Avatar - the movie

[evil tendencies]

Dr. Paul Frommer, a University of Southern California linguistics professor, actually made the Na'vi language with Cameron's help. The Christian Science Monitor did a piece on him a week or so back, but I can't find it. It might not sound great (I'm not a fan), but it was actually designed by a linguist.

 

[freakinacage]

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

not for me! i upped the number of posts per page

havent read the rest of your post cos i dont want the spoilers

 

[Ocelot]

I thought it was brilliant, the best film i have ever seen by quite a large margin!

The characters were good (I didn't dislike a single one)
The acting was great! The Na'vi actors portrayed the Na'vi really well, I instantly recognised that they were not human by the way the actors acted (and because they were blue)
The story wasn't particularly different, but hey, I didn't mind one bit.
The CGI was kickass, compare that to films a couple of years ago and CGI has come along leaps and bounds

I think the length of the film had to be there to adequatly give the story justice. It would have had to be shortened to having lots of montages if the film was 2 hours or something.

Avatar is also a film which I have found to appeal to both sexes in different ways (I'll try not to give anything away), it has action in for the lads and a powerful love story for the lasses. The love story also blasts Twilight out of the water in my opinion!

So if anyone is reading this and hasn't watched Avatar, do it because I'm certain you won't regret it.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting much from the story and it was pretty much the bad corporation/governmnet vs the natives. People are reading comparisons to iraq yada yada. Stories like this have been told forever, Cameron has been working on this for well over a decade - its a fucking movie people let go.

As to the CGI there was only a couple of moments that felt a bit unnatural to me and that was when Sully first went into his Avatar body and one other that I wont say for the benifit of those who haven't seen it yet. Other than that Ididn't notice the CGI at all really.

I DID notice the 3D and not in a bad way. The world was alive for me in a way I haven't seen in any other movie. From the heights of the cliffs to things floating by right in front of your eyes I felt immersed in the movie.

I didn't think the movie was long, really didn't notice the time gone by.
I am not going to say you will like it, this thread will say otherwise. But I think you should do yourself the favour of seeing it in al it's glory and make up your own mind.

 

[Ocelot]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I'd suggest you need to watch more movies....

I've seen a lot of movies, I'm just trying to give the other side of the spectrum regarding Avatar. Because it seems that the people posting on this site don't like it, which could cause people not to watch it when they may enjoy it as much as I did.

Hippie, treehugging bollocks? Well, it's an alien world. if it was like earth then it would be bloody boring and like countless other movies.

Maybe people don't like Avatar because of the story or because of national pride? I could understand if people made excuses why the film was crap because they did not like watching the Marines getting beaten. it would be a silly reason to dislike a film, but i think it has clouded some people's judgements.

 

[Niall]

I thought it was a truly awesome film! I took it as a piss take of native-indians/vietnam/iraq war with the gung ho American soldiers. I don't understand why people think the CGI was bad...firstly do better yourself and secondly Alien was just a load of puppets that you could easily tell from a mile off was fake. The blue folk looked real to me anyway.


[spoilers below - but really you shouldn't be reading this thread if you havn't seen it :silly:]


I read how people were somehow disapointed with the storyline but I was not. I really didn't want any of the Avatars or na'vi to die as I connected to them as the audience. It was my first cinema 3D experience as well and blimey it is a brilliant experience. There was one type cast character and its the Mexican helicopter pilot whos name is Rodriguez or Vasquez but she didn't play a major part and apart from shouting a few funny lines, "you ain't the only one in the sky with a gun, bitch", she wasn't that annoying!

inb4 'go see better films lolz'. I have seen all of Cameron's other films and I like them but don't crisis over them too much. I take each film as a seperate entity and don't try to compare Avatar to Sherlock Holmes or an epic French love story for example.

@ Spacemunkie, that video is good put it hardly looks real does it. The video game and film industry pumps millions into turning that kind of CGI into stuff which looks real, that is where the huge budget came from.

 

[Elly3438]

I have yet to see it, but I had an immediate negative reaction to the trailers, as I just think the natives look plain cheesy, and the CGI still hasn't gotten to the point of realistic and convincing (despite the massive funding)
I am a little tired of stories where the natives fight back and can actually fight against forces with superior technology. It's like when playing Civ 4, and you attack a city with spearmen with your unit of tanks, and somehow they get wiped out by SPEARMEN. I'll still see this movie, but my expectations are very low....

