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Rottenwatch: AVATAR (82%)

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I just noticed that none of my local theater's are showing this in 2D.

Edit... never mind the 24 plex has the majority of showings in 2D. I usually don't go to that one so I didn't check there.
 
This time tomorrow I would have either been punked like no one ever has ever in the history of the universe. Or I would have just had the best movie experience ever.
 
I just don't feel I have anything to realistically add, as my opinion did not really change after seeing it. Just that the 3D was actually kinda distracting (unlike, say, when I saw UP in RealD), and that unlike others (even in my group) i was unable to get past the near endless story and writing flaws to see what is apparently supposed to be this lush, deep Pandora universe.

On the positive, Cameron is a god with action scenes - there was some seriously compelling set pieces and beautifully choreographed moments that other films of the past decade seem positively silly by comparison. There was this great feeling of weight to everything, and it was very easy to follow. others should take notes.

The climax of the movie is insane though, I'll say that. Insane in that it apparently lasted 23 hours or some shit goddamn.

But yeah, something like 2/4 stars out a 6/10 or something like that for your rankings.
 
Amir0x said:
I just don't feel I have anything to realistically add, as my opinion did not really change after seeing it. Just that the 3D was actually kinda distracting (unlike, say, when I saw UP in RealD), and that unlike others (even in my group) i was unable to get past the near endless story and writing flaws to see what is apparently supposed to be this lush, deep Pandora universe.

On the positive, Cameron is a god with action scenes - there was some seriously compelling set pieces and beautifully choreographed moments that other films of the past decade seem positively silly by comparison. There was this great feeling of weight to everything, and it was very easy to follow. others should take notes.

The climax of the movie is insane though, I'll say that. Insane in that it apparently lasted 23 hours or some shit goddamn.

But yeah, something like 2/4 stars out a 6/10 or something like that for your rankings.
Click to expand...

I felt this way on my first viewing too (although I enjoyed the 3D).
On my second viewing I enjoyed it a lot more though.
See it again! lol :lol
 
Meus Renaissance said:
I thought the scene with Neytiri and Jake at the end
when she holds him in her arms, and the camera pans out showing you the difference in size between the two, yet the affection and love between them as strong as ever as he caresses her face lovingly
was probably the most emotive and potent scene in a movie I've seen in a long time.
Click to expand...
I'm seeing this in IMAX 3D at midnight tonight... yet somehow I sincerely doubt that I'll feel the same way.
 
Amir0x said:
But yeah, something like 2/4 stars out a 6/10 or something like that for your rankings.
Click to expand...
6/10 is the lower threshold for a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes...SO...!!!!
 
Amir0x said:
I just don't feel I have anything to realistically add, as my opinion did not really change after seeing it. Just that the 3D was actually kinda distracting (unlike, say, when I saw UP in RealD), and that unlike others (even in my group) i was unable to get past the near endless story and writing flaws to see what is apparently supposed to be this lush, deep Pandora universe.

On the positive, Cameron is a god with action scenes - there was some seriously compelling set pieces and beautifully choreographed moments that other films of the past decade seem positively silly by comparison. There was this great feeling of weight to everything, and it was very easy to follow. others should take notes.

The climax of the movie is insane though, I'll say that. Insane in that it apparently lasted 23 hours or some shit goddamn.

But yeah, something like 2/4 stars out a 6/10 or something like that for your rankings.
Click to expand...

I suppose this only comes across as no surprise, since you don't like Star Wars. So fair enough. There isn't one film that everyone universally enjoys. Can't think of a single one.
 
http://movieblog.ugo.com/movies/dont-expect-an-alan-dean-foster-version-of-camerons-avatar

James Cameron: Yeah, we'll do as much as possible to do. I wanted to get the bible worked out so that these things didn't generate conflicting ideas or conflicting plotlines with things I would want to do in the sequels, or with each other. That was the purpose of generating Pandorapedia, working out the backstory and the future history.

JH: And you don't have any of those deals worked out with comic creators or...

JC: Not right now, that's really going to be a second wave, including a novel which I hope to have time to write myself.
Click to expand...

