Of all the dumb things I’ve read, this is the most recent.
Cameron essentially lifted the whole story from “Dances With Wolves”. His “good guys” are the inhabitants of Pandora (Gaia) who live simple, ethical, and natural lives.
The evil/bad guys are the humans, who come to steal the unobtanium (and disrupt the pure lives in the Garden of Eden).
Cameron is a very smart guy-he realized that the movie going demographic has a 6th-grade education, and sripted all his movies to appeal to that group.
But I have to admit-the 3-D effects were cool, and Pandora at night was neat.
I contributed to that thread, but haven’t posted in this one before now because I said what I wanted to in the previous thread. In short–I loved the movie. I saw in once in 2D, again the next day in 3D, on Blu-ray when it was released, and again in 3D when it was re-released (because my son missed it in 3D the first time).
There are few 3-hour movies that I’d watch four times in just a few months. YMMV.
I saw it Saturday on HBO, on the 24" tv on my desk. I had not paid much attention to the hype when it was released, so I had no expectations one way or the other. It was an enjoyable movie for a quiet evening at home.
I’m familiar with the “UR JUS JEALUS!!!@” defense. This may be the first time I’ve been accused of not liking Avatar because I’m a pussy who’s afraid of 3D.
I’m amazed by your amazement. Why would you expect people to line up to reassert their impressions? If you want to know what people’s impressions of the movie are, read the big-ass thread on it.
For my part, it’s got a b-movie script and characters with a state-of-the-art presentation. The presentation was enough for my wife and I that we saw the 3D screening in the theatre twice, and were enthralled both times. This is a big deal for us, since we only get out to the movies a few times a year. It still remains the single biggest Event Movie for me since Star Wars - and yes, that’s pretty much entirely down to the technical aspects of the film. Sure, if I were to judge the film on the writing alone, it wouldn’t look nearly so good. BFD - it was still the most effing amazing cinematic experience I’ve had since 1977.
Yes, I was given the BluRay disc as a gift, and no, I’m in no particular hurry to watch it again in 2D on a 46" screen. In no way does this mean that on reflection I’ve concluded that Avatar didn’t deliver the most rocking movie experience I’ve had in the last three decades. It means that in large part what made it so freaking awesome is just not gonna come through in those circumstances. Watching the same movie multiple times in a relatively short timeframe is something that just don’t do anymore, now that I have a job that sucks up more than the 9-5 space and a family that narrows the remaining leisure time even further - but I would see Avatar again tomorrow, if it was available in IMAX 3D and we could get a sitter.
It’s totally normal that your reaction might be “What’s the big deal about that?” if your only experience of the film is 2D on a television.
robby,
From your experience, can you tell me what it looked like on the big screen in 2D? I’m assuming for you, it was good enough to go see again in 3D the next day, but it sounds to me like you enjoyed it very much in 2D as well. Is that accurate?
And now that you’ve seen it in 3D, would you ever want to see it in 2D again, or is the drop-off in quality too great?
Thanks
To tell you the truth, I’m very happy with the responses in this thread and that people HAVEN’T come into this thread to fanwank in here (for the most part, anyway). I guess my amazement stems from the fact that I’ve seen a few topics here (like the Hobbit or Harry Potter or some fantasy video games) to be discussed/debated/defended for pages and pages. I (mistakenly) thought that Avatar would fall into that category. I’m glad it didn’t.
I agree with you that if I want to know people’s impressions of the movie, I should read that big-ass thread on my own.
I saw it in Real 3D. It was pretty damn amazing because of the effects.
Then I saw Hubble 3D on an Imax 3D screen. Oh my god the 3D on that movie blasted away whatever Avatar had. If Avatar can get nominated for the Academy Awards on the merit of trying revolutionize movies, then Hubble 3D needs to win the Documentary category.
Shush. The fact we even have an Imax screen here is amazing, 3D is revolutionary.
I equate Avatar to a car that looks like a Ferrari but drives like a Yugo.
Except that the Colonel never tries genocide. His first plan is to simply blow up the tree over the stuff they want, to get the Na’vi to go elsewhere. He doesn’t chase them down. He doesn’t go out of his way to kill them. Heck, he even gives them ample warning before blowing up the tree so they can evacuate first. Then, after they start raiding the human bases, his next plan is to…blow up a sacred tree, to destroy their morale. Again, no mention of genocide, no idea of “they’ve all gotta die”. He just wants them to stop attacking his bases, which is perfectly understandable and sympathetic.
Compare this to Jake, the “diplomat” who spends all of his time putzing around, never actually even tries to negotiate, and then groups all of the Na’vi together for a suicide mission at the end.
“I like the cut of that man’s gibberish!” – The Tick
Not to be a fanboy or anything, but if so it’s a Yugo with nearly $3,000,000,000 in sales.
Well, the reason for that is obvious - people are dumb.
Can I just say that I’m amazed at your amazement at his amazement.
Indeed, my wife and I liked it enough on the big screen in 2D that we went to see it again in 3D the next day, both because we liked the film, and because of all of the 3D hype, which was actually warranted, IMHO. The RealD 3D version was the best 3D film I’ve ever seen. Before this film, I actively avoided 3D movies, thinking it was an annoying gimmick. Avatar completely changed my mind about 3D, and for the first time, I could see 3D becoming mainstream.
When the movie was released on Blu-Ray, we watched it at home with my stepdaughter because she missed it at the theater. To be honest, this version didn’t do much for me. I think that this is one movie that loses a lot when seen in 2D, and loses even more when seen at home on the small screen. I have no particular desire to watch it at home or in 2D again.
We mainly went to the 3D re-release because my son missed the 3D version in the theater when we went the previous time, and he listened to our hype about what he’d missed.
Agreed–for such a black-and-white “good guys vs. bad guys” eco-morality tale, the “bad guys” are surprisingly sympathetic.
I give Jake more of a pass, because he had just gotten into a position where he would be taken seriously by the Na’vi when he was overcome by events.
Am I the only one that wasn’t impressed with the “world.”
To me it was like a Thomas Kincaid painting or a CG desktop wallpaper- just a little too perfect, too lit, not enough “weight” to it. A more compelling world would have had some flaws to it, some element of savage or harsh beauty. Pandora just looked like a lot of glowing fruity pebbles.
So… epic, immersive, 3D porn?
You read my mind.