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Topic: James Cameron's Avatar

Posts 81 to 100 of 151

ReZon

I saw it yesterday... it's unusual for me to think much about a movie after seeing it, but it's still on my mind today. I'd love to go and watch it again. It's quite brilliant.

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Ramandus

I thought it was crap. If people loved it, it was only because of the last 40 minutes.

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Popyman

It was decent. It was pretty much a space version of Tarzan (the Disney version) with more explosions and hooking up with every wild animal that comes across their path.

HUGE waste of money. No, not for me, but for the people who made it. No way they are even going to break even on it.

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Ramandus

Popyman wrote:

It was decent. It was pretty much a space version of Tarzan (the Disney version) with more explosions and hooking up with every wild animal that comes across their path.

LOL, I'm sorry but inserting your hair into the socket of an animal was just too dirty for me. It didn't look right.

That whole concept was just another indicator of a poor script.

Edited on by Ramandus

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Thomas_Joseph

Ramandus wrote:

LOL, I'm sorry but inserting your hair into the socket of an animal was just too dirty for me. It didn't look right.

That whole concept was just another indicator of a poor script.

Every animal they came across in the movie had that "receptacle", which was, I believe, meant to convey that the planet and everything on it had evolved together in harmony, designed to interact and connect with one another. It hearkens back to Native American* philosophy about the interconnectedness of everything on the planet.

*There were so many parallels with Native Americans (from the plight of the Na'vi, to the dialect, to the destruction of their home) that I really think that saying it was a "poor script" is a bit un-justified ... but that's just me.

Edited on by Thomas_Joseph

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Ramandus

Thomas+Joseph wrote:

Ramandus wrote:

LOL, I'm sorry but inserting your hair into the socket of an animal was just too dirty for me. It didn't look right.

That whole concept was just another indicator of a poor script.

Every animal they came across in the movie had that "receptacle", which was, I believe, meant to convey that the planet and everything on it had evolved together in harmony, designed to interact and connect with one another. It hearkens back to Native American* philosophy about the interconnectedness of everything on the planet.

*There were so many parallels with Native Americans (from the plight of the Na'vi, to the dialect, to the destruction of their home) that I really think that saying it was a "poor script" is a bit un-justified ... but that's just me.

There are other ways to bring across that message without awkward interspecies connective-ness. I'm surprised that a director would even go in that direction considering how film critics love to dissect "special" symbolism in film.

Just because the story borrows heavily from Plymouth Rock doesn't make the script any better--it was lazily written and the characters were flat and one-dimensional. A person could sleep for the first 2 hours and wouldn't miss anything.

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Kid_A

Just saw it. It's not perfect, but it somehow managed to surpass the hype. One of the best Sci-Fi movies I've ever seen. Pandora is a shockingly well crafted and realistic world, and the Na'vi were incredibly well animated--they were just as real as the human actors. I liked the Dances With Wolves in Space-type story as well. It was a tad cliche, but James Cameron told the story in such a different way that it somehow felt unique at the same time. It was emotionally powerful, too. I was just expecting your typical blockbuster action affair, but the film had some pretty emotionally involving moments (the girl I was with cried three times, no joke). One of the most engrossing and visually stunning movies you'll see this generation.

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Ravage

I have heard a lot about it being one of James Cameron's worst films. Visually stunning, but paper characters and incredibly predictable plot. I haven't seen it, but just by watching the trailer, I can predict the entire movie...
Not that it won't be enjoyable, just not nearly up to par with some of his other movies.

irken004 wrote:

Anyone played the games yet?

The console ones aren't very good from what I've heard/seen, the DS one might be good...

Edited on by Ravage

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Slapshot

Just got home from seeing the movie and its fantastic. As with all great big budget movies/games of course people are goin to trash talk it. Let them, its a fantastic movie and well worth all the hype. Thing I hate is the f....... migraine I have now from the damn 3D. Yeah it looks incredible and I DONT get motion sickness at all, heck Ive bungie jumped, rock climbed, ride motorcycles, etc and never get sick, but the 3D nonsense really makes my head scream. Im hoping it will have a BluRay Release that isn't 3D as EVERY theatre where I live and we have 7 are all in 3D.

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Avatar_Zak

I finally saw it in 3-D and I loved it. The visuals were amazing and I felt for the characters. My only issue with it was that I thought it dragged a bit in the middle and end.

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Slapshot

My wife saw it again and also in 2D and said that it was nowhere near as good in 2D as its made for the 3D.

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SilentJ

I can't believe I only made it to the movies once last year. I saw Transformers 2 and something went wrong during the beginning so I got a free pass which I'm using today to go see Avatar in Imax 3D. I'm not really expecting too much from the movie but I can't wait to see how good the 3D is.

Update:
Apparently, I wasn't meant to see it today. I was waiting at the off ramp when I realized I forgot the free passes at home. I was wondering what to do when I saw smoke coming from under the hood. I came back home to find a leak so I took the car into the shop. The next Imax showing isn't until later at night so we decided to go to a regular 3D showing when I then realized I couldn't find my wallet. I looked for it everywhere and even called the mechanic but they didn't see it in the car. I decided to head over and check for myself which was a good thing since it was stuck in between the seats. Anyway, I'm finally home and too exhausted to go to the movies so I'll try again tomorrow.

Edited on by SilentJ

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Ramandus

slapshot82 wrote:

My wife saw it again and also in 2D and said that it was nowhere near as good in 2D as its made for the 3D.

The people who don't like the movie probably can see beyond the 3D facade.

