I think I might give this a shot tomorrow at my second viewing. I don't foresee having any problems... managed to sit through Antichrist under the influence with a huge smile on my face the whole time, after all. Still have absolutely no idea WHY I did that, though. At least with Avatar it's for obvious reasons.
Man, the people in this thread who say stuff like "the most beautiful thing I've seen in a movie"...I dunno man. I don't get it. You guys are weirding me out.
Man, the people in this thread who say stuff like "the most beautiful thing I've seen in a movie"...I dunno man. I don't get it. You guys are weirding me out.
Simple thoughts: It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen on screen. I can't even put into words my feelings about the CG. Let's just say that I often looked at the backgrounds searching for flaws, but there was never a moment that I thought they didn't look photorealistic. The characters were great, too, with the exception of the scientist chick's avatar. What it really felt like was a damn good videogame.
The story was good but very cliche.
Hey, a world called Pandora with a world-spanning biological system that absorbs memories and can control wildlife? Sounds like... the Destination: Void series by Frank Herbert. And yeah, I knew Jake was going to become a Navi within the first 10 minutes, but I didn't know how.
All in all, though, it gets an "A" from me. Waiting for the sequels now.
The story in general was definitely very predictable, but there were still a couple neat twists. Like how it's apparently impossible for
a human to die or become physically hurt no matter what happens to his Avatar, or even if he's just suddenly unplugged. It basically takes it in the opposite direction of the most popular alternate version of that basic idea, The Matrix.
And holy fuck so the Na'vi queen WAS played by CCH Pounder. :lol Whenever she came on I was wondering if it was her. There's definitely a strong resemblance. Hers and Sigourney Weaver's Avatar look a lot like them.
BTW I really hope the Blu-Ray will be 1.78:1 and that they don't pull some bullshit where only the future 3D edition will have that AR while the first edition will have the Scoped AR
I'm convinced Avatar on BD will be scope. It's what James Cameron likes. In the end he went back on his word and delivered scope to all the 3D digital screens.
Various moments in The Fountain, Chungking Express, I'm Not There, Miller's Crossing, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the first scene of the interior of the ship in Wall-E, Up, Ego's revelation in Ratatouille, almost any Stanley Kubrick film (mainly 2001: A Space Odyssey), The Godfathers...
I don't mean to tell people what they can and can't like, all I'm saying is that I don't really get it. from a technical standpoint, I can understand all the hard work that went into creating such imagery and build a certain love for it off of that. But as a viewer, I just never really felt like I was seeing something completely new. Don't mean to start a pissing contest over here, just saying it's weird to me, s'all.
Various moments in The Fountain, Chungking Express, I'm Not There, Miller's Crossing, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the first scene of the interior of the ship in Wall-E, Up, Ego's revelation in Ratatouille, almost any Stanley Kubrick film (mainly 2001: A Space Odyssey), The Godfathers...
I don't mean to tell people what they can and can't like, all I'm saying is that I don't really get it. from a technical standpoint, I can understand all the hard work that went into creating such imagery and build a certain love for it off of that. But as a viewer, I just never really felt like I was seeing something completely new. Don't mean to start a pissing contest over here, just saying it's weird to me, s'all.
Those movies you listed definitely have incredible imagery but I think what a lot of people are saying, myself included is that I have never seen a completely fictional world so perfectly realized that I wished it was a place I could visit. Its beyond beautiful. James Cameron wanted Pandora to be a living world that we can only imagine now through art and I thought he accomplished that.
Just saw this tonight in RealD. As with most I found it to be a visual feast, and quite frankly, hot blue chick or no (in my case it would have to be hot blue guy :lol ) I'd have made the same decision as Jake at the end too. The scene after
Neytiri saves him and the self-luminous plants light up
left me breathless. There was just so much richness and it was so alive, both in the planet and in the civilization of the Navi. Leave it to Cameron to treat a species like that with respect in his film rather than the lame caricatures of civilization Lucas decided to throw at the wall in the prequel trilogy.
Granted, it's not without its problems. Mainly, it drags pretty bad, but ironically I'd have to see it again to be able to pick out exactly what can be cut to get the pace up, my first thought would be the sequence where they
bulldozer the first "holy" tree place and Jake beats up the bulldozer camera
, but to come up with anything else I'd have to see it again. We also get Cameron's patented over-the-top space marines, which by the end of the film had me rolling my eyes quite a bit. Give the amount of subtlety with which the the Navi were drawn it would have been nice to have a bit more of the same in the non-good guys space marines. Give them some headsets and they could have been a whole platoon full of some of the more annoying Xbox Live denizens.
