Let's talk about the movies we've recently seen or are looking forward to seeing!
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Just seen avatar. But I have to go to bed, so only a few words:
It was utterly amazing. I wouldn't have dreamt of this. There might some minor flaws that critics will drag out and blow up, but the whole package ist something so rarely achieved that we should be glad about it, instead of talking about how it was less artsy than entertaining. Because you have never been entertained before quite like this. |
Will be watching Avatar tomorrow night. Fantastic feedback online though.
Just watched the Californication season finale. Damn. Coupled with Dexter, what a depressing week of television. |
I will go watch Avatar again on Monday. Actucally I'm very impatient about it. I couldn't stop thinking about Pandora the whole day. So fucking amazing.
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Saw Avatar in IMAX 3D last night. Wow. By far the most visually impressive movie I've ever seen it my life. It honestly feels 5-10 years ahead of everything else. Say what you want about the story, but I don't see how you could fail to be blown away by this movie visually. The story wasn't surprising nor particularly original, but it served it's purpose. It introduced Pandora and the protagonists and antagonists and it gave me enough reason to have an emotional connection with the good guys. You really want them to kick ass. There are some mother-earth-like cheesy scenes and lines, but they're native people and it's what they believe; I can't really fault Cameron for that. But screw all that, I spent the first 20-30 minutes just looking at the screen thinking "Holy shit". The trailers really don't do this justice, at all, in any way. The 3D is also the best use of it I've ever seen. In fact, half of the time I didn't notice it was there because it was used in such a way that it didn't noticeably stick things in your face on purpose. It was used as an artistic tool like lighting, to give depth to a scene and it's the best argument for the format to be used in a none-gimmicky way I've seen. It looked phenomenal.
Overall it met my expectations for the story. But best of all it totally lived up to the hype for it's visuals. I went with 6 other people, 4 of which didn't know of the scale of the hype and hadn't seen much other than a trailer. I think they liked it more than me, they could not stop talking about how utterly beautiful it was after. You need to see this movie in a cinema in 3D. You'll really regret it if you don't; I don't care if you found the trailers unappealing just do it. I'm going to see it again and make the most of it in this format while I still can. |
It's already been my plan since before December, to see Avatar in IMAX 3D. Anytime a groundbreaking blockbuster (such as the recent Batman movies) comes out, I go to IMAX for them anyway even if they're not shot in 3D.
I won't have time for it though, until closer to the end of the month. I have to be all prepared - which includes waiting in line for almost an hour just to get a middle seat, and that's after pre-ordering ticket(s) at least a week in advance. I realize that IMAX theaters are very well laid-out and that technically there's no such thing as a "bad" seat, but if you like to stick around for the credits of most movies, it is super-annoying to have so many people walking past you within your row - which they won't do when you're in the middle. |
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The video logs were another great way to enhance the storytelling and give you much information in little time. Now ON TOP of that cameron is a genius when it comes to the use of cinematic devices, and ON TOP of that this is the most beautiful movie ever created. You can not possibly imagine how good it looks, and if you've seen the trailer it's even harder. I thought a lot about this movie in the last two days, and since I left the cinema I had a thought in my head that I didn't want to say out loud. "This is the best movie I have ever seen". Now I'm a movie nerd and so this is not something I'd say lightly. So I tried to find out why that thought is still in my head, even two days after. It's not the greates movie of all times. BUT, it's the best cinematic experience of all times. And I have the feeling that, despite being the first REAL 3D movie, this one will wait a long time until something better comes along. Avatar has me in it's grip. I was introduced to Pandora and it's people so well that I just want to go back. I'll watch it again on Monday. |
um, avatar.
can I get a FUCKING HELL YES holy shit I was a huuuge cameron fan before this and this movie was just, I haven't had an experience like that at the movies since the original LOTR. I took my mom and dad, neither of whom knew much about it, and my father, who goes tot he movies about 1 a year and usually falls asleep/complains the entire time, a silent strong type, was crying when the credits rolled. the greatest achievement isn't the amazing special effects (I saw it in IMAX 3D and holy shit was it good) its how you become attached to these characters with no thoughts as to their digital creation, and how the story plays to a simultaneous male and female audience at the same time. there is no target demographic and both women AND men walk away saying how amazing it was. that is the mark of a true great. I can't wait to find some friends and go again, mannnnnn. |
Very good Review here:
when watching the live reviews about Avatar on youtube I noticed that all the premiers seem to have been on 00:01. Is that still the norm? Because about 3-4 years ago that just changed in germany, and every cinema started showing those premiers just at the normal time at 20:00. |
i haven't seen avatar, but from seeing the trailer in the theater, i thought it was going to be lame because the blue people seemed completely uninspired and the story somehow seemed familiar in a way i didn't bother looking into. i ran across this article and they have another problem i would have never thought of. i don't care for the whole race thing, but it showed me another way the story seemed uninspired and it's that it's kind of already been told before.
