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Angelus3K
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#1 Post by Angelus3K » Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:11 am

Just seen it, bloody brilliant! Cameron has done it again!

What did you guys think?

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#2 Post by Tye » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:19 pm

Yea, without a doubt, the BEST movie experience I've ever had. :D Freaking loved it!!!

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#3 Post by Vildern » Mon Dec 21, 2009 4:36 pm

I do plan to watch it, sometime soon. I have my expectations up after reading Ebert's praising review and seeing the high score it got on imdb. :)

Review - http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc ... /912119998

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#4 Post by Thepal » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:54 am

Awesome movie. Saw the 3D version on a huge screen. Amazing.

Not sure how it ranks on my best experiences of all time thing though. I stopped having "feelings" about things a while ago. But if I did still get excited about stuff, then I'd say it would definately be up there.

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#5 Post by Spikey » Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:37 pm

Went to the cinemas with low expectations, especially since I think Titanic is a pile of horsepuke, but...


...I loved this.

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#6 Post by Brainiac » Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:35 pm

While Chester A. Bum thought Avatar was the greatest movie he'd ever seen in his life...again...Douglas Walker had a different opinion. I reserve full judgment until I see it for myself, but from everything I've seen and heard so far, the "Dances With Smurfs" joke is not inaccurate.

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#7 Post by Tye » Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:42 pm

Brainiac wrote:While Chester A. Bum thought Avatar was the greatest movie he'd ever seen in his life...again...Douglas Walker had a different opinion. I reserve full judgment until I see it for myself, but from everything I've seen and heard so far, the "Dances With Smurfs" joke is not inaccurate.

The story is very similar to Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai, however, the Smurf comparison always irritated me. The only thing these aliens have in common with a smurf is the fact that they are blue. Otherwise. . . seriously?

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#8 Post by Brainiac » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:48 pm

Tye wrote:The only thing these aliens have in common with a smurf is the fact that they are blue.
Precisely why that term is used to replace "Wolves" in the joke. I don't think it's intended to be saying the Na'vi are Smurfs, just making a comparative pop culture reference. Honestly who could mistake these
Image
for these?
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#9 Post by Senor Matt » Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:30 pm

I thought that while the plot was very predictable and formulaic, the special effects and acting made it worth seeing. Overall I liked it quite a bit.

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#10 Post by DrJones » Thu Jan 07, 2010 6:04 pm

A story so bad and previsible is almost laughable but the rest is quite good. I think it was the first film I watched in 3D that was worth it. Maybe too many references to Aliens, and some times I thought the provisional title was "World of Warcraft: The Movie", but very entertaining. I think XKCD said it best.

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#11 Post by Spikey » Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:35 pm

Senor Matt wrote:I thought that while the plot was very predictable and formulaic, the special effects and acting made it worth seeing. Overall I liked it quite a bit.
Yeah, probably the 3D IMAX setting was adding to the experience I've had; the plot was is probably worse than Titanic, only the setting is different.

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#12 Post by pbpb33 » Sun Jan 17, 2010 2:06 pm

I heard the movie is very anti-US military and that you're supposed to cheer when the American or western military service members are blown up. Did anyone think that?

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#13 Post by avoozl snot » Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:06 am

pbpb33 wrote:I heard the movie is very anti-US military and that you're supposed to cheer when the American or western military service members are blown up. Did anyone think that?
it's a fictional military force in the future that operates as a mercenary service for corporate entities determined to destroy the homeland and society of a sentient people in order to steal from them. on a planet that's not theirs, which they couldn't really colonize and share peacefully if they wanted to, because they can't even breathe the atmosphere

in short, yes, the human military presence is antagonistic in the story, but their objectives (steal from peaceful indigenous people) and methods (kill them like it's a video game) are so objectionable to probably the vast majority of humanity that you would have to be Montgomery-Burns-evil to support them if it were a real-life situation.

that said:

- if you have ever seen a "movie" before you will be surprised by absolutely nothing that happens during the film

- the visuals are great, sure, though nothing that can't be beat with some psychedelics and a visit to your local national forest (for around the same price!)