As for the 3D, it was very well done and filmed with a decent amount of restraint, with only maybe two or three obvious "look at me I'm in 3D" shots thrown in.
RealD 3D, like I'd seen before, always looks a bit dim and low contrast to me. The colorful art direction of Pandora helped in that regard, but still. I'm going to try and see it in Dolby3D later this week (maybe Wednesday) to see how that looks in comparison and then, if I feel like sitting through it two more times I could try out Digital IMAX and regular IMAX (I'm rather fortunate to have every freaking format availably to me within 20 minutes). I have no idea whether the RealD theater I saw it in was 2K or 4K (I understand RealD could be in either one). Is Dolby3D 2K or 4K? Anyone know?
Just saw it. It's a movie of incredible visual and (sometimes) audible appeal with some truly breathtaking feats of filmmaking, yet with one of the poorest examples of characterization in film this year. Dialogue and development is sooooo not for Cameron.
I just got back. The movie was very heavy-handed and both the plot and dialog were riddled with cliche, but somehow Cameron made it work. He's such a strong story teller that all the cliches rolled off my back. Overall, I'd have to say it's a really good movie.
Dead said:
Question
How many of you who that were down on the Na'vi designs have changed your minds after seeing the movie?
3D makes them tolerable, but I would have prefered a different design. There were points where they looked very cool though, mostly when they were showing their fangs or fighting. But I still think they were a bad design choice.
Just saw this tonight in RealD. As with most I found it to be a visual feast, and quite frankly, hot blue chick or no (in my case it would have to be hot blue guy :lol ) I'd have made the same decision as Jake at the end too. The scene after
Neytiri saves him and the self-luminous plants light up
left me breathless. There was just so much richness and it was so alive, both in the planet and in the civilization of the Navi. Leave it to Cameron to treat a species like that with respect in his film rather than the lame caricatures of civilization Lucas decided to throw at the wall in the prequel trilogy.
Granted, it's not without its problems. Mainly, it drags pretty bad, but ironically I'd have to see it again to be able to pick out exactly what can be cut to get the pace up, my first thought would be the sequence where they
bulldozer the first "holy" tree place and Jake beats up the bulldozer camera
, but to come up with anything else I'd have to see it again. We also get Cameron's patented over-the-top space marines, which by the end of the film had me rolling my eyes quite a bit. Give the amount of subtlety with which the the Navi were drawn it would have been nice to have a bit more of the same in the non-good guys space marines. Give them some headsets and they could have been a whole platoon full of some of the more annoying Xbox Live denizens.
As for the 3D, it was very well done and filmed with a decent amount of restraint, with only maybe two or three obvious "look at me I'm in 3D" shots thrown in.
RealD 3D, like I'd seen before, always looks a bit dim and low contrast to me. The colorful art direction of Pandora helped in that regard, but still. I'm going to try and see it in Dolby3D later this week (maybe Wednesday) to see how that looks in comparison and then, if I feel like sitting through it two more times I could try out Digital IMAX and regular IMAX (I'm rather fortunate to have every freaking format availably to me within 20 minutes). I have no idea whether the RealD theater I saw it in was 2K or 4K (I understand RealD could be in either one). Is Dolby3D 2K or 4K? Anyone know?
I've seen Avatar in RealD and Dolby3D. The image quality is roughly the same, I think it's a teeny bit dimmer in Dolby3D but you get better colors and a slightly sharper image. Fox shipped 2K for all digital theaters, seems to me.
I'm still interested in seeing it in 2D, to compare the brightness issues.
Just saw it. It's a movie of incredible visual and (sometimes) audible appeal with some truly breathtaking feats of filmmaking, yet with one of the poorest examples of characterization in film this year. Dialogue and development is sooooo not for Cameron.
