[Movie] Avatar (2009) - BZ wants your nub

How about we don't post a giant block of Twitter posts about the movie because Twitter fucking sucks. Thanks.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

How about you shut you mouth nub.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

How about you act like you're older than 13 by not calling me a nub.

Most amazing jew boots

How about you direct your attention to your prior post, nub.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You have found a way of being mean to Mo0 that GFF disapproves of.

That's hard to do.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I sense a flamewar going on around here....

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by The Wise Vivi

I sense a flamewar going on around here....

Not really a flamewar, Vivi. More like two bic lighters rubbing up each other in a very gay manner.

How ya doing, buddy?

The fact that the early press/fan screenings of Avatar are producing a resounding: "OMG AMAZINGS!" isn't really all that shocking, is it? That's what you get for picking and choosing your audience. I don't care how amazing the CG/3D looks, if the story isn't good then it's still going to be a crap film.

That said, I'm still probably going to see it to see what all the buzz is about...*sigh* I'm such a fool.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Timberwolf8889

The fact that the early press/fan screenings of Avatar are producing a resounding: "OMG AMAZINGS!" isn't really all that shocking, is it? That's what you get for picking and choosing your audience. I don't care how amazing the CG/3D looks, if the story isn't good then it's still going to be a crap film.

That said, I'm still probably going to see it to see what all the buzz is about...*sigh* I'm such a fool.

Same here. I'm not too tremendously excited and hyped up to see Avatar, though I understand it's Cameron's first foray into a major movie since Titanic (and between then and now all he's ever done is documentaries about the ship). I'll go and see it, but likely not until it hits the inexpensive theater here, so that I'll pay $4 for it rather than $10.

At another place I post at, there's been mixed reactions regarding James Horner's score - half the people there are saying it's great, the other half, not so much. The interesting thing is that Cameron specifically requested that Horner focus his time only towards Avatar and nothing else during production, so essentially he spent an entire year on the set and coming up with/writing/recording the score. Basil Poledouris was under similar conditions for Conan the Barbarian, and while I don't expect Horner's music to be anywhere near close to the same caliber as Conan, I'm hoping that Horner's music will at the least be enjoyable. Not to mention the CD is supposed to be out in stores as of today; I'm refraining from picking it up for now in the hopes of receiving it as a Christmas gift.

The first two Terminator movies were excellent. True Lies is a lot of fun, both comedy and action wise, albeit a number of plot inconsistencies and nonsense (but that's typical of a Schwarzenegger film). I feel that Titanic could have been shortened a bit further down to, say, two hours as opposed to three, but it's a bit on the average side. I hope Cameron had enough of a break to make something worthwhile out of Avatar.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well Horner seems to be get a lot of flak from what I hear, due to alleged reuse of earlier classical themes and his own stuff. I can't back that up since I don't go through his repertoire or anything, nor listen to enough classical. Off the top of my head, all I remember listening to is Titanic, Braveheart, A Beautiful Mind and Apocalypto. All of which were extremely memorable besides Apocalypto (however Apoc worked great during the film).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

"A good composer does not imitate; he steals." - Igor Stravinsky

Those allegations are correct, and while I'm not much into super old classical myself, the evidence of plagiarism of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is clearly evident in Horner's The Land Before Time. If I remember right, he was influenced by classical music.

Apocalypto is a terrible score (haven't seen the film), and Titanic is so-so. You ought to check out his 1980s material, when he was at his prime. More recently, Intrada Records started releasing a bunch of his older scores as limited editions, such as Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Journey of Natty Gann, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and House of Cards. It's all great stuff.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I saw it, it's pretty good. 3D wasn't great because I was sitting at the front of the thatre though, guess it isn't as effective when viewed at such an angle.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Yeah, it was largely and overwhelmingly okay and little more. Just like I expected.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Just got back from it. Felt like Ferngully, with 1.21 Jiggawatts being pumped through it. Story is incredibly plain, about what I expected -- really blatant, too. Like Titanic, it does what it needs to scrape by.

Jesus, the CGI, though... I caught myself open-mouthed more than once. It was my first modern 3D film which might have something to do with it, but boy is this an incredible film to *look* at.

FELIPE NO

Yeah I saw it in 3d, not imax just regular 3d, but I've never seen anything like it before. Fantastic all around even if the story is nothing new. It doesn't really have to be with everything going on around it, and the fact that retelling of stories is bound to happen more and more as we move forward.

Horners score was pretty good, but I am not sure it topped his oscar titanic win or Braveheart. However, I haven't listened to the soundtrack yet, so that may change.

Frankly, it just boggles my mind when I think about what they had to do to get this 160 minute movie out.

Oh and how about that next in line chief kicking fucking ass in the ship where the explosives were

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

BZ swears by this film. That tells you all you need to know right there. I also don't get where this mindblowing aspect is coming from. I was more blown away by Jurassic Park than I was by this. The IMAX 3D is impressive, sure, but nothing really beyond this. Hype machine breeds fans, though, I guess.



Jam it back in, in the dark.

My down and dirty comments:

The animation and amount of detail was astounding.

The story was good even though the allegations of Dances With Wolves + aliens hits pretty close to home.

