Avatar

[Super Dude]

In my own defense, I was skeptical about all the hype-building.  Then I decided on my own time to look up a trailer on YouTube, and that's what convinced me that I needed to see this movie.

As for your point about Cameron knowing how to tell a story with CGI better than Lucas, I absolutely agree.  In a way, I feel like Cameron used the CGI as a vehicle for telling this story he really wanted to tell; Lucas used the story as a vehicle for CGI technology that he really wanted to show off, and as a fan pleaser (not that I feel like anyone except us new-generation Star Wars fans really gave a shit about Anakin).

[Jamesman42]

I read an interview with Cameron that he knew a lot of people were building the ultimate Avatar movie in their minds, and he felt that they would be let down with their unrealistic expectations and should just watch the movie.

[Dimitrius]

I don't understand your gripes about the acting; I think they did just fine.  Then again, I am a Michelle Rodriguez fanboy.

I hate the fact she rarely gets to live in movies, and even TV shows.

It's like she makes a clause when she signs on projects: "My character has to die!! OK?!?!"

[TL]

I have absolutely no desire to see this movie. It looks like a three hour CGI wankfest.

Then why did you see it? You decided you didn't want to like the movie before you saw it, that's why it didn't work on you.

Because otherwise people give the usual bullshit line of "You can't really criticize it if you haven't seen it".
To be fair, I paid for a ticket to a different movie, so I didn't actually support it. Immoral? Maybe, but the theater gets the same cut either way (actually, they get more, because their cut increases the longer a movie is out).

I went in as unbiased as possible. There have been other films I thought I was going to hate that were actually good, and there have been films I thought I'd love that let me down. I always judge a film on its merits, not a preconceived impression.
With this film, I went in willing to give it a chance, and it was just rubbish.

[ReaPsTA]

I have absolutely no desire to see this movie. It looks like a three hour CGI wankfest.

Then why did you see it? You decided you didn't want to like the movie before you saw it, that's why it didn't work on you.

Give TL credit for doing something intellectually honest by actually seeing the movie he's criticizing.

[progmonster]

I have absolutely no desire to see this movie. It looks like a three hour CGI wankfest.

Then why did you see it? You decided you didn't want to like the movie before you saw it, that's why it didn't work on you.

Give TL credit for doing something intellectually honest by actually seeing the movie he's criticizing.

Exactly. I plan on doing the same sometime soon. It's not fair for me to critique a film based solely on footage found online and it trailers (which is what I've been doing). That's the marketing department's fault, not Cameron's.

[shadowfex]

Hell, you will never get 100% unanimity on deciding whether a movie is awesome. I know plenty of people that didn't enjoy it.

[Chino]

So I got back from my 4th viewing a few minutes ago. I have concluded that I am now going to be forever depressed that I will never live in a place like Pandora.



One thing that hit me while watching it. The flouting mountains or whatever they are called.... are they made out of that unobtanium rock and float because of the magnetic flux created by the tree of souls?

[Arcaeus]

One thing that hit me while watching it. The flouting mountains or whatever they are called.... are they made out of that unobtanium rock and float because of the magnetic flux created by the tree of souls?

Yep. According to a wiki I read, at least.

[Chino]

I don't think that I would mind watching a Na'vi porno.

[Arcaeus]

[Super Dude]

[Dimitrius]

lolqué?

[Chino]

Yes, I love nothing more than to attack things that garner positive critical reception. Oh wait, no, I just dislike Avatar because it's literally ripping off its plot from an earlier film (not basing it on something, not referencing, but outright ripping off) and counting on CGI wank to get people into the theater.

Seriously, that's probably my biggest problem with it. It's depending on people going all "ooh, purty!" at the fucking CGI, rather than counting on good writing or dialog. This is the kind of thing that is ruining modern cinema as we know it.

You don't know what the hell you are talking about. The thing that makes this movie so outstanding is that by the end of the movie your forget that Pandora is not a real place. It is so beautiful and lifelike you forget that you are even looking at CGI. If anything, this movie has regained my confidence in modern cinema.

[zepp-head]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

[faemir]

It's depending on people going all "ooh, purty!" at the fucking CGI, rather than counting on good writing or dialog. This is the kind of thing that is ruining modern cinema as we know it.

There is a difference between "cgi wank" and the most comprehensive, astounding, realistic, unique looking world that has even been made in film.

It's like saying that 2012 and Avatar are one and the same, when they clearly are not.

[Super Dude]

It was 2012 that relied on cheap theatrics and petty attempts at pulling heartstrings.  That movie made me sick.

[Dimitrius]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

[zepp-head]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man. 

[faemir]

I'm really liking the OST for Avatar, having not heard James Horner's work before. I like how the movie allowed for a lot of quiet, more subtle stuff compared to my usual affair of Pirates of the Caribbean / Lord of the Rings etc

[Dimitrius]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man. 

That's why it was so bad, he tried to cash-in! Lucas had 20+ years betwen RotJ and TPM and still made Jar Jar Binks!

[Chino]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man. 

That's why it was so bad, he tried to cash-in! Lucas had 20+ years betwen RotJ and TPM and still made Jar Jar Binks!

Cameron did Spiderman?

[Dimitrius]

He did a script for it.