He's done it well in his previous movies. The Abyss has reasonably memorable characters, but also had your evil military guy. He was a little more interesting because he was kind of psycho though.
i have seen both IMAX and digital 3D (RealD) and i enjoyed it a whole lot better in RealD.
at IMAX there tons of blurriness in many scenes, the subtitles were all blurry too. since i saw it in IMAX first i thought that was normal. but i was wrong, not sure what it is but IMAX just makes it worse. so DONT bother watching this in IMAX. either that or my IMAX place was screwy. watching the movie a 2nd time on a better screen has made me enjoyed it alot more, i even like it better now!
fyi - i went to the IMAX at coliseum in mississauga, ON and the AMC at missisauga courtney park for the realD.
BTW I really hope the Blu-Ray will be 1.78:1 and that they don't pull some bullshit where only the future 3D edition will have that AR while the first edition will have the Scoped AR
I really can't wait to get this on blu ray. I like how these movies are coming to disk so fast now. I hope they go all out with the extras, commentary (I like actor commentary more, they are usually more entertaining and fun), and features. I never had a Cameron dvd blu ray so I'm not sure if he's stingy on content like Tarantino.
Just saw it with almost no expectations beforehand.
Besides having a slightly predictable storyline, that I barely knew it was over 2 hours in length. I was completely in love with this film. Holy crap, I still need to process it.
Just came back from seeing it again, and I loved it even more (the war at the end seemed better this time, and that was one of my complains originally).
I also have to slightly take back my comments about IMAX. Holy fuck, I was not expecting the difference in sound to be that noticeable (that, and the IMAX screen being more immersive, technically). That being said though, the 3D was so much better in RealD. Zero blurriness, great depth, etc. So much that my verdict is that I prefer it in the normal theatre (for repeat viewings), but IMAX is definitely worth one go at least.
The
destruction of Hometree
is without doubt the most glorious thing I've seen all year.
I've seen it 3 times so far and will more than likely see it a fourth some time in the next month.
Solo or anyone, when you were watching the second time, did you notice the awesome music during the scenes where
Jake is revealing the interior structure of the Home Tree to Quaritch.
Really great fucking tune that I can't find anywhere on the soundtrack which is a shame.
Ghaleon - I took my 7 year old cousin to see it yesterday and he absolutely loved it. He was so cute, pretending he had something in his eye during the sad scenes.
Also, I really love how much of Neytiri's pure unmitigated joy and heart comes through when she
goes 'Eywa has heard you.....EYWA HAS HEARD YOU!!!!
Also, for those wondering what happened to Jake's big fucking Dragon, he says that with peace amongst all the tribes, or them united or something, there was no more need for Ma Toruk (or whatever the fuck its called), and that is when you see it flying solo on the horizon.
Well, it wasn't as good as Aliens, but I still enjoyed myself.
I was really hoping it wasn't going to be Fern Gully with space marines, but that's what I got. Not really a bad thing, but not 15 years of waiting creative. I also thought the marines were way too, I don't know, gung ho charicatures. They might as well have been the marine in the attack of the show trailer parody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftu6a7EG-iw
I'm also kind of dissapointed in the 3D. It seems like people are praising it because images aren't poking at you from the screen as was the case back in the day. But that technique has been adopted already from most other 3D stuff I've seen in the past few years.
I bet there's going to be a lot of Phantom Menace backlash after a few months.
render out the entire final battle. Holy fuck, that must've taken months if not years to complete with Pandora in the background and all the other CG effects going on.There were dozens of Scorpions and a Dragon, and there were HUNDREDS of Banshees fully rendered out and not simply pasted.
Unless it already has? I havn't been privy to what everyone has been saying as to avoid spoilers.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed myself quite a bit (not like internet people should care). Final boss dude was a great character. The foliage of that planet is electrifying. Cameron is a awesome action director. I was hoping against hope that he would throw in the Aliens pulse rifle sound effect in there, but that was just wishful thinking.
Yet he always shot using Super 35 film stock and has said to prefer the open matte versions of some of his films. Personally I prefer the scope ratio, and the man knows how to use it.
XiaNaphryz said:
By outsourcing the work to us, as Weta had too much to do.
Still love the fact that both your team (ILM) and Weta contributed to the film. I know most films have many effects houses handle the the duties, but for the two biggest effects companies to contribute to such massive scenes in one film is truly special.
Just saw it in IMAX Digital 3D. It was damn amazing. Enjoyed every second of it. Looking forward to another viewing.
People who are like "meh" or "I didn't like it" escape me. Impossible to impress, perhaps? I'm certainly glad I'm not that cynical. The movie was literally fantastic.