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edit: about the blue people, he picked humanoids because he needed the actors to perform the roles and use their actual faces to capture emotions and transmit that digitally. when you watch the Na'vi in the movie you are watching actual human performances digitally rendered, the emotions and muscles you see are real, which is why it resonates with a human audience. When you watch them fly, they were flying, when you watch them run, they were running, and when you watch them laugh and cry, they were laughing and crying. no dead eyes to be found. as for the feline shape, he went with it because it was easy for people to relate to cats. it works to enhance empathy. he could have gone more alien but it would have made the link between human emotion and reaction much further, audiences wouldn't relate and since the entire movie works by appealing to the human condition, it would have failed. |
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The story has been told before. It isn't wholly original, nor surprising as I've said. But it's setting is totally original, and the story serves it's purpose; to show the world of Pandora and introduce a reason for fighting and the Na'vi in a way which works as a tutorial for us as well as any character in the movie. The story doesn't necessarily raise the film up, but it doesn't damage it either unless you're going in expecting something more (which nobody should at this point). Seriously, you can't not see this movie on the big screen in 3D. You'll totally regret it later. |
i guarantee you i won't like it. and i say that in the least coconut-headed way that i can--i think i've gotten really good at knowing what i like and if there is anything i could like in the movie, it's overshadowed by the design of the blue people. i can't stand looking at them so i won't be able to enjoy it. call it whatever you want. but not even that, from the trailer, i could tell it's a kind of sentimental thing which i don't care for. i think great stories make you feel something through deep situations that are not romanticized through cliche'd character roles or sentimental music. the ice storm is a good example of that.
"pocanhantas in space" is exactly why i don't want to watch that movie. i don't think anything is particularly original because it takes something established and blends it with something else. Neko, you say there's a reason why these stories lasted, and it's true, but cliches last a long time, too, and i'll tell you right now, no one wants to read a story with lines like, "her eyes were as blue/deep as the ocean." if wanting to be original is laughable, then go ahead and laugh your head off. i think the point of art is to show you something new, and while nothing comes from nothing, we don't have to cling to tried-and-true archetypes. i'm positive that this director was not simply trying to teach a lesson about race. he wanted to tell this story and whether subconsciously or front-consciously, it apparently turned out to be a very familiar one. and also, my problem with the blue people is not that they're humanoid, it's that i think they're a lame design. they're just blue indians with feline facial features. teenagers on deviantart with that anime cat fancy draw better anthros than these. i think there have been a lot of great, memorable races and species in the past, to name a few: a shitload from starwars, moogles, chocobos, that alien thing (though i don't think it's a great design, it does have a very unique, iconic shape for its head), and the like. that's why i feel that the blue people are unimaginative. they don't compare. (and aside from moogles and chocobos, i don't really like the starwars and alien thing, i was just trying to think of others in sci-fi since it's not a genre i like). even the place itself, "pandora," looks amazing but it's nothing particualry unique designwise. as described in that article, its "landscapes look like a cross between Northern California's redwood cathedrals and Brazil's tropical rainforest." i guess we must have a different meaning of the word "original." and i'm not trying to say that because of the formula it's a bad movie and you can't connect with the characters, but i believe you can connect and enjoy anything if you let yourself and here there's a lot of incentive for you to do that. why wouldn't you want to get lost in this amazing visuals that this new technology has to offer? i wouldn't because i have a problem, i'm very shallow about art in that i want it to be very deep and fresh, and i know i wouldn't enjoy it because i'd be bothered by the lame blue people and "pocahontas" template. i think a lot of things "serve their purpose," but why settle? |
Made it roughly 1/2 of the way through Avatar last night before the snow caused a power outage and we had to leave. Really enjoyed what I saw. The trailers, at least here in the US, are pretty terrible in comparison to the actual movie. The look and feel is completely different, and I'm glad because I thought the trailers looked horrible. Overall the experience was highly enjoyable. Going to see it again soon (hopefully will get to finish it this time).
Then again, I guess that's usually the case with movie trailers here, though. No matter what movie or genre, somehow a grand majority have that same generic trailer with laughably bad voice-over dudes making it even more awkward. |
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Every last person on earth can guarantee you that you have never seen anything like it. The Na'vi design ist not stupid if you see it in 3D. I saw it the second time today and in the End when Na'vi stands besides/touches a real human you CAN NOT tell that the human is real and the Na'vi CG. Once you've really seen the Na'vi interact they look and fell totally believable. And if you don't watch it because of the story... The design of Pandora is so unique and good that it totally makes up for it. It's changing the story so much that it's MORE than interesting to watch. And I don't just mean creature design. I'm talking about the biology and physiology invented for Pandora and let me tell you without spoilers that there's one side to it that makes every single being on the planet and the culture of the Na'vi so much richer. It also explains their religion and their motives on a biological level, and that has never been done before. Something else about my second viewing of Avatar: The first time I watched it in RealD, today I watched it in MasterImage. That was quite a difference! MasterImage bluntly said SUCKS compared to RealD. It takes away a lot of magic of the 3D and I'm very sorry for people who only watched it in MasterImage and think they've seen the real thing. I guess IMAX ist even better or just as good as RealD, but can't really tell because I've never been to an IMAX. So I'd really advise ANYONE to avoid MasterImage and Dolby3D and go see it in IMAX or RealD. |
