Topic: the other avatar (Read 73583 times)

beat mouse · « **Reply #200 on:** 05 Jan 2010, 18:36 »

So what you're saying is that Avatar is based on true events!

Chesire Cat · « **Reply #201 on:** 05 Jan 2010, 18:54 »

This thread gets better and better

kemon · « **Reply #202 on:** 05 Jan 2010, 20:02 »

the hell are you guys doing in my thread? ... that i haven't posted in since i started it.

so i finally got to see it. i tried to ignore all the hype and whatnot so i could watch it and see it for what it is. instead of going in expecting ubermovie or bomb.

it is a really good movie. that isn't to say that it wasn't all completely predictable all the way through. or that there wasn't a lot they could have kept in to explain some things a little better just cause it would be interesting. or that using the word unobtanium made me groan from the very beginning.

it was entertaining the whole way through. it didn't at all feel like the two and a half hour movie that it was. what carried this movie was the acting. it wasn't the epic cg, which was better than i expected and better than most, but it was still obvious cg. it wasn't the story or the directing. the acting was truly good and the technique they used to create the navi from the actual actors' faces allowed that to happen.

cameron may be a tool but he made a damn good movie here.

KvP · « **Reply #203 on:** 05 Jan 2010, 23:18 »

I was going to see this movie but the wait was an hour and a half so we were all "fuck it let's watch It's Complicated" and in the end watching Alec Baldwin clutch Meryl Streep's crotch and say "I'm home" is probably more fun than the entire length of Avatar.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #204 on:** 06 Jan 2010, 02:45 »

I really wanna see It's Complicated, realtalk

Inlander · « **Reply #205 on:** 06 Jan 2010, 05:32 »

Is it just my imagination or is that a movie named after a Facebook relationship status option?

Lines · « **Reply #206 on:** 06 Jan 2010, 05:49 »

It could be! But I still want to see it.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #207 on:** 06 Jan 2010, 07:39 »

To be fair Harry the term was pretty entrenched in the zeitgeist a fair ways before Facebook.

scarred · « **Reply #208 on:** 07 Jan 2010, 20:42 »

all opinions are irrelevant

smack that isaiah · « **Reply #209 on:** 10 Jan 2010, 20:43 »

I'm sorry that I'm reiterating stuff that's already been said in this thread (which I have not read and do not have the time to), but I kinda gotta vent now:

I just saw this movie tonight with my friends. and I loved it. Do not get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and most of the characters' development, and don't mind the rehashing of this plot from Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, or Fern Gully. I would honestly give it 3.5 stars out of 4.

3 things pulled me out of the movie, however, the first being Sigourney Weaver's Avatar's super pointy nose. that made her look too human to me and pulled her into the uncanny valley. Every other Navi and Avatar looked realistic and unhuman enough to be fine in the threshold of awesomeness. This point isn't anything really important, I just want to say it.

The second was the fucking mech suits. They were the absolute worst designs and demonstrations of engineering ever. First off, if you're gonna go into a forest, you build a machine with treads and make it fucking powerful to plow through the trees, no fragile feet to mess shit up. Second, you do not have external add-ons like guns which you pick up and fire or knives which you draw and wield. Those weapons would 100% without a doubt be integrated into the suit, like in District 9. The whole hand/arm interface that the user had was ridiculous and a joystick would have been much more useful, less tiring, and more realistic/probable to be implemented.

The third thing was Parker (the head of the mining co, not the army dude)'s character and his bull headed stupidity (I'll accept the army dude's bull headed stupidity just because), which I felt was taken way too far to an extreme. No one who was able to get to his power and position in the company could be so extremely unwilling to make compromises or even see another point of view as at all plausible like he did. And, even tho he did show some remorse for the actions right after the first wave was executed, his final view was not sorrow or sadness for the Navi. This point could be explained away from me with enough work, but the other one (the second) stands strong (the first I don't care about, really).

Another small thing that irked me was the biology of Pandora (with me already accepting the fact that the creatures had uplinks grown into them and everything interacted with the deity) was that all the animals and creatures had 6 legs, except the Navi. Biologically, as evolution occurred on the planet either more creatures would have 4 limbs like the Navi, or the Navi should have 6 limbs or at least 2 vestigial parts of limbs.

Also, just something I wanted to point out b/c my friends didn't notice it from the movie, the Avatars all had 5 fingers, while the Navi had 4.

