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Rottenwatch: AVATAR (82%)

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neoism said:
16x16_smiley-surprised.gif
thanks man!!:D

Better not to read it. Cameron is pulling stuff from it forward to Avatar 2.
 
jett said:
The Ass Age franchise is mad popular with foreign audiences. It's actually currently the second highest grossing picture of 2009.

Ice Age 3 in 3D was kinda fun though. It was the movie that turned around my hatred for three-dee. :P

I saw that movie with my nephews and really wanted to hate it because that Ray guy does the mammoths voice but man I actually found it quite entertaining.

Solo said:
Better not to read it. Cameron is pulling stuff from it forward to Avatar 2.

AH shit really?
 
I just saw Sherlock and it was my first 2D movie since seeing Avatar 5 times... I really am noticing how dull/flat 2D films are now. For action scenes... its just not the same. The movie was boring too, so that didn't help. I don't see it putting up much of a fight by this weekend.
 
Karma Kramer said:
I just saw Sherlock and it was my first 2D movie since seeing Avatar 5 times... I really am noticing how dull/flat 2D films are now. For action scenes... its just not the same. The movie was boring too, so that didn't help. I don't see it putting up much of a fight by this weekend.

Same here, 4 times seeing Avatar and then watched Holmes last night. Everyone who went with me is succumbing to what I'll call the 'Avatar effect', where you expect a movie to wow the fuck out of you after viewing. Holmes wasn't a bad movie by any means, but nothing specifically made it great except Downey Jr. My family had the same notion at the end of the movie.

My mother, being an acting coach, was talking how high the bar has been set with Avatar, and how much will be required to entertain someone enough to bring them to the cinema after seeing Avatar.
 
Has Cameron ever mentioned which 3d technology is the "best" way to see it? I remember reading that he did color grading with Real3D glasses, and I think had a Real3D booth on set.

Makes me wonder if I should watch it in Real3D next instead of seeing it again in LieMAX. The LieMAX sound was amazing though- you could actually feel air move when they were taking out Hometree- that's how powerful and loud the setup was.
 
Wendo said:
Has Cameron ever mentioned which 3d technology is the "best" way to see it? I remember reading that he did color grading with Real3D glasses, and I think had a Real3D booth on set.

Makes me wonder if I should watch it in Real3D next instead of seeing it again in LieMAX. The LieMAX sound was amazing though- you could actually feel air move when they were taking out Hometree- that's how powerful and loud the setup was.

I doubt he's gonna pick sides. Like you said though he graded the movie with RealD glasses...although in my experience Dolby3D had better colors. :P
 
Solo said:
Better not to read it. Cameron is pulling stuff from it forward to Avatar 2.
Fuck it, I have a bad memory I'll forgot most of it, by the time he makes it!:lol :lol Thanks for the warning!
 
y2dvd said:
If I had to choose between Imax and RealD, I'd go with Imax.

While Imax had a few ghosting issues, the pop-up effects stood out more and the sound is better. RealD had a consistently clearer picture but the pop-up weren't as obvious as the Imax to me even though I hear it should be the opposite. I guess that's good if 3D messes you up too much. Are all RealD in DLP? It's like going from standard to hi-def tv.
You forgot BIGASS SCREEN.

But, I'm a bit far from an IMAX. :(
 
Wendo said:
Has Cameron ever mentioned which 3d technology is the "best" way to see it? I remember reading that he did color grading with Real3D glasses, and I think had a Real3D booth on set.

Makes me wonder if I should watch it in Real3D next instead of seeing it again in LieMAX. The LieMAX sound was amazing though- you could actually feel air move when they were taking out Hometree- that's how powerful and loud the setup was.

There's been a few publicity photos during the release showings of him with fans at the AMC Burbank 16, Imax 3d Experience. I've seen it twice there thusfar. If you're anywhere near SoCal and like Avatar, you owe it to yourself to go there.
 
I just got back from seeing it for the 3rd time - still love it. I feel like it needs to be some extended period of time before I go back to it again though. I still get all emotional at the end when the bad guys start to go down.

I'm really looking forward to this on Blu-ray now, even if it means no more glorious 3D.
 
Hey, guys I'm sure you all mostly want a sequel, but you know watching this again. I kind of hope Cameron leaves it alone. It works, with it being a standalone film. I want one though! :( I haven't liked a movie as much as this sense the matrix, in 99!Not sure what to feel about it, I guess it's one of those "Too much of a good thing" feelings!
 
Giolon said:
I just got back from seeing it for the 3rd time - still love it. I feel like it needs to be some extended period of time before I go back to it again though. I still get all emotional at the end when the bad guys start to go down.