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my problem with your argument golem is simply that to be believable james cameron had to to go alien but stay within what the human race knows. he had to take familiar concepts and juggle them around into something new and alien. all the wildlife/species on pandora fit together and they all are similar enough to our own biosphere but just different enough to be alien but allow for empathy, which is a large part of the movie. I'm sorry, but you can't compare the message to "her eyes were as deep as the ocean" because the movie is a humanist parable, which are passed down in various forms in all cultures because it is important to share respect for *all life forms* in every single culture, and if teaching that to the next generation means creating movies about giant blue cat-humans, I think thats fucking rad. everyone, including myself, thought the Na'vi design was stupid, up until they saw the movie. Seriously, I can't stress it enough. I'm not saying you will like/enjoy the movie, but I think it is pretty stupid to write something off without seeing it. James Cameron is a very smart man and everything works almost *solely* in terms of context, which is why the advertising campaign was limited (except for a massive last minute push) and the trailers leave much to be desired. bash it as you like, I watched my father wipe away tears when the lights came on and I've seen that man cry only a handful of times in my life, and almost never during a movie. it has a powerful message and I think writing it all off based on initial impressions of creature design, presented largely out of context, is a shame. |
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I think you are mixing up my post with hedo's. I never said a single bad thing about avatar.... Or did you just wrote golem instead of Hedo by accident in your second paragraph? Cause I liked the Design of everything on Pandora, the Na'vi included. |
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and neko, how is the design i'm seeing out of context? i haven't seen it paired with the whole story, but the design is what it is and there's no getting around that. it's the story, really, that doesn't make me care for it, i can get past a visual disturbance if the content was worth it but it doesn't seem to be the case. as i said before, if it's so similar to other stories i've heard, i don't feel like bothering with it. i looked at some reviews and everyone says the same thing, the story is ho-hum but the visuals are amazing. i want the cake to be real good, not just the icing. you're right about the message bit, if that is really the intention. i didn't mean to compare the message directly to a cliche'd line, but i intended to show that if it is something i already know and is established and passed down like cliche'd lines, then i won't be interested. but if it's for a younger generation and it really is a "lesson" for them to learn, i guess that's fine for them. though i'm not sure i want a movie to teach me anything specific as much as i want it to show me something that i can draw my own conclusions from. though i'm also not sure if that's always the case in my movie watching. i don't want to seem like i'm bashing this, it does seem like a legit movie and all. i wasn't going to comment on it before because i saw some people seemed to really like it but i pointed out that article because it had an interesting view that i probably would not have put to the movie and was wondering if that would add/change/subtract from anyone's enjoyment of it. but, i might get it from netflix in the future, i doubt it, but you never know. the only real thing i might be missing out is on the 3d experience and the only place that offers that near me is too out of the way for me to bother. |
I mixed up golem and hedo's posts. oops.
the design aspect is brought up because I'm sure you think the designs look retarded, but when you spend 2 and a half hours with them and you learn to live breathe and feel Na'vi, I think the way you perceive them change, its the same as a first impression, there are distinct reasons why they are designed they way they are. They even did tests where they did more unconventional designs and based on the reactions Cameron engineered them to their current look (eye placement had a big effect, placing the eyes too far apart is a major issue apparently). the movie bears a well thought out and stylish packaging for a surprisingly heartfelt old-as-time parable about man versus nature. I mean, you could compare it to Pocahontas or Ferngully, but you could also compare it to Princess Mononoke. I really challenge anyone to watch the film and walk away saying they didn't feel the least bit amount of emotion from the film. I mean when the lights go up your walking nerds and jocks alike kind of pulling off the 3D glasses and shaking off the final thoughts and impressions. I am not forcing you to like something you think is a waste of time, I just think the movie is such a well done and powerful piece of work it speaks for itself and its a shame to miss out. I wouldn't be concerned with IMAX persay (I heard from another board the film was optimized for dolby digital 3D since the majority of moviegoers don't have access to IMAX, so the 3D presentation is better on a regular screen than imax) or even 3D if you don't have access. the film is number 21 highest rated film of all time on imdb and the only entry from 2009 so far, which is reason enough in my book to give it a shot. |
Hedo, I don't think you should miss out on the movie even if you don't like the Na'vi design. 80% of the film is CGI including the entirety of Pandora, not just the Na'vi. When people say it looks astounding, they're not just talking about the Na'vi and the motion capture, they're talking about the entire world that was created which is totally unique and compelling.
I can't believe that the guy earlier who said it's just a mixture of South America's rainforests and the forests of California was watching the same movie, because aside from the fact that tree's are typically green there is nothing remotely similar about the creatures and plant life. Sure, it at first looks like a typical forest (particularly from above) but each individual aspect is wholly unique (and based on underwater life, if anything). I don't think you should miss out on the visual experience because of one dodgy review and a dislike for the Na'vi design. The trailer, when it came out, had huge backlash. People laughed at the Na'vi calling them smurfs, saying that they look stupid. They said the CG wasn't that good. Heck even I was underwhelmed after all the hype. But that has totally switched now that people have seen the final product, so you should give it that chance too. You're not going to get the chance to see the most visually compelling movie ever made (thus far) on the big screen in 3D again, so why not spare a few dollars? What have you got to lose? You can still come back and say you hated it, but at least you tried. I don't see how it's possible to hate the visuals though. There is a fantastic article here in which an astrophysicist who has worked on SETI and the Hubble space telescope talks about the science of Avatar and Pandora. Read his response after the initial article too where he finds out how certain things work via Pandorapedia. It really goes to show how much work Cameron has put into the movie. Geologists have been emailing in to explain that the vast rock arcs seen at the climax look to be mineral growth following magnetic field lines. That is stuff 99.999% of the audience will never notice, but it's there and it's awesome. |
Yeah, Hedo, I understand all your reservations--and have not seen Avatar (yet) either--but I still wouldn't be so sure if I were you. After I was fully convinced Star Trek wasn't going to be my thing but then I ended up loving the movie and seeing it twice, I've realized sometimes (SOMETIMES) the hype is real, and I can't always be so stubborn all the time about what I will like or dislike. I'm not saying you should go out of your way to see it, but if you get a chance, maybe don't dismiss it.