[Super Dude]

I'm really liking the OST for Avatar, having not heard James Horner's work before. I like how the movie allowed for a lot of quiet, more subtle stuff compared to my usual affair of Pirates of the Caribbean / Lord of the Rings etc

That's something I noticed as well and it pleased me.  I hate how movies these days try to have a minute of music for every minute of footage.  Silence is good sometimes too.

[zepp-head]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man.  

That's why it was so bad, he tried to cash-in! Lucas had 20+ years betwen RotJ and TPM and still made Jar Jar Binks!

If we're being technical, there aren't twenty years between Jedi and The Phantom Menace.  My point was that he didn't write the story in a day in order to win a screenplay contest.  The only thing your post is faulting him for is having the means to make his own movie since Cameron couldn't.  The criticism of Jar Jar is pretty overplayed, especially at this point in time. I realize it would just open up a debate if I mentioned how good The Phantom Menace turned out to be, but despite popular belief, none of the prequels received overall bad reviews (in fact, all of them have a higher average score than Return of the Jedi).  That's something I doubt Cameron's Spider-Man would have, especially considering his casting choice for Professor Octopus was Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

[Super Dude]

Good screenwriters can write awful scripts, and sometimes awful screenwriters can shit gold.  The unreleased Spiderman script aside, remember that Cameron wrote the Terminator series, Aliens, and Titanic.  Lucas may have come up with the Star Wars series, but he's also the brainchild of THX 1138, Willow, and Howard the Duck.

[Dimitrius]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man.  

That's why it was so bad, he tried to cash-in! Lucas had 20+ years betwen RotJ and TPM and still made Jar Jar Binks!

If we're being technical, there aren't twenty years between Jedi and The Phantom Menace.  My point was that he didn't write the story in a day in order to win a screenplay contest.  The only thing your post is faulting him for is having the means to make his own movie since Cameron couldn't.  The criticism of Jar Jar is pretty overplayed, especially at this point in time. I realize it would just open up a debate if I mentioned how good The Phantom Menace turned out to be, but despite popular belief, none of the prequels received overall bad reviews (in fact, all of them have a higher average score than Return of the Jedi).  That's something I doubt Cameron's Spider-Man would have, especially considering his casting choice for Professor Octopus was Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

Okey Dokey!!

Why so serious?

My post were in a joking manner, though Jar Jar is still a bad character. And I love the prequels as much as the sequels in Star Wars. Yeah, I kinda exaggerated there on the years, he had more like 16.

[Super Dude]

The first draft of a Phantom Menace script was written in '94, so actually only eleven years passed.

[faemir]

SO ITS A GOOD FILM RIGHT

/repairs the rails of the thread

[Chino]

SO ITS A GOOD FILM RIGHT

/repairs the rails of the thread

The best film ever. This is the conclusion I have come to.

[Dimitrius]

The first draft of a Phantom Menace script was written in '94, so actually only eleven years passed.

I was talking in release dates.

[faemir]

SO ITS A GOOD FILM RIGHT

/repairs the rails of the thread

The best film ever. This is the conclusion I have come to.

I still prefer Donnie Darko, but even I don't know why I love that film so much.

I haven't made my mind up if I prefer LotR yet either.

[zepp-head]

Oh how any movie thread can quickly become anti-Lucas.    Even though Lucas never wrote anything in the same building as bad as Cameron's Spider-Man.  Overall, he's a better story teller in my opinion.

I'm gonna try to make it to a showing today.

Difference being that Cameron never made that Spider-Man and Lucas made Jar Jar Binks.

Oh but he tried.  The only thing to Cameron's credit on that one is that it never got green-lit.  He wrote it in a matter of days as a complete cash-in.  Jar Jar > Cameron's Spider-Man.  

That's why it was so bad, he tried to cash-in! Lucas had 20+ years betwen RotJ and TPM and still made Jar Jar Binks!

If we're being technical, there aren't twenty years between Jedi and The Phantom Menace.  My point was that he didn't write the story in a day in order to win a screenplay contest.  The only thing your post is faulting him for is having the means to make his own movie since Cameron couldn't.  The criticism of Jar Jar is pretty overplayed, especially at this point in time. I realize it would just open up a debate if I mentioned how good The Phantom Menace turned out to be, but despite popular belief, none of the prequels received overall bad reviews (in fact, all of them have a higher average score than Return of the Jedi).  That's something I doubt Cameron's Spider-Man would have, especially considering his casting choice for Professor Octopus was Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

Okey Dokey!!

Why so serious?

My post were in a joking manner, though Jar Jar is still a bad character. And I love the prequels as much as the sequels in Star Wars. Yeah, I kinda exaggerated there on the years, he had more like 16.

Fair enough.  I didn't intend to be overly serious either, but I have a knee jerk reaction when it comes to the subject, so I apologize if I came off strong.  On that note, the only movie of his that I've seen that I can honestly say is bad is Howard the Duck.

[Super Dude]

Then clearly you've never seen Willow or THX 1138.   I honestly can't say which is worse; they're both utterly shit.

[Scurvy!Dreams]

SO ITS A GOOD FILM RIGHT

/repairs the rails of the thread

The best film ever. This is the conclusion I have come to.

You're completely deluded. I really enjoyed it, as it was a great time at the movies, and the technical achievement is amazing. But there are soooo many problems with the plot, characters and dialogue it's not even funny.