==============
For those who think this is too long to read, I loved it but there were things that bothered me.
And fuck mech suits and the mechanical/civil engineers who consulted on this project.

Emaline · « **Reply #210 on:** 10 Jan 2010, 21:57 »

I saw this movie the other day, in 3d and at a fancy theater, and I have to say, I was unimpressed. It was alright. But I liked the first one better. I mean, it had Tim Curry in it(singing one of the greatest songs in my kid-life), and Robin Williams as a fucked up bat. And it had a real message. And the ending wasn't bullshit. I mean, in this one, the native creatures all except him back into their world, whereas in the original, he went back to his world and went on to tell people not to fuck up the forest. I feel like that ending was more believable, more real.

Fern Gully jokes aside, this movie was still just ok. Nothing special. Pretty Hollywood crap. The story was ok. It was very pretty. But overall, just sort of meh. I give it a C.

Plus, I read an article criticizing the fact that Sigourney Weaver's character smokes so much, and Cameron saying it was to show that she didn't care about her human body and only about her avatar body, and how this is commentary on gamers, and how they only care about their gaming avatars(which, lolz there is an Avatar game coming out. Smooth move, Cameron). Well, I call bullshit. If that is true, then there needed to be a lot more time spent exploring that. Other than a showing her interactions with the Navi and how much they mean to her, you get no real idea that she is only concerned with her avatar. Even in those instances you see that she actually cares about the Navi, which means nil about her avatar.

Ikrik · « **Reply #211 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 00:30 »

Yeah, that whole Cameron trying to criticize gamers was really weak and pathetic on his part. He could have actually cemented it with other things, certainly things more obviously digging at the gamers. But nope, she smokes. I'm surprised that people still think that people smoking in movies is bad....but then Cameron replies with a statement like "oh, she smokes because she doesn't care about her bodies....like people who play videogames." Tons of people smoke. I don't think I personally know that many gamers who smoke. Maybe 2 of them. It is funny as well, because the game he made based off the movie is called: Jame's Cameron's Avatar: The Game. And it's apparently absolutely horrible. Who would have thought that?

ruyi · « **Reply #212 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 05:05 »

Quote from: smack that isaiah on 10 Jan 2010, 20:43

Also, just something I wanted to point out b/c my friends didn't notice it from the movie, the Avatars all had 5 fingers, while the Navi had 4.

I believe this was intentional, as the avatars were supposed to have DNA mixed from humans and the Na'vi.

Chesire Cat · « **Reply #213 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 05:06 »

I think you guys are missing the point. "videogames" would be games like WoW which is often playEd to exclusion of taking care of your real life.

Inlander · « **Reply #214 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 06:00 »

So 43 degrees Centigrade today persuaded me to go and spend two-and-a-half hours of air-conditioned bliss with Avatar. And I was pleasantly surprised! Sure there weren't any surprises in the movie at all, but it was also a pretty painless experience which is a lot more than you can say for most blockbusters these days - Cameron's included (hellooooo, Titanic). The script was tolerable largely because it was minimal - but not in the standard action movie "Arrggh! Grunt!" school of minimal scriptwriting; it's a good thing that there weren't too many words because some of them were frankly terrible (like when Blue Chicky - I don't think I ever really knew what her name was - was telling Jake about the Orange Flying Monster and telling him that its name means "Last Shadow", and Jake says: "Yeah, 'cause it's the last shadow you ever see." No shit, James Cameron, I hadn't at all worked that out by myself and I'm really glad you decided to assume that I'm an imbecile.) There was also a rather perplexing internal logic problem when Jake got lost in the forest the first time and Sigourney Weaver, et al were acting like they were never going to see him again - as we saw later in the film, the death of an avatar just means that the human wakes up rather abruptly, so what's the big deal? That avatars are pretty expensive pieces of hardware, I guess, so it's a pain in the arse to lose one? (By the way, sorry if I'm reiterating anything anyone else has said in this thread, I haven't read the whole thing because up until today I had no plans to see the film.)