Personally, although I really have not had good experiences with IMAX 3D in the past (I remember going to an IMAX 3D show at a museum as a kid and starting to feel sick; I've just never been big on 3D stuff), I think I'd still like to see this at least on an IMAX screen, though I may not wear the glasses. Also, I saw The Princess and the Frog the other night and it was really, really good. Completely proved that Disney still has it and I hope this leads to a lot more quality hand-animated films. |
If you don't like IMAX 3D, you should look out for a RealD cinema. Just avoid MasterImage, these suck so much that you will really MISS some of the magic of Pandora.
On the movie: I talked to one of my coworkers today. She went in with her boyfriend, just to do him the favor. She hadn't seen anything about the movie, just some pictures with those blue people and she thought it looked stupid. She thought it could be fun to watch it, because it's 3D, but she didn't really want to go. She bought popcorn and cola as usual, and then the movie started and from the first second she was in total awe until the end. Amazed by the effects, the story and the emotions, she completely forgot to eat her popcorn and drink her cola. And even though the movie was almost 3 hours long, she was so amazed that she would have just watched it again if that was possible. |
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whisper, i'm not really put off by the review, i only mention it because it seemed to confirm my own ideas. i usually don't read reviews at all because i like to make up my own mind on things.
the fact that i appreciate the reasons for most of you guys' opinions really makes me want to see it but i really cannot see myself enjoying this no matter how stunning. part of me wants to go see it just so i can come back and say i told you i'd hate it, but i also know about the self-fulfilling prophecy and don't want to make myself not like it on purpose. at this point, i almost conceded to your urging and went to go see it, but money is superhero tight with me right now. i tutor essay writing at school and that has been over for two weeks now and won't be back until mid january so i have to be very frugal so that i don't end up having to ask my parents for cash. i already have a couple of trips with friends planned to go to new york during the winter break and that's always costly so i'm going to have to wait. the time off from discussing it would do well to let me be more clear-minded about it, too. sometimes the mainstream hype annoys me even about stuff i'm already excited about. and, i would never ever ever watch that star trek movie. ugh i can't stand those actors and, well, i won't go into it. it really gets me angry. more about hype: i don't think the hype is ever true because the hype is always for the wrong reasons, or at least, not the reasons i value most. when i see a great movie that the public agrees is great, it's usually really underappreciated. even something simple like the hangover, for example, i thought was pretty funny but most people in the theatre laughed over all the great jokes that usually come after a more obvious one and it just shows how many little things go unnoticed by the masses. |
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I'm going again tomorrow, three times in a week, insaaaane. lets see if it holds up! |
The impressions here have made me want to see this while I still can (It's the kind of movie I should have been excited about anyway, but something went wrong along the way)
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Well Hedo there is no rush. I think they've booked 10 weeks with IMAX. If you are going to see it, probably best to do so in your own time and not due to peer pressure :P
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1. You should have read the stuff about people who thought the trailer was stupid and then sat there in such an awe that they were just speechless by now. Think about that :) 2. No matter what special Edition DVD or BluRay, you won't ever have the chance again for all the money in the world to EXPERIENCE this movie for the 10$ as you can now. There is a nice (even if clicheed line in the movie): "It's hard to fill a bowl that already full". Just go in, trusting us, and forgetting everything you already know about the movie. |
ok, I have now three videos for you:
1. For Hedo to watch:
Better than the trailer. You should also watch the next video: 2. Small video about the motion, and the emotion capturing
3. And now a stunning 30 minutes video interview with Cameron sitting on a cheap couch, talking about the development process of the tech that made Avatar possible:
This is brilliant. You can't even begin to describe in a few words, just HOW MUCH work this requiered. 1.5 years of R&D just for the basics, and the design on Pandora. All while developing a new 3D camera, then developing a camera that can take you through the CG set in real time ON the motion capturing set BY moving the "CG camera" through it. Then combinging both technologies so that you can film real humans WHILE having the CG sets on the camera. After that they needed about 9-12 months for EVERY character individually to get the finetuning on the mimic capturing done. All with horrible drawbacks and no one to turn to, because they were the ONLY ones even trying to do it. As cameron said, it wasn't just hard work, but also very scary, because he had no idea if it would work in the end. |
I'd try and watch as little footage of the movie as possible beforehand to be honest. I'm glad I didn't watch that first vid before watching the movie, it had too many spoilers (not necessarily story-wise, but great shots that I didn't expect that were stunning in the movie like waking up in zero-g). The motion capture vid isn't so bad; it really shows off the tech with only snippets of footage, and the Cameron interview is fine too.
