The Phantom Menace Critic Breaks Down Avatar
Ladies and gentlemen, I post here not to mock Avatar — nor does the brilliant perverted misanthrope behind that 70-minute Phantom Menace review, either. His two-part review of Avatar isn’t actually crapping on the movie, but breaking down James Cameron’s utterly calculated approach to making every single aspect of the film appeal to audience’s basest emotions in the simplest way possible. It’s not especially creative or artful, but as the dude points out, it’s totally effective, which can be seen in Avatar‘s ridiculous box office. It’s a great watch, whether you enjoyed Avatar or not. Really! Part two’s after the jump; thanks for everyone who sent this in.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.