Avatar reviews - Attention : spoilers

[SmilingOtter]

Re: Avatar reviews

Saw it and really liked it. Yeah, the plot was very... familiar, but at least JC picked a decent one to steal.

 

[CTF]

Re: Avatar reviews

Maybe it's simply more fun to bash big budget productions.

It has nothing to do with the budget; it's more the fact that they both tell the same story, but District 9 just does it better. Simple as that. That's why people are comparing the two.

Chris and his love for "Little One" were more human than any of the cast -- live-action or digital -- in Avatar. Imagine that? A completely digital character, that looks like a roach, that encapsulates the human condition better than a living, breathing actor.

But what's really funny is how people are raving 'bout the visuals, but barely mentioning the characters. For all the PT bashing on the 'net, I find that pretty funny.

 

[Nwerke]

Re: Avatar reviews

It's probably because the Avatar characters are about ten thousand percent less flat than the PT ones? That's not saying all that much, of course. So are the Transfomers characters.

 

[CTF]

Re: Avatar reviews

About as flat as each other, I thought†.

Except for Lang... that guy was having fun! He was the best part, alright.

And the gunner yelling "GET SOME!" during the attacks.




†Not really.

 

[Rhett J Martin]

Re: Avatar reviews

The one thing about this film I'm grateful for,is that I now completly understand why I'm attracted to Sarah Jessica Parker . . . .

 

[niennumb1]

Re: Avatar reviews

I just got back from this movie.

I was very very impressed. Completely blown away and didn't know what to expect when I came into it.

For me I wasn't quite sure if I'd like this movie seeing the previews. What seemed fakey to me was the look of those creatures, mainly because I'd never really seen something like that before, so my natural thought looking was it looked a bit cheesy. However going into the film these effects were very well executed and the colors, detail and subtle nuances were very well done. The world of Pandora was visually stunning and the story was great.

Of course there had to be a guy sitting a few seats down from me who was spitting chewing tobacco in a pop bottle making the sound of a pistol every time. Seriously, you're a grown up and you haven't figured out how to spit quietly into a bottle? Then one guy took a cell phone call and was talking for a minute (Thanks for that, you jack***).

OTHER THAN THAT I can't wait to see it in 3D. James Cameron delivers again.

Not to change the subject, but Lucas could learn a thing or twelve from Cameron.

This is one of the best films of the year definitely. A++!

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Re: Avatar reviews

The one thing about this film I'm grateful for,is that I now completly understand why I'm attracted to Sarah Jessica Parker . . . .

Wait...what?! You are attracted to her?

 

[takevin]

Re: Avatar reviews

Isn't this a huge spoiler? Maybe a spoiler warning at the beginning of the post? The thread title doesn't have spoiler warning either...

I enjoyed it today....again. :lol

As it stands, if someone hasn't seen the movie yet, shouldn't be going into these posts anyhow.:rolleyes

Movie was top notch all the way thru!thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[takevin]

Re: Avatar reviews

Yup. The only reason I'd say Avatar is more diverting is that it's so much longer and bigger. Hmm, sounds a bit dodgy put like that!

District 9 is a far more inventive, clever film with equally clear and watchable action sequences - just fewer of them, and smaller-scale.

And *I* am a guy like Wikus...

Wow, Avatar was so more in depth then D9 all the way around.:rolleyes Enough said:lol

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Avatar reviews

I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to in 3D.

I think the big thing that's holding Avatar back is Cameron's pre-release hype. See, when you talk about how awesomely awesome your movie is ahead of time and speak of how it will revolutionize film, people come to expect that it will be nothing short of earth-shattering. When you end up releasing a competent film with groundbreaking f/x, you're bound to get a LOT of people saying "Nice film, but really, not much going on behind the f/x. Although they were really nice f/x."

I mean, imagine if no one here had heard ANYTHING about Avatar before going in to see it. Or imagine that only one or two friends had seen it and said "Dude, you HAVE to see this movie. Seriously. It's amazing. I'm not saying any more so I don't spoil it for you. Just trust me on this."


I wasn't born when Star Wars first came out, but my hunch is that it DIDN'T have pre-release hype talking about how it would make you see God or whatever. End result: audiences are pleasantly surprised.


Managing audience expectations counts. I think it counts for a LOT these days. And I'd also say that when it comes to managing audience expectations, less is DEFINITELY more. If you breathlessly overhype your movie, when people finally get round to seeing it they'll just say "That's it?" no matter how groundbreaking your CGI, or how tight (if derivative) your story is. You just can't expect people to think the movie is all that and a bag of chips if you already TOLD them that it's all that and a bag of chips and a religious experience to boot. Nobody can deliver on that kind of hype, and too much hype can end up ruining a movie.