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golem, that feature did not help me at all. i was beginning to resign to watch it and then it showed me everything that made me not want to watch it all over again. first, what the guy describes that movie as: not just scifi, but action adventure, and fantasy. fantasy is broad, but i usually hate sci-fi, and action adventure in movies is generally lame. i think the only action movies i really liked off my head are old boy though it wasn't exactly and action flick, and tarantino's movies with action in them.
then there's that general/lieutenant's speech that is in every single movie with an army official: "you are not home, you are in this fucked up dangerous place now." the idea of an avatar is lame to me, it's this modern thing with exploring people being someone else that's come up through the internet and i believe there was a movie with that same idea already that had people going into the minds and bodies of prisoners and controlling them. the title itself is lame, it's so blunt and blech to me. those things may seem picky, but it's really the story that gets to me. i think a movie is nothing if the story isn't good and i can't get over the idea that i can probably predict most of it, even that feature pretty much outlined the whole movie in 3 minutes while the actual thing goes on for 3 hours! the visuals may be impressive but only technically, they're actual aesthetic design is not particularly pleasing to me. i don't doubt all the time that went in to make it, though. but, if it is as whisper said and they extended it, i'll clear my mind of all this and try to go see it in a couple of weeks. i have another friend who was critical of it (though i don't know for what reasons) who i might go with. oh, also, about trailers, golem, they're rarely ever any good because they have to market to everyone in one go. even good movies i like, i feel they are misrepresented by the trailer more often than not. |
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its certainly impressive but he didn't promote the heck out of the movie's amazing technology because it truly stands on its own. its cool to know how he did it and how revolutionary it is, but what is even more impressive is the final product on its own. when I was in art school they would talk about how there is no one way to view a piece of art and how the artist shouldn't have to explain their work, it should speak on its own. you give birth to this piece and its left to stand on its on merit in the world and people can take away what they want, but in hedo's defence, if I had this many people telling me I should see the movie I would probably resist too. Fortunately I stumbled into on my own and with relatively little exposure. |
well, you know, if i didn't have people here telling me to watch it, i'd really never see it. the only other people that have told me to watch it are my brother and a couple of his friends but they like a whole lotta movies that i couldn't care for. so thanks guys =).
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Don't we already have a film thread (or something similar...)?
Four pages of Avatar talk. I'm not particularly excited about the premise and I missed out on all the hype. Dunno if I'll ever get a chance to catch it in 3D before the run ends. |
I closed the similar threads so we could start over with this one and the TV one. The "Our favorite movies" thread was always a little confusing as to whether current movies could be discussed there or just people's favorite movies. After this thread and the TV one have gotten more established I might reopen/restart "Currently Watching" but have it dedicated only to what you're watching on Youtube, concert DVDs/music videos, etc.
This thread isn't just for Avatar of course but that discussion has kinda taken over lately (it did the same in the old Currently Watching thread). |
Yeah, I think this thread title makes more sense. I'd often not know which movie thread to post in. If I'm looking forward to a movie I'm not "currently watching" it and it isn't my "fav. movie" (yet) so it's best to have just a flat out movie thread. And keeping the TV totally separate is good too.
Avatar is the biggest movie release of the year though, so it's no shock that it's taking up a great bulk of the discussion as of recent. Should have really had an Avatar thread but it'll probably die down now that most people have chipped in. |
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And I don' think you can really judge the design from what you have seen so far. |
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If it wasn't for the time and money, I would watch Avatar every evening, lol.
I hope I can convince my best friend to go on wednesday again. Or my parents, or maybe another friend of mine. I'm still more fascinated by it than I have been with a single movie in a VERY long time. I just keep listening to the soundtrack and searching for videos of it on youtube. |
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What I loved the most was the perfect scene constellation of
climbing up to the dragons (fascinating) -> taming his one (suspense) -> first flight (Excitement) -> teasing Neytiri (romance) -> Dr Grace tells him about the tree of sould (fascination) -> they fly over it (fascination) -> Toruk chase (suspense) -> Toruk Makto story (calmness) and then the perfect scene to close this segment: Jake getting out of the Avatar with that sad music, rolling down the hall, asking himself what's real and what's not. SO perfectly executed. |
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in rewatches what I liked/noticed: grace flips out after jake smashes the cameras and askes quaritch "what, you going to shoot me?" and he is all "I could shoot you" and then he does, about twenty minutes later. Quaritch also foreshadows his own death early on in the Pandora briefing at the start where he explains that you got to avoid Na'vi arrows as they are dipped in neurotoxin that will stop your heart in 1 minute (how he dies). Trudy also laughs about how she hoped to avoid martydom (which happens again). There are a lot of small lines early on in the film which reference later events and its kind of amusing as you go through picking up on them. Also, when Neytiri and Jake climb into the pods in Hometree the first night he spends there, you can see in the background a large group of Na'vi sleeping in a big pile, which looks like a man and a couple women or a general orgy. I thought that was kind of funny for some reason. They don't address is the Na'vi men are monogamous, you kind of just assume they are, but based on what Neytiri says its up to the male to pick the female, but in jake's case they picked each other. |
My friend is trying so hard to convince me to see Avatar, but it doesn't look like something I'd like.
I finally saw There Will Be Blood. The only problem is that I got sucked in halfway through, so I watched the second half first, then the first half about a week later. I'm super picky when it comes to movies, so I was surprised that I liked this one so much. Paul Dano's acting was insane after only seeing him in Little Miss Sunshine and Fast Food Nation. Also saw Where The Wild Things Are recently, but don't really know how I feel about it. It looked great, the soundtrack was perfect, but something was missing. It was such an up and down movie that I left the theater a little discombobulated. The beginning and ending made enough sense, it's just all that stuff in the middle I couldn't wrap my brain around. Still, that scene with the owls alone was worth the three dollars. EDIT: This should have gone under the "Currently Watching" thread. I figured this would be a better place to post specifically about movies, until I looked through the fives pages and realized it's pretty much the Avatar thread. |
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Otherwise you have no choice but to go see it. |
Would I be allowed to settle with a cheap, non-3D or IMAX version in two months?
