Avatar {2009}

[mrbasehart]

You know it has taken a while but i think we have finally found our new Isaac. 

Didn't one of the mods suggest calling someone Isaac should be a ban-able offense?

Aliens is my third favourite Alien movie (waaaaaaaaaaaaaay after Alien and slightly after Alien 3) and I don't agree with you either.


Just saw this, loved it.  During production I was thinking this would have an issue similar to 'Chinese Democracy' where people would be so caught up in the cost and time they couldn't see past it however anyone watching Avatar thinking "is that it" needs to re-examine themselves.  Sure it's overlong, clunky at times and self-indulgent but it's a James Cameron movie so I expect those things.  I'll definately be seeing this again on the big screen because I know watching it at home will lose a LOT of the impact.

Did you see it in 2d or 3d?

3D

How was it? The 3d, I mean. 

[ScottotD]

You know it has taken a while but i think we have finally found our new Isaac. 

Didn't one of the mods suggest calling someone Isaac should be a ban-able offense?

Aliens is my third favourite Alien movie (waaaaaaaaaaaaaay after Alien and slightly after Alien 3) and I don't agree with you either.


Just saw this, loved it.  During production I was thinking this would have an issue similar to 'Chinese Democracy' where people would be so caught up in the cost and time they couldn't see past it however anyone watching Avatar thinking "is that it" needs to re-examine themselves.  Sure it's overlong, clunky at times and self-indulgent but it's a James Cameron movie so I expect those things.  I'll definately be seeing this again on the big screen because I know watching it at home will lose a LOT of the impact.

Did you see it in 2d or 3d?

3D

How was it? The 3d, I mean. 

Amazing, it's the best use of 3D I've ever seen.  It feels like an immersive enviroment as opposed to a pop-up book and they use it to establish depth of field in some beautiful ways.

[Relaxing Dragon]

Went to the midnight show last night (IMAX 3D, naturally). Visually speaking, this film meets the hype and then some. The world of Pandora is a complete feast for the eyes, with all the critters and plants and whatnot brought completely to life. Looked downright photoreal, even. And while I don't care much for the design of the Na'vi (I think it's the face that throws me), they all looked pretty damn good as well. Only slightly toony every now and again, and there's even scenes where they look more real than the human actors next to them. The action sequences were pretty thrilling, possibly because there wasn't any shaky-cam in the movie at all, so you could always see exactly what was going on. Which is good, since you don't want to piss a second of these visuals. Seriously, damn.

Character and story wise, though, the film is nothing really extraordinary. The plot's all well and good, even if you know what's going to happen by about the halfway point, or earlier (this film has some of the most obvious foreshadowing I've seen in a while). The whole Native American vs. the white Man thing gets a little old after a while, but at least it keeps things moving. Besides the four or so main characters (if which Stephen Lang's Colonel Quaritch is easily the most interesting and enjoyable to watch. That's a memorable villain right there, no question), the background players don't get nearly enough attention to make us care about them, which makes the inevitable death of a few of them feel pretty light. There weren't many good one-liners even, with a lot of the dialogue feeling either generic or hammy (laughably hammy on several occasions). Still, it's all enjoyable enough, and the kick-ass final battle makes up for a lot of down-time.

Also, am I the only one who didn't really notice the 3D? I guess that's what it means by 'immersive', but it just seemed really high-definition to me. I'll have a better idea of how things stand after I see it in 2D. It's a pretty good movie, definitely worth watching, even if it doesn't reach the Classic status of Cameron's other films.

Also, this is the second film in a row where Cameron has taken a very large object and had it slowly topple over and crush a crowd of people below. Here's hoping he finds a way to shoehorn that into every movie he makes from now on.

[Doctor Who?]

Well it sounds like it is what I was ecpecting.  A fun action movie that looks good in 3D.   I am looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Saw Cameron on Charlie Rose last night and the clips looked really good.

Cameron may have also give a little bit of the ending away but...oh, well.   

[Doctor Who?]

That is why i don't watch interviews about or read reviews of movies I plan on seeing.  I like not knowing what is going to happen.  Really as long as this movie has lot of action and good use of 3D I will be happy.  So what if it is a little preachy,every Sci-Fi movie is.