- "unobtainium" - even spell check disagrees

- they should have released it on thanksgiving day

- again, if i were 12 and had never seen a real movie before, or abs like that on a real human before, and if my idea of the genocide committed on my own continent were limited to what they taught me in school ("there used to be indians here! we had a good dinner date once! then they were kinda gone, i guess! progress!").. my mind would have been blown. but i did enjoy the ride. then again, i snuck in, so all i lost was a little face in front of a boyfriend who wouldn't go because "i'd rather hold my hand on the hot oven burner for two and a half hours".. touche!

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#14 Post by pbpb33 » Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:01 am

Thanks for the response! I haven't seen the movie, so I was just going off what I had read. I'm sure the antagonistic characters, as they're presented in the movie, are easy to root against. The only concern I have is that I didn't want to sit through some preachy, thinly-veiled jab at American-style "colonialists" and military people. I recently had the displeasure of sitting through "V for Vendetta" and didn't want to experience yet again another bunch of anti-American, anti-Christian garbage when I thought I was in for some thrilling adventure. I think James Cameron was quoted somewhere as saying that he feels like the movie should open people's eyes to the "false pretenses" behind US military actions, blah, blah. I suppose I could overlook any political overtones, if they are there, and just enjoy the action and special effects. Just wondered what you guys thought. Here's what I was reading and what led me away from paying for a ticket:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... nfl#avatar
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/12/ ... t-wing.php

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#15 Post by avoozl snot » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:39 pm

I don't remember Christianity being mentioned at all. The only religion in the movie, I think, is that of the natives, which is a pretty generic monotheistic earth-worship amalgamation of your average westerner's idea of indigenous religion/what hippies talk about at rainbow gatherings.

naturally, lots of people don't like that the natives are pagans, but honestly, it's necessary, because historically that is exactly the reason why the indigenous were viewed as "less than" their invaders, and killed in large numbers before being encouraged to put on the clothing of their conquerors and live like them (give up hunting and gathering for farming, school, a new religion and form of worship).

moving on to the anti-military aspect again. yes, one of the movie's messages is definitely to question the military's motives when it's occupying or liberating someplace far away where the people don't pose any significant threat to your life. (the blue aliens were not "terrorists" in the movie, they had never attacked earth or even left their planet).

questioning why anyone is invading anyone is extremely important, no matter who is in power, and especially as the "military" becomes proportionally less army/navy/marines/air force and more Blackwater, Halliburton, and other private mercenaries who are unaccountable to the standards of behavior and values of the traditional forces. It's easy to see in the movie that the fictional military is very mercenary.

so the question becomes not about whether you are pro-war or anti-war (the natives solve their problem through a huge bloody war) but whether we want our might and the lives of our men and women to be for sale to the highest bidder, or campaign contributor.. and whether those men and women should be tricked into thinking the people they're fighting are heartless savages who threaten their existence. if you're like most people, i think, your answer is hell no.

i know a lot of people see iraq/afghanistan, because a lot of viewers are young and that's just what's happening in their world right now. i personally saw the most connection with the war for the black hills, where the US government exterminated and "relocated" the plains indians to steal their most sacred land for gold and then blast the faces of their presidents into it as the big final "fuck y'all!".

but this movie is so open to interpretation that people are going to see whatever is close to home. die-hard laissez-faire businessmen are seeing it as "the liberal loonies want to take away my god given right to drill the alaskan wilderness" and the chinese are absolutely convinced it's about one of their own local problems: local governments illegally evicting people from their homes to redevelop.

the ancient aztecs would have something to say about it..
so would peasant societies crushed by the roman empire..
so do the vietnamese, i'm sure..
you could go on forever. it's a story that's as old as disproportionate human power, i'm afraid.

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#16 Post by navynuke04 » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:27 pm

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#17 Post by avoozl snot » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:55 pm

hahaha yes exactly.

i am not kidding when i say the movie offers absolutely nothing new in characters, plot, or morals.

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#18 Post by Quest For Glory Fan » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:07 am

avoozl snot wrote:
pbpb33 wrote:I heard the movie is very anti-US military and that you're supposed to cheer when the American or western military service members are blown up. Did anyone think that?
it's a fictional military force in the future that operates as a mercenary service for corporate entities determined to destroy the homeland and society of a sentient people in order to steal from them. on a planet that's not theirs, which they couldn't really colonize and share peacefully if they wanted to, because they can't even breathe the atmosphere

in short, yes, the human military presence is antagonistic in the story, but their objectives (steal from peaceful indigenous people) and methods (kill them like it's a video game) are so objectionable to probably the vast majority of humanity that you would have to be Montgomery-Burns-evil to support them if it were a real-life situation.

that said:

- if you have ever seen a "movie" before you will be surprised by absolutely nothing that happens during the film

- the visuals are great, sure, though nothing that can't be beat with some psychedelics and a visit to your local national forest (for around the same price!)

