Avatar

[karthak]

Originally Posted by donny

Hi,
When the Oscar nominations are announced next January, Avatar will most likely not be nominated in any acting or the screenplay category. It will, however, be nominated for every technical category possible, and it will deservedly win some (or most) of those trophies. Most people do not focus on the technical awards during the Oscar broadcast. But Avatar proves that special effects wizards are also artists. It is such a great achievement.

Zoe Saldana should recieve a nomination. She did absolutely phenomenal work with Neytiri.

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by karthak

Another criticism of the film actually made me anticipate it more. When people were saying that it was just dances with wolves and ferngully IN SPACE, my reaction was: oh yea! Now I want to see it even more!

Why? Because Ferngully was one of my favorite animated movies when I was a child, and I read that dances with wolves got 7 oscars, including best picture, and that the Sioux Nation liked it so much they even adopted Costner as an honorary member. Bit funny that negative remarks about the movie just made me more interested.

dude avatar is nothing like ferngully... ferngully had this thing called character development, actually deep plot, and dance of wolves was freaking awesome.

[Roger Rambo]

Having just watched the movie, I can roughly say the idea this Pixiv artist got is generally accurate.

[karthak]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Having just watched the movie, I can roughly say the idea this Pixiv artist got is generally accurate.

I seriously have no idea what's going on in that picture (probably because I can't read the letters ).

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by karthak

I seriously have no idea what's going on in that picture (probably because I can't read the letters ).

The face say's everything.

[mg1942]

to hell with the critics in the l33t hollywood circle
this is THE best movie of '09 period!
if this doesn't sweep Oscars then it's no wonder Academy Awards deserve record low TV ratings

[mg1942]

btw just watched this movie today...
watching this in digital projector + 3D is a must

[james0246]

^The best movie of the year? Well, I will grant you that there is significant hidden depth to the film, much that is just waiting to be 'mined' by any observant audience (much can be said of just Giovanni Ribisi's performeance, let alone the "major" characters), but even then I would not claim that it is the best of the year (there is a least a dozen films I can think of off the top of my head that were better than Avatar), hell I am not even sure if the film is the most graphically impressive or imaginative of the year (Coraline might just hedge Avatar out, and Where the Wild Things Are is not that far behind). Avatar definitely deserves praise (it does still have a 83% at rottentomatoes and a 84% at Metacritic, so it is not like there is a "Hollywood elite" that are lambasting the film), but "THE Best" seems a bit too high.

That being said, Avatar is one of the best experiences I have had at the Theatres this past year (right behind Paranormal Activity).

[Gin]

Originally Posted by mg1942

to hell with the critics in the l33t hollywood circle
this is THE best movie of '09 period!
if this doesn't sweep Oscars then it's no wonder Academy Awards deserve record low TV ratings

Thats going a bit far, this movie was basically Pocahontas in space. (Played by Space Marines and Night Elves) The plot was entirely predictable. (Like when you first see the big dragon thing, its obvious that Jake will ride it)
The best part of the movie was the visuals and I thought it was a bad 3d movie. It was still a good movie, but a good 3D movie should have things flying out of the screen. (Which is why Final Destination 3D was the best 3D movie ever, but also a pretty terrible movie)

[Nosauz]

Originally Posted by mg1942

to hell with the critics in the l33t hollywood circle
this is THE best movie of '09 period!
if this doesn't sweep Oscars then it's no wonder Academy Awards deserve record low TV ratings

u seemed to have missed a great movie called district 9 which blows the shit out of avatar.

[GuidoHunter_Toki]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

u seemed to have missed a great movie called district 9 which blows the shit out of avatar.

Blows the shit out of?

District 9 had more meat to the story. However Avatar was more impactful for me. I wasn't as captivated with District 9 as I was with Avatar. I also found the characters/scenes in general in Avatar more memorable than District 9. Both films I give great praise and while I'd still say that District 9 is the better film I don't think it blows the shit out of Avatar.

Another thing, no one is saying shit about District 9 being an exact retelling of apartheid but are quick to bash the "unoriginal" and "cliche" story of Avatar. District 9 is a story about racial treatment and the moral aspects of humanity...with aliens. Avatar is a story about reconnecting with spirituality and the importance of preserving nature and culture, and the moral aspects of humanity...with aliens.

All too familiar story tropes haven't stopped other films, like Jaws, Terminator/Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Titanic, The Matrix, King Kong, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc., from being great films.

to each's own I guess.

[incube]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

u seemed to have missed a great movie called district 9 which blows the shit out of avatar.

I found District 9 simply disgusting..... I dont go the cinema to learn morals and how ugly the world is....i was glad i didnt go to the theaters to watch it.

Avatar might have combined all the above mentioned cliche and unoriginal themes but James Cameron managed to make me enjoy one of my best cinema experiences and managed to incorporate some of the most pressing and important problems in our world.

