_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

the man knows how to write a strapline.

We chose this planet because you indicated you like planets with varied inhabitants, a consistent temperature, rocky terrain, and sci-fi influences.

Earth Girls Are Easy...? Anyone...?

Wait is this about Avatar or The Fountain, and which one will history smile on more?

That said, it's still better than Emnacht fucking up the only TV show I can think of that I actually like. (Not that I ever watch it or anything, but the point still stands.)

I look forward to a highlander stylee battle between Cameron and Shymalan.

I would pay money.

Avatar... the Nickelodeon show has been on since Feb 05. Dibs.

We can do better than that.

I had forgotten I'd started this thread. Which article of ultrahype/'will change movies forever!' has amused you most?

http://origin.aintitcool.com/images2009/avatarship.jpg
http://origin.aintitcool.com/images2009/avatarwaterfall.jpg

This movie will change the way I view 3-D James Cameron movies entitled Avatar, that I'm sure of.

i'm off the Sam Worthington train if this is terrible

Comic-Con bits:

The audience, many of whom camped alongside the “Twilight” fans for the privilege, were treated to a sequence of scenes condensing the tale: Jake Sully is a paralyzed Marine who volunteers to become an Avatar -- a genetically engineered human/Na’vi hybrid. He suffers several brushes with some dinosaur-types, a violent flirtation with a Na’vi princess, and an even more violent Na’vi rite of initiation.

Cameron will get to test-run the film on an even bigger crowd on Aug. 21, which he’s declared "Avatar Day." The filmmaker announced he’ll be taking over IMAX and 3-D theaters around the world to screen 15 minutes of the film for moviegoers for free.

In introducing the film, Cameron said it was made “for the 14-year-old boy that is very alive and well in the back of my mind.”

But don’t expect a film for kids. In fact, I'd wager “Avatar” is going to be kind of heavy.

“I don’t want to say it’s important, because then it sounds like you’re making a documentary,” Cameron said. But it’s “something with a conscience. In the enjoying of [the film], it maybe makes you think about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man.”

After the screening, it was clear cast members Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang had become as immersed and invested in Pandora as the filmmaker himself, speaking of the Na’vi as though they were a historical fact.

A professor at USC worked two years on develop their language, and Saldana said all the actors had to take movement classes to “de-humanize” themselves. She also trained in Wushu, horseback riding, archery and weightlifting to play Na’vi princess Neytiri.

Said Cameron: “We know the oncology and composition of the atmosphere, the geography and species of plants, the culture and the history of the Na’vi people.”

Dehumanize yourself, via all these human activities.

Plus more geekery via Nikki Finke's cohorts.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eJ_G3PHZ_6I/Rzgb8QqE1QI/AAAAAAAAAdw/ewzinJgfbfM/s400/black-sabbath-dehumanizer.jpg

TRAILER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYBRFJ9RArc

I'd go.

Avatard

A bit disappointing, really.

Lulz at "Avetar"...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/hd/

maybe corny

the cgi blue "people" look pretty cgi

duh i guess. some nice visuals otherwise.

funny how District 9 which cost maybe a 10th of what this cost still has better looking cgi characters.

cgi cgi cgi

So much for the "revolutionary" CGI. Looks like one big video game cut-scene

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

Every time I see this title I think it's that Bruce Willis Second Life spoof.

cue ishtar joke?

wow does this ever (unexpectedly) look like one of those cheap direct-to-video super-scifi cheap CGI thingies.

no sign of the "whole new world of real-feeling characters thing". seems way more Polar Express than gollum...

will the .1 of 5.1 be used to immerse us in this bold, new vision???

Kind of gives off a Matrix sequels vibe too. Maybe it's the dreadlocks

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uFjeiKOmMxQ/SnpLPhyv-II/AAAAAAAABHk/KYSRmzX773E/s400/Avatar+Action+Figure.jpg

http://cache-foo-02.gawkerassets.com/gawker/assets/images/8/2009/08/504x_Avatar-48.jpg

this looks so fruity

http://www.cultflicks.net/wp-content/uploads/finalfantasythespiritswithin2001.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9LW53BBFuek/So2komr4tlI/AAAAAAAAAag/evAEh5rADxI/s400/Avatar001.png

lol roger dean

Best summary of the trailer I've read so far: "Ferngully with guns."

hahahaha otm

Preview reminds me of the slow build-up that worked so well in Aliens and (yes) Titanic. Second half looks like a '69 Nam hookah trip.

