The 2013 calendar for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion has slowly but surely filled up over the last few months, bringing a nice array of big-name country, rock and pop acts to Houston. You can now add to that roster Depeche Mode on Sept. 18.
Those of us of a certain age remember the electronic music group's heyday in the 1980s and early '90s, when they had hits like "People are People" and "Personal Jesus." But after churning out seven albums in 10 years from 1981-1990, the band started to take a more relaxed approach toward releasing music.
"We're pessimists. We're always unsure," songwriter Martin Gore recently told The Guardian.
At least they've been predictable. For the last 20 years, Depeche Mode has released one new album every four years, including this year's Delta Machine, recently released to critical acclaim, with one critic calling it "the best album of their career."
That slow pace may be attributed to uncertainty — or perhaps a little dysfunction.
"We're pessimists. We're always unsure," songwriter Martin Gore recently told The Guardian. "We've been saying since Black Celebration [1986] that we can't guarantee there'll be another record. When it comes to communication we're still not the best. We're still slightly dysfunctional but maybe that's what makes us tick."
If you haven't bought the album yet, here's a little extra incentive: Anyone who buys the album on Amazon prior to April 1 will receive a presale code allowing them to buy tickets before the general public. General ticket sales start April 6.
The now-trio's stop in Houston comes toward the tail end of their tour, one that stops in just 18 North American cities. Canadian electronic band Crystal Castles serves as opening act.
Depeche Mode's latest album, Delta Machine, has been called the best of their career.
Depeche Mode Facebook
Depeche Mode's latest album, Delta Machine, has been called the best of their career.
For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.
The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).
Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.
Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.
The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.
Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.
A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.
There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.
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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.
