Avatar - the movie

Shawn R. L.

New member
I haven't seen it yet. Opinions from those who have? For a flick that cost almost half a BILLION I would hope I would go home younger, lighter and with a harem following me in hot pursuit!
 

Amazon warrior

New member
Saw the (3D) preview on Wednesday. The sub-text is ladled on so thick that it completely ceases to be sub-text, but the world itself is slickly realised and beautiful. Breath-taking scenery, cool beasties, glittery sex, what more do you want? :D

ETA: It's loooong! And I'm not convinced that the 3D in the cinema we went to was working properly. Maybe it had something to do with where we were sitting (more towards the front, and a bit to one side), and I wasn't feeling that well anyway, but the last half hour was a bit spoilt for me because I had really bad neck ache and a stabbing pain in my right temple. And I still enjoyed the last battle! I'm hoping to go see it again with the other half when I'm back in the UK.
 
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Fur Ball

Guest
Avatar

I had the pleasure of seeing it last night in 3D. It is visually stunning. Plus I love the fact that the 40K Imperial Guards showed up to add some authenticity to the movie. However it was hard to see everything that was coming at you in a regular 3D version, that an IMAX 3D version might be a little too much and you will miss a lot of the small details they added. For those of you who are excellent modelers you will get many ideas for scenery in this movie.
 

evil tendencies

Cake or Death?
I'll probably like it, but $500 Million? One of my favorite noirs cost about $20,000. Granted that was 59 years ago, but it's still being watched and taught two generations later.

Is Avatar anywhere near this good?
 

Ebonbuddha

Active member
The wife and I saw it today. I don't know what this '40K Imperial guard' nonsense is about. They weren't in this movie. Just because they are humans in space fighting doesn't mean they are tied into 40K. The special effects were awesome. I plan on seeing it again.
 
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Fizl

Secret Crocodile
I could define it as well made, beautiful but tooooooo long and dull.

I came out of the cinema with neckache

Shaz
 

funnymouth

Active member
the 300 million shows. id never seen a "new" 3D movie before, and i was amazed. while the core plot was fairly predictable, i really enjoyed all the side stories, and the world they created was jaw-dropping stunning. interestingly enough, the battle was one of my least favorite parts. i enjoyed the contrast between the two "worlds" more than the actual conflict. the detail was just incredible. total eye candy. i really suggest the #D thing too, that was neat. ill definitely be seeing alice in wonderland in 3D.....
 

Jubilee

New member
Usually, 3D leaves me feeling rather headachey, but I saw Avatar today in 3D anyway and did not end up with the usual headache - We saw it in a more upscale theater with super digital whatever and not the usual kind of disposable glasses, so that might have made a difference.

I thought it was an amazing and beautiful movie. Planning to see it again in a few days.
 

funnymouth

Active member
apparently cameron has plans to do another two films if this one does well (it is).
i wonder how long it will be until there is a miniatures line....
 

Infidel Castro

New member
Anyway, the trailers leave me cold. The CG looks utterly artificial and reminds me of Phantom Menace. If people want to make cartoons, then that's what they should do. This sort of stuff just reminds me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Pete's Dragon.

I'm hoping it's going to be worth watching, but my expectations are not high...


I said much the same to the missus yesterday: either animate ALL of it or leave it well alone...
 

skeeve

Member
Ok. IT was visually pretty stunning.. but, seriously, you are willing to spend half a billion to make a movie. You are doing it anyway... In the whole production cycle writing a good script is a minuscule fraction of total cost. Why was it so difficult to spend some time and actually write a decent script? "Pan Labyrinth" - comparable graphics, considerably cheaper and way, way better script - don't tell me that it is impossible to accomplish.
 

Ebonbuddha

Active member
The movie didn't cost half a billion. Cameron said so in an interview. It is an exaggeration of the total cost.
 
Keep in mind a good chunk of the movies cost was in development of new technology. Something they are going to sell/license out to anyone with the $$ for it. The new 3D technology will be used in many movies to come and with the fist 3D TV's coming in a year or so.. were going to see a lot of new 3D.

Ill probably see it next week.
 

mud duck

New member
Just got back for seeing this movie. Visually Eye Candy! The shading on the "Avatar" skins looks so much better then some of the previews that I've seen. At times is was hard (very) to tell where the makeup ended and the CG started.
Two parts that made me think. On the floating islands wheres the "water" coming from? And two, There's a animal trainer person listed in the credits? Was there any live animals on screen? May be for the sound effects I guess.

The really bad thing that kinda pisses me off is the, for lack of a better word, the parting shot theme of "industry bad, nature good." Or "anything that Mankind or big Corp touches goes to hell." and that the Military is a bunch of folks that care about nothing then to shoot people and blowing things up. We get it, we get it all ready! sigh....

Ok, I guess it is a retelling of the American Wild West from the Indians PoV. But still, Half of the Folks in the service that I've known would have thought twice or three times about the legality of some of the orders issued in this movie.

Over all I think that I give it a 10 for visual, a 8 or 9 for execution, 7 for acting, and a 5 or 6 for the plot.
 
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Shawn R. L.

New member
and with the fist 3D TV's coming in a year or so.. were going to see a lot of new 3D.

I hear there a lot of 3D video games coming out. CAN'T WAIT!!


@mud duck -
The animals could have been used for rotoscoping the creatures. Also, I hear Cameron has a VERY STRONG leftie bias and apparently pushes it with both hands in this flick.
 

Einion

New member
Man, I have to say it's indicative of the film that the thread had slipped to page 2 already!

So much less that I was hoping for, not that I know what I wanted but you know what I mean - I guess I was expected pacing, excitement, emotional involvement as well as kickass CGI.

<spoilers>

Instead we get an overly-long (it's actually boring in places) effects showcase where the effects actually aren't really that good and the central characters on the native side are sooo anthropomorphic it's just ridiculous, but on top of that they're supposed to be a clan and yet somehow the main characters are idiosyncratic enough that they don't seem to be closely related - you can tell they're voiced by specific racial types and, oddly, in some cases modelled differently to match. It just doesn't ring true.

Aesthetically I didn't care for the native tongue, just didn't grab me, in stark contrast to the proto-Egyptian in Stargate for example; even Klingon is better, despite being built up ad-hoc to a degree. It really sounds like Cameron might have designed it himself, without recourse to a linguist. Add that to the Smurf-blue skin and the sub-par animation (most of the dinos in Jurassic Park are honestly more convincing than the Na'vi) and I just couldn't connect for almost the entire film.

The CGI is wide in scope (the bulk of the movie is computer-generated) and much of the planet looks amazing, the vegetation in particular is a knockout, but as we're used to in CGI the technological stuff looks best although I didn't take to the design of much of the military hardware. It seemed a bit old-school and not that special considering we're talking in an era of interstellar travel.

Honourable mentions: Stephen Lang, um, acting circa The Hard Way? And as good as Worthington is at covering it, just like in T4 his Australian accent peeks through in places, particularly when he's shouting.

</spoilers>

But maybe it'll grow on me...

Einion
 
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