| Author |
 Topic  |
|
randall 
"I like to watch."
|
|
|
Conan The Westy 
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"
|
 Posted - 12/17/2009 : 10:57:11
|
| Saw it and proclaim it amazing. |
 |
|
|
silly 
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
|
Posted - 12/17/2009 : 16:59:30
|
Have my ticket confirmed for the 12:01 AM show tonite!
More than a little excited  |
|
|
|
Conan The Westy
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"
|
Posted - 12/17/2009 : 20:05:46
|
| I loved the 3D. It wasn't used as a cheap gimmick but as a way of giving Pandora some real depth. The basic premise of a deeply wounded American vet finding solace with an indigenous population has also been addressed in movies such as Dancing with Wolves or The Last Samurai. If the basic plot had been done before I didn't care because the world of Pandora is truly mesmerising in its beauty. |
|
|
|
demonic
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 12/18/2009 : 04:29:53
|
That about sums it up for me too Conan - the plot is really nothing special (although the basic "avatar" idea really is cool) - there's loads of generic action/adventure/sci-fi/romance strands in there seen in dozens of other films, which is something of a disappointment really given how smart James Cameron is and how long he's been working on the project BUT.....
...what an incredible, incredible creation of an entire world - beautifully designed, immaculately realised. Virtually all of the detail was spellbinding, each animal and plant fascinating (I particularly loved the little spinning lizards...) and hands down the best CGI ever seen in film. That alone is Cameron's victory, beyond the well staged battles and the enviro-message screenplay - finally we have CGI rendered characters that have life and soul. I was totally won over by the Na'vi in minutes and stopped thinking of them as computer generated almost instantly. That is something to celebrate.
As a side note I saw this in 3D, which to start with annoyed me a bit. The only new generation 3D films I've seen so far were Coraline and Up, both effective, but both animated and so already within an unique visual perspective. Watching real actors and real sets in 3D felt a bit silly and remind me of the comic put down about 3D hardly being a new invention - we walk around in it every day without having to put on the silly sunglasses. When the focus shifted to Pandora I felt more comfortable and after a while I did settled into it. I don't know if the 3D experience would be entirely necessary to your enjoyment of the film, but if the option is there it's worth a go, if only to be seeing the film the way James Cameron wanted to present it, the dust motes and flies buzzing about in the foreground are pleasant distractions.
Verdict: the so-so plot don't stop this from being a bona fide must see movie on the big screen. It's early Christmas for your inner child. |
|
|
|
Conan The Westy
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"
|
|
|
silly
"That rabbit's DYNAMITE."
|
Posted - 12/18/2009 : 17:23:52
|
yes, to everything y'all have said. Saw it last night (still groggy at my desk after only three hours sleep) and it was quite a ride.
The planet, and everything on it, was fantastic. I'm looking forward to a second viewing so I can focus more on little details that I'm sure I missed during the adrenalin rush. I somehow avoided the "well THAT will be in the video game" feeling that I often get when I watch action movies in recent years, at least for the most part.
There wasn't much doubt about how the story would progress, but they tweaked it a little here and there. Overall I felt swept along - the setting was believable, and even if the characters were a bit stereotypical (like in a video game, I realize in hindsight), I still found myself caring about them quite a bit by the end.
I keep running across bloggers and commenters that are arguing about "it's the BEST MOVIE EVAR" and such; I don't think that, but I do think it was a great movie, and one I was glad to see.
I'm trying to figure out how to see the Imax 3D version. Much more complicated and expensive since it would involve a day trip to the big city. Perhaps after Christmas (when traffic should mellow a bit).
 |
|
|
|
MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
|
Posted - 12/20/2009 : 00:51:36
|
| I think it was atrocious -- a truly, truly, truly stupid and predictable movie from beginning to end -- and I'm too angry right now to explain why. Will be back later. |
|
|
|
demonic
"Cinemaniac"
|
Posted - 12/20/2009 : 02:03:58
|
I had a funny feeling that you would feel differently about it MBI. Didn't expect you to be quite so incensed though.  |
|
|
|
MisterBadIdea
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
|
Posted - 12/20/2009 : 15:16:55
|
Eh, maybe incensed isn't the word. I was angry when I wrote that, but Avatar is far from the worst movie I've ever seen. But it is by no means a good movie.
All the praise this movie has been getting is entirely around the special effects. But how good are they really? Well, I can only give it my highest compliment: They are so good that I didn't notice them.. That is not a criticism; I was so convinced that they didn't even register as special effects to me. It is rare that a movie that does that; the only one that comes to mind is the original Star Wars trilogy.
