December 11, 200916 yr It's become obvious that James Cameron with Avatar has tried to make a film that caters to all demographics: The Twilight crowd (the romance subplot) The Star Trek crowd (it's set on a distant planet in the distant future...it also features Trek's Zoe Saldaña) The Transformers crowd (the serious mechas that are shown) The Terminator crowd (huge explosions and shoot-em-ups) The An Inconvenient Truth and Fahrenheit 9/11 crowd (Humans, largely American in appearance and culture, going to war with another planet to conquer and plunder them)
December 12, 200916 yr So this doesn't have anything to do with that weird ass Japanese cartoon stuff, right? I thought there was one called Avatar.
December 12, 200916 yr It's become obvious that James Cameron with Avatar has tried to make a film that caters to all demographics: The Twilight crowd (the romance subplot) The Star Trek crowd (it's set on a distant planet in the distant future...it also features Trek's Zoe Saldaña) The Transformers crowd (the serious mechas that are shown) The Terminator crowd (huge explosions and shoot-em-ups) The An Inconvenient Truth and Fahrenheit 9/11 crowd (Humans, largely American in appearance and culture, going to war with another planet to conquer and plunder them) Excuse me?
December 13, 200916 yr So this doesn't have anything to do with that weird ass Japanese cartoon stuff, right? I thought there was one called Avatar. I don't know a thing about Japanese cartoons, but I don't think so. I actually saw a draft of the screenplay several years ago when production on the film was on hiatus (as in they hadn't even green-lit it yet) and it appears to be a Cameron original. Of course, the story is a knock off from other films that have been made, but the film was adapted from any source material. The film isn't really "animated." A lot of it is live action. He just decided to use a lot of CGI to create an alien world and it isn't exactly photorealistic. I'm surprised that the early reviews have been so positive. However, critics have a terrible track record for big budget films durin the awards season. Same. The trailers just aren't convincing me.
December 13, 200916 yr So this doesn't have anything to do with that weird ass Japanese cartoon stuff, right? I thought there was one called Avatar. I don't know a thing about Japanese cartoons, but I don't think so. I actually saw a draft of the screenplay several years ago when production on the film was on hiatus (as in they hadn't even green-lit it yet) and it appears to be a Cameron original. Of course, the story is a knock off from other films that have been made, but the film was adapted from any source material. The film isn't really "animated." A lot of it is live action. He just decided to use a lot of CGI to create an alien world and it isn't exactly photorealistic. I'm surprised that the early reviews have been so positive. However, critics have a terrible track record for big budget films durin the awards season. Same. The trailers just aren't convincing me. Me neither. It looks like some sort of stoner cult classic/Halo hybrid.
December 13, 200916 yr My initial thought upon seeing the first trailer was that it looked like an X-Box 360 game. This is supposed to be "groundbreaking cinema" so naturally I was unconvinced. CG and motion capture effects are at their most groundbreaking when you can't tell they are computerized. Clearly that isn't the case here. The most up to date RT ratings have this film at 90% positive and all of those positive reviews are completely glowing. Most of that praise seems to be on account of technical merits. I doubt the general public is that one-sided. I think this will end up being the same scenario we observed in 2005 with Peter Jackson's King Kong. The film was praised heavily by critics but most audiences were lukewarm. That film also had a huge budget (and did earn a profit because of international box office. It just scraped by in the US). I think Avatar will probably earn something similar ($500M or less world-wide) and make only a marginal profit. I think it will only earn more if the 3D is actually that good. Many of the recent films released in 3D didn't look good. Usually these kind of films have a fresh rating but their score is in the low 6s, the film has a 7.8 so far. I will go watch it in 3D and see if it really is as good as some of these reviews say it is. I hate watching films in 3D, I don't find anything special in the 3D aspect and I just leave the theater with a headache, but from what they say this is one is worth watching in 3D. Guess we will just have to wait and see.
December 13, 200916 yr Author The graphics look far too video-gamey to me. It's like James Cameron went so far in an attempt to make it look as realistic as possible that he long since passed by "realistic". The An Inconvenient Truth and Fahrenheit 9/11 crowd (Humans, largely American in appearance and culture, going to war with another planet to conquer and plunder them) Excuse me? That was largely a joke, and also a poke as what I perceive as an attempt by James Cameron to cater to all with Avatar.
December 13, 200916 yr I do not think the movie looks great and I am not big on future syfy reruns, but I think the cgi looks amazing in this movie. Seeing previews in the theater I think their is nothing to really complain about. I also like how well they use performance capture (at least from the previews). I am not a fan of it in the Zemeckis films, I think they are a little freaky, but it looks really cool in this film.
December 18, 200916 yr OK so I watched the movie on IMAX 3D. My thoughts, The story is your typical, predictable Hollywood story. That was not a surprise, if you watch the trailer you can probably figure out what is all about because it's basically all there. Now on to the real reason I went to watch this, the visuals. The visuals are incredible, stunning, maybe it's just me, but there were spots where my jaw literally dropped, I have never wanted to be somewhere more than I wanted to be in that world Cameron created. The story seemed better just because it was taking place in Pandora.