The movie, for all the hype, was quite traditional as movie-making goes (see above), which seems to be everybody's beef with it, I guess?

What some people seem to be avoiding is the fact that the movie continually juggles the love story, the marine's renewal, the Na'vi culture, and the wider conservationism vs. rapid expansion plotline without hitting a false note.

The animation and amount of detail was astounding. Although we haven't reached the point of being able to do full CG humans yet without looking odd, the Na'vi blow clear past the uncanny valley without slowing down. It is a landmark by any standard, even if all the talk about Cameron "creating a new genre" is just pap.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

http://gawker.com/5422666/when-will-...es-like-avatar

Fucking white people, dude.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

No doubt. But I have to admit, this particular bullshit is why I hated Last Samurai as much as I did, and why I just can't stomach Dances With Wolves. Just that whole white guy walks into an ethnic place and shows them how shit gets -done- story is hard to swallow.

Except I love Dune, so what the fuck do I know outside hypocrisy? Still didn't much love Avatar, though.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The main difference is that Dune's super whitey isn't TOM CRUISE or Kevin Costner (who is completely useless sans gills anyway).

I should get a chance to see this by the end of the week, but I'm certainly not expecting much. WE SHALL SEE.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

No doubt. But I have to admit, this particular bullshit is why I hated Last Samurai as much as I did, and why I just can't stomach Dances With Wolves. Just that whole white guy walks into an ethnic place and shows them how shit gets -done- story is hard to swallow.

Except I love Dune, so what the fuck do I know outside hypocrisy? Still didn't much love Avatar, though.

It's touchy ground when you talk about culture assimilation, but yeah, unless we all stop going to Chinese/Indian/'ethnic' restaurants we're all guilty.
Still though, it's an unavoidable part of making a movie about (and therefore placing focus on) any particular white person.

Some story specific spoilers and :words:

Spoiler:

Originally Posted by Article

When whites fantasize about becoming other races, it's only fun if they can blithely ignore the fundamental experience of being an oppressed racial group. Which is that you are oppressed, and nobody will let you be a leader of anything.

I think Cameron made it a point to use the large flyer as an analogy for the marine's white ambition. Remember earlier in the film, when he's reporting to the colonel and he tames the first flyer? It was actually kind of disturbing to me because they placed such emphasis on his reaction. "You are mine." But the large flyer he gets towards the end, he uses only to help the Na'vi, and then he gives it up. It's evidence of a pervasive change in him to join a collective rather than evidence of his need to dominate them. He never, in fact, becomes their leader, and moreover never shows any desire to become the leader or to supplant their rulers. His only desire is to be a part of them. Not representative of them.

(The usual response to this goes something like, "Well, maybe not explicitly, but it's obvious he was taking over in reality if not in name!") That makes my problem with articles on this topic twofold.

For one, they cherry pick the parts they want to read into, sometimes against given evidence, because it suits a theory. I'm willing to acknowledge the white fantasy point of view, but if it doesn't acknowledge the possibility of a societal equilibrium, especially in the places where the movie gets it right, then it's a poor base for criticism. (If no movie can get it right, then it reveals the flaw in the argument.)

Secondly, they tend to assume that the average moviegoer is smart enough to understand and latch onto the convenience a movie like this affords them (the choice to be another culture's king) but never smart enough to understand that there is a choice. In other words, it makes the assumption that every man would want to be king, without exception.

I'm sure I'll catch hell for this post, but it seems like a critical dead end any time someone brings this up. Fine for generating discussion, not so much for anything productive or even particularly to do with the film in question. It's like the meta version of Godwin's Law.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

No doubt. But I have to admit, this particular bullshit is why I hated Last Samurai as much as I did

See, I like Last Samurai *a lot*. Even if its base story of "It Takes A White Man To Validate Ethnic Culture" is as insultingly dumb as it is acceptable bigotry.

Avatar is the exact same thing, except with mechs. It was a fun time, shit blew up and the 3D effects were great. Is it the movie to end all movies? Nah. I would say this is basically just another Abyss for Cameron, where its just something thats *good* instead of the rungs of the ladder it tries to grab and misses. Then again, I'd say the same about Titanic.

FELIPE NO

Overall, Avatar was a good popcorn movie, albeit I felt it was a bit long. The story, as is often stated, is nowhere near original. I also found Jake a tad selfish, knowing he had three months to negotiate, but not giving out nary a peep until the bulldozers come.

I'm curious about one thing though. He didn't seem to be affected by sleep deprivation at all. If he spends an inordinate amount of time playing Na'Vi, and then lives a human life during Na'Vi sleepy time, how could he function at that high a level after a few days of that?

Judging by all the universal praise Avatar's getting for visuals and world-building, I guess I should have watched it in 3D. A pity.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I loved it. Beautiful to look at and I'm a sucker for epic conflict. Does anyone know if Cameron or the writer ever intended for there to be a sequel?

The story seems like it's set up for one. I was going to talk about it, but then I realized that I was basically describing Xenosaga, and figured it'd be wiser to stop. =(

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I believe he mentioned he always wanted to do a second one if it was successful. I can't recall the exact quote though.

There's nowhere I can't reach.