But on the whole it was a pretty good film. The production design was exceptionally good, as is pretty much expected of Hollywood blockbusters these days, and frankly I thought the world was brilliantly imaginative. Visually of course everyone knows it's a knockout, and I genuinely forgot that I was watching a green-screen movie. I saw the 3D version because it was the only version screening at my local cinema, but to be honest I found the 3D distracting so I spent most of the film without the glasses on (it's not so much 3D as layers of 2D - I don't expect there are any birdwatchers on this forum but it's the same effect you get when you're looking through a pair of binoculars, and it's pretty strange). I put the 3D glasses on at select points and there were some genuinely good uses of it - most particularly when Jake and Sigourney Weaver and Other Guy are running through the forest that first time. But the 3D seemed strangely utilised: I put on the glasses in eager anticipation when Jake went to catch himself his own pet dragon because I was expecting the 3D flying effects to be jaw-dropping - but there weren't any. In fact there was barely any use of 3D in any of the aerial sequences, which struck me as utterly bizarre, especially when that first flight sequence ended, and the next scene is back in the lab and suddenly there's 3D effects out the arse. What the fuck, James Cameron?

But all in all, a very acceptable way to escape the summer heat.

LTK · « **Reply #215 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 06:04 »

If you read the unedited script called Project 880, the social and political commentary Cameron is trying to make in this movie suddenly becomes a lot more obvious. For example, how one of the scientist in the Avatar project had his avatar killed before Sully came to Pandora, where he is pictured as a shell-shocked sort of zombie.

Wait, no one mentioned Project 880 in this thread? How's that possible?

Link: Fuck you, Hollywood

Inlander · « **Reply #216 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 06:15 »

God that irritates me. "All the bits that didn't make sense in the movie make sense if you read all this extraneous material we've provided for you!" Hey Hollywood I'm buying a ticket to a film, not entry into a cult.

smack that isaiah · « **Reply #217 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 06:31 »

Quote from: ruyi on 11 Jan 2010, 05:05

I believe this was intentional, as the avatars were supposed to have DNA mixed from humans and the Na'vi.

Yeah, I know it was intentional, it's just that some of my friends said they wanted more differences between the Navi and the Avatars, at which point I pointed out the finger difference--which they didn't pick up on--the apparent height differences between the two (the Avatars seemed a little bit shorter), and the skin texture that the Avatars had that the Navi didnt--they were all smooth while the Avatars had textures. Since they missed those details, I just wanted to point them out.

Something my roommate just mentioned to me that is ringing true is the massive amounts of unnecessary CGI. sure it was pretty and everything, but all the computer interfaces and displays were done with full pointless CGI, which he really didn't need and didn't need to rely on. For the planet and the alien creatures I understand perfectly, but for the computers and junk, just a waste and showing off. And, secondly, all the computer interfaces and displays were massive touch screens and shit, which would absolutely not be in future developments of the computer. Having to move your entire arm to change a screen is a waste of energy on the part of the computist, and even nowadays things like that are not appreciated. Future computes will continue to have simpler analog controls that are not made up of many large movments--the operators would get too tired too quickly. (To anyone who's ever spent a significant portion of a day programming or writing on a computer something that required multiple screens or shells or what-have-yous think about having done it with large arm motions like seen in the movie. we would have all given up half an hour in, or tried to find a simpler way to write the code)

Ballard · « **Reply #218 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 11:03 »

Quote from: smack that isaiah on 11 Jan 2010, 06:31

It's the goddamn FUTURE why don't we have MIND CONROL COMPUTER!!

Kugai · « **Reply #219 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 12:36 »

HAL spoiled that,

Inlander · « **Reply #220 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 15:12 »

Even now that I've seen the film, I can't hear or read the name Na'vi without thinking of Navvies, and then I think of a planet inhabited by railway workers and it makes me giggle.

beat mouse · « **Reply #221 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 17:57 »

JD · « **Reply #222 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 18:08 »

ruyi · « **Reply #223 on:** 11 Jan 2010, 20:23 »

Quote from: LTK on 11 Jan 2010, 06:04

Link: Fuck you, Hollywood

Had fun reading this; thanks!

evilbobthebob · « **Reply #224 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 05:24 »

So apparently some people like Pandora a little too much.

sandysmilinstrange · « **Reply #225 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 07:04 »

I enjoyed this movie and thought it was a pretty swell time at the movies. I was going to post a longer response about why and about ways that it would have been better for me personally, but got distracted that people are complaining about the danged font the subtitles were in and now my head kind of hurts.

kemon · « **Reply #226 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 09:25 »

Quote from: evilbobthebob on 12 Jan 2010, 05:24

So apparently some people like Pandora a little too much.

everday it seems like the crazies get more and more crazy. i'd say this is ridiculous, but now it's just par for the course.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #227 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 10:02 »

I feel like a lot of those people have to joking. Right?