This ... looks terrible.

The preview is unpromising, but I wouldn't mind being proved wrong. At least it seems ambitious, which after a long summer of nothing-but-sequels as far as mainstream Hollywood big budget, high concept stuff goes, is kind of refreshing.

I'm with you on that, sciolism - watched the trailer quite a few times and I've gone from initial "meh", to thinking this might actually be pretty cool. It also feels a bit premature to dismiss it from a 2 minute trailer on a 19" computer monitor when it's been made to be watched in IMAX 3D.

i just hate the quasi-furry design of the characters..gross gross gross

like the part where the main dude is grinning in the lab says "this is great"...it's ugh ugh ugh uncanny valley creepy to the max (plus mongoloid eyes and stupid fantasy kangaroo ears)

amazing how far we have progressed since this

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TA56OMBmFyA/Sbjg_5jSgdI/AAAAAAAAAJA/XvsLJ08COZg/s400/232980-jar_jar_binks_large.jpeg

I mean, I could easily torrent some old shitty Thundercats episodes if I had some burning need to see anthropomorphic tiger-people shoot bows and arrows at each other.

Cameron's done some cool stuff with creatures...the aliens in The Abyss were neat!

Why does this shit have to look so much like a lame-ass fantasy novel cover?

Bleaurgh.

Bleaurgh.

Bleaurgh!

"If we make money, I guarantee there will be more," Cameron said. "If we don't, we'll pretend it never happened."

it may be two years old, but I still love this touching display of pride in yr work.

http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html

what the hell is delgo

i think your question answers your question

they do reminds me of the Mission To Mars alien a bit :[

the second half of the trailer looks like an ad for herbal tea

Worst thing imo is the font, absolutely hideous.

thought they would write it

/\ \/ /\ + /\ R

And this didn't look cheesy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHXIIyd8nM

Avatar isn't a kids film tho

Well hey, they already released the videogame tie-in:

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-08/48772041.jpg

http://www.avclub.com/articles/floppiest-flop-case-file-126-delgo,16751/

Bender the Magnificent

23 Dec. 2008 | 5:04 PM CST

You're a mindless idiot.

The steadily mounting reactions from an apparent Israeli screening of some "Avatar" footage has been resoundingly negative. FWIW:

https://twitter.com/cinemascopian

^from that "we might have another Speed Racer on our hands here".

I AM NOW PSYCHED!

Looks stupid.

That looks JUST A BIT Kincade in space.

what a horrifying reveal. The guy who made such cold, dark science fiction is now making a garish, tacky fantasy starring furries.

How come there are giant rocks that can hover but the guy is stuck in a wheelchair?

Also, Papyrus font has been a no no for at least ten years now.

How come there are giant rocks that can hover but the guy is stuck in a wheelchair?

― Nate Carson, Saturday, August 22, 2009 1:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

How can we can we take someone's mind and put it in the body of an alien, but the guy is stuck in a wheelchair?

Okay, so I saw the preview before Inglourious Basterds earlier tonight..still looks kinda dopey and the blue tiger people look awful but overall it definitely makes more sense and looks better on the big screen.

dude... lb... i feel u on wanting this to be good so bad but...

no.

just... no.

i just meant it looked better on the big screen! didn't say it was gonna be good!

yeah and i meant

no.

just... no.

hey, max is giving us permission to hate something, it's been a while so let's savor the moment

fwiw I thought Waterworld worked ok on the big screen what do I know hahaha

I sincerely hope Avatar opens with the Terminator guy pissing into a filter and drinking it...in 3D

waterworld's trailer was way better.

i agree

so was the trailer for the new john travolta/robin williams abortion

no mechs though

why is robin williams still getting starring roles

he's a genie!

