havasu City for the controlled water shots.

Tucson is fortunate enough to be one of the dozen or so cities that will screen Paranormal Activity beginning tonight at midnight at Century El Con 20, 3601 E. Broadway Blvd. (800-326-3264, ext. 902). It's not showing yet in some major cities, with more than 230,000 fans "demanding" that the film show in cities such as LA, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix and others.

There's a lot of buzz about the film, with a tagline of "one of the scariest movies of all time." To learn more about the film, visit www.paranormalmovie.com. And to read about the making of the film, read this story from the Los Angeles Times.

I didn't get along with my dad too well when I was a teenager. I was actually a bright kid, who would share a lot of insights with my dad when I was 9 years old. I used to have great discussions with my pops, ones where he would be convinced I was to become some sort of social worker when I grew up.

Don't laugh. I really was a sweet guy before puberty reared its ugly head.

When I hit my teen years, I guess I went from being a bright kid to a "wiseguy," and my relationship with dad suffered. Verbal confrontations and pushing matches would wind up with me on the street heading to a friend's house with my clothes in a Hefty bag. It really sucked.

But, in the middle of all the mayhem, my dad and I would still catch a movie when the fighting paused. I remember one night when we caught The Breakfast Club at a discount theater in the middle of a rainstorm (I stepped in a near waist deep puddle while leaving the theater, which Dad found very amusing). My Dad was a high school teacher, and I remember us bonding on the drive back home after the movie. He marveled at how this John Hughes guy managed to perfectly capture the different kinds of kids he dealt with on a daily basis. He also asked me if I thought he was as pigheaded as the teacher who threatened to beat up Judd Nelson in the movie. I politely told him no, but thought otherwise.

I guess my point is that John Hughes gave me a brief calm in the storm that was my teen years with his little movie. My dad and I didn't hate each other for something like a week, but we went back to war soon after. Perhaps we should've gone to see Ferris.

This is written as if my Dad is no longer around, but he is. After suffering multiple heart attacks and soldiering through, he's in Phoenix playing with his nephew and going to Diamondbacks games. Twenty years later, I have a decent relationship with him. He probably still thinks I'm a wiseguy, but that's OK ... I got better at dealing with that sort of thing.

Shockingly, John Hughes is dead. I'd like to thank him for speaking the language of us teenaged wiseguys in the '80s. I'd like to thank him for Steve Martin's F-word laden rent-a-car rant in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which even made my diehard Christian mother crack up. And I'd like to thank him for getting Dad off my back for at least seven days. I think I scored a little higher on my SATs because of that.

Bye, Mr. Hughes ... you ruled.

Check out this sweepstakes to win an annual trip to Hawaii for 10 years or $100,000. A Perfect Getaway opens Friday, Aug. 7 at the following theaters:

AMC Loews Foothills 15, Century El Con 20, Century Park 16, Century Park Place 20, Century Theatres at the Oro Valley Marketplace, De Anza Drive-In, Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18, Tower Theatres at Arizona Pavillions.

MovieTickets.com announced it has partnered with ROGUE for an exclusive prize package tied to the suspense thriller A Perfect Getaway, in theaters Friday. Moviegoers who purchase tickets for the film at MovieTickets.com through Aug. 9 will be entered for a chance to win their choice of either an annual vacation for four to Hawaii for 10 years, or $100,000. The extensive vacation package includes round-trip airfare from the continental United States, accommodations in a four star hotel and a rental car.

A Perfect Getaway stars Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich as Cliff and Cydney, an adventurous young couple celebrating their honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. When the pair comes across a group of frightened hikers discussing the horrifying murder of another newlywed couple on the islands, they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples, and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. Paradise becomes hell on earth as a brutal battle for survival begins …

The sweepstakes at MovieTickets.com began at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009, and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Open to legal residents of Continental U.S., 18 and older. Please visit MovieTickets.com for complete rules and details.

The only Tucson screening of Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story takes place at 1 and 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 1, at Crossroads Grand Cinemas, 4811 E. Grant Road. Filmmaker Lee Story will be on hand for a Q&A after the 1 p.m. showing.