Some ppl said that this movie doesnt offer much to think about and reflex.... here are somethings that came up between me and my friends after watching this film a couple hours ago:

1) There is an obvious relationship between Avatar's story and the colonization of America by the Europeans... the killing of the natives and enslaving them for the only purpose of shipping the natural resources back to Europe. (i explained this for the ppl that call this movie a rip off from Pocahontas....) Well... we all know about what happened in the past but did anything change from back then? Our current "globalized" world is just like the America-Europe or the Navi-Humans relationship.... We have the so called "Third-world-countries" that basically are exploited in a "legal" way by huge internation corporations in order to provide low cost / high profit products to the rich countries....

2) The whole expedition and everything that happened to both Navi and the humans in Pandora was for a source of energy.... Earth sends some cientists, some excavation machinery and .... an army of mercenaries to make sure to get what they wanted... and since the natives live just above the excavation site, whats the best way to solve this? Smoke them out.... now go watch 10 minutes of CNN ....

3) Another thing that this film remarks is the ecological issue.... the balance between mother nature and the inhabitants.... dont feel like writting about this but there is another issue u can think about for a while...

So yeah, this isnt a film with the most original and philosifical theories but there are definitly things to think about and personally i find these realistic problems much more interesting than wondering if we are actually energy cells for robots with AI and living in a virtual world...


Hmmm and for the ppl that didnt or doesnt want to read all the above... GO and watch this at the theater. U wont regret it.

[-Mad Skillz-]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Actually the banshee thing is fine, what I'm pointing out was with the epic mount it shouldn't have been oh, u tame a beast and I can absolve all your sins. Plus this messiah figure in all actuality shouldn't just be a messiah, for the Na'vi to be somewhat complex having jake become a messiah type character was just an easy way to avoid real depth to the na'vi and to jake. The fact that a messiah is solely chosen by riding a mount that isn't perilous in anywhich way then attacking from the sky then thats pretty pathetic for someone to be considered a messiah.

They are a primitive civilization, it isn't even remotely "unrealistic." There are a lot of humans today that still believe in ridiculous myths; the idea that a primitive hunter/gatherer-type civilization would place a ridiculous amount of importance in "taming an un-tamable beast" is extremely believable.

We've had monarchs in the not-so-distant past that have held messiah-like status on the mere backing that they had supposedly "heard messages from God."

[Nosauz]

Gah sooo many things to reply to:
@Guidohunter Toki
District 9 is heavily reminiscent of apartheid but while watching the movie I don't immediatly think o this movie is about apartheid, instead I don't find it cheesy because of the way the movie is paced and set up. Where as in Avatar as soon as I see them sticking their little tail/hair/dick/w/e things into the animals, I know it has to do with spirtuality, specifically native american spirtuality, and the movie becomes highly preechy about this. When the great tree is felled, it's ecological affects are not understood, thinking that such a large tree, interwoven into atleast 5 generations of Navi spirit woven shit would have caused more than just people getting pierce by it's spare limbs. Also Sully seemed invincible, there was never tension that he would die, that made him less connectable, where as the main character in D9 is a frail human who is being hunted and it actually feels like that he might not make it. What may happen to him? What awaits his future, will he lose his humanity? Where as Jake seems to be pretty much untouchable.

@incube
Look I'm not saying anything like that, Cameron brings up many things but I go to movies to not be taught or talked at. The romance was highly contrived in this movie, you teach me, i bone you doesn't really qualify as a romantic tale, that's equating basically john smith and pochantas except john smith later goes out and kills half the natives before he tells pochahantas that he loves her. Also Jake is "chosen" but cameron doesn't explain why or what it means to be chosen other than a pure soul. Not to mention that most of the events that occur with the Navi lack real emotion, like jake fighting the next leader dude, after he's bed the leader dude's future wife, he shows little to no emotion. I can go on and on about plot points that were highly trite and unimportant.

Also what does mirroring reality have to do with anything. Okay it parallels the iraqi occupation, so? That adds no, I repeat zero, things to the stories ability to captivate. Okay it parallels the real world, well most films do in someway or another. Ecology actually doesn't play a big role other than looking pretty, if ecology was important then it wouldn;t be three types of trees, and the occassional prayer to a fallen animal. When the big black tiger thing dies, the chick doesn't say jack shit, guess when the blue smurf penis is pleasuring you nature can take a back seat. Also female pilot? Why was she even there other than being a chauffer? Really she could have been replaced by autopilot and I think the movie would have went on fine. Her development followed the logic of a two year old, hell other than saying, "i didn't sign up for this shit" she suddenly is all I'm anti military. If it was realistic then she wouldn't be the only one.

