Avatar?

So, I saw a promo today of Avatar during a football game today. Did anyone else get the impression that this film looks LAME?

The first line you hear is "You're not in Kansas anymore". It's a cliche of a cliche. Then, it follow up with some army guy making more cliche's about how tough it's going to be.

But, worst of all, the CGI of the characters and action looks like something on a PS3. I was totally unconvinced.

Did anyone else get this impression?

 

I agree.

 

Not impressed at all.

 

$300 Million bomb. Loser bookend to Titanic.

 

No way, looks great. New trailer in 3D looks amazing.

 

Everyone said the same thing about Titanic before it came out, and it's still one of the highest grossing films of all time. I saw the 16 minute 3D IMAX preview of Avatar and think the new 3D technology that was created for this movie is definitely a game changer. Seeing it on your computer, TV, or even a standard movie screen won't even come close to doing it justice. To borrow a line from the Zucker brothers.... "You will shi*t your pants!"

 

I thought it was going to be based on Nickelodeon's Avatar; The Last Airbender series when I heard about the project years ago. (Yeah I'm a Sci-Fi geek, big deal) The show is very well written & also has it's own movie in the works, I wonder how much confusion this will cause with the fans of the show?

 

Titanic was a real (sort of) story about a real event and most importantly, appealed to both sexes and an age range of 13 to 80. Many, many, guys got lucky after sitting through it.

Avatar will have a much more narrow appeal. I doubt many older people will be interested, and depending on the rating younger viewers may not be able to go either. I doubt young women will flock to it on a girl's night out as well.

It might be a good movie, but that doesn't mean it will be successful.

 

I agree. Titannic was marketed as an action movie but was in fact a love story. So, guys didn't mind taking their dates to it and girls enjoyed it once there.

This movie is being overhyped as the second coming of Titannic. Unless it's more than just another CGI riddled sci-fi flick, it's not going to recoup it's $300 million cost.

 

We will find out in a couple weeks.

The trailer leaves me a little flat as well...but I think betting against James Cameron is foolish.

You can argue in hindsight why Titanic became the highest grossing film of all time but the fact is before it was released EVERYONE said it was going to be a huge bomb...

Just like they are saying about this.

 

It doesn't look terrible, but it certainly doesn't look like a movie that will make me waste $12 at the theater. I'll wait for it to be aired on tv in a few years. Most movies today suck and the only time I've been to it in the last year was to see Fast and Furious this past summer (my friend dragged me to it since no one else wanted to see it with him).

 

I'm not sure when this trailer came out, but it tells a bit of the plot. Somewhat like The Abyss (another Cameron film) this is one you probably want to see in the theater. Just not the same on 42" LCD.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi531039513/

Let the 30-second commercial play and then there is a clip that looks pretty cool. Reminds me of Jurrasic Park.
http://movies.ign.com/dor/objects/800318/avatar/videos/avatar_trl_thanator_chase.html

 

I'll see it - yet, i doubt it'll make back it's production cost

 

I'm willing to bet it's a game changer....

The 3D technology in this thing is incredible.

 

I'm so glad that finally somebody mentions this.

Over and over in the media everybody (including the movie critics) are telling me how incredibly great this movie looks and every preview I saw looks like a souped up XBox to me. The movement of the characters is not natural, the environment looks like computer graphics and not like a real world and those blue people are just plain ugly.

So far the critics have only beaten up on the thin story line, but nobody had the gutts to challenge the look. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees no clothes on the Emperor.

The movie itself will do just fine. There are enough nerds and kids around to make the money back, but it won't be the blockbuster Titanic was and it will not get any meaningful Oscars (aside probably some technical ones).

I'm still going to see it in the theatre, but that's merely because I love 3D movies.

 

I agree, but JC has never let me down before. So I will still go see it to see.

 

Well, Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't have 12 foot tall smurfs or 20 foot tall mecha. I figure when M Night Shammalammadingdong is ready to show us a real trailer for his film version of The Last Airbender fans of the show will know whats what...

 

The nail in Cameron's coffin? IMHO his last good film was T2.