 

[Einion]

I don't understand why people think the CGI was bad...firstly do better yourself...

:disdain: So you never criticise a bad kick in footie, or a pitch in baseball, some bad driving in motor racing, or a bad bit of acting in a movie?

It's a classic no-thought retort to say one can't or shouldn't criticise unless you can do better yourself, if we took this seriously then there'd be damned few restaurant reviewers or theatre/art/ballet/movie critics or sports pundits; and despite the certainty that most of the people in those professions actually couldn't do better than those they criticise they can of course provide valuable insights.

And think about it, maybe half of the members here would be 'allowed' to comment on submitted figures :wink:

Einion

 

[DrEvilmonki]

Perhaps the difference is at least partly based on expectation. I did not expect it to be any good at all - not just average but actively thinking I would resent forking out $15 to see it.

I actually agree with spaemunkie about the cardboard cutout characters for the most part. On the other hand I didn't see any particular issue with any of the creatures other than the "horses". I mean none of them were overly original but the idea of having the organic linking was an ok one I felt. The tribal memory actuall reminded me of the piggies in Orson Scott Cards Xenocide story.

 

[DrEvilmonki]

and I would still like to see Enders Game put onto the big scgreen (well sort of - always the trepidation that they cock it up completely).

I have to say that to a degree my expectations of movies goes down with the budget spent. In general the only people that get to have such budgets are the ones that pander to the lowest common denominator.

 

[funnymouth]

It also contains a load of hippie, treehugging bollocks ....

i find this statement to be mildly offensive. it verges on political flaming. in the future, please use less derogatory terminology, as we don't all share your (e.g. "heartless, piggishly greedy, bullshit") opinions.

 

[Dedwrekka]

Just saw it tonight, amazing movie. It had a good plot with very very smooth exposition running through the whole movie.

The paralells between it and Dances with Wolves are obvious though (they even used a couple of the same actors).

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I'd suggest you need to watch more movies....

CG effects are 'easily' produced these days, can't see what the fascination is personally. This was made on a budget of 300 bucks:

No offense, but it shows. Using Handheld cameras is a trick to make CGI look more realistic, but it still shows.
Firefly! Now that had good CGI! But they still used odd shots to give it a more lifelike feel to it.
That looks like someone took animations out of Fallout (on low settings) and tossed it on top of shot video.

The fact is that while everyone is looking at the Na'vi and saying "Obvious special effects!" they're not noticing how much of everything else in that movie was CGI as well.

Besides, people and living, moving creatures are always going to be difficult to accurately and convincingly portray in CGI.

and I would still like to see Enders Game put onto the big scgreen (well sort of - always the trepidation that they cock it up completely).

I have to say that to a degree my expectations of movies goes down with the budget spent. In general the only people that get to have such budgets are the ones that pander to the lowest common denominator.

Ender's Game is spotted for a movie. Card did the writing for it a long time back, and they just started assembling everyone to do it.

 

[Fizl]

i find this statement to be mildly offensive. it verges on political flaming. in the future, please use less derogatory terminology, as we don't all share your (e.g. "heartless, piggishly greedy, bullshit") opinions.

Why do you find it offensive? It is a personal opinion on a film which had an overemphasise on certain traits.

shaz

 

[Chrome]

What amuses me the most with this discussion (Which looks exactly like every other discussion about new movies, with exactly the same arguments) is that I fail to notice anyone making the most obvious comparison of them all... Pocahontas!

 

[Einion]

...looks exactly like every other discussion about new movies...

Well there is a certain inevitability to that:

"I liked it."

"I didn't like it [states reasons]."

"I don't agree, compare to [insert counter-argument]."

"No, you're wrong, it sucked."

etc.

...with exactly the same arguments

Err, not entirely. I don't remember complaining about Aussie accents after LA Confidential

Einion

 

[Dedwrekka]

Why do you find it offensive? It is a personal opinion on a film which had an overemphasise on certain traits.

shaz

It's also almost an exact line from the movie.

What amuses me the most with this discussion (Which looks exactly like every other discussion about new movies, with exactly the same arguments) is that I fail to notice anyone making the most obvious comparison of them all... Pocahontas!

Doesn't really fit John Smith remained an outsider for the entire time and sued for peace not war. I also consider it a mortal sin to compare other movies to Disney's decomposition a of historical moment.
The producers of Avatar even admit that Dances with Wolves is a major influence, however. Even the journal entries in the movie that explain the exposition are almost straight from it.