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non IMAX? yes In two months? yes Just make sure you get to see it in a RealD cinema. |
Is it imperative to see Avatar in 3D? Whenever I see something in 3D I get a headache and end up going to sleep.
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I would say yes, but I don't know your problem with 3D. What DID you watch in 3D?
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Can I talk about movies that aren't Avatar in this thread?
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And ooh, non avatar discussion: I just watched A Christmas Story~! CLASSIC. I'm sad I won't be able to watch the 24 hour marathon they always have on TNT or whatnot. For the last couple years I didn't really like watching it because I thought it got boring year after year, but now I realized how awesome it is again and that it's seriously one of the greatest Christmas movies. And Darren McGavin is the best. :wub: Now I need to watch Home Alone via webcam with my sister when it turns midnight back home, plus an It's a Wonderful Life/Miracle on 34th Street B&W extravaganza, and I'll be set for Christmas. |
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BACK TO AVATAR :P
I went in to see it hoping to prove my boyfriend, who said it looked dumb, wrong. I wanted to love it. I knew very little about it, only about the concept of the avatar. Within the first half hour, my boyfriend and I predicted nearly every major plot point, besides the information that you find out about the biology of the planet. By the time they revealed that, however, I was totally unattached. They could have told me that the Na'Vi were all Shiina Ringo clones in disguise, and I wouldn't have cared, because I knew how it was going to play out, regardless of how awesome the world was. In my totally inexperienced and uneducated opinion, the movie should've chosen a focus: Either 1) Pandora OR 2) Emotion/Character I know you guys are all saying that people were crying in the theater and what not, and I accept that people interpret things differently, but for me it is so hard to get emotional over such a tried plot. I know that there probably was depth put into the movie, but the characters all seemed so flat (Haha, yes, I did see it in RealD) to me, as if they were just along for the same old ride. Not one character made me look forward to them being on screen. I felt as if I had met them all before. Now, Pandora was certainly an interesting place, and if the movie had been instead focused just on avatars in Pandora, and made up some new conflict rather than "THEY'RE KILLING NATURE", then I probably wouldn't have been about to fall asleep in my seat. I suppose it's all a matter of what you're looking for in a movie. I personally want to see real character interaction, and while the actors did wonderfully, the script did not lend itself well to natural character development. Disclaimer: These are my opinions written at 6AM. I'll probably want to put foot in mouth after letting this sit a few days, but I'd rather get it all out now while it's fresh. |
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also, what with the state of the world lately I think his film-making was definitely influenced. He himself has stated the parallels, obvious and not so obvious, the movie holds to real life. for some people that is a deal-breaker, but Avatar is meant to be seen and enjoyed, feel in the moment. If you sit there and try to outthink it, like your waiting for some huge plot twist, you will be disappointed. A whole slew of M Night Shamalan movies and "smart" thrillers has desensitized us to the style of gold old fashioned story telling. Whip out a childhood storybook or fairytale, read some Grimm, and tell me its not predictable. What Cameron has done is create a fairytale for Adults. So you gotta go, get a huge popcorn, get some soda, put on some 3D glasses, and sit back and just live in the moment. It sounds bad, but turn off your brain, the movie does the work for you. Some may criticize that, but it is a welcome escape in today's world. |
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on another movie mentioned, There will be Blood really is amazing. jeez, i loved it. partly was because i related to the main character (i can't remember his name now, i'm so bad with names) in that he was so agressive in his desire for success. he has this great bit where he starts, "i have a competition in me," and gives a creepy little talk of it and hatreds and that fire. but overall, it was very well presented; the soundtrack was a mix of eerie orchestrations and some other odd sounds and was mixed in at all the right moments--none of that pop soundtrack nonsense, and it was just very raw. there were some very nice shots and the things this man puts at stake in his life are almost scary. highly recommended, this movie. |
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I think I'd put forward Daniel Day-Lewis for performance of the decade in There Will Be Blood. Which reminds me; I need to get that film on Blu-Ray.
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I saw The Princess and the Frog again a few days ago. It is seriously so good and everyone should see it. |
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No use recommending that movie for you then. Like trying to make me watch Wall-E |
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i don't remember gangs of new york, but he was flippin' SOLID in there will be blood. i guess you had a bias towards the actor, but if you thought his serious acting was douche-bag-ey, then i think it was just the way the character was. in which case, you wouldn't like the movie even if it was another actor. i don't see how that character could have been played any better.
as for wall-e, i think it was over-hyped. i saw it, and i fell for the hype, but as i think back on it, i don't think it was that great. i guess i'd have to watch it again to see how it holds up. but i didn't like the whole colony thing too much and i like it much less now. i think i originally liked it because i thought it was a nice way of making fun of america, but that wore off. |
Wall-E was great, but I much prefer Up.
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He often stays in character throughout shooting -- to the extreme -- so if his character is an arsehole, he probably will be too. I don't think he really plays himself, in fact I think his role as Daniel Plainview was one of the biggest transformations I've seen on screen in terms of stepping inside and acting out another character. To say "He is an angry actor, and the character is angry so he is just playing himself" simplifies it way too much, because Daniel Plainview was not Daniel Day Lewis at all. When I showed my friends some clips of him after the movie they were shocked at how different he is (not only in appearance).
