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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 17:00:29 GMT -8
Post by General Silliness on Dec 16, 2009 17:00:29 GMT -8
Despite all the Cliches and a LOT of bad dialogue this really turned out to be the biggest event movie as Cameron hoped for.I always love the clash of cultures story i each their forms and variations and this one is no exception, but never has it been this beatiful looking. I wasn´t the biggest fan of the human scenes, where the 3-d feels distracting and forced. each moment in the jungles and the skies is a visual triumph, with the 3-d only adding to it. there are countless stunning moment of beauty in the first half, and the second half features moments of epic destruction (9/11??) and the over 20 minutes long final battle is completly mindblowing.there is so much going on, it looks perfect, the pacing is perfect, tons of incredibly badass shots, wonderfully dramatic. I love this film. It may be imperfect in many ways but it IS an EVENT.
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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 19:12:01 GMT -8
Post by Jockolantern on Dec 16, 2009 19:12:01 GMT -8
Pass.
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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 19:24:45 GMT -8
Post by Joseph Bat on Dec 16, 2009 19:24:45 GMT -8
Jocko everything Avatar on these boards you seem opposed to. What is your deal?
Joe
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cheno
Conductor
Posts: 1,012
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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 19:42:38 GMT -8
Post by cheno on Dec 16, 2009 19:42:38 GMT -8
Because cynical is cyni-cool, don't you know?
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ddueck
Ghostwriter
Omnia dicta fortiori, si dicta Latina!
Posts: 245
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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 19:50:57 GMT -8
Post by ddueck on Dec 16, 2009 19:50:57 GMT -8
For sure.
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AVATAR
Dec 16, 2009 19:53:44 GMT -8
Post by Jangles on Dec 16, 2009 19:53:44 GMT -8
Man, everyone I know here makes like 8 dollars an hour and doesn't want to pay and don't want to keep accepting my generosity (which they have taken before). Hopefully I won't have to see it by myself this weekend I'm sure it's an awesome spectacle to watch in Imax 3d!
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 3:00:00 GMT -8
Post by Jockolantern on Dec 17, 2009 3:00:00 GMT -8
Jocko everything Avatar on these boards you seem opposed to. What is your deal? I'm not opposed to the score as much as I make it sound; merely disappointed. There are parts of it I genuinely enjoy; but it is easier to listen to an early-2000s Horner score and it accept it for what it is than to listen to Avatar ten years later and try and get my mind past the fact that the man simply cannot or will not evolve as a composer. I don't mind a composer using familiar devices, motifs and what-not but the level Horner takes his repetition to is fairly extreme, to say the least. The more 2000-2009 Horner scores I bought and listened to, the more I realized I was just listening to the same exact score over and over again and couldn't see how eighteen months of working on Avatar was going to make any difference whatsoever with Horner's stubborn methods of self-replication. As it turns out, it didn't. The score has some thrilling action writing in the finale and gorgeous, luminescent underscore in the beginning but it all sounds so frustratingly like Horner being artificially derivative. I've heard it done before by the man and far, far better; I know he can do more. As for the movie: Overblown, budget-based CGI deconstructions of formal filmmaking are a fad I'm getting more and more tired of with each passing blockbuster. I realize I'm the the guy who defended the Star Wars prequels to the hilt all those years ago but, to be honest, even I don't care for those much any more (rub it in, Yavar ). Something about excess, fantastic CGI just sucks the soul right out of a film (for proper use of CGI, see a film like Zodiac, where you don't even realize it's there). I'm becoming too old-fashioned for my own good, perhaps. Maybe growing up has just turned me into a more bitter and cynical film-viewer and score-listener. Whatever the case, James Cameron's excess and claims to "change the way we will experience movies forever" just rubs me entirely the wrong way since the former feels coldly detached from a genuine piece of filmmaking art and the latter is simply not true. That doesn't even broach my irritations with the film's seemingly self-righteous environmentalist/anti-American attitude; but I'm not getting into a political discussion about it here. It is what it is. I'm all for a good, old fashioned sci-fi epic but Avatar simply isn't the one I'm waiting for.
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cheno
Conductor
Posts: 1,012
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 15:26:12 GMT -8
Post by cheno on Dec 17, 2009 15:26:12 GMT -8
We don't need no color or fancy schmancy special effects in our motion pictures!