@Mad Skillz

What's unrealistic is the fact that this messiah has never been "evil" if you look at history, pharohs have been villanized even in their deaths, kings were beheaded because they neglected their people. Messiahs are not always harbringers of hope, they are more harbringers of change, so the idea that from their history they have no blemish other than a "time of darkness" is just unbelievable, and what did this messiah do after he united the clans? what type of evil did he combat? These are pertinent to jake's development as messiah. Dune is a perfect exmaple of how you develop a messiah and the story to him, think kwisatch haderach.

[-Mad Skillz-]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

so the idea that from their history they have no blemish other than a "time of darkness" is just unbelievable

Oh. I definitely agree. All of these "native" stories (Dances w/ Wolves, Last Samurai, Avatar) paint the "natives" as these incredibly pure souls that can do no harm. I wasn't arguing that; I was simply arguing the notion that it was ridiculous for the natives to put Jake on a higher level for simply conquering a beast (which is what I got out of your post).

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by mg1942

to hell with the critics in the l33t hollywood circle
this is THE best movie of '09 period!
if this doesn't sweep Oscars then it's no wonder Academy Awards deserve record low TV ratings

Agree'd Avatar and Disctrict 9 are easly two of the best movies this year.


why do people get so serious over movies? their movies....

[Ending]

@Ending, actually this is the one movie I'd definitely go see in a theatre/imax, because that's the whole point, because the movie really doesn't have a engrossing story there really isn't a rewatchability.

I'd rather play a good game or, even better, watch a movie with a good story, because the visuals get old in approx. 60 seconds after the movie begins and I'd rather stick my head to the arse-end of a skunk than watch that same old sob story again.

A matter of preference, I know, but how many times can you see the same story before knowing what will happen even before the movie begins? Especially when the story isn't that good to start with and have to pay over 10 bucks for the glory of it.

[Roger Rambo]

Avatar has now made over a billion dollars and how now officially beaten the Dark Knight.

[mg1942]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Avatar has now made over a billion dollars and how now officially beaten the Dark Knight.

this is james cameron we're talking about... every shit he touches turns to gold!

next in avatar's crosshairs... titanic!

[incube]

@Nosauz

Ur the one that is fixed on the idea that a good film must have some deep, philosofical meaning...

We all know what kind of movies James Cameron makes and u need to try to understand (and if u simply cant then just accept it), that a lot of ppl actually go to the cinema to simply enjoy a visually stunning and well directed film. And this movie was able to do that for most of the ppl...

Now let me quote some parts of ur response

Originally Posted by Nosauz

The romance was highly contrived in this movie, you teach me, i bone you doesn't really qualify as a romantic tale, that's equating basically john smith and pochantas except john smith later goes out and kills half the natives before he tells pochahantas that he loves her.

Avatar isnt a romantic film.... so i dont see whats the problem about not having all the drama and simply go with... they fell in love. And why all that negativity about Pocahontas... it is a great movie

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Also Jake is "chosen" but cameron doesn't explain why or what it means to be chosen other than a pure soul

Jake was sent to LEARN about the Navi's in order to UNDERSTAND them.... so being CHOSEN for having a PURE SOUL is a pretty obvious idea...

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Not to mention that most of the events that occur with the Navi lack real emotion, like jake fighting the next leader dude, after he's bed the leader dude's future wife, he shows little to no emotion. I can go on and on about plot points that were highly trite and unimportant.

Again this isnt a romantic drama.... there was no need to explain all those "trite and unimportant" plot points. How long do u expect the movie to last? And u can always use a bit of imagination to fill up those parts.... personally i wasnt concerned about that Navis feelings of getting his fiance snatched while watching Avatar....

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Also what does mirroring reality have to do with anything. Okay it parallels the iraqi occupation, so? That adds no, I repeat zero, things to the stories ability to captivate.

Well actually it wasnt supposed to do much at all but since u were the one that was looking for some important and deep meanings from this film that everyone praises for its "impressive visual effects", i just mentioned some would-seem-to-be important issues for u.

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Ecology actually doesn't play a big role other than looking pretty

that was the idea... but since u cant seem to enjoy them i tried to give u another perspective but i guess it doesnt work for u either.

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Also female pilot? Why was she even there other than being a chauffer? Really she could have been replaced by autopilot and I think the movie would have went on fine. Her development followed the logic of a two year old, hell other than saying, "i didn't sign up for this shit" she suddenly is all I'm anti military.

Trudy (the pilot) is a secondary character so she isnt supposed to be of much importance and i personally find it sexier to see Michelle Rodriguez than a robot piloting a chopper. And they are not the military... they are mercenaries contracted by a private corporation to protect the expedition. Just like the many atrocities those "private security companies" ,composed of ex-marines, comited in Irak, Afganistan, etc.

Originally Posted by Nosauz

If it was realistic then she wouldn't be the only one.

It seems to me that ur the naive one to think that in reality there would be so many....

-----------------

Try to enjoy the film instead of spending the time u paid for to find unimportant plot points and looking for deep meaningfull lessons from every single movie.