December 18, 200916 yr That's what I've heard & sort of expect. Dances With Wolves on steroids... and on Endor. I doubt the dialogue will be "King Kong" bad, that was horrible. But the visuals & environments are supposed to be so engrossing, not that that alone should make a movie, but it would make it worth seeing. I mean equate it with Aliens or Abyss. Good popcorn movie hopefully, if you allow for that sort of thing. I'll definitely check it out.
December 18, 200916 yr So this doesn't have anything to do with that weird ass Japanese cartoon stuff, right? I thought there was one called Avatar. No it's not related to the animated series however there is a non animated movie coming very soon based on this animated TV series. I believe that its called the Last Air bender and it look totally awesome
December 19, 200916 yr OK so I watched the movie on IMAX 3D. My thoughts, The story is your typical, predictable Hollywood story. That was not a surprise, if you watch the trailer you can probably figure out what is all about because it's basically all there. Now on to the real reason I went to watch this, the visuals. The visuals are incredible, stunning, maybe it's just me, but there were spots where my jaw literally dropped, I have never wanted to be somewhere more than I wanted to be in that world Cameron created. The story seemed better just because it was taking place in Pandora. Are you saying that the trailers don't do the actual film justice? Of course, the trailers were lacking the 3D imagery but it was the X-Box look of the CGI that made me skeptical. As I said earlier, I can't picture myself being "immersed" in a world that is so blatantly computer generated. CGI can sometimes be good enough to overcome the photoreality barrier, but from what I've seen in the trailer, the effects don't seem to convincing. I'll see this film eventually but my schedule might not permit me to do so until January. Well the trailer certainly doesn't show the most beautiful shots in the film, I don't know if this will be just me but I had no problem with the CGI. I guess you will have to see it and judge for yourself, but I thought the film looked great and the fact that it was computer generated didn't take away from the experience, at least for me, at times I was definitely "immersed" in Pandora and I don't know how much of that had to do with the whole IMAX 3D thing as well. It will be interesting to see what you think when you watch the film since you didn't think much of the shots in the trailer.
December 19, 200916 yr OK so I watched the movie on IMAX 3D. My thoughts, The story is your typical, predictable Hollywood story. That was not a surprise, if you watch the trailer you can probably figure out what is all about because it's basically all there. Now on to the real reason I went to watch this, the visuals. The visuals are incredible, stunning, maybe it's just me, but there were spots where my jaw literally dropped, I have never wanted to be somewhere more than I wanted to be in that world Cameron created. The story seemed better just because it was taking place in Pandora. my thoughts exactly. I didn't see it in and IMAX theatre but I did see it in 3D. the story was pretty much predictable and has been done many times before but the effects and scenery were nothing short of beautiful.
January 1, 201016 yr Okay, so I saw it like a week ago over the break and it was better than I thought it would be. As has been said, the story itself wasn't anything to throw awards at but the visuals were by far the best CG and 3D I've ever seen.
January 4, 201016 yr I saw it today and thoroughly enjoyed the 3D experience. I thought all the scenery shown during the parts with the flying beasts was awesome. Avatar has already broken through the $1bn mark for tickets and Cameron has said he has already got the material for a couple of sequels if he choses to make them.
January 5, 201016 yr A story as old as time: Boy meets girl, falls in love, evil white people (business and army types) come to steal everything from peace-loving natives that have absolutely no offensive qualities.
January 6, 201016 yr I just saw it in 3D, and it was pretty badass. I think if you are only judging on the brief summaries given here, it isn't that great. I will admit I could pretty easily predict what was going to happen, but it was how those things happened that made it seem like I didn't see it coming. I would absolutely recommend seeing it in 3D if possible. Was it groundbreaking? No. But I was thoroughly entertained.
January 6, 201016 yr A story as old as time: Boy meets girl, falls in love, evil white people (business and army types) come to steal everything from peace-loving natives that have absolutely no offensive qualities. Pocahontas?
January 6, 201016 yr A story as old as time: Boy meets girl, falls in love, evil white people (business and army types) come to steal everything from peace-loving natives that have absolutely no offensive qualities. Pocahontas?
January 7, 201016 yr A story as old as time: Boy meets girl, falls in love, evil white people (business and army types) come to steal everything from peace-loving natives that have absolutely no offensive qualities. Pocahontas? yeah that's the first thing I thought of when I was watching the movie. Pocahontas in space.
January 7, 201016 yr A story as old as time: Boy meets girl, falls in love, evil white people (business and army types) come to steal everything from peace-loving natives that have absolutely no offensive qualities. Pocahontas? Haha, that's gold.
January 7, 201016 yr I still haven't seen Avatar yet but I would argue that Dances with Wolves was probably the first film to have this storyline. That's what my friend told me as well, but I haven't watched the film.
January 7, 201016 yr Some of you guys are impossible. When you get floored by a movie, send me $20. I won't hold my breath.
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