The trailer looks like it's cutting back and forth between 2 different movies altogether.

this shit is for furries imo

it's like blue tiger ppl fuck this

http://images.elfwood.com/art/v/m/vmegami/kiitygirl.jpg

avatar story board exclusive
http://fanart.lionking.org/Artists/Mithril/BanjoForBlueJay.jpg

http://thunderbaseball.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/thundercats.jpg

http://www.mannythemovieguy.com/images/smurf.jpg

I haven't managed to watch the trailer, but saw a bit on TV. First thoughts were "ugh/lol, furries" and "roger dean/patrick woodroffe should sue" but WTF I imagine on a big screen, in 3D, it would be an entertaining enough spectacle. I agree w/whoever it was who said it looks like a game cutscene.

The 7 Eeriest Parallels Between Avatar and Delgo

Damage Control via io9:

Avatar Day has come and gone, poised to convert people disappointed by the trailer or confirm their worst fears. Make no mistake, though, Avatar will be a unique visual experience, but one that should probably only be experienced in 3D.

I will admit that I was thrown off by the negative reactions to the trailer. I was blown away by the footage I saw at Comic Con, but I was beginning to worry that I hadn't seen the movie I thought I'd seen. But after seeing the footage again and watching the trailer a dozen more times, I'm convinced that Avatar is an evil plot by James Cameron to force people to watch their movies in the theater if they want to enjoy the full experience.

The Avatar Day footage is more or less the same footage shown at Comic Con, although some scenes were truncated and a brief moment was added. They give you a taste of the immersive experience Avatar is. When a creature chases Sully in his Avatar form through the jungle, it's a visceral experience that simply wouldn't be the same in two dimensions. And when we get to stand still and really look at the background, there's the sense that you're really a visitor to Pandora, drinking in all the details of a fantastical world. Cameron and his fellows have infused these clips with an incredible amount of detail, from the way the Na'Vi ears twitch and move to a few stray moths in the background. Especially in the bioluminescent scene, Pandora feels like a real and breathing world, one with all the natural chaos of fluttering leaves and errant insects.

There are certainly design choices that could attract criticism from CG enthusiasts. Na'Vi skin is opaque, rather than slightly translucent like human skin, and of the animals we've seen so far, none have fur (there are also some wearying instances of Zack Snyder-style slowed-down action). But where Cameron chooses to focus his attention, the detail is remarkable. Rocks on Pandora look like rocks; hair comes in individual strands (though it is often bound up in braids) and falls naturally; and, while the animals don't have fur, their muscles pump and pulse beneath their flesh. Even the colors are richer when seen inside the theater.

All of the footage shown comes from the first half of the movie, so we don't get a very good sense of how the story will unfold. But the method behind Avatar's marketing madness is becoming clearer; no footage on your computer or TV can live up to the experience of seeing it in the theater, and Fox is hoping that Avatar Day word of mouth can sell tickets to the movie in a way no promo clips or trailer ever could.

http://www.candycomments.com/images/comment_sets/images/yeah-right.gif

Cameron stans beginning to pedal hard.

Hey, hopefully it will live up to all this big talk - if only on the cinema screen. From here though it looks like the "revolution" is off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb50GMmY5nk

this looks like something i would have drawn in my notebook during history class

but with smaller boobs

pics or we don't believe you.

i stopped drawing that shit after a girl sitting next to me saw it and asked to be moved to a different assigned seat.

story of my life.

I'm convinced that Avatar is an evil plot by James Cameron to force people to watch their movies in the theater if they want to enjoy the full experience

What is with this crap. If the story looks stupid then it ain't gonna fly.

James Cameron...Freemason?

i stopped drawing that shit after a girl sitting next to me saw it and asked to be moved to a different assigned seat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5y-66M4G9E

that might as well be a documentary, just replace boobs with spikey nipples for dicks

How long ago did Final Fantasy come out? This trailer really defines 'meh'.

Shit, there was a Magic Roundabout movie?

With Whoopi Goldberg doing a voice? What the fucking fuck?

