Our headline could be the title of an Onion article, but no, it’s true.
A geek with a discerning eye exists out there. Or at least this time out. Devin from Chud called “Watchmen” a masterpiece earlier this year (which feels a little more than embarrassing now), but perhaps having honed his critical faculties he is one of the few lone geek bloggers not in the tank for James Cameron’s”Avatar” which is nice to hear if only because we generally assume these guys just toe the company line for everything (or at least that’s what the nerd herd seem to do; circle the wagons on anything remotely sci-fi, fantasy, etc.).
Sounding like a rational person with two eyes rather than blind fanboy he says, ” I hate the designs of the Na’vi, the story feels hackneyed to me, I think 3D is a gimmick.” As per usual, he goes on for about a few thousand words about how much he’s just not impressed with what he’s seen. Which is a big shock.
Frankly, we have no case against “Avatar,” though yes, we do agree with Chud’s assessment that it looks meh and rather silly, what is more of a relief to us is to hear a dissenting voice in a community that generally never has one. It’s nice to see occasionally. And honestly? It will not surprise us one iota if “Avatar” is a better film than that turd called, “Watchmen.” More on this basement-dwelling anomaly as it develops. Hopefully this case isn’t contagious or studios who baby and coddle these guys with set-visits, flights, and other implicit, lets-keep-’em-happy payola will have to rethink their entire ingratiating strategy.