I'm really looking forward to this on Blu-ray now, even if it means no more glorious 3D.
Yeah, I thought 3d was soo stupid, of course that was coming from a person that had never watched a 3d film, in this magnitude! I'm sure 90% of it was this movie, but I don't want to ever watch a action/Sci-fi adventure movie useless it's in 3D, again, like the new National Treasure movie would be sooo much better in 3D, if they of course don't over do it! Also About the BD, I'm more interested the the making of stuff, I hope it has more stuff on their than the LOTR's DVD's
 
neoism said:
Hey, guys I'm sure you all mostly want a sequel, but you know watching this again. I kind of hope Cameron leaves it alone. It works, with it being a standalone film. I want one though! :( I haven't liked a movie as much as this sense the matrix, in 99!Not sure what to feel about it, I guess it's one of those "Too much of a good thing" feelings!
Cameron has proven himself in being able to make sequels with T2 and Aliens (though of course, the first one of that was not his). Of course, those were a long time ago, but I'm sure he's still got it! :D

There's no way this franchise will turn out anything like The Matrix as long as Cameron continues to remain in charge.
 
U K Narayan said:
Man, I know Saldana played Neytiri and all that jazz - but I still don't see any of Saldana's features in Neytiri. Maybe I'm crazy.
that's just crazy man
 
I'm going for IMAX tomorrow... in russian. I've already seen the movie but I'm excited about my very first IMAX experience (no imax theater in Paris but one in Moscow... yay)
 
UnluckyKate said:
I'm going for IMAX tomorrow... in russian. I've already seen the movie but I'm excited about my very first IMAX experience (no imax theater in Paris but one in Moscow... yay)

FWIW the Russian title is the best of the translations. ABATAP!
 
With my illiterate Russian. I'm reading " ETO HOBBIT MAP".

GET' YO hobbit map?!
 
Just saw it again...my friend loved it. Might go one more time before it's gone from the theater. Man it is fantastic.

Soundtrack, for the most part, sucks though. When I think of Total Recall I think of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score...can't say the same for Avatar. Phooey.
 
U K Narayan said:
Man, I know Saldana played Neytiri and all that jazz - but I still don't see any of Saldana's features in Neytiri. Maybe I'm crazy.
You should watch all her movies dude, shes one of the best actresses out there, I totally seen her in Neytiri, not only in vocie, but in her mannerisms/jesters. I didn't know sqwhat about this, I thought she was a going to be a human, in the movie!
 
chubigans said:
Just saw it again...my friend loved it. Might go one more time before it's gone from the theater. Man it is fantastic.

Soundtrack, for the most part, sucks though. When I think of Total Recall I think of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score...can't say the same for Avatar. Phooey.

To my knowledge James Horner has written a good score in several years. The Avatar score was as shitty as his Troy score (even seemed to have the same woman wailing at one point). At least he had an excuse why the Troy score sucked so much.
 
chubigans said:
Just saw it again...my friend loved it. Might go one more time before it's gone from the theater. Man it is fantastic.

Soundtrack, for the most part, sucks though. When I think of Total Recall I think of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score...can't say the same for Avatar. Phooey.
I thought the same.. at first. but I'm listening to it right now, and I loooove it, the only probably with it is it should have had character themes.
 
chubigans said:
Just saw it again...my friend loved it. Might go one more time before it's gone from the theater. Man it is fantastic.

Soundtrack, for the most part, sucks though. When I think of Total Recall I think of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score...can't say the same for Avatar. Phooey.

Agreed. This was a big disappointment for me. An epic movie like this needs an epic and memorable soundtrack.
 
Saw this at the IMAX over the weekend.

I wonder what the difference is between seeing this in the normal theaters (with Real3D) and seeing this at the max? Well, besides the large max screen that makes you look around rather than look strait ahead?
 
I love the Avatar soundtrack. The tribal sounds and the voices suit the picture perfectly. Every time I see the film, the soundtrack only gets better. I don't really understand what the complaints about it are.
 
Epcott said:
Saw this at the IMAX over the weekend.

I wonder what the difference is between seeing this in the normal theaters (with Real3D) and seeing this at the max? Well, besides the large max screen that makes you look around rather than look strait ahead?

Real3D:
Better picture quality
No jitter
No blur

The only downside is the IMAX theaters have better sound than the normal sized screens with Real3D.

Bottom line: Real3D is vastly superior.
 
I really warmed up to the soundtrack the second time around. It doesn't have those themes that jump out and make you leave the theater humming them, but it's mostly beautiful and often rousing stuff that underscores the movie without attracting attention to itself.