Please do yourself a favor and read the Avatar article in the new Entertainment Weekly. They're discussing the likelihood of the movie's success based on near-universal praise from the fan community. Choice quote:

While some naysayers called the dialogue cheesy, other audience members were blown away: "My eyeballs were raped" was a common sentiment on Ain't It Cool News. (In fanboy-speak, that's a good thing.)

Uh.

hahahahahaha talk about spin

preliminary digging on AICN (which btw: gross) shows that EW did actually get that correct

EWw

Seeing the trailer the other day waiting for Inglourious Basterds did it no favors on the big screen.

it's weird to me how dead the blue people's eyes look...you get the feeling that the character designers purposely made their eyes almost anime-size to try to get a more lifelike effect, but it just doesn't work

James Cameron is a weird dude:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/10/the_truth_about_james_cameron.html

According to Titanic star Bill Paxton, the word "no" gives James Cameron an erection.

Many things about this sentence raise questions.

But where Cameron chooses to focus his attention, the detail is remarkable. Rocks on Pandora look like rocks; hair comes in individual strands (though it is often bound up in braids) and falls naturally; and, while the animals don't have fur, their muscles pump and pulse beneath their flesh. Even the colors are richer when seen inside the theater.

i cant wait to see a movie where rocks look like rocks... FINALLY

and hair. HAIR!

Rocks and Hair, coming this holiday season.

hair that comes in individual strands... what would the lumiere brothers think

• Something James Cameron actually shouted to Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of True Lies: "Do you want Paul Verhoeven to finish this motherfucker?"

god, true lies would have been an awesome verhoeven.

yeah totally

Paul Verhoeven's Titanic

Rocks and Hair, coming this holiday season.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, October 19, 2009 12:52 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol.

The NY article makes you admire Cameron, and really, really wish he had decided to make something other than Avatar.

thats it exactly isnt it

its like you're dedicating decades and millions of dollars and your genius to...

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/409/555656-furry2_super.jpg

THIS??

That New Yorker article is amazing. I've only read the first paragraph!

“Watching him light is like watching two monkeys fuck a football.”

in their pursuit of a precious superconductor called Unobtanium, are beginning to do the same to Pandora.

wait is James Cameron aiming to make a serious movie involving a material called Unobtanium?

that is Lucas-level bullshit right there

"It’s a two-fingered inverted draw past the head, like a Samurai,” he said, tracing the shape in the air over his left shoulder. “The archery instructor came and said, ‘Do you want me to teach them archery or do you want me to teach them this? This would never work.’ I said, ‘See that bush?’ It was a hundred and fifty feet away. I nailed it.”

James Cameron = the IT guy from The Office

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geZoES9KQ-Q

I love this bit:

After he finished making “True Lies,” Cameron called Kubrick, by then a recluse, and invited himself over. They spent a day, in the basement of Kubrick’s house in the English countryside, watching “True Lies” at Kubrick’s flatbed editing station. Cameron went over the shots—Schwarzenegger in a Harrier jet firing a missile, with the villain attached to it, through an office building and into a helicopter: boom!—so that Kubrick could learn how the effects were done.

Sounds like the best friend from hell.

i like that he apparently went over to kubrick's house with a 16mm or even 35mm print of his own movie.

Kubrick was thinking "Man, I wish we were watching the new Verhoeven instead."

“We made it in the papers once, for a U.F.O. sighting over a hot-air balloon that we built and launched at night that was powered by candles.”

loooooooooool

Right, screw Avatar, I want to read his memoirs!

My friend has funny stories about James Cameron's - such as his band of ex Mossad commandos coming the rescue of his boss' house during some Malibu wildfires. Also has an anecdote about Cameron comparing the budget of Avatar to the budget of the Manhattan Project.