But it also means that I was considerably less dazzled by the effects than everyone else too. And unfortunately, that leads me to focus on the beyond-weak plot and dialogue. Tons of people before me have pointed out the similarities between Avatar and FernGully: The Last Rainforest, not to mention Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves. Dances With Wolves is a personal favorite, and one of my favorite things about it is that the Indians actually register as people with feelings and beliefs and their own actual thoughts besides "I am an Indian." The Na'vi, needless to say, do not register as such.
This is a simplistic, childish, hokey movie. I knew every single thing that was gonna happen from beginning to end. The dialogue is awful ("You have a strong heart"). There's nothing alien about the aliens, no real culture clash, no weird customs, nothing. They're an utterly perfect tribe of earth children who paint with all the colors of the wind. Through this space allegory, Cameron has painted a really condescending picture of Native Americans, and we're not even going into the "bad guys", whom I dubbed Colonel Killsalot and Yuppie McAsshole, no-dimensional characters whose only motive is to drool at the thought of killin' lots of natives and taking all their Unobtanium.
Oh, by the way, "Unobtanium"? IN-FUCKING-EXCUSABLE. Might as well have called it MacGuffinite, or for that matter, Jamescameronnolongergivesashitium -- I don't see what possible justification there is for this.
It also bothers me some that they didn't go into the psychology of the main character either. This crippled guy just gets to download his brain into an eleven-foot tall cat-alien and he gets to run and jump and play? Surrogates was a deeply flawed movie, but to its credit, it took this exact same conceit and explored the implications of it in exactly the way that Avatar doesn't. It never seems to occur to James Cameron that Sully might like the Na'vi culture simply because when he's there he gets to have legs.
There's that, and there's a billion other things I could harp on. When I left the theater, I thought it was mostly trite and disappointing, but discussing it at home later, I realized what a thorough failure it was. Star Wars was a technological marvel for its time, too, but thirty years later, you don't talk about the technology, you talk about Luke and Darth and Han and Leia and Chewie. When the marvels of Avatar are commonplace, are you really going to be talking about Jake and Neyriti and whoever? I think there's a real Phantom Menace thing going on here; after the opening weekend hype, the backlash is going to hit and it's going to hit hard. |
|
|
|
Conan The Westy
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"
|
Posted - 12/21/2009 : 07:10:25
|
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
...and taking all their Unobtanium.
Oh, by the way, "Unobtanium"? IN-FUCKING-EXCUSABLE. Might as well have called it MacGuffinite, or for that matter, Jamescameronnolongergivesashitium -- I don't see what possible justification there is for this.
 I was wondering if this would stick in anyone's craw. |
|
|
|
aahaa, muahaha
"Optimistic altruist, incurable romantic"
|
Posted - 12/21/2009 : 07:13:24
|
quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
...and taking all their Unobtanium.
Oh, by the way, "Unobtanium"? IN-FUCKING-EXCUSABLE. Might as well have called it MacGuffinite, or for that matter, Jamescameronnolongergivesashitium -- I don't see what possible justification there is for this.
...well, I at least got a review out of it  |
|
|
|
randall
"I like to watch."
|
Posted - 12/21/2009 : 14:48:10
|
Compare these six-column banner headlines on Monday morning, reporting the same story, the US weekend box office:
Snow and a Shortage of 3-D Screens Keep Numbers Down for �Avatar�
�Avatar� Opens Strongly, in Test For Industry
Kids, which head appeared in a paper whose sister company released AVATAR? And which one in a fierce competitor based in a major metropolitan area?
For bonus points, which story did not use the words �fell short of industry expectations� and �plummeted�?
|
|
|
|
Conan The Westy
"Father, Faithful Friend, Fwiffer"
|
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 04:02:35
|
Regarding Unobtainium I was just posted a link that may prove useful to the doubters out there.  |
|
|
|
randall
"I like to watch."
|
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 11:23:54
|
quote:
Originally posted by Conan The Westy
Regarding Unobtainium I was just posted a link that may prove useful to the doubters out there.
Yep, first time I read the word re AVATAR months ago, I remembered it being used long ago by NASA types, lots of whom are sf readers. It wouldn't bother them at all; they'd just laugh. Besides, it is a MacGuffin! |
Edited by - randall on 12/23/2009 11:25:17 |
|
|
|
bife
"Winners never quit ... fwfr ... "
|
Posted - 12/23/2009 : 11:49:31
|
Was trying to figure out how to sum up my thoughts on this movie - but seems mbi beat me to it. Perfect summation.
One dimensional characters, eons-old story line with little added, nothing original outside of the graphics, the "avatar concept" not developed at all and used only as a weak plot device to get the humans 'inside' the na'vi.
Wasted opportunity to deliver something truly remarkable. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Avatar