I don't really care who's body it was. The vines just looked stupid and served little purpose in that context. Well, maybe that she was entwined with nature, but that was coming. It was distracting. I mean her Avatar was nude (I think), so it was weird. I nearly bet that it may have been a bit of PG-13 rating coming in there.
I just got back from seeing Avatar at the Chinatown theater in DC and would like to apologize to all involved. As I puked on the way to the trashcan, all over the trash can area, in the hallway leading to the restroom, in the restroom, in the restroom sink, on the restroom sink counter, on the way to the toilet, and on the toilet. Seriously I apologize.
So you are saying that breakthroughs in genetic engineering - which is what the Avatar program is based on - should be enough to cure or mitigate global warming, pollution and natural resource depletion. (All of which can and likely will contribute to Earth "going brown" in 150 years). I have no idea how you make that leap - it makes no sense at all - but let's grant it for a second. How on earth could that be deployed in a global manner quickly enough to reverse those factors? Think about the political and military gridlock that would prevent such a unified global response from happening, and fast enough to reverse trends generations in the making.
Basically, you're saying the genetic breakthrough that created the Avatar program should lead to - or occur in tandem with - the curing the world's problems. Um, okay.
What I'm saying is that Avatar program is the culmination of a whole host of MAJOR breakthroughs across a number of scientific disciplines, not just genetics (molecular biology, neuropsychology, thermodynamics, telecommunications, etc.), any of which by themselves would be transformative to the human race in a number of ways, none of which are on display in the state of human civilization depicted here, because somehow all or most of those breakthroughs have remained sequestered in the Avatar program, even before they would have had anything to do with an Avatar program.
The browning of the earth is just the most convenient example. I'm not really sure how mitigating global warming based in scientific breakthroughs we've already made (a couple cited earlier) and then augmented by the kind of cross-disciplinary breakthroughs to the nth degree that necessarily lead up to a technology like the Avatar program over the next 100-150 years is such an inscrutable leap, yet the movie simply claiming the Earth is brown after that time without any further justification engenders no such response...I guess the pessimism of PoliGAF can't be denied.
BruceLeeRoy said:
Kaching your getting a little overboard with this stuff man.
Please don't taint the conversation with this kind of dismissiveness. I went to see the movie on Friday, enjoyed it, but after thinking about it a bit over the weekend, had a few more thoughts on whether this would really be a lasting favorite for me. At no point have I tried to turn this into a referendum about how you or anyone else feels about the movie, so do me the courtesy and avoid the same.
Just saw it in IMAX Digital 3D. It was damn amazing. Enjoyed every second of it. Looking forward to another viewing.
People who are like "meh" or "I didn't like it" escape me. Impossible to impress, perhaps? I'm certainly glad I'm not that cynical. The movie was literally fantastic.
What about people who thought it was good, maybe even great, but not mindblowingly awesome change my life?
I think with the level of hype, people might mistake their own level of satisfaction with 'meh-ness'. We shouldn't down play people's opinions though. Many of the criticism are valid, but I guess you can be right - it would take a certain level of cynicism to really let it drag down a movie like this. Obviously, different people want to get different things out of their films, and that's fine.
What I'm saying is that Avatar program is the culmination of a whole host of MAJOR breakthroughs across a number of scientific disciplines, not just genetics (molecular biology, neuropsychology, thermodynamics, telecommunications, etc.), any of which by themselves would be transformative to the human race in a number of ways, none of which are on display in the state of human civilization depicted here, because somehow all or most of those breakthroughs have remained sequestered in the Avatar program, even before they would have had anything to do with an Avatar program.
The browning of the earth is just the most convenient example. I'm not really sure how mitigating global warming based in scientific breakthroughs we've already made (a couple cited earlier) and then augmented by the kind of cross-disciplinary breakthroughs to the nth degree that necessarily lead up to a technology like the Avatar program over the next 100-150 years is such an inscrutable leap, yet the movie simply claiming the Earth is brown after that time without any further justification engenders no such response...I guess the pessimism of PoliGAF can't be denied.
It's a good point, but like all films, and ESPECIALLY in science fiction films, you have to be ready to have certain level of suspension of disbelief (or belief or however it goes). You have to be willing to assume the basic background and rules of the story, even if it is perhaps bit wild. That's what makes it a science fiction tale.