Sam Worthington: not a cartoon (he says)

the new yorker article is so amazing.

this paragraph is incredible:

The meeting ended on a boisterous note. “That fuckin’ rocks!” Cameron called out in response to an image of a snarling maw of thin blue-veined tissue, the mouth of the pterodactyl-like banshee that Jake’s avatar domesticates for his ride. “Look at the gill-like membrane on the side of the mouth, its transmission of light, all the secondary color saturation on the tongue, and that maxilla bone. I love what you did with the translucence on the teeth, and the way the quadrate bone racks the teeth forward. It’s a sharky thing. As wacky as this creature is, it looks completely real. Maybe I’m getting high on my own supply.” He was practically out of breath. “The banshee lives! He’s a fierce-looking sonuvabitch.”

saw the preview for this before paranormal activity and some guy a few rows back said "that looks terrible"

If Paranormal Activity ends up being a bigger success than Avatar I am so going to laugh. (In terms of budget vs. return it's already the winner of the decade.)

I basically don't know a single thing about this movie other than what's in that New Yorker profile (hadn't heard of it before), but the article did make me want to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_JBMrrYw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAPyipuT-Jg

trailer i saw had a lot more (awful) dialogue

john why did that article make you interested? this seems like the exact opposite of the types of movies you usually like

welcome to pandora!

http://winnipeg.cityguide.ca/images/cats.jpg

I didn't know someone made a stage version of Thundercats!

john why did that article make you interested? this seems like the exact opposite of the types of movies you usually like

Well, I'll admit I was greatly put off by this: "The third act of “Avatar” contains what Jon Landau, the producer, calls “the mother of all movie battles.”" But I think the movie seems like it could be a visual wonderland, especially in 3D. And I like high-concept sci-fi like A.I.

Yeah I loved that article but did not come away feeling like i would want to be in proximity to james cameron under any circumstances.

Maybe I’m getting high on my own supply.” He was practically out of breath. “The banshee lives! He’s a fierce-looking sonuvabitch.”

― banned, on the run (s1ocki), Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:10 PM

ahaha fuck lol

"Maybe I’m getting high on my own supply.” He was practically out of breath. “The banshee lives! I am the reason LARPERS sing 'The goddess wears a thong!'"

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/avatar-header2.jpg

“the mother of all movie battles.”"

CGI-driven gigantic battle scenes are usually pretty boring IMHO.

Exactly.

New trailer

And various reactions to same.

Everything about that just makes me think Cameron woke up one morning and decided "You know I liked the technology in the forest bits in The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith, why didn't George make a full movie out of it?"

it's pretty amazing how a guy who was once, like, the toughest mfer when it came to writing and directing action films has turned into such a weirdo furry.

Creatures and "jungle wonders" still look cheezy as hell, and the sawed-off jarhead dialogue sounds worse, but the new trailer does make it look like an entertaining (and perhaps even moving) Aliens/Abyss-style military adventure flick. In, yeah, a weirdo furry kinda way.

CGI-driven gigantic battle scenes are usually pretty boring IMHO

xxp Well it was always there. See the The Abyss.

at least i think i got tired of it after 2003 xp

It would be so, so awesome if everything we've seen/heard about "Avatar" was actually restricted to the first 30 minutes of the movie, and the rest was all, like, talk. Sort of like the opposite of "Aliens."

I say with tongue obviously in cheek, because a) this would never happen and b) Cameron is actually a pretty weak writer, classic line-or two and bits of "The Abyss" aside. "Avatar" just seems like such an obviously, well, obvious allegory - and lo and beyond, the primitive other has lessons to teach us all! - that it would take a really clever, perceptive screenwriter to transform it from spectacle to anything substantive. Giant blue Thunder-Ewoks don't help matters.

That author of that b.s. "New Yorker" profile, by the way, clearly had seen little to no more of the film than any of us plebes have. Either that or he was legally obligated to keep it confidential.

"Should I talk about the bit where they -- "

"Shut up, you."

"Sorry."

Oh, by the way - what fucking bureaucrat would call the planet Pandora? That's just asking for trouble! What were the runner-ups? Pompeii? Krakatoa? Hades?

Titanic, Hindenburg and Lusitania were also under consideration.

Also, Last.fm.

(ba dum bump)

"we're headin' to the planet warsaw ghetto..."