Smith never "went native" in history or ,*sigh*, disney history.

 

[strigoi]

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.

aaaawww mate the film is beyond stunning i really can say there is nothing wrong with the script i loved the fact that it wasn't the aliens were the bad guys this time or a silly invasion from aliens.
Also why bother having a complex film script where it will only appeal to certain people when you can have a nice simple one for those who want to watch a film they can watch quite easily and over stressing about whats happening.
so i have to dis-agree with you with the story line being weak it very brillant and the characthers were realistic to some degrees especially the aliens.
I would absoulutly reccommend this film to anyone it truly is a stunning pic i felt so immersed in the world and really wished it continued even after the ending because i loved every moment of it.

Also i am not a keen movie fanatic either i rarly goto cinemas to watch movies and really only rent a movie once in a while and i love movies like braveheart and 300 so action/historic films. This film really caught me off guard because all i thought it was about is killer smurfs killing humans for no reason lol how wrong i was.

I would say watch the movie for what it is and dont be a critic and pick on all the nitty bitty errors you might see and probally i enjoyed it even more when i expected the film to be poor.
Again i was wrong.

Anyway for all who haven't watched it try it it is amazing and you feel emerced with it and try it in 3D.

 

[Chrome]

Err, not entirely. I don't remember complaining about Aussie accents after LA Confidential

Einion

Got a valid point there! shall we call it 'exactly the same arguments but with environmental differences?

Smith never "went native" in history or ,*sigh*, disney history.

He never 'went native' that is true, none of the crew in Pocahontas used Mechas either. The basics of the two movies are ridiculously apparent however. Western society wants natural resources, takes them without caring for the native population, natives defend their territory, western society person sides with the natives, falls in love with one of them, tries to stop the hostilities, major conflict, Hollywood ending.
Mind you, this statement is not made from actually watching the movie, rather from reading plot synopsizes and watching the trailers.

And using the same comparisons as the developers kinda takes the fun out of comparing according to me. Of course you will find similarities with Dancing With Wolves if they have used it as an official source for inspiration.

 

[funnymouth]

Get a grip...
I wasn't flaming anybody. Looks like you were though...

:smile-big: i wasnt flaming, i simply reproduced your comment, with a different political slant. i know better than to get offended by anything over the internet, i, however, would refrain from using such politically charged language (err..... except for illustrative purposes).

Why do you find it offensive? It is a personal opinion on a film which had an overemphasise on certain traits.
shaz

sure, i agree that the movie was fairly one sided. and i would personally have appreciated a little more back-story for the humans. i wouldnt have said it in that way, though.

i found it offensive, because "hippie" and "treehugger" are derogatory terms used for people involved in environmental conservation."bullocks" is fairly obviously inappropriate, and unnecessary, in this context, and is effectively a political jab. sure, it may seem silly to you, because the statement agrees with your perspective. however, if i were to say something similar, like "rural redneck/inbred crap" in a movie thread, or casually drop the "N-word," im sure that someone would take offense. my ultimate point is, though you may not be aware of it, those words are used specifically with the intent of being hurtful/demeaning, and are used to invalidate the opinion of someone so described.
there are plenty of other ways to say what you meant to say, which do not involve derogatory slang. as far as the content of the movie is concerned, i agree with you - nothing is ever so one sided ("good natives" vs. "bad colonialists") and its portrayal as such is a major plot flaw in the film.

 

[mud duck]

aaaawww mate the film is beyond stunning i really can say there is nothing wrong with the script i loved the fact that it wasn't the aliens were the bad guys this time or a silly invasion from aliens.
Also why bother having a complex film script where it will only appeal to certain people when you can have a nice simple one for those who want to watch a film they can watch quite easily and over stressing about whats happening.

Ah But the Aliens where the bad guys and it was and invasion. It's just that WE (humans) where the Aliens.

I wonder if the horses where a nod to "John Carpenter from Mars" Throts <sp>? And did he she have Diana Green as a teacher in school? sorry we did a project on how a six legged horse thing would run/ look.

Funnymouth, I think the terms "Treehugger" and to some excent hippie are being used in the context of one who views the whole global warming/ climate change/ human bad, nature good as a Religon, and feel that it is their Duty to inform/force/inforce everyone else to see the light. I would think that most folk are concerned with the enviroment, and see conservation and those invoved in it as doing a good and proper thing.

As for Redneck, some folks don't find that insulting, but a comploment. m2c