Category: Cinema

Exploring Identity and Survival in “Avatar 3: A Journey of Relocation” | January 06 2026, 17:34

After watching Avatar 3, we decided to rewatch the first and second movies. Watched it like it was the first time, but here’s what I thought.

For the family, relocation was an urgent rescue from physical annihilation or forced participation in a war. Moving, they encountered the necessity to “learn to swim” in a new legal, linguistic, and social environment, starting from scratch and losing their former social weight. The feeling of “we are strangers here” is the central emotion. Severance of ties with friends and colleagues, only the “nuclear family” remains as the sole island of identity. Essentially, Jake’s decision to flee to save his children is the fundamental dilemma of any parent in a conflict zone: fight to the end on their own land or leave to preserve the life of the next generation.

Upon arrival, they hardly receive a visa, and permanent residency isn’t promised. But eventually, it becomes clear that it’s impossible to hide from a global conflict geographically. Sooner or later one has to participate in protecting their new “reef.”

Jake’s children and he himself have five fingers, whereas purebred Na’vi have four. Plus, the accent. This is a constant visual reminder of their origin. Even if you are fully integrated, there is always a detail that marks you as an outsider. Your children may become “one of them” faster, but they still carry the mark of “hybridity.”

By the way, in the third part, all the blues already speak English. The Na’vi language was completely displaced by them.

P. S. By the way, it’s interesting that Jake didn’t bring any of humanity’s achievements to the new culture of Pandora at all. I don’t know, the wheel, fire, medicine, some mechanical stuff. Nothing.

Dangerous Beauty: The Spiked Palms of Costa Rica’s Jungles | January 03 2026, 02:35

A very typical palm for Costa Rican jungles. Hugging one of these is a bad idea. These black spikes are incredibly sharp, hard, and can reach lengths of 10-15 centimeters. They are arranged in dense rings along the entire trunk. The most treacherous thing about these spikes is their fragility and dirt. If a person or animal runs into such a spike, the tip easily breaks off and remains deep in the wound. Since in the tropical climate these needles are home to millions of bacteria and fungi, a deep splinter almost guarantees a serious, painful, and slow-healing inflammation.

The density of the needles varies, sometimes the trunk is not visible behind them.

Such was the case in the series Pluribus.

New Year’s Eve in an Empty IMAX: A 3D Avatar Experience | January 01 2026, 17:24

How did we ring in the New Year? In an empty movie theater watching Avatar IMAX 3D.

The CGI is simply stunning. Seriously, it might be the most photorealistic film in history from a computer graphics perspective. The detail in individual faces—there were times I could swear I was looking at human faces painted (and that’s a compliment). And there’s a lot going on in the background too. You really need IMAX and ideally 3D because it’s one of the few movies where IMAX 3D technology isn’t just used in certain scenes, but everywhere.

The main villain Varang is absolutely amazing. Every time she appeared on screen, she stole the spotlight. Despite the CGI, they perfectly conveyed all the complex emotions of her character. They made her truly merciless, sexy, and dangerous. It turned out cool.

The three-hour runtime is densely packed with action, with practically no scenes that make you want to yawn.

Costa Rican Parade: Cowboys and Dancing Horses at Tope Nacional | December 26 2025, 21:33

It all started when about 20 genuine cowboys on dancing horses passed us at the intersection. Turns out there are thousands of them here. Tope Nacional parade, San Ramon, Costa Rica

Preserving the Essence of Soviet Animation | December 13 2025, 15:05

In Soviet times, there was a great school of animation that led the world for many decades. If you search on YouTube for “Vovka in the Land of Far Far Away”, it almost exclusively shows restorations 🤮, and at the same time, it shows the same disgusting restorations of heaps of other cartoons, all made in the same style (vectorization, black outlines). If you go to Wikipedia, it will display a screenshot from the restoration, not from the original 1965 cartoon. The original can be found, for example, by searching “vovka in the land of far far away madina gazieva”, but searching “vovka in the land of far far away soyuzmultfilm 1965” shows nothing at all.

They really broke the internet.

P.S. By the way, “two of a kind, fulfilling wishes,” and “good enough” resonate very much with today’s ChatGPT 😉

Theremin Tones at Splean’s Concert: A Musical Blend | December 05 2025, 23:29

Thereminvox at a Splin concert yesterday. It turns out that this seemingly borrowed word doesn’t exist in English. Instead, the name of this musical instrument is theremin because the generic family name of Lev Theremin had French roots and was spelled as Theremin. The thereminvox was nicely incorporated into the arrangement, although it was played quite simply by a musician from Rostov, and the thereminvox itself had only one antenna.

Among the musicians, Meshcheryakov, the drummer, really stole the show. The most melancholic was the guitarist, Vadim Sergeyev. He just stared motionlessly into the crowd, almost immovable, but performed his part very precisely – evidently, professionalism can’t be diluted.