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #228 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 10:24 »

Most likely.

Nodaisho · « **Reply #229 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 12:10 »

Quote from: Inlander on 11 Jan 2010, 06:15

God that irritates me. "All the bits that didn't make sense in the movie make sense if you read all this extraneous material we've provided for you!" Hey Hollywood I'm buying a ticket to a film, not entry into a cult.

Or you could just assume that he thought through the background at some point during the 15 years he had been working on it (although most of it it was probably just on a desk somewhere while he waited for better CG technology), and the parts of the background that you don't get just aren't included because they aren't important and the movie is already nearly as long as any of the Lord of the Rings movies. But viewers seem loath to do that these days, so he writes up the background to show that he did his work for the people that care enough to complain about it. I don't.

20 jazz funk greats · « **Reply #230 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 12:11 »

Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 12 Jan 2010, 10:02

I feel like a lot of those people have to joking. Right?

i dunno man, they're willing to start their own tribe and everything!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242409/The-Avatar-effect-Movie-goers-feel-depressed-suicidal-able-visit-utopian-alien-planet.html

LTK · « **Reply #231 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 12:32 »

I guess that a popular movie means lots of moviegoers, which means lots of fans, which means there'll be more crazies among them. It's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with...

JD · « **Reply #232 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 16:52 »

I'm not to fussed about that. How long have we had the klingon language?

scarred · « **Reply #233 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 16:54 »

the deleted avatar tentacle sex scene

Ikrik · « **Reply #234 on:** 12 Jan 2010, 23:51 »

Quote from: scarred on 12 Jan 2010, 16:54

the deleted avatar tentacle sex scene

Seriously? Please, please tell me that's a joke. I really want to believe that's a joke.

JD · « **Reply #235 on:** 13 Jan 2010, 06:50 »

Kugai · « **Reply #236 on:** 13 Jan 2010, 12:27 »

Ahhh, the fun of Fan Fiction

JD · « **Reply #237 on:** 14 Jan 2010, 16:03 »

Hot Na'vi Sex

Nodaisho · « **Reply #238 on:** 14 Jan 2010, 20:41 »

I'm too scared to hit play.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #239 on:** 14 Jan 2010, 21:31 »

It's actually pretty funny. No nudity that would make sense to us, anyways.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #240 on:** 15 Jan 2010, 08:46 »

Not until he whips out his soup drinker.

Ikrik · « **Reply #241 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 09:08 »

It's becoming a disturbing trend

JD · « **Reply #242 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 09:43 »

I remember when polar express was hailed as the best in digital animation.

scarred · « **Reply #243 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 16:21 »

fun fact: Piranha 3D might not be in 3D

KvP · « **Reply #244 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 16:34 »

I would like to point out that the title of this thread title is now comically out of touch.

Ikrik · « **Reply #245 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 17:40 »

Quote from: scarred on 19 Jan 2010, 16:21

fun fact: Piranha 3D might not be in 3D

it's becoming disturbing trend? The fact that Lucas is talking about it and Sony are going gung-ho about it doesn't give me bright hope for the future. I love going to see movies in the theatre and getting popcorn with it. That's starting to get really, really expensive and tacking on another 10 bucks? I will gladly sacrifice 3-D for popcorn.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #246 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 18:50 »

Rumours are that the next James Bond is gonna be in 3D as well

JD · « **Reply #247 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 21:59 »

I don't like popcorn. The portions for food in a theatre are always huge and expensive.

scarred · « **Reply #248 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 22:02 »

I knew someone who worked in an independent movie theatre once, she said that including the price of the butter, the bag, and the popcorn itself, that the total cost of producing a bag of large popcorn was a little over 1 cent. They charged $4.75 for a small.

I bring my own microwave to the movies now

KvP · « **Reply #249 on:** 19 Jan 2010, 22:30 »

It's worth noting that concessions are largely how movie theaters make a profit. They don't make a lot from a ticket sale.

Which is why independent theaters can be nice. I'll order bruschetta and wine and watch whatever's playing. And their popcorn's good, because they don't add butter.

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Author Topic: the other avatar (Read 73583 times)

Zingoleb