Sure there's an inconsistency in the finer details of the background - you shouldn't let it mar your overall experience. Go with the flow, as they say.
edit: consider any number of movies, but let's take Cameron's own. In Aliens, is it likely that the level of technology they had for space travel was similar in level of technology to the armament they had? Maybe, maybe not, you could argue both ways if you really had to , but in the end, who cares, it was a kick-ass movie. Did the biology of the aliens actually make any sense whatsoever? Again, noone really cares. They set the rules, you accepted it for two hours and went with the ride.
I don't really care who's body it was. The vines just looked stupid and served little purpose in that context. Well, maybe that she was entwined with nature, but that was coming. It was distracting. I mean her Avatar was nude (I think), so it was weird. I nearly bet that it may have been a bit of PG-13 rating coming in there.
Uhh yeah, it was entirely because of the PG-13 rating. Cameron said he wanted her to have tits, to keep her sexy, and in some shots her nipples were right out there in your face, and he simply had edit the shots to keep the rating.
Don't blame Cameron, blame conservative society, especially conservative American society.
Uhh yeah, it was entirely because of the PG-13 rating. Cameron said he wanted her to have tits, to keep her sexy, and in some shots her nipples were right out there in your face, and he simply had edit the shots to keep the rating.
Don't blame Cameron, blame conservative society, especially conservative American society.
Oh, I definitely don't blame Cameron. Actually, in my original version of my above post, I was going to write that Cameron should've pulled rank, as he did in Titanic (he's a fan of the classic 80's movies where you always sneak in a bit of boobage), but as I wasn't sure if it was his decision or not, I removed that comment.
And like I said, I think if that's the case, they should've just clothed her, or had her in her underwear or something. The vines did look silly.
Please don't taint the conversation with this kind of dismissiveness. I went to see the movie on Friday, enjoyed it, but after thinking about it a bit over the weekend, had a few more thoughts on whether this would really be a lasting favorite for me. At no point have I tried to turn this into a referendum about how you or anyone else feels about the movie, so do me the courtesy and avoid the same.
I respect your opinion, and the thoroughness with which you have articulated it. If I didn't, I would not have written several paragraphs in response; I ignore opinions I don't respect. I just think you're being silly on this point. So let's just agree to disagree.
Just got back from seeing it. Though it definitely isn't the best movie ever made, it sure was a good one. The visuals were the best part of the movie. Everyone that helped conceptualize Avatar has to have brilliant imaginations. I loved all of the different types of animals and especially the plant life.
I wish that Cameron would be better able to have the audience understand the consequences of transitioning between a human and his avatar throughout the movie. Don't get me wrong it was noticeable for sure, however, IMO he didn't focus on it so much
that it'd make the average movie-goer think too hard about Jake's moral decision to become Navi. That last scene just didn't have enough "umph" for me.
Those movies you listed definitely have incredible imagery but I think what a lot of people are saying, myself included is that I have never seen a completely fictional world so perfectly realized that I wished it was a place I could visit. Its beyond beautiful. James Cameron wanted Pandora to be a living world that we can only imagine now through art and I thought he accomplished that.
Movie was absolutely fantastic. It wasn't the deepest movie out there, but it absolutely had something for everyone to enjoy. And it was stunningly beautiful to say the least, even if it did kind of look like a Lisa Frank folder come to life at the beginning.
Saw the movie for the second time tonight. It was still freaking awesome.
Charred Greyface said:
The plot argh. It doesnthold up.
Where did all the other avatars we saw at the beginning, when Sully first tried his, disappear to anyway? At the very least wouldn't they chose to stay behind too at the end?
show up at the end. I didn't notice it my first time but there were avatars standing around in "human" clothes with machine guns while the humans were being forced out. There were at least two of them that weren't Jake.
Pandora was nicely realised, but far from perfect.
The horse thingies felt somehow really cheesy and I remember lolling at the floating mountains.
I mean they tried to make it a believable place, but that thing stood so much out from everything else.
And it bothered me to death that they rambled about the dangers of Pandora for ages, and yet it felt more empty and sterile than your typical forest? I mean Jacksons King Kong had a way more intimidating jungle areas going on than Avatar. I thought Pandora looked lovely and very welcoming aside from the few mandatory threat scenes.