 

Thats an opinion but not a popular one. He is one of the most consistently successful filmmakers of all time.

Even True Lies, arguably his weakest film, made a boatload of money.

Avatar is going to be huge. Just watch...

 

Absolutely. It will make money simply because his name is behind the project. So you know where I'm coming from... I don't like too many modern films. For the life of me I cannot understand how they got to a Transformers 2. The Box was a huge disappointment. 2Fast 2Furious. Etc, etc, ect...

 

It might also be a really good film...

 

It's a good thing movies here are only 5$, I could get twice the crappiness out of it, if it's that bad.

 

saw it tuesday night,the 3D is the best so far for sure,the film itself I cannot fully comment on as I feel like I have to watch it again to really know what I think of it,it is good enough for me to be able to sit through it again though

 

Avatar 9.5/10

Much better than I expected, however AS expected it was not technically revolutionary but simply a large evolutionary step.

I have not seen a lot of 3D so I cant compare with much except A Christmas Carol and Harry Potter. This was much better than both but it still had ghosting throughout which at times pulled me out of the movie. It took me 15-20 minutes to not be distracted and by 45 min in the 3D went from gimmick to immersing me into the movie. The weakest link in the 3D are the glasses...they really need to develop wrap around glasses so the frames arent distracting.

So while the 3D was great it wasnt perfect and they still need to work on the tech.

The CGI was groundbreaking in a subtle way. It is the first time anyone has traversed the 'Uncanny Valley' successfully. When I looked into the Na'Vi eyes I wasnt thinking I was looking at a CGI character...they were alive...most of the time. The movements were comparable to a living creature...its hard to describe unless you study these things which I do. The eyes moved frenetically and not smoothly. They precipitated head movements as happens in real life. The deformation of the eyelids was particularly impressive.

The muscle deformation was also the best Ive ever seen though there were times when it wasnt accurate. I noticed a lot of *cheating* when it came to muscle deformation.

The environments were gorgeous and completely believable. The amount of work that must have gone into creating it boggles my pea brain.

Most importantly...once I got over my dislike of the Na'Vi designs I believed they were real. Neytiri was amazing. She was alive. Its the single greatest achievement in CGI since Jurassic Park. Zoe Sladana really should get an Oscar nod. Just amazing.

Now there were some problems with the CGI. Sometimes they overlit the teeth and it was obviously distracting. Sometimes there were issues with weight as they ran through the jungle. Sometimes the lip synch wasnt the greatest. But overall the best CGI ever put to screen IMO.

The story itself was 100% typical James Cameron. It was over the top melodrama with clear cut good and bad guys. Some people feel this is weak storytelling, I feel it is classic *myth* storytelling and the best way to make these epic movies.

Having said that it took me some time to get into it. At first I was thinking I wasnt going to dig it that much but once they focused on Sully and Pandora i was hooked.

There are no plot twists. You know what is going to happen. I see no problem with that. I knew what was going to happen in The Abyss and its still brilliant. I was never bored. I never once wondered how much time was left. i was fully engrossed in the story even though I knew how it would end.

I was also very happy to see they didnt do the cheesy Return Of The Jedi *party* at the end. I was waiting for it and it never came...thankfully.

The score by James Horner was perfect and Ill be picking it up.

Overall Avatar exceeded my expectations. Though I have to admit that I didnt have very high expectations because the trailers didnt excite me. But the trailers just cant capture what really makes Avatar sing...and thats the love story.
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Picked up advance tickets for tomorrow with a few friends.
Hype machine notwithstanding, I'm really looking forward to it from a technical standpoint as well as a sci-fi nut position, and will report back on my experience with both aspects.
BTW, I haven't seen any of the new generation of 3D films (last I saw was with the red and blue glasses) so I'll be seeing this with 'virgin' eyes.
Hope it's as good as I'm suspecting it will be, but trying not to have hopes too high to meet expectations...
Jerry's comments on the 'uncanny' really have me hoping this is 'it' though...
We'll see...

-Tad (*certified gaming/scifi/tech geek to the core)