Full Pandorapedia coming soon along with Comic Book and Novel written by Cameron himself?
 
Amir0x said:
there you go, fresh rating on rottentomatoes confirmed
Click to expand...
YAY!

My-Little-Pony-Wallpaper-my-little-.jpg
 
xrich said:
IMAX RealD? Sculli said IMAX uses its own 3D that is not realD..
Click to expand...

it's not Real D? I didn't know the difference, I thought all IMAX used it... maybe that's why it was distracting to me unlike UP?

Whatever the case, the 3D certainly seemed to me a hindrance to the viewing rather than a positive.
 
Meus Renaissance said:
I thought the scene with Neytiri and Jake at the end
when she holds him in her arms, and the camera pans out showing you the difference in size between the two, yet the affection and love between them as strong as ever as he caresses her face lovingly
was probably the most emotive and potent scene in a movie I've seen in a long time. By far the most powerful moment in the film for me
Click to expand...
It was a really nice scene, but I prefer the less in your face, heart string pulling. Such as
the scene when he's looking at her before she closes the 'bed' thing. Or the bit when she gets close to him trying to teach him about the bow and arrows.
 
Amir0x said:
it's not Real D? I didn't know the difference, I thought all IMAX used it... maybe that's why it was distracting to me unlike UP?
Click to expand...

IMAX 3D is not real D. Was it a true IMAX or a LieMAX (digital projection)?
 
Amir0x said:
it's not Real D? I didn't know the difference, I thought all IMAX used it... maybe that's why it was distracting to me unlike UP?

Whatever the case, the 3D certainly seemed to me a hindrance to the viewing rather than a positive.
Click to expand...

what do you mean by a hindrance? was it blurry at all? Too distracting?

Also like Sculli said is this a real IMAX or liemax?
 
Also, don't get your hopes up for an extended cut of the film imo:

JH: In 3D, he comes out of that tube...oh my god. The other big question is, when the Blu-ray comes out, what did we not see in this theatrical cut?

JC: That's still being worked out. My two editors on the film, it was a three person team, while I'm running around promoting, they've stayed on to organize all the materials for those scenes and partial scenes that were removed. They'll present that to me after the first of the year and we'll make some decisions on what makes sense to go on the DVD/Blu-ray.

JH: But there are whole sequences that didn't make the cut?

JC: Yeah, scenes. Not necessarily sequences. I think there's only one scene and some scene fragments that were actually finished up to the level of photoreality before they were removed from the film for pacing, or purposes of orchestrating the emotional modulation toward the end of the film. So we'll put those back in for sure. Then it's a matter of how much of what we call our 'template' we want to put back in, which looks like a crude video game level.
Click to expand...

http://movieblog.ugo.com/movies/camerons-twenty-year-journey-to-pandora
 
Honestly, if they actually brought in a quality writer to pen the outline of what Cameron wants to do. It sounds like instead of just being a technical masterpiece, we would be getting a masterpiece overall.
 
Basically, the cringeworthiness is blown out of proportion as being throughout the whole film. Like I've said earlier, it is concentrated in one absolutely cringe-worthy scene that lasts five minutes. Outside of that the movie is fine dialogue-wise.

The scene for those that have scene it (though I'm sure you already know) is
where he meets Neytiri for the first time. The whole 'You are a baby!' being repeated and the 'You have a strong heart'. After the brief meeting of the parents we're out of the woods regarding bad dialogue.


I hate that people are saying 'Cameron just needs to bring in another writer' etc. His original scriptment was much better than what was on screen. It was literally streamlined down to its base elements. The other thing is - Cameron DID bring on another writer in adapting his original treatment into the finished script. The same woman who co-wrote Shutter Island.

This is the first time he's worked with her and the first big film she's worked on, so who knows.
 
Scullibundo said:
Basically, the cringeworthiness is blown out of proportion as being throughout the whole film. Like I've said earlier, it is concentrated in one absolutely cringe-worthy scene that lasts five minutes. Outside of that the movie is fine dialogue-wise.