Except for that "Eywa hears you" cue that Sculi was going on about. I was listening for it the second time around after his ranting, and holy shit did I hear it. Bad action movie cliche cavalry charge stuff.

Rest of the score though, is beautiful.
 
I just saw this for the second time. What was really weird was that, upon second viewing, I feel like the characters are much less one-dimensional than they appear on the surface. The movie doesn't take the time to talk about them much, but filling in the blanks, some of their motivations become a little more clear and understandable (Quarritch especially). Anybody else have that feeling?
 
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I just saw this for the second time. What was really weird was that, upon second viewing, I feel like the characters are much less one-dimensional than they appear on the surface. The movie doesn't take the time to talk about them much, but filling in the blanks, some of their motivations become a little more clear and understandable (Quarritch especially). Anybody else have that feeling?

Quaritch is definitely not the one-note villain many are claiming he is.
 
Count Dookkake said:
Quaritch is definitely not the one-note villain many are claiming he is.
Yeah, it is very very subtle (which is why it flies over most people's heads), but you can tell there's much more to Quaritch than how he noramlly portrays himself on the surface. Same with Selfridge, but as we know from the B-roll footage, both characters had scenes filmed to show these deeper characteristics in more obvious light, but unfortunately they were cut.
 
Tricky I Shadow said:
So it has a pretty good chance at winning best picture at the Oscars? Awesome! I'm glad you and me agree...

I love the movie. A lot. Let's not kid ourselves, however. It's not going to win Best Picture and it's not going to earn $1.8+ billion at the box office.
 
I saw Selfridge as being stuck smack in the middle between Quaritch and Grace; his job was to deliver on the bottom line, and he'd do it, but he wasn't happy about Quaritch methods. You can see that in the movie in his actions, giving Jake several months, and then that last-ditch chance to bail the Na'vi out. He was being bullied along by Quaritch and driven by his job, but was trying to minimize the fallout. I found him even a little sympathetic.

That one scene from the b-roll would have helped flesh out both he and Quaritch a great deal.
Defcon said:
I love the movie. A lot. Let's not kid ourselves, however. It's not going to win Best Picture and it's not going to earn $1.8+ billion at the box office.
$624m in 10 days. Even assuming steep drops from here on out, it's going to get close.
 
Hahaha! Just read this on IMDB:

"Near the ending of the movie, after the Na'vi have taken over the base, when they are marching the human military back onto the cargo planes to leave they are not wearing any masks to protect them from the air."

I totally missed that. Apparently Cameron did too! :lol
 
What scenes or clues in the movie add to the antagonists' dimensionality?

After consuming the extra stuff I don't have the same distaste for those characters' stereotypes as much as I did, but still - I shouldn't have to read a whole bunch of other stuff to get character development that should have been in the movie.

I could sacrifice an action set piece or two for more narrative.
 
Wendo said:
Hahaha! Just read this on IMDB:

"Near the ending of the movie, after the Na'vi have taken over the base, when they are marching the human military back onto the cargo planes to leave they are not wearing any masks to protect them from the air."

I totally missed that. Apparently Cameron did too! :lol
I'm pretty sure parker had on a mask
 
Wendo said:
Hahaha! Just read this on IMDB:

"Near the ending of the movie, after the Na'vi have taken over the base, when they are marching the human military back onto the cargo planes to leave they are not wearing any masks to protect them from the air."

I totally missed that. Apparently Cameron did too! :lol

I'm pretty sure they were all wearing masks.

Like 100% sure.
 
Just came back from seeing it the first time. Having not followed any pre-release hype and being extremely cynical of the whole package, I must admit I'm an Avatar convert. The giant blue cat people aspect bothered me during the first hour or so, especially when Grace's avatar appeared with a goddamn Stanford tanktop on. By the end they seemed natural which is a testament to the flawless CG, although the quasi-sex scene was a little discomforting. I'm not sure why Cameron (or whoever) decided to apply stereotypical African tribal wardrobe and body modification to the Na'vi people. That's really my only gripe with the character design. Sticks through nose, gauge earrings, hoops around the neck. I'm surprised I didn't see any plates in lips. In a movie with such gorgeous and unique environment designs it seems a little cheap to apply standard real world imagery to a completely alien society.

The sentimental Jake-as-Avatar scenes went on a little too long.
There was a point in his dramatic speech by the tree (after he lands the red dragon thing) where I thought his message peaked with intensity yet the scene refused to end for another 30 seconds. When Jake knelt in front of the purple tree and started pleading to it before the final fight, I felt like Cameron was just being gratuitous. Yeah, you need it for story reasons but after 2+ hours I don't need to see more slow paced dialogue between Jake and his girlfriend.

I went in with zero expectations and left thinking it might be my most enjoyed film of the year.