Here's some info about the film:

Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story explores the clean-cut, smile-drenched singing phenomenon Up With People. Since 1965, this peppy youth group has sung to 20 million people worldwide, performed at four Superbowl halftime shows, and been parodied on The Simpsons and South Park. Talent was not required of its members, just a common enthusiastic vision to change the world one squeaky-clean song at a time. But its cheery façade concealed the more complicated reality of an organization founded on conservative American ideals and cult-like utopian ideology.

Up With People was born in response to the liberal counter-culture of the ‘60s by the ultra-conservative religious sect, Moral Re-Armament. Over the years, they were embraced by world leaders from U.S. presidents Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush to King Juan Carlos of Spain, Queen Noor of Jordon and Pope John Paul II. The organization’s access to global dignitaries and developing countries was noticed by corporate giants—-like GM, Exxon, Halliburton and Searle—-who gave millions of dollars to back the popular group.

Artistically cut with kitschy and never-before-seen archival footage, and the honest reflections of former members, Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story reveals what can happen when ideology, money and groupthink converge to co-opt youthful idealism.

An animated short that began in 1945 (but didn’t premiere till 2003) will finally make it to DVD by next year, along with a documentary about Dali and Disney's history together.

The film, Destino, began as a collaboration between the two artists and ended as a seven-minute long love story of Chronos and his ill-fated longing for a mortal female. While Dali started working on storyboards in 1945, the studios’ financial troubles from World War II put the project on hold. In the late '90s Disney, animators took another look at Dali’s storyboards, but only 18 seconds of Dali’s original animation remains (the turtle people at the end).

The idea of Dali and Disney together seems like an odd cultural leap, but the 2003 result is beautiful.

The following is an expanded version of an interview with David Wain that's running in the June 9 issue.

Since the early '90s, writer-director-actor David Wain has been one of the premier ambassadors of absurdist, intelligent, and wonderfully random comedy on TV and in feature films.

A founding member of The State, whose comedy show aired on MTV from 1993 to 1995, he is also a member of the comedy troupe Stella (with fellow The State alums Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black), and is the director of the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer. He also helmed last year’s hilarious Paul Rudd comedy Role Models, and is the creative force behind the award-winning Web series Wainy Days.

On the eve of the long awaited release of The State on DVD, I talked to Wain about the groundbreaking show, his movies and future projects.

Hi David Wain. Do you remember the correspondence we had earlier this year?

I sure do not, but I love the fact that we had one.

I'm the dummy who wrote about the Stella guys being justifiably grouchy on the autograph line after their show. You wrote to us when you saw the article.

Oh, yes…of course I remember. Now I remember. It’s all good.

Actually, you are not supposed to read your own press. What are you doing?

Show me anyone who doesn’t.

It was online for, like, two minutes, and you caught me!

See?

According to a release from the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tucson is featured in two films opening this week. First up is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which opens on Wednesday, June 24. The film shot in Tucson last Oct. 8 and 9 at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Boneyard and the Tucson International Airport.

On Friday, June 26, Away We Go opens. This film shot here last June 2-6 and features the JW Marriott Starr Pass and Tucson Mountain Park.

Yipee! The Tucson International Children's Film Festival returns to the Loft for its third summer, from Saturday, July 25, through Sunday, Aug. 2, each day 10 a.m. And the best part about the fest, besides the fact that it is FREE (free popcorn, too), is the lineup. This is the best thing the Glassman Foundation sponsors (cause I still can't figure out the whole downtown family campaign thingy). Plus, the staff from Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle's are back, too, with give-aways and good cheer.

Before the schedule came out, I was hoping this film might make the cut and it did—Howl's Moving Castle. But there are a few others you might want to call in sick from work for and bring the kid if you must (and you should). It's Tucson during the summer—the time when cinema has the power to bring the whole family together cause it's too hot outside.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday, July 25: Sing-A-Long WIZARD OF OZ (1939), everyone's favorite movie from "over the rainbow," with Oz-themed goodie bags, audience participation and maybe even a few surprises for all those with courage, heart and brains (not to mention red ruby slippers)!

Sunday, July 26: HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (2004), beloved Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's classic tale of a young girl's adventures in a magician's mysterious moving castle!
**Dubbed in English.

Monday, July 27: EGON AND DONCI (2009), a brand new animated sci-fi comedy from Hungary, showcasing the hilarious misadventures of space traveler Egon and his trouble-prone cat,