New trailer

― Ned Raggett, Friday, October 30, 2009 1:51 PM

ha yeah thats the one i saw

lol giovanni ribisi

That’s a great trailer. Anyone who H8s on this is dead inside and should move on to another career.
Comment by Movie Fan — October 29, 2009 @ 12:03 pm Reply to this post

Okay, is it me or does this sound like a James Cameron sock-puppet?
Comment by G. Lira — October 29, 2009 @ 2:13 pm Reply to this post

i'm the king of the world woo

The design of this whole thing, right down to the title font is just atrocious. It's like his aesthetics just woke up from cryosleep.

district 9 meets ferngully

I read that thing in the New Yorker last week. His hyper-detailed approach to everything (getting special cameras made, special underwater techniques on The Abyss, etc. etc.) EXCEPT the actual writing is quite astonishing. "We can hire an entire division of an aeronautics company to make us a special camera plane but we can't hire ONE. SINGLE. FUCKING. ACTUAL. WRITER. Nor do we think writers actually do their jobs very well or we would have hired one."

Cunt.

uhh, that's because he writes.

Would you prefer he hire dozens of script doctors like they did for the first Charlie's Angels movie?

ANd what's with that Woody Allen not passing along work to some screenwriters anyway?

James Cameron's Interiors

That author of that b.s. "New Yorker" profile, by the way, clearly had seen little to no more of the film than any of us plebes have. Either that or he was legally obligated to keep it confidential.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, October 30, 2009 2:27 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what's your point?

it's a great fuckin' profile!!

this looks sorta awesome u_u

I think a lot of folks are failing to view this trailer/film thru the eyes of a naive 11-year-old sci-fi geek. Seems like that's who it's aimed squarely at, and on that level, carping about the font seems ridiculous. "The Little Mermaid was charming, but that font!"

but this doesn't look charming at all

Aye, this just looks gash.

is this a sudan allegory btw

nah brazil

the movie or

or?

so this has nothing to do with airbending right

http://i40.tinypic.com/rubuah.gif

I wasn't carping about the font inasmuch as it seems to punctuate the awful look of this movie's design and overall aesthetics--as far as looking at it from the POV of an 11 year old... I was 11 when Terminator came out--that shit looked scary and cool.

could see this being a movie where a surprisingly wide range of non nerds are all that was cool

all that was cool in an effed up world.

... in 3D!!!

x-post It's totally a great profile. My point was that all the audacity on display in the piece perhaps needed a bit more counterbalance than the single graf related to the negative reaction to the teaser.

I mean, Cameron=jerk is not news.

he lets him hang himself with his own rope dude... what did you want, an anti-james-cameron expert to give the opposing view?

won't be as good as 2012 fuiud

someone needs to take cameron's $$$ away and force him to work with a small budget again, like with Aliens and the Terminator.

also bring back michael biehn and lance henrikson.

I really think lower budgets force people like Cameron or George Lucas to be more inventive.

hard to say, cuz the only time they had them was so long ago...

I'm not sure Aliens counts as low budget. $20 mil in 1986? That's about twice as much as "RoboCop" the next year.

x-post If Avatar is a huge hit and every bit as technologically successful as he's promised, then we're all the dupes. He's arrogant, that's for sure, but it's only hang-yourself hubris if he's wrong. It would have been nice had the author been privy to a bit more and been able to come to some conclusions, but my guess is at the time of the piece's filing the movie wasn't anywhere close to done, at least not enough to really show off.

Personally, I would have rather read a balanced Michael Bay profile in the New Yorker a la the Michael Savage piece. At least we know what Bay's been up to. Cameron, on the other hand, has been more or less off the grid for a decade, so the piece doesn't advance his particular story very well; there's simply too much of his reputation riding on "Avatar" for them to have given the author the access he needed to transform the profile into more than a on-the-go with James Cameron behind the scenes piece. Brody's Wes Anderson profile (and the Haneke piece - lots of directors in the New Yorker these days!) parallels the Cameron one, but took a firmer critical stance and made room for more analysis.

Invention isn't the goal. Making the most money you can is the goal. Telling a story is merely the means to that end.

Except that Cameron himself has called "Avatar" a game-changer, so unless he means he expects it to make more money than "Titanic," surely he has a different goal in mind.