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Magi

It just hit 1billion in worldwide sales. Here's the blurb from msn
"The big blue aliens of "Avatar" are still packing movie fans into theaters. James Cameron's science-fiction epic took in $68.3 million domestically to remain the No. 1 movie for the third-straight weekend, raising its domestic total to $352.1 million in just 17 days. With $670 million more overseas, "Avatar" climbed to a worldwide total of $1.02 billion."-msn

Magi

jwl

I don't think pretty CGI can make up for a badly written plot that is totally predictable and not very original. Watching the movie I kept seeing it as a mix between Jacksons "Lord of the Rings" and Disney's "Pocahontas". Really, the plot is almost exactly the same as in Pocahontas!

Also I don't like the way everything is portraited as extremely black and white. The viewer is by no means to have any opinion on who is the bad guts and who is the good guys. Well of course most movies have bad and good guys, but there was no nuances whatsoever. The humans are just evil and greedy for this silly "unoptanium". They could have made it much more interesting if this stuff was something very important for the humans. Something really needed for survival or something. Then the movie could have portraied a proper dilemma, where there is some sense behind the motivation for both sides.

But really, it is a movie to be watched in a cinema. I think I would find it more boring watching at home, because then the visuals will not be as overwhelming and you will start to notice the horrible plot in the movie.

retired_account

Ramandus wrote:

I thought it was crap. If people loved it, it was only because of the last 40 minutes.

This.

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nintendograbber

I liked it a lot, but doesn't unoptanium soung like un-obtain-ium?

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Axoloth

jwl wrote:

I don't think pretty CGI can make up for a badly written plot that is totally predictable and not very original. Watching the movie I kept seeing it as a mix between Jacksons "Lord of the Rings" and Disney's "Pocahontas". Really, the plot is almost exactly the same as in Pocahontas!

Also I don't like the way everything is portraited as extremely black and white. The viewer is by no means to have any opinion on who is the bad guts and who is the good guys. Well of course most movies have bad and good guys, but there was no nuances whatsoever. The humans are just evil and greedy for this silly "unoptanium". They could have made it much more interesting if this stuff was something very important for the humans. Something really needed for survival or something. Then the movie could have portraied a proper dilemma, where there is some sense behind the motivation for both sides.

But really, it is a movie to be watched in a cinema. I think I would find it more boring watching at home, because then the visuals will not be as overwhelming and you will start to notice the horrible plot in the movie.

I agree with everything you said, except the part about it having a badly written plot.
I'm so tired of movies trying to be silly and unpredictable, only to have it backfire on them so that the unpredictability becomes predictable (lol wordplay). Some of these movies also ruin everything with their exaggerated silliness. (cough Inglourious Basterds cough)

Anyway, this movie might have been a bit of a cliché, but like Kid_A said the way it was told and the emotionally powerful drama made me forget it was following a well known recipe and it felt like anything could happen, even though I knew how it was going to end (the CGI played it's part in blowing the clichés out of my mind too, I'll admit).
This movie was visually stunning, exciting, and emotionally powerful and it really made me feel for the characters. So in my book this was a very good movie. And while I agree it is a bit too hyped, I think it was one of the best movies of 2009 (especially considering what a lousy movie-year 2009 was) and I would recommend it to most people.
Just because the plot is unoriginal doesn’t mean it’s bad. Many movies follow the same structure, and then it’s more about making said structure seem interesting again. Besides, I like Pocahontas, and I don’t see it as a negative thing if it’s compared to such a great movie.

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jwl

Axoloth wrote:

I agree with everything you said, except the part about it having a badly written plot.
I'm so tired of movies trying to be silly and unpredictable, only to have it backfire on them so that the unpredictability becomes predictable (lol wordplay). Some of these movies also ruin everything with their exaggerated silliness. (cough Inglourious Basterds cough)

Anyway, this movie might have been a bit of a cliché, but like Kid_A said the way it was told and the emotionally powerful drama made me forget it was following a well known recipe and it felt like anything could happen, even though I knew how it was going to end (the CGI played it's part in blowing the clichés out of my mind too, I'll admit).
This movie was visually stunning, exciting, and emotionally powerful and it really made me feel for the characters. So in my book this was a very good movie. And while I agree it is a bit too hyped, I think it was one of the best movies of 2009 (especially considering what a lousy movie-year 2009 was) and I would recommend it to most people.
Just because the plot is unoriginal doesn’t mean it’s bad. Many movies follow the same structure, and then it’s more about making said structure seem interesting again. Besides, I like Pocahontas, and I don’t see it as a negative thing if it’s compared to such a great movie.

Well first I think there is an in-between being predictable to the point where you can tell the whole plot development of the movie after having setup the basic premise at the beginning and then movies than just want to be totally unpredictable just for the sake of it. I mean here, it is not just the basic theme from Pocahontas about technology superior people bashing native people for profit, but it was right down to things like this soldier felling in love with the chiefs daughter, who is already sort of engaged to another warrior of the tribe, and mental bond with the nature and even this Grandmother Willow like big tree was there.
I don't mind movies where you know the good guys are going to win at the end, most big movies are that way, but it is how they win and why that is interesting. And there should be some real danger along the way. And in Avatar it never seemed really dangerous for the navi's along the way. To compare to another movie of Camerons, Terminator, where it is also pretty black and white about who is good and bad guys, but I think it works much better there, because the machines have already sort of won. Humans will be almost extinct, there is REAL danger and you don't really know how they are gonna survive in the end. Whereas in Avatar it was obvious that Jake Sully will turn against his superior officer, the science staff will too and the navis will win, not by more power, but having the "home advantage".

Still, I think I feel the same about this movie as with the book "The DaVinci Code". I think both are bad in many many ways, but I can't deny they must be doing something right, since millions of people find them amazing.

Edited on by jwl

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