Joined: Feb 21, 1999
Posts: 5388
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted:
Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:07 am
I was very impressed with the Avatar movie. I even shedded a tear. Bastards got me with the ol' unconditional love story crapola though. The story isn't original and reminded me of Dances with Wolves, and the other cartoon epic, Battle for Terra . But it's the way the story is told and how it's presented that sets it apart.
Go see this movie! I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it yet, but wow. I can't say enough good about it. There was some cliche' and predictability about the film (as it wasn't really original), but it still makes for an excellent action packed tear jerker.
If you want to see a good movie this year and you like action, ohh rahh!!, love, drama, mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi all rolled into one. Avatar is the go-see movie of the year!
"To be truly open-minded is to accept the possibility that you may be wrong." - R.Finley Sr.
testsubject Newbie
Joined: Jan 23, 2008
Posts: 23
Posted:
Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:28 am
I totally agree with you. You could also add Ferngully to the list of movies that this is similar to.
It was the most amazing movie I have ever seen (I saw it in 3D). I also agree that the plotline was somewhat predictable but after so many stories and movies that have been done, various tropes are bound to be there. I did not find this to be a distraction.
One thing I did have issue with (and it is a small one) is that given that all the other mammal like creatures had 4 forelimbs and 2 hind limbs why did the Navi only have 2 arms and not 4?
Otherwise great movie.
coke11 Just Arrived
Joined: Nov 15, 2009
Posts: 2
Posted:
Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:13 am
really? the trailer looked hackneyed.
offtopic: i'm a new 2-year gold member woohoo. glad i can finally somehow support the show.
infidelguy Site Admin
Joined: Feb 21, 1999
Posts: 5388
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted:
Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:56 pm
Welcome to the site coke11. Glad you could join us! Thank you for going gold!
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coke11 Just Arrived
Joined: Nov 15, 2009
Posts: 2
Posted:
Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:37 pm
i watched avatar in 3d, finally, and i have to admit it was pretty good.
MockingGods Master of Logic
Joined: Nov 14, 2002
Posts: 5064
Location: Planet Earth
Posted:
Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:08 am
I took my niece to see the 3d version but it was sold out and couldn't wait for the next showing. Guess I'll just have to catch in on DTV in a year or so.
kemit60 Just Arrived
Joined: Aug 20, 2009
Posts: 1
Posted:
Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:46 pm
just a brief comment and observation I saw the movie Avatar and regardless of whether the movie has a theme similiar to Dances With Wolves I liked it.....I liked the movie Platoon and I liked Apocolypse Now both highly critical of the Vietnam War but both good movies get my point.....but I went home to the computer and did a check to see who played the Navi (aliens) and was shocked to find out that all the main actors who played the Navi were African-Americans except for one and he was Native American is this an accident or is James Cameron also trying to make a point about European colonalism of Africa?......so much talk about Dances With Wolves and the defeat of the Plains Indians that people forget that same story played out in Africa (Zulu, ex) and other places in the world (Austrialia)
infidelguy Site Admin
Joined: Feb 21, 1999
Posts: 5388
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted:
Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:40 pm
I don't think we forget that here. Thanks for posting.
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Anunaki Just Arrived
Joined: Jan 17, 2010
Posts: 5
Posted:
Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:45 am
May be because of the high expectation, this film disappointed me.
May be high technology involved in graphics and sets, but cant figure out something new!
After all it is only my perspective.
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Merranvo Just Arrived
Joined: Oct 04, 2009
Posts: 5
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:54 am
infidelguy wrote:
you like action, ohh rahh!!, love, drama, mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi all rolled into one.
Action? Un poco...
Action is when something stops you from doing something in a stylized way. Most of the time, the "action" occured after it was too late to stop anyone. Exclusion being the end scene.
Love? Stereotypical man has stereotypical sex with a stereotypical alien and people call it love? The trick to any love story is doubt, the tensions, the emotion... and the success is the twist (letting the character become 'mature' enough to forgo the "film destined" love to find what said character really needs is back at home. Cliche? Perhaps, but certainly better than the current movie structure)
drama? Well, life is drama. But when the best a traitor needs do to get accepted again (yes, jake betrayed the na'vi) is capture a giant flying (Turok?)... and then the girl who practically swore his death comes rushing up in-love with him again... I think you can excuse any doubts in the veracity of that statment. (Heck, the movie doesn't even have any mornful deaths... we barely care about the characters that die... it's only Jake and Neytri)
Mystery? As if. You even admit the whole plot was predictable.
Fantasy? Sure... visuals of a green "moon" with floating mountains...
Sci-Fi? I draw the line there. Fiction, sure, but science no! It's gritty sci-fi, meaning it's too close to the present to be "sci-fi".
I, of course, exempt all the plot devices that have no merit in the movie. Jake could just as well have been a Na'vi by birth and it wouldn't change a think in the film. The ship they got there in was just a "device" used for a single scene. Which leaves Jump-Choppers (Jumpjets that use helicopter parts [as if]), and mechs.
Of course, the movie "is" a "thrill ride" (not to be confused with action) and as such, is very successful. But make no lies, a good story, this is not. It makes no attempts at being a good story and the majoirty of the film is spent avioiding a constructive story. It's a thrill-ride, a good thrill-ride, and nothing more.
infidelguy Site Admin
Joined: Feb 21, 1999
Posts: 5388
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:26 pm
To each his own. I liked it... and that's not going to change. Yes there was mystery in not knowing what I was going to see next... as far as creatures and special effects. That, I couldn't predict. Overall plot, yes.
It was action for me. Huge battles between organisms, yes, I call that action.
If you don't think so. Oh well. Doesn't matter to me.
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iPondR Resident
Joined: Aug 19, 2009
Posts: 398
Location: Aussie Prawn Facility; District 10
Posted:
Sun Jan 24, 2010 9:48 pm
Just saw it again in 3D, spouse's orders
To me it is 2.5 hrs of escapism, with an environmental message tacked on and tossing in some 'cred' using Sigourney as a kind of Ripley reprise.
Having said that (& possibly more) the creation and rendering of Pandora was kickass indeed. No matter how improbable trees with optical fibre roots might be... those floating mountains (reminiscent of the album art to the 1970's rock group YES by Roger Dean!) were truly amazing... even down to the blades of grass blowing in the wind.
A few things were annoying... how do you transfer a brain link wirelessly over such large distances? Smoking in 2154? All that bio-tech and it's still too expensive to repair a marine's legs?
(yes I get why his being physically disabled was an important plot point)
The chopper piloting chick was straight out of 'Aliens' (cute tho') and the whole Gaia thing was a bit overplayed. Turning the tide in the main battle at the critical moment - the pacing and construction of the plot was almost straight out of 'Return of the Jedi'.
I enjoyed this game promo movie despite it's shortcomings. Even the supernatural aspects had a naturalistic angle. (upload minds to the tree etc)
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lamp_abi Just Arrived
Joined: Mar 02, 2010
Posts: 8
Posted:
Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:16 am
I loved the movie and its effects which were really great. I felt quite disappointed with the story however. It was too predictable in my opinion. I don't know if it's just me though as I'm not really a fan of happy ever afters. Then again, this is meant to get a lot of audience so I understand that they have to make the movie and consider what the audience would like to see.
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The story isn't original and reminded me of Dances with Wolves, and the other cartoon epic, Battle for Terra . But it's the way the story is told and how it's presented that sets it apart.