- "unobtainium" - even spell check disagrees

- they should have released it on thanksgiving day

- again, if i were 12 and had never seen a real movie before, or abs like that on a real human before, and if my idea of the genocide committed on my own continent were limited to what they taught me in school ("there used to be indians here! we had a good dinner date once! then they were kinda gone, i guess! progress!").. my mind would have been blown. but i did enjoy the ride. then again, i snuck in, so all i lost was a little face in front of a boyfriend who wouldn't go because "i'd rather hold my hand on the hot oven burner for two and a half hours".. touche!
Actually I thought the movie was more relatable to ongoing conflicts in Iraq than to Native Americans. They weren't settling on the new planet they just wanted the resources and then they were leaving. I actually think Cameron took an interesting approach in having the audience side against the Americans (or American like forces) because it would have been so easy to side with them. Before the release Cameron said that the script was nothing special but that it fit together for what he was trying to do and the movie does indeed flow really nicely. I don't care if the next scene is going to be predictable if I enjoy watching it. That's like watching Die Hard and going "Hans Gruber is going to die at the end" well good for you, you understand the linearity of genre. What I mostly enjoyed about Avatar is it's refusal to be put in a genre. It's not a romance, it's not an action film and it's not a drama but at the same time it's all of these all the time while still being a sci fi. I'd have a bad day at work if I was working at a Blockbuster when this came in. I wouldn't know where to put it. Also, Unobtanium. Clearly a plot point, only shown once briefly, can't think of a more fitting name. Also foreshadows a bit seeing as how the they never actually obtain it. (Where did the spoiler button go, oh well, like everyone says the plot is obvious). Say what you will about Avatar but it's a great experience and it is now the most successful movie of all time

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#19 Post by Brainiac » Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:04 pm

I don't think it's the most successful movie of all time. It is the highest grossing movie of all time (unadjusted). However, in terms of actual ticket sales and adjusted gross, Gone with the Wind is still supreme.

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#20 Post by Quest For Glory Fan » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:17 pm

and Avatar tickets were 3 dollars more than Titanic tickets but that film was in theaters for 18 months and Avatar still has a strong theater life.

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#21 Post by Anonymous Game Creator 2 » Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:33 pm

Just saw this in 3D at IMAX the other night. Amazingly impressive 3D! I think the 3D went a huge way in lending to the experience of feeling like you're really on Pandora. It did a fantastic job at immersing the viewer. I thought the story and plot were fairly average, though. That Pocahontas comparison couldn't be more accurate, Sean! :D

Given that most Hollywood movies these days try to smack viewers across the head with political messages, I was kind of wary about seeing Avatar - especially after sitting through the garbage that was "2012". But I find myself agreeing with avoozl snot, that this film wasn't a commentary on the Iraq war. The same premise is used in the Command & Conquer game series, where they're trying to harvest a substance called Tiberium. Whether it be Gold, Oil, Unobtainium, Tiberium... these things are simply mcguffons, used to drive the plot in 'invasion' movies. Furthermore, the circumstances of the military mission, as well as the nature of the indigenous inhabitants of Pandora are not even remotely similar to Iraq.

Remember that James Cameron also gave us "True Lies", a film in which they actually made Islamic Jihadists the bad guys (something Hollywood would never dare to do now!). So I had faith that his newest film would not put a 180 degree spin on that by turning embarrassingly PC. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case. I really like when I can watch a film without being 'jolted' out of it with some political message I may not agree with. And James Cameron seems to have put a LOT of time and work into perfecting this film - his first in over a decade. I don't think he'd risk compromising the integrity of his work in that way.

Suffice it to say, that I think people who compare this to the Iraq war are probably stretching to see things that aren't really there. I saw it as a fictional story inspired by colonization, rather than being about any modern war.

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#22 Post by rugged » Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:46 pm

I went to this the other day and was a little bit dissapointed with the 3d. I had already expected the plot to be average and it was. But the way some friends and the media had hyped up the 3d I was not overly impressed. Although you could see the skeleton their as they refine the technology it will end up being very impressive.

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