The scene for those that have scene it (though I'm sure you already know) is
where he meets Neytiri for the first time. The whole 'You are a baby!' being repeated and the 'You have a strong heart'. After the brief meeting of the parents we're out of the woods regarding bad dialogue.
Click to expand...

That Weaver/Ribonissi or whatever his name is exposition scene from a while back was pretty bad. I was really starting to get excited for the movie until I saw that.

I'm still excited on the technical/visual side, but before that I was thinking, "Well maybe the story/dialogue won't be so bad."
 
WyndhamPrice said:
Can you elaborate without spoiling?
Click to expand...
Yeah I guess, I'll spoiler tag it just in case people haven't seen the trailer and want to be in the total dark.
The film makes no real effort to show you what state earth is in, given the tech on display, it would appear humans are in a fine state and are just there to steal something they don't really need. The scriptment paints earth in a totally different light, as a toxic, over populated shit hole
.
 
PSGames said:
what do you mean by a hindrance? was it blurry at all?
Click to expand...

The color lost a lot of pop, the image definitely seemed softer, less defined. It was all around very disappointing. When I saw UP, the image lost little. I know for a fact that my UP showing was Real D, and I was pleasantly surprised by that one. So I thought IMAX of course would be using this, and there was Real D advertisements all over the theatre. Of course, this IMAX also had regular movie theatres, so maybe those were for the regular sceens.

I didn't even know there was an IMAX or LIEMAX. I rarely go to IMAX movies (last time was DARK KNIGHT) but apparently there is a lot to learn :lol

I hope I didn't go to this "LIEMAX" you guys are talking about... the tickets were fucking fifteen dollars and I paid for five people sooo... :lol
 
WyndhamPrice said:
So weird, the tomatometer goes down 2 points and the Top Critics goes up 2 points. Currently 82/96. This is bizarroworld or something.
Click to expand...
People who don't matter want to get attention by being contrarian.
 
stuburns said:
Wow, anyone who's interested needs to hunt down the old script, page one pretty much changes my out look on the film.
Click to expand...

That's a problem, then. :/

Something on the first page of the script that significant should have somehow been conveyed in the movie itself.

Cameron's films would be so fucking godly (moreso than they already are) if he could get someone else to pen the details like dialogue and character arcs.
 
stuburns said:
Yeah I guess, I'll spoiler tag it just in case people haven't seen the trailer and want to be in the total dark.
The film makes no real effort to show you what state earth is in, given the tech on display, it would appear humans are in a fine state and are just there to steal something they don't really need. The scriptment paints earth in a totally different light, as a toxic, over populated shit hole
.
Click to expand...

Well, what do they need unobitanium for anyway? I can't remember that being explained anywhere in the movie, except that it costs 20 million a kilo.
 
Amir0x said:
The color lost a lot of pop, the image definitely seemed softer, less defined. It was all around very disappointing. When I saw UP, the image lost little. I know for a fact that my UP showing was Real D, and I was pleasantly surprised by that one. So I thought IMAX of course would be using this, and there was Real D advertisements all over the theatre. Of course, this IMAX also had regular movie theatres, so maybe those were for the regular sceens.

I didn't even know there was an IMAX or LIEMAX. I rarely go to IMAX movies (last time was DARK KNIGHT) but apparently there is a lot to learn :lol

I hope I didn't go to this "LIEMAX" you guys are talking about... the tickets were fucking fifteen dollars and I paid for five people sooo... :lol
Click to expand...

what was the name of your imax location? I can look it up for you.