Examples:

- I saw The Matrix without knowing ANYTHING about it going in. My friends told me "It's a movie about computer hackers." I walked out of the theater totally blown away.

- I saw The Usual Suspects without knowing anything about it going in. I heard it was a heist movie. I walked out of the theater totally amazed.


By contrast,

- I saw Crouching Tiger after hearing for the better part of a year how visually stunning it was and how totally amazing it was from my friends. After watching it on DVD, I thought "So it's a pretty version of Saturday afternoon Kung Fu Theater on channel 29. Meh."

- I saw Memento after my friends told me how amazing it was and how it was such a cool movie. After watching it on DVD, all I could think was "It's an interesting gimmick, but it's still just a gimmick story. I'm not impressed." To this day, that's how I feel about Memento. I got the "joke", I could appreciate the skill in writing it that went into the thing, I just wasn't amazed or particularly entertained by it.



Too much hype ruins movies.

 

[barbatus]

Re: Avatar reviews

It has nothing to do with the budget; it's more the fact that they both tell the same story, but District 9 just does it better.

Which obviously lies in the eyes of the beholder. I liked District 9 and will even get it on Blu-Ray, but what kept me from thinking that it was more than just a "nice" movie are pretty much the same points (most of all the cartoony characters) that kept you from liking Avatar.

Chris and his love for "Little One" were more human than any of the cast -- live-action or digital -- in Avatar. Imagine that? A completely digital character, that looks like a roach, that encapsulates the human condition better than a living, breathing actor.

Let's face it, Chris and his love for "Little One" were more human than any of the other cast -- live-action or digital -- in District 9, too. It also worked for me, but they too cheated on the alien design there. I've seen various featurettes where animators say that the most important part to believe in a character and form a connection to him (especially with humanoids) are the eyes. Now if you look at the eyes of Chris and the kid, they don't look all that much like the eyes of a cockroach, do they? In Avatar it's about more than just feeling sorry for the Na'vi, that's why it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the whole design is being much more human like. And here you have me, talking about the alien design ... but hey, you started it with your "I felt for the cockroaches" comment :lol So to make a long story short: District 9 worked for you as well as Avatar worked for me, besides both movies flaws.

And concerning the budget: Yes, I believe it's much more popular to bash big budget movies and "bigger" names than it is to bash smaller ones. Some people even still feel pissed that Titanic had the success it had although they personally didn't like it and thus for hope Avatar will tank. And than there are the typical "stop spending huge sums for movies" comments. I think Moon is a masterpiece and will watch out for whatever Duncan Jones will do next and also enjoyed hugely the Avatar experience that cost 50 times as much. I enjoy a single artist playing the piano as well as 200 performing Beethovens 9th symphony (which by the way was torn apart by the critics of its time). I enjoyed Bob Geldof in a concert last summer as well as I enjoyed the show of Pink Floyd (a lot of years ago).

 

[Nwerke]

Re: Avatar reviews

I think the big thing that's holding Avatar back is Cameron's pre-release hype.

Every man and his dog thinks that, and they're dead right.

I wasn't born when Star Wars first came out, but my hunch is that it DIDN'T have pre-release hype talking about how it would make you see God or whatever. End result: audiences are pleasantly surprised.

Yer a mere stripling! Good god, I thought you were an old ffart like the rest of us. Anyway, no, "pleasantly surprised' wasn't the right phrase. If you weren't around, you can have no idea - "completely and utterly gobsmacked to an extent never seen before" might begin to describe it.

Managing audience expectations counts. I think it counts for a LOT these days. And I'd also say that when it comes to managing audience expectations, less is DEFINITELY more.

Agree fully. And this is probably why I've felt - well, here 'pleasantly surprised' sums it up well. My expectations were in inverse proportion to the hype...but while the film is self-important, derivative and silly, it is also earnest, likeable, spectacular, beautiful and kind of goodnatured. So I'm giving it a pass. I'm almost liking it more with time passing, in fact. I'll see it again at least a couple of times.

I suspect you'll really, really hate it, and you probably would even if it hadn't been hyped at all. The story points, questionable physics and biology, the plot holes, the hackneyed characters, you could really have a field day with all that.

 

[ItsThatGuy]

Re: Avatar reviews

Amazing movie? Yes.

Best movie of all times? No.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Avatar reviews

Yer a mere stripling! Good god, I thought you were an old ffart like the rest of us. Anyway, no, "pleasantly surprised' wasn't the right phrase. If you weren't around, you can have no idea - "completely and utterly gobsmacked to an extent never seen before" might begin to describe it.

