Why Avatar Can Make You Vomit

Avatar fans in throes of nostalgie de la blue

(NEWSER) - Get ready for the blue people. Fans are so enamored of the back-to-the-earth Tarzans-on-growth-hormone Na'vi people of Avatar that they want to join the tribe. The chock-a-block-buster film, that has now raked in an astonishing $1.30 billion, is drawing repeat customers who yearn to join their fantasy world and are turning up with blue faces, notes the perplexed Guardian. Some of the postings of obsessive fans on Avatar's web site are downright scary. More»

Animated feature is strong, if generic, hyper: critics

(NEWSER) - Critics agree that French studio Illumination Entertainment has made a strong first entry into feature animation with Despicable Me, featuring Steve Carrell voicing a cartoon baddy who adopts three little girls. But it has the misfortune to premiere within weeks of Pixar's beloved Toy Story 3.

• Despicable Me "cannot be faulted for lack of trying," AO Scott writes in the New York Times . "If anything, it tries much too hard, stuffing great gobs of second-rate action, secondhand humor and warmed-over sentiment into every nook and cranny of its relentlessly busy 3-D frames. It tries so hard to be likable that you may hate yourself for hating it."

Fey-Carell vehicle wins down-to-the-wire weekend battle

(NEWSER) - Steve Carell and Tina Fey held off a challenge from a horde of 3D Greek gods as Date Night recorded a narrow preliminary victory over Clash of the Titans at the weekend box office, Variety reports. The mistaken-identity caper raked in $27.1 million to $26.9 million for the action fantasy flick. In third place, the animated How to Train Your Dragon ($25.4 million) turned in another solid performance. More»

Kal Penn leaves Obama administration to resume acting

(NEWSER) - Kal Penn is done with politics: The actor will resign as President Obama's associate director of public engagement to return to show business, starting with a new Harold & Kumar movie that begins shooting in June. The film will see the two buddies reunited at Christmastime under the direction of Todd Schulson, and may be shot in 3-D, reports Entertainment Weekly . Expect to see a lot of freaked-out stoners in theaters come holiday 2011. More»

3D can't save this soulless creature feature

(NEWSER) - In Clash Sam Worthington plays a half mortal hopelessly in love and stuck between two worlds. Sound familiar? This remake aims for Avatar, but falls short. Though it has expensive effects (3D!) and stars (Ralph Fiennes!), it even falls short of the cheerfully cheesy original.

• This movie manages to make Avatar's plot look sophisticated, writes Dana Stevens on Slate . "Compared with this witless, chaotic mess of a movie, James Cameron's epic looks worthy of the ancient Greek authors."