Pandora looks like a chill place to live. I want to live there.
 
Count Dookkake said:
Quaritch is definitely not the one-note villain many are claiming he is.

What I realized is that unlike the other marines, he's not necessarily doing what he does because he loves to fight; he's not a "GET SOME!" kind of guy. He drinks coffee during the raid because to him, that's all just a job. He's a military man; he's trained to do what he's told without letting the consequences affect him too deeply. Even still, I feel like there's a slight hesitation after he destroys Hometree; it's almost imperceptible, but it's there.

What I realized about him is that he has very specific traits that all come together at the end; it doesn't really make sense at first glance that he just continues killing for no particular reason even after the Dragon is destroyed, but when you take into account his value system, things come together a little more clearly. For one, he is a man that values loyalty; he makes a point of noting that he 'takes care of his own.' Thus, when Jake turns on the humans, he is committing a cardinal sin according to Quarritch's value set. In addition, if typical corporate bureaucracy is any indication, it probably took a lot of work/lobbying on his part to get the funding for Jake's surgery secured; Jake basically spits in his face, making him ungrateful. Finally, because Quarritch is a military man, he would certainly view allegiance in a very black and white way; after all, what would our reaction be to somebody that turned traitor against his own country? We know, as outsiders, that RDA is not a country and thus does not deserve that kind of loyalty, but in Quarritch's position as a commander, he has to have that level of loyalty in order to be at all effective. Thus, in his mind, Jake is somebody deserving of utmost scorn. In the end, then, it makes sense that he would just go on a rampage and try to kill Jake; he is a military man, making fighting and killing the thing that he knows best, and in his mind, Jake would definitely be somebody that deserves death for what he's done.
 
Idk... I think Quaritch comes across as one dimensional because thats how military today comes across. He is a symbol for it, and although deep down he has passion/love, his determination to help his race/team clouds it. He shows no hesitation with his actions.
 
Defcon said:
I love the movie. A lot. Let's not kid ourselves, however. It's not going to win Best Picture and it's not going to earn $1.8+ billion at the box office.

I’m leaning towards it not winning best picture at the Oscars, but why exactly are people saying this doesn’t have a chance at surpassing Titanic? WHY?

Titanic was a box-office freak, and guess what? AVATAR is too! Unless something goes horribly wrong why is it hard to believe that it might top Titanic?
 
kylej said:
Just came back from seeing it the first time. Having not followed any pre-release hype and being extremely cynical of the whole package, I must admit I'm an Avatar convert. The giant blue cat people aspect bothered me during the first hour or so, especially when Grace's avatar appeared with a goddamn Stanford tanktop on. By the end they seemed natural which is a testament to the flawless CG, although the quasi-sex scene was a little discomforting. I'm not sure why Cameron (or whoever) decided to apply stereotypical African tribal wardrobe and body modification to the Na'vi people. That's really my only gripe with the character design. Sticks through nose, gauge earrings, hoops around the neck. I'm surprised I didn't see any plates in lips. In a movie with such gorgeous and unique environment designs it seems a little cheap to apply standard real world imagery to a completely alien society.

The sentimental Jake-as-Avatar scenes went on a little too long.
There was a point in his dramatic speech by the tree (after he lands the red dragon thing) where I thought his message peaked with intensity yet the scene refused to end for another 30 seconds. When Jake knelt in front of the purple tree and started pleading to it before the final fight, I felt like Cameron was just being gratuitous. Yeah, you need it for story reasons but after 2+ hours I don't need to see more slow paced dialogue between Jake and his girlfriend.

I went in with zero expectations and left thinking it might be my most enjoyed film of the year.

Pandora looks like a chill place to live. I want to live there.
He didn't cheapen the Na'Vi by making them African, because that was the point; hell, the language they use is like four or five African languages smooshed together, isn't it? The point is -- nature is awesome, human greed sucks, and we need to stop fucking over Africa.
 
I also realized that in a roundabout sort of way, there is a parallel between Jake and Neytiri. Jake's brother is killed in a robbery, and Neytiri's father is killed for the money to be obtained by the unobtainium. Both of them, then, lose family members as a result of greed.

That Jake's brother was killed for his money also sets up Jake's turn at the end.
 
ZephyrFate said:
He didn't cheapen the Na'Vi by making them African, because that was the point; hell, the language they use is like four or five African languages smooshed together, isn't it? The point is -- nature is awesome, human greed sucks, and we need to stop fucking over Africa.
I don't think the message was specific to Africa, as there were certainly Native American influences as well (and a mix of African/African-American and Native American actors). It was more a blend of several different cultures meant to emphasize the universal aspects human behavior.
 
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