He certainly doesn't play it safe with his role choices, staying in a severely disabled position for weeks on end (breaking ribs in the process) for My Left Foot, and living off the land camping, hunting and skinning animals for Last of the Mohicans. Whether he is an arsehole in real life or not, I have huge respect for him as an actor. But I think he appears pretty humble and very intelligent in the very few interviews with him I've seen. I imagine he is just hell to work with on set, staying in (often ugly) characters. At one point he asked the crew to verbally abuse him and throw cold water over him throughout shooting. I haven't seen Nine yet (I was initially looking forward to it), but I imagine the movie didn't click because it unfortunately doesn't look to be very good. But I won't pre-judge it too much yet. |
I'm not going to go into the details about my personal experiences and my friend, but I can assure you that what happened was not the result of him being immersed in the role. meryl streep is a method actress too and yet she doesn't endanger production crew and staff and throw her weight around to cover her tracks when people, already working in underpaid and dangerous environments, get severely injured because of her ignorance. fact of the matter was the incident occurred during pre-production, months before any actors were supposed to be at the location and he just showed up, which was a liability to everyone involved (himself included), and well, when shit hit the fan, he turned tail and left other people to blame. a complete coward and with the ego to boost, makes for dangerous and unsafe working conditions.
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Just watched Isao Takahata's 'Only Yesterday'. Must be manly, must be manly...
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Too bad, my planned trip to watch Avatar tomorrow had to be canceled. Well, I guess I'll have to go next week on Tuesday.
For some news: The extended cut of Avatar could be about 30 minutes longer. They already had some scenes at the beginning on the destroyed earth almost finished but still decided to cut them out. Then some hunting scene with Jake, and more conversations with Quaritch that shed a better light on his character. |
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edit: also, found this, which is a really cool detailed summary and analysis of the original script Cameron wrote in the 90's (titled Project 880) and the finished version of Avatar. there are a lot of differences, I think I like how he streamlined the movie although if it is true there were establishing earth scenes shot but not used, I think a lot of the article says is a moot point if there is an extended cut. overall the emphasis seems to be less on on the love story and more on the planet itself. there is a lot more explanation and history/science in the original script, but it seems like the heart isn't there in some ways. either way, makes for an interesting (albeit long) read. |
Read that too, but I think all this would only distract from the fairy tale like experience you get from the movie as it is now. The Script of Project 880 could a bitter more complex and better, but it's not really complex or good. So trading in a "bad" story for a "mediocre" story and thus destryoing the perfect flow wouldn't have made a lot of sense.
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Sixteen Candles is on now. It's odd that I've never watched this movie from start to finish, but I have seen the entire thing in bits and pieces. Never finished Pretty in Pink either despite being a big Molly Ringwald fan.
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Has anyone here seen Mah Nakorn (Citizen Dog)? It was a pretty good movie, but started to drag on around the last thirty minutes. The visuals were great; it was sort of like a Wes Anderson movie with actual heart. I was wondering if the "growing a tail" thing is a reference to something in Thai mythology or if it was just meant to be random.
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Anyway! Ooh, during the past 2 weeks I went and saw 3 movies here! Sherlock Holmes was surprisingly fantastic. It's nice to see that Guy Ritchie wasn't sucked dry of a soul by succubus-Madonna. And The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was looooooooooovely. I didn't have many high hopes because of the unwatchable Tideland, but Terry Gilliam still has it in him to make a looovely movie. Even with the whole Heath Ledger death thing. Christopher Plummer CARRIES the movie, and makes me absolutely smitten with him. :wub: And Lily Cole was unexpectedly really good too. I also went to see the Korean movie "Girlfriends". And both my sister and I walked out not an hour into it. Not due to the lack of understanding, but because it was seriously an unbearable. It felt like 2 hours by the time we left and it didn't even have a semblance of resolving any type of plot it had. Oh Korea, you've faileddd me. x.x |
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I watched Leap Year yesterday, I've been a bit down in the dumps and that movie was a nice escape for an hour and a half. I also watched The Ramen Girl with Brittany Murphy, which I felt was a very honest and surprisingly realistic portrayal of living in Japan and one girl's dream to become a ramen chef. |
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Parnassus was in the same vein as Brazil, which I adoreeee. I love the way people act like normal people in the weirdest situations. And seriously, I can't get over Christopher Plummer's awesomeness. I went in thinking that the Heath Ledger character was going to be the main character, but I loved that they focused on Plummer instead. And omgoodness, the look of the Jude Law part seemed like it was pulled straight from his Python drawings, and especially the dancing/cross-dressing policemen part. :wub: |
Has anyone seen The Road? I'm curious if it's any good
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I saw Sherlock Holmes recently and found myself rooting for Holmes and Watson to get together instead of Holmes and Irene Adler. They just had more chemistry! I even like Rachel McAdams but I felt like her character added absolutely nothing to the plot. It's a shame too because the original novel Irene Adler is so cool.
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^ hell yeaaaahhhhh!!! meeee toooooo. (but I knew that going in)
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I recently had my second-annual Drunkathon, where I watch a triple feature of overbudgeted crap over Christmas break while getting as drunk as possible.
Last year was Rush Hour 3, Spiderman 3, and Transformers 1. This year it was G.I. Joe, Terminator Salvation, and Transformers 2. G.I. Joe was actually sort of fun, better than I expected. Especially when you compare it with the other two. It was tight, had a good spirit, and just the right amount of insanity and ingenious casting. The wine helped. Terminator Salvation was a fucking ordeal. Best thing about was I got halfway drunk throughout and couldn't figure out why everyone was so serious. Transformers was as horrible as everyone says, only it hit some level of awfulness so transcendent I can't say I hated it. |
Finally saw Inglorious Basterds last night. It was pretty close to perfect.