[TeamRAD]

Who's ready for Blue Friday?

Hear, hear!

I prefer Blue Monday.

I prefer "Bizarre Love Triangle".

"True Faith" for me, please... 

Prefer Love Will Tear Us Apart myself...

- .25 points for being a Joy Division cover.   



Here I thought going into it, the first 100 minutes were going to be laborious, not a chance. I found myself lost on so many occasions with just how striking Pandora and the 3D was. My mouth was agape plenty leading up to the inevitable action sequences for which are incredible. The aerial battle in the final act...goddamn!

And there were many applause when the end credits rolled, and most deservedly so. I never doubted Jim and cannot imagine seeing this in any other format than in 3D at the theater. Visually, it's to die for.

I'll be taking another trip to Pandora next week when my semester ends.   

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Who's ready for Blue Friday?

Hear, hear!

I prefer Blue Monday.

I prefer "Bizarre Love Triangle".

"True Faith" for me, please... 

Prefer Love Will Tear Us Apart myself...

- .25 points for being a Joy Division cover.

Thought that New Order was what Joy Division became after one of the band members committed suicide...?  Can a band "cover" it's own song?

[Tripe]

- .25 points for being a Joy Division cover.   

Wait, really? Did New Order cover their own work from when they had Ian Curtis on lead?

If so I have to hear it all New Ordered up

EDIT: Ok did that, wow Bernard's no Ian is he? 

[TeamRAD]

- .25 points for being a Joy Division cover.   

Wait, really? Did New Order cover their own work from when they had Ian Curtis on lead?

If so I have to hear it all New Ordered up

EDIT: Ok did that, wow Bernard's no Ian is he? 

...hahaha. 

I only deducted a quarter of a point! 

[bar1scorpio]

Never before has something so beautiful been so boring; so don't bother.

Like a blitzed bottle blonde bimbo at a bar, banal booty begging for attention.  Been there, done better.

Save your money, and buy a used copy on DVD (or just download it) to play alongside the inevitable RiffTrax. 

I already envision jokes references to Pocahontas... "Have you ever heard Tu'Rok cry at this Blue tall Goon?"  or Peter Pan "What makes the blue man blue?"  Princess Twilek Lilly... ah... "Hey, the ground lights up when I step on it! This whole planet's just a big DDR machine!" "What the hell are you doing with your lips?  It's called, 'kissing'... Well don't, you kinky freak.  Now grab me by the tail and loop your tentacle around mine and..."  "Half human, half Na'Vi... he's susceptible to the STDs of two worlds!"  "They scarred my beautiful faaaaaace!"

Particularly idiotic are a calvary charge, with bows & arrows and war pain and feathers & whoopin' & hollerin'... into machineguns.  At that point, the Na'vi prove that they are, sadly, an evolutionary dead end.

Yeah, and you let the surviving human villains just get on their high tech spaceship, and fly off to "Their doomed world".  It's not like they're gonna "Lift off, nuke the site from orbit.".. that'd be something the Marines do in a James Cameron film...

[bar1scorpio]

"You know, a lesser snarker would make the comment about Sully's lake of Loincloth bulge... but I'm not the one who's gonna do it..."

"Look at their big, multiple yellow eyes!  Betcha the three stooges could just go to town on these guys..."

"Look lady; so far everything on this planet has tried to kill me; I don't give a crap if they're dandelions.  Given my luck I'm probably allergic to them or something."

[bettertomorrowamy]

So you did or didn't like it?

[RoninFox]

So you did or didn't like it?

Not sure if you'll get an answer.  He's already doubled his per-year average post count.

[bar1scorpio]

Probably gotta say I didn't like it.  Or at least, was not impressed.  It's not the game changer that a lot of the reviewers (well, at least any reviewer who does not own an XBox 360...) are calling it.

Unjustified hype.  Really, the only reason why I think it's okay, though not worth full movie price, is because it's only been 10 years since his last film, and not 20.  If he'd have gone 20 years, you'd have had the full bore Phantom Menace lineups return, and the same disappointment-based fallout afterwards.  This is just... "meh".