"If we make money, I guarantee there will be more," Cameron said. "If we don't, we'll pretend it never happened."

x-post If Avatar is a huge hit and every bit as technologically successful as he's promised, then we're all the dupes. He's arrogant, that's for sure, but it's only hang-yourself hubris if he's wrong. It would have been nice had the author been privy to a bit more and been able to come to some conclusions, but my guess is at the time of the piece's filing the movie wasn't anywhere close to done, at least not enough to really show off.

Personally, I would have rather read a balanced Michael Bay profile in the New Yorker a la the Michael Savage piece. At least we know what Bay's been up to. Cameron, on the other hand, has been more or less off the grid for a decade, so the piece doesn't advance his particular story very well; there's simply too much of his reputation riding on "Avatar" for them to have given the author the access he needed to transform the profile into more than a on-the-go with James Cameron behind the scenes piece. Brody's Wes Anderson profile (and the Haneke piece - lots of directors in the New Yorker these days!) parallels the Cameron one, but took a firmer critical stance and made room for more analysis.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, October 31, 2009 2:28 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

having the author weigh in on the movie itself would have made it a very different KIND of story... this was a process piece and i found it pretty fascinating. it will of course be easy to draw conclusions once we all see the movie.

i mean if the movie sucks it would be a LOL james cameron piece and if it's great it would be james cameron is a genius piece... not sure who really needs that.

i actually think it's a lot like the michael savage story... an interested and slightly detached look at a huge and contradictory personality.

Invention isn't the goal. Making the most money you can is the goal. Telling a story is merely the means to that end.

― Aimless, Saturday, October 31, 2009 2:32 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

do you really think, after reading that piece, that james cameron thinks of himself purely as a businessman?

i mean congratulations on realizing that HOLLYWOOD LIKES MONEY but there's more to it than that which is why we're still talking about this dude

Cameron is playing with other people's money. He is not in sole charge of the project. However he may think of himself, he is a businessman among businessmen. He will always sell his project on the basis of anticipated profits, and his backers will view his inventiveness or lack of it, and not coincidentally set the size of his budget, in terms of anticipated profits.

That is why Cameron's personal goals are only tangentially related to the goal of the movie. An inventive artist who makes money is a Hollywood success story. One who loses money is a loser, pure and simple.

yes and?

dont u see the system maaaan

and so... "Invention isn't the goal. Making the most money you can is the goal. Telling a story is merely the means to that end"... still stands as correct.

and so the statement stands, another ilx story told in the service of cynical reductionism. THE END

so you're saying hollywood designs its products to make money? hmm, never thought of it that way before

As a theory for explaining what appears on 99% of movie screens worldwide, it has powerful elucidary qualities which the auteur theory lacks. However, when a simplifying theory comes along which undermines the importance of what critics, fanboys and other groupies all love to chatter about, it meets brutal resistance.

it true, i just brutally suggest bannd u

**bows cynically to the right and left, exits stage**

"technologically successful"?

sweet fx bra

oh right if the efx are really cool then we are the dupes. the efx will have duped us into liking a shitty film

"bows cynically" ?

yes if the effects are well executed and convincing you are an asshole

my entire profession was just undermined brutally and i do not know what to do

all critical discourse around movies has been debunked for all time :(

http://4.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kse65vii2Z1qzdv8uo1_400.jpg

Starring The Guy Who Didn't Get To Be James Bond!

x-post Um, Cameron has stated specifically that the effects will be groundbreaking, "a game changer." He has not called the script a game changer, or the amount of money the movie will make a game changer. Pretty obvious that if he delivers on the FX front, then the former's deficiencies will be negated and the $$$ will be massive enough to justify the bravado. Whether people will be dressed as these blue things next Halloween is another matter.

uhh just saw trailer (thx world series!) and this looks like a trailer for halo and the font for the movie's name looks like papyrus.

seeing the trailer for this on tv while not paying much attention makes it look just like some dippy video game. digital effects very much included. tho obviously my tv is not 3-d.

xpost! haha

Pretty obvious that if he delivers on the FX front, then the former's deficiencies will be negated and the $$$ will be massive enough to justify the bravado

If anything, it'll scrub the memory of Transformers 2 out of our brains.