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Avatar is at 1.68 Billion Dollars. Only 0.12 Billion more to beat Titanic and become the must successful movie of all time :)
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But even if it is another one of his movies, I'm fine with anything taking over Titanic. 'Cause at least it's one of his Sci-fi ones (what he's mostly done anyway) and anything finally taking over Titanic is good with me. That one's been on top for far too long. |
If you take inflation into account, then Avatar doesn't beat Titanic :P
But if you do that, Titanic wouldn't be on top to begin with, because then "Gone with the wind" would still be on top :D Also, Avatar just won the golden globe for best Drama Motion Picture and best Director. I think it would be cool if Zoe Saldana as Neytiri would even get nominated for an oscar, that would mean a lot for the technology Cameron created. I think even more than getting the Oscar for best Motion Picture. |
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But still, Titanic is looming over those other charts. Ughhh, that movie. However much I love Kate Winslet and Victor Garber... ughs. |
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still, best picture? that was a real surprise. take a huge commercial pop corn flick and give it best drama golden globe, its almost ironic in a way. |
^^^ Hollywood is not really in a "recession" right now....it just set a record for box office admissions. It's creatively near-bankrupt, but that's a different issue.
Gone With the Wind has always been and always will be the biggest hit of all time. No way can any film really match it unless something like the equivalent of 3 or 4 Avatars comes out. The factor to account for is not just revenue adjusted for inflation or number of admissions, but the percentage of viewers related to the population of America at the time. Gone With the Wind sold 208,000,000 tickets in America through its initial run and releases. In 1939, the population of America was 131,000,000. So, basically, if you were living in America in 1939 you saw this movie. Which is four hours long. By contrast, Avatar has so far sold about 70 million tickets at most. The average $7.35 they use to calculate for inflation is probably skewing low for Avatar, which had the more expensive IMAX tickets to take into account. The average ticket price for Avatar might be closer to 9 dollars, which would mean about 57 million tickets sold. In other words, Avatar is currently between 1/4 and 1/3 of Gone With the Wind's box office. And in a country of over 250 million people, certainly a far smaller percentage of the population is going to see this than Gone With the Wind. Neither one of these films is all that good, by the way. :P |
Gone With the Wind is the bestttt. "I don't know nothing about birthin' babies." Bwahaha. That and Viven Leigh is perfect.
And Avatar is selling so much because James Cameron cracked the secret of putting crack in movies and has thus hypnotized the whole world. It's like blue crack. The necklace thing in Titanic was blue. And he had been testing it out before too. I've seen The Abyss! Aaaand this is funny. Teehee. |
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If anyone is interested, these are the first two shots from the directors cut of Avatar:
A scene on earth after jake got into a barfight, and the dying scene of Tsu'Tey after his fall from the helicopter. |
Avatar is the new Dark Knight. The movie a lot of people think is meaningful just because it takes all the humor out of material intended for children.
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my whole issue with avatar is I find the arguments about why it sucks a bit pointless. the fact of the matter is that the majority of people who see it are touched and come away thinking about how great pandora is and nature and war and all of that, and I don't see HOW that could possibly be a bad thing. sure, it might be pocahontas in space, or dances with blue talking wolves, but anything that makes man feel compassion for the environment and aversion to war, IMO, is meaningful. |
Finally saw Avatar (3D, no imax). It was good, but not like OMG FROTHING AT THE MOUTH BEST MOVIE EVER like all the hype I've seen. I really liked the entire middle of the movie with the cool Na'vi hangin out in Pandora scenes. Everything else... kinda meh. Especially the end with all the action, it just got overwhelming. @_@ But all the images of the Na'vi interacting with their world are going to stick with me for a long time. That was great.
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I want to see a great director make a great movie with that technology.
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I look forward to seeing other movies use it myself.
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I was going to say that James Cameron IS a great director but I guess everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I can see why someone might not like his works - especially if sci-fi isn't their thing. And I don't like Titanic to this day. Or maybe it's just because of that damn "My Heart Will Go On" song. God, I hate that song. It rivals "Tubthumping" for most overplayed song of the nineties.
Anyway, caught some of Legion on my break at work and it looks pretty generic. We were supposed to have a midnight showing at the theater I work at but we canceled possibly due to bad weather (or because my theater realized that nobody would show up). It's pretty much exactly what you would expect from the trailers. In fact, most of the scenes that are worth seeing were already shown in the trailers. Isn't it fun when you can see the highlights of an entire movie when you're waiting for your movie to start? That's Legion for ya. Save yourself the ticket price by skipping this one. Up In The Air seems incredibly popular at my theater. It's gotten to the point where I'm very curious to see it myself. I've been meaning to go out and watch it before it gets pulled. I will say this though - after starting to work at a theater, popcorn and movies get less and less appealing every day. I never feel like going back to the theater on my days off. |
anyone here loved Fantastic Mr. Fox as much as i did?
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double post for the win!!!
I just got back from The Lovely Bones. It was interesting, I felt amazingly depressed after it ended for some reason. I usually enjoy heavy movies but the piece at the end was just almost too much to handle, with the sinkhole...I didn't read the book, I can only imagine how much worse it was while reading, but parts of the movie literally made me want to vomit. There was a point in my life (A Midsummer Night's Dream) where I thought Stanley Tucci was hot.....;;gag;; |
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