I just turned 32 last week. I'm just grumpy like the older crew.

Agree fully. And this is probably why I've felt - well, here 'pleasantly surprised' sums it up well. My expectations were in inverse proportion to the hype...but while the film is self-important, derivative and silly, it is also earnest, likeable, spectacular, beautiful and kind of goodnatured. So I'm giving it a pass. I'm almost liking it more with time passing, in fact. I'll see it again at least a couple of times.

I suspect you'll really, really hate it, and you probably would even if it hadn't been hyped at all. The story points, questionable physics and biology, the plot holes, the hackneyed characters, you could really have a field day with all that.

Well, like I've said, I can forgive a film its flaws if it holds together well. I don't need it to be the second coming or anything. I think what'll turn me off more is the hype elements than anything else. I already expect a fairly weak story and characterization, so at least I won't be surprised there.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Re: Avatar reviews

Back in the summer of `82, a number of critics faulted John Carpenter's version of "The Thing" because it wasn't "E.T." That sort of comparison was dumb then, and it's dumb now.

I loved "District 9," but asserting it does what it does better than "Avatar" is like saying a dog does what it does better than a cat.

As for Avatar’s hype, that’s the unfortunate but inevitable byproduct that results when the director of Titanic makes the most expensive movie of all time. Like it or not, there’s gonna be some pretty heavy publicity (it doesn’t help that Cameron has such a big mouth). Thing is, most of us are adults, we’ve seen this sort of thing before, and we know better than to confuse a film’s marketing/ publicity campaign for the film itself.

 

[Solo4114]

Re: Avatar reviews

Actually, I find pre-release hype to have the obverse effect upon me. If the film gets heavily hyped, especially about the f/x (and not the story) I start to think to myself "Oh jeez...here we go. Another boring-*** story with flashy graphics..."

These days, though, it seems that the digital processes and groundbreaking F/X are far more talked about than the story or the performances. I mean, you rarely hear hype about "OMG, you guys are gonna love Sam Worthington's performance. He takes this role that would otherwise be a cardboard cutout, and just brings so much life to it, so much gravitas. You wouldn't think it possible for a sci-fi movie with flashy graphics to really emotionally connect on that level, but Worthington's performance just hits it out of the park."

Instead it's "The new compositing techniques we have are simply revolutionary. We can take a whole separate image for blah blah blah, and stick it into blah blah blah, and it's undetectable as CGI except for the fact that obviously these things don't exist so what the hell else would it be?" For all the much-talked about improvements in CGI over the years, it still mostly looks fake to me. I accept it in some circumstances, but the biggest issue is that movement for me just always seems too....smooth. Too perfect. All the visuals just look so flawless that they don't seem real to me.


Now, that said, I still think a film can have an engaging story without being Shakespeare in Space. What I can't say yet is whether Avatar's story will engage me. That's as may be, though. My other big concern is that, for all the hype about the 3D, it'll still look "fakey" to me.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Re: Avatar reviews

Well, I CAN say this...I found myself trying to find flaws in the big blue aliens, but could not. The animation was very very very well done to the point of looking seamless.

 

[AT-AT Luvah]

Re: Avatar reviews

How did this turn into an Avatar vs D9 vs Moon thread?

How about reviewing the movie at hand and not its budget?

All that matters is whether or not you liked it - after all, you only paid for price of admission.

I loved it - loved the tech, liked the story, liked the characters, LOVED the action, and LOVED the visuals. Neytiri in particular was fantastically realized and I thought her character was beautifully constructed - not just as VFX, but as a fully-fleshed-out character.

Hector

 

[jackdoud]

Re: Avatar reviews

I was in a Barnes and Noble yesterday and spied an Avatar book on the shelf (don't recall the title, sorry). I flipped through it and there were tons of pictures of things that weren't in the movie. Shots of earth, cities, tech, discussions of Unobtanium, the Na'vi culture, and how Avatars work. It seems like it was all the stuff the movie left me wanting to know more about. I didn't pick up the book but was curious if anyone else felt that way? That the movie didn't go far enough in explaining the whys of everything. From the looks of the book there is a lot more thought out than was presented in the movie which makes me wonder why it was done that way. Obviously there was a very specific story Cameron wanted to tell and he trimmed it down to just the essentials but I feel he went to far in parts.

 

[CTF]

Re: Avatar reviews

I saw The Usual Suspects without knowing anything about it going in. I heard it was a heist movie. I walked out of the theater totally amazed.

:thumbsup

The best film of the '90s.