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 16:10:46 GMT -8
Post by Hook on Dec 17, 2009 16:10:46 GMT -8
That doesn't even broach my irritations with the film's seemingly self-righteous environmentalist/anti-American attitude; but I'm not getting into a political discussion about it here. It is what it is. You mean the ideas of Benjamin Franklin, Henry Thoreau, Teddy Roosevelt, and Native Americans are anti-American? I don't know if it's self-righteous or not (Wall-E isn't, to give an example), but I am against the anti- thing. I'm an anti-antiist. Seriously, this "anti-(your country here)" is getting out of hand, specially because I haven't heard this phrase from any other place without a government that hasn't made a career for look-alike actors reaping millions off their autocratic complexions. Erase Cameron's words from your mind and go see it, you old coot. I was so sick by the 184th record-breaking weekend or whatever of Titanic that I finally gave up and saw it. I actually liked it. Avatar, though, must, and I mean must, have a completely unnecessary Bill Paxton cameo or I will fend it off with all my might. We don't need no color or fancy schmancy special effects in our motion pictures! Hell, take the motion out of it. A single, static frame of film exposed for 2 hours against a blank screen, thereby creating an uncontainable fire would be deemed Art by every single "serious business" critic in the world, including the one or two outside of NY and France. Hmm... I better call Andy Warhol's ghost.
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cheno
Conductor
Posts: 1,012
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 16:21:01 GMT -8
Post by cheno on Dec 17, 2009 16:21:01 GMT -8
Native Americans aren't real Americans, Hook. Not white enough. Or something.
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 19:15:13 GMT -8
Post by Jangles on Dec 17, 2009 19:15:13 GMT -8
Sam Worthington was a breath of fresh air in Terminator Salvation and probably the only performance I really enjoyed. I think he can definitely bring a lot to this movie.
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AVATAR
Dec 17, 2009 23:46:48 GMT -8
Post by Jockolantern on Dec 17, 2009 23:46:48 GMT -8
I don't know if it's self-righteous or not (Wall-E isn't, to give an example) WALL-E avoided any self-righteous commentary by simply portraying earth in a dystopic-styled future and not preaching about what caused it beyond the jocular "giant corporation turned giant world government". The story was about the characters, the romance, the quirky humor poking fun at the current (and perhaps future) state of human laziness thanks to hyper-technological advancement. It was done in a light-hearted, inoffensive fashion that could be construed any number of ways. Avatar would seem to be getting its head up its own rear end with messages (the comparisons to Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves, and Smurfs don't exist for no reason) and tacking it all together with a Saturday morning cartoon story, and thoroughly two-dimensional characters amidst the lavish three-dimensional imagery. Again. I'll pass. Well, I'm an anti-anti-antiist... I'll wallow in my coot-ishness if I feel like it, you little whipper snapper. Last I checked, I don't have to give Cameron my money if I don't feel like it. I'd much rather give my money to a director who I feel deserves it this Christmas season. Good for you. I didn't and never have liked it. Different strokes, different folks. Sincerely, The Old Coot
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AVATAR
Dec 18, 2009 0:38:04 GMT -8
Post by Jens Dietrich on Dec 18, 2009 0:38:04 GMT -8
I personally couldn't have been more skeptical about this movie going in, and I ended up really liking it.
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ddueck
Ghostwriter
Omnia dicta fortiori, si dicta Latina!
Posts: 245
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AVATAR
Dec 18, 2009 9:19:30 GMT -8
Post by ddueck on Dec 18, 2009 9:19:30 GMT -8
Saw it at midnight! It was really quite a spectacle in 3D, it's easily the best of any movie I've seen in that format as to how the technique is used in general. The movie was some sweet badass mixed with some strangely alluring ( ) alien romance, and as General Silliness says, there are plenty of KILLER shots; my favourite scenes being the flying ones. I just couldn't get into the whole "mother nature/earth is our deity" aspect of the story. It wasn't offensive to me, just tired, cliched and pretty cheesy in places - even cheesier than Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. For the most part, the film was a sensory thrill ride unlike anything I've seen in theaters before. I really enjoyed myself. Stephen Lang was a revelation once again. What an actor! Lots of good score missing from the CD, too, as it turns out. And the stuff that is on the CD is not mixed any too prominently in the film either.
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AVATAR
Dec 18, 2009 12:17:55 GMT -8
Post by General Silliness on Dec 18, 2009 12:17:55 GMT -8
I personally couldn't have been more skeptical about this movie going in, and I ended up really liking it. i´m really happy you liked it. it is the purest and simplest form of fun and looks sooooooo good. but i won´t see it ever again when it stops being in cinemas (i hope they won´t stop showning the movie, show it once a year on avatar day please) my goal is to see it in a real IMAX 3-D Cinema, of which there are two in Germany. Both hundreds of miles away. But once in a lifetimes, and for a movie i REALLY love, this journey is a must. I can only tell that you HAVE to see it to believe how beautiful the world is cameron has created. 3-d may be a gimmick, but it sucks you into this incredible world. You will be there in the jungle with Jake and Nay`tiri. There are only 3 Cliche uses of 3-d in the whole movie when things fly at you, all the other stuff gives the world depht, and even the subtitles look gorgeous.
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