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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Jan 10th, '10, 00:53



Anyone seen it yet who has an opinion on the flick? I'm going to see it tomorrow in Imax 3D so I'll let you know what I think.

:D

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Postby Farlsborough » Jan 10th, '10, 01:24

It was spectacular in normally sized 3D, I'm sure it'll be super spectacular in massive 3D.

I really enjoyed it. A tad long, very predictable storyline etc. but you just get swept along into another world. I particularly loved the jungle at night, all luminescent. It I had my critical hat on I could find lots and lots wrong with it but I was perfectly happy just to go along with it, and came out feeling good, if not slightly sad that the planet they create doesn't actually exist and I can't go and visit!

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Postby Grimshaw » Jan 10th, '10, 12:19

If i didn't watch this film in 3D i'd have been rather bored by the 2nd hour.

Farls i think one of the points they were trying to make is that our planet is just as amazing as Pandora, and we just need to acknowledge that.

Like you say, the plot was predictable (the Dances With Wolves in outer space idea turned out to be disappointingly accurate), and the effects were too computer game for me. I really don't see the point in hiring linguistic experts to come out with a new language. I wouldn't have known the difference if the characters were just saying the first thing that came into their mouths.

Apparently Cameron can turn Avatar into a Triolgy if the first one is a scuccess, so belt up for more of the same. One part of me wants to admire Cameron for being a man with a vision and who sticks to that vision and works hard to bring it to the screen. Trouble is, the same could be said for Ed Wood.

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Postby Randy » Jan 10th, '10, 21:25

It was pretty much Dances with Wolves and Ferngully the Last Rain forest in space. I did enjoy it, tho due to my small backwoods town, I didn't get to see it in Imax 3D or anything. Which is a shame, because that most likely what it was meant to be seen in.

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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Jan 11th, '10, 06:20

I was five hours early to get a ticket in Imax 3d and they were sold out... So I went to see it in just 3D.

I really liked this movie. I was skeptical of the animation at first but then it all blended together and became really good. The 3D is amazing technology and I'm glad I could experience this movie in 3D. :D

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Postby gunnarkr » Jan 11th, '10, 12:16

I plan to see it in 3D this week. I saw the trailer at the movies last week and the characters strike me as if Pocahontas and a Smurf had a child :shock:


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Postby flashman » Jan 11th, '10, 14:30

I must say that I really liked this film. I loved the riot of colour in the forest scenes - especially since these days every 'serious' director seems to decide to bleach all the colour from their movie... we'll be going back to black and white soon, mark my words!!

The level of cgi detail and motion capture is nothing short of miraculous - anyone who thinks it resembles a computer game should blow up Gears of War or whichever onto a 50ft screen and see what the difference is!!

Ok, the storyline is nothing new and dialogue has never been a Cameron strongpoint.... but instead of criticizing this film for what it isn't we should enjoy it for what it is... A solid, entertaining, visually engaging, slightly bum numbing, sci-fi adventure that has its heart in the right place and is genuinely trying to show us something different. Pure escapism... and in these dreary, freezing, winter weeks, isn't that a good thing?

(3D is still a gimmick though - it'll never catch on!!) :D

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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Jan 26th, '10, 01:10

Avatar has just been named the highest grossing box office picture of all time. However I don't think it's fair to say that seeing as ticket prices have gone way up since the previous highest grosser Titanic.


If we do factor in changes of ticket prices Avatar is in 26th place and Gone With the Wind in first and Star Wars in second.

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Postby Grimshaw » Jan 26th, '10, 15:57

Ian The Magic-Ian wrote:If we do factor in changes of ticket prices Avatar is in 26th place and Gone With the Wind in first and Star Wars in second.


Where did you get this info? I'd like to see the entire top ten.

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Postby Ian The Magic-Ian » Jan 26th, '10, 17:49

Grimshaw wrote:
Ian The Magic-Ian wrote:If we do factor in changes of ticket prices Avatar is in 26th place and Gone With the Wind in first and Star Wars in second.


Where did you get this info? I'd like to see the entire top ten.


http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm

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Postby TheStoner » Jan 26th, '10, 17:59

Just seen Avatar 3D and, well, it was quite good.

Basically it's an hour and a half of a nature film followed by an hour of a war film. The 3D was really distracting for a while and then when your mind got used to it and "switched it off" it got a lot better. Plenty of Cameron's love of military hardware on show and some wishy-washy hippie stuff. Not as good a film as Titanic. Worth going to see though, overall. 3D may not be the future, but it's quite fun.

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Postby Noodlesoup » Jan 26th, '10, 20:35

I 've never been to an IMAX theater before watching this. Let me tell you, watching a 150 minute film wearing those glasses can turn your stomach upside-down.

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Postby ButrosButros » Feb 1st, '10, 15:24

sorry to resurrect a slightly dying thread, but i've got major issues with Avatar. and seeing how i've got a little bit of time to kill at work, it seems a good time and place to let it out.

i think we can all agree that Avatar looks spectacular. but is that really all it takes to make a good movie now? there was absolutely nothing original in the whole movie. the visual style was nothing new to anyone who's ever played final fantasy X (sorry, i know RPGs aren't the coolest). and as everyone's already stated, the story was extremely predictable, and pretty rubbish. but what really irks me are 2 things.

bearing in mind just how much time and effort went into producing this film:

1) the science is so so wrong. how come everything on the planet had 6 limbs and breathed through neck nostrils, except for the 'humanoids'? given the movie tried to be vaguely scientific in places, it really bugged me that they didn't check to see if evolutionarily speaking, their proposed world was possible. it's not. the big blue fella's just look that way so you fancy them a bit. (don't even get me started on why they all seemed to be african, while the avatars were clearly caucasian. it just added to the massively stereotyped feel of the whole thing). anyway, I'm an evolutionary biologist, so i get irritated by things like this.

2) now this is the bit that really irked me. those flying mountains......isn't it a little odd that, a) they mess up radar but everything else works fine up there? and b) if you were seeing them for the first time, wouldn't you ask how they float? it just seems odd that this was completely glossed over and ignored....

anyway, i know this now makes me look like an internet nerd with nothing much better to do than question fiction, but i feel better now.

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Postby flashman » Feb 1st, '10, 17:01

Proper science and blockbuster movies rarely make for entertaining bedfellows.... I don't think the makers of Avatar ever really aspired to total realism, just a 'realism of sorts' and enough internal logic to get by on. And don't forget that the vast majority of folks going to the cinema aren't scientists, have probably never heard of final fantasy and wouldn't dream of picking up and reading a sci-fi or fantasy novel... They just want to be entertained for a bit, have some sort of emotional engagement with the characters (which helps if they have halfway human features) and visit places that they've never been. If you want anyone to put up a couple of hundred million dollars to back a movie like this then you have to try and make it appeal to a very broad audience spectrum.

I'm not saying your points aren't valid - they are, but I guess how much they detract from the enjoyment of watching this movie completely depends on your point of view.... At the end of the day just keep repeating, "It's only a movie, it's only a movie..."

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Postby ButrosButros » Feb 1st, '10, 17:21

oddly enough i didn't have a problem with the new star trek movie :?

must be something specific to Avatar that's made me want to hate it :evil:

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