This is my biggest fear. I went to the Avatar day screening at an imax location and it was super blurry. And like you I've seen RealD before and it was super clear. I hope I've made the right decision going to imax to see this.
 
stuburns said:
Yeah I guess, I'll spoiler tag it just in case people haven't seen the trailer and want to be in the total dark.
The film makes no real effort to show you what state earth is in, given the tech on display, it would appear humans are in a fine state and are just there to steal something they don't really need. The scriptment paints earth in a totally different light, as a toxic, over populated shit hole
.
Click to expand...
There is concept art of that for the movie in the Avatar guidebook. And there seems to have been some CG and acting work done on it for the film itself per some people who worked on the movie

It was most likely unfinished and dropped from teh film...too bad
 
ClosingADoor said:
Well, what do they need unobitanium for anyway? I can't remember that being explained anywhere in the movie, except that it costs 20 million a kilo.
Click to expand...
I don't know yet, but yeah, it's not explained at all in the film.
 
stuburns said:
Yeah I guess, I'll spoiler tag it just in case people haven't seen the trailer and want to be in the total dark.
The film makes no real effort to show you what state earth is in, given the tech on display, it would appear humans are in a fine state and are just there to steal something they don't really need. The scriptment paints earth in a totally different light, as a toxic, over populated shit hole
.
Click to expand...

At the end Jake says
"they go back to their dying world" and before that when he prays he explains "there is no more green (back home), they've killed their Mother". Considering the camp base was choking up so much smoke in the background,
it didn't leave much to the imagination of what state the Earth was in.
 
Meus Renaissance said:
At the end Jake says
"they go back to their dying world" and before that when he prays he explains "there is no more green (back home), they've killed their Mother". Considering the camp base was choking up so much smoke in the background,
it didn't leave much to the imagination of what state the Earth was in.
Click to expand...
Yeah, indeed,
but that's at the end, after 150 minutes of hating the humans. At the start, seeing it would massively change the film.
 
Oh man, I just looked at the concept art for the future Earth that was cut. I can't BELIEVE we didn't get to see that. That would have made the jump to Pandora so much more special. But more than that, it looks fucking awesome. Like a Mega-tropolis AKIRA style.
 
ClosingADoor said:
Well, what do they need unobitanium for anyway? I can't remember that being explained anywhere in the movie, except that it costs 20 million a kilo.
Click to expand...

The human military on Pandora is not an organised army. At the start when they are introduced as
"once these were marines fighting for freedom, now they're just guns for hire"
. My guess is that they are just a 'guard' force for the excavation project going on.

It is meant to mirror the Iraq war and the suggestion that the quest for oil was the underlying factor for the invasion. We got a lot of that theme in the movie with the Colonel's consistent defaming of the Na'avi as "savages" and "terrorists" - achieving the sanitization of one group and making it appear as "us good guys against these bad guys".
 
Scullibundo said:
Oh man, I just looked at the concept art for the future Earth that was cut. I can't BELIEVE we didn't get to see that. That would have made the jump to Pandora so much more special. But more than that, it looks fucking awesome. Like a Mega-tropolis AKIRA style.
Click to expand...

Link?
 
Zoe Saldana is on Ellen right now (yeah fuck you, I have Ellen on while I'm working), the scene where
Jake says "Everything changed... I fell in love with the forest" and the betrayed Neytiri pushes him away
... fuck me, the quality and realism of the facial and character animation is actually way better than anything I've seen in any trailers or preview footage to date. I was just blown away, it looked amazing.

Cameron, you crazy bastard, you actually did it!
 
Scullibundo said:
Oh man, I just looked at the concept art for the future Earth that was cut. I can't BELIEVE we didn't get to see that. That would have made the jump to Pandora so much more special. But more than that, it looks fucking awesome. Like a Mega-tropolis AKIRA style.
Click to expand...

Does Avatar end in a way that this could be depicted in the sequel?
 
Gary Whitta said:
Zoe Salda is on Ellen right now (yeah fuck you, I have Ellen on while I'm working), the scene where
Jake says "Everything changed... I fell in love with the forest" and the betrayed Neytiri pushes him away
... fuck me, the quality and realism of the facial and character animation is actually way better than anything I've seen in any trailers or preview footage to date. I was just blown away, it looked amazing.

Cameron, you crazy bastard, you actually did it!
Click to expand...

See, I would never hurt Neytiri like he did. She deserves a real man
 
Please someone who has seen this film reassure me. This isnt Ferngully in space is it? Im pumped about the movie, but the trailers remind me of Ferngully=(
 
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