Ugh, I still hate that fucking Papyrus font.

real talk

True fax.

nothing will scrub t2

Saw the trailer at the cinema, blimey, it looks a bit ropey.

PLAYBOY: We seem to need fantasy icons like Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, despite knowing they mess with our heads.
CAMERON: Most of men's problems with women probably have to do with realizing women are real and most of them don't look or act like Vampirella. A big recalibration happens when we're forced to deal with real women, and there's a certain geek population that would much rather deal with fantasy women than real women. Let's face it: Real women are complicated. You can try your whole life and not understand them.

PLAYBOY: How much did you get into calibrating your movie heroine's hotness?
CAMERON: Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits," even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na'vi, aren't placental mammals. I designed her costumes based on a taparrabo, a loincloth thing worn by Mayan Indians. We go to another planet in this movie, so it would be stupid if she ran around in a Brazilian thong or a fur bikini like Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.

PLAYBOY: Are her breasts on view?
CAMERON: I came up with this free-floating, lion's-mane-like array of feathers, and we strategically lit and angled shots to not draw attention to her breasts, but they're right there. The animation uses a physics-based sim that takes into consideration gravity, air movement and the momentum of her hair, her top. We had a shot in which Neytiri falls into a specific position, and because she is lit by orange firelight, it lights up the nipples. That was good, except we're going for a PG-13 rating, so we wound up having to fix it. We'll have to put it on the special edition DVD; it will be a collector's item. A Neytiri Playboy Centerfold would have been a good idea.

PLAYBOY: So you're okay with arousing PG-13 chubbies?
CAMERON: If such a thing should ­happen—and I'm not saying it will—that would be fine.

okay so that is just wrong

When did this thread have sex with the Idolator one?

god gross

We had a shot in which Neytiri falls into a specific position, and because she is lit by orange firelight, it lights up the nipples.

well okay then

Guys, this was how Von Sternberg shot Marlene Dietrich.

shot her with light-up nipples

Most of men's problems with women probably have to do with realizing women are real and most of them don't look or act like Vampirella. A big recalibration happens when we're forced to deal with real women, and there's a certain geek population that would much rather deal with fantasy women than real women. Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits," even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na'vi, aren't placental mammals.

<3

Now imagine the AvaTwilight crossover slashfic. Being made by somebody, somewhere, right now.

Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits,"

great quote

he is amazing.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/way/rbp20/vampi_pics/models/terry_leslie1.jpg

that makes no sense because her race, the Na'vi, aren't placental mammals.

^^ man, no pill worries or anything

it makes sense on another planet to be dressed like 12th century mayan but not like a 21st century brazilian

kinda lol mostly sad

megalolz at this useless fuckwad's quest for "realism"

a non-placental mammal having tits = hey that's okay, but wearing a brazilian thong?!?! THAT'S CRAZY

it makes sense to be a tall blue person

megalolz at everything to do with this film.

I think I want this to be a huge embarrassment now. Except it will still rake in the cash.

i saw on the quidities thread that he watches cgi blue alien mayan-style pr0n on his iphone in public

i am actually doing that right now

http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/images/2007/07/27/ekk4.jpg

"chubbies"

Yet another sneak peek story? Yeah they're getting nervous:

Inside a dark mixing stage at 20th Century Fox a few weeks ago, writer-director James Cameron, surrounded by nearly a dozen colleagues, stared at a clip from his upcoming movie, "Avatar," unhappy with the look of the precipitous peaks on the horizon.

Circling the summits with a red laser pointer and speaking to his computer-effects team at Weta Digital in New Zealand via videoconference, Cameron came up with a Muhammad-like solution: Shift the mountains to the left.

"Moving a mountain," the 55-year-old filmmaker said, laughing, "is nothing."

...

As part of his research and development, Cameron directed the 3-D documentaries "Aliens of the Deep" and "Ghosts of the Abyss," which visited the Titanic's underwater wreckage. To overcome what many critics regard as the great flaw of motion-capture animation, the "dead-eye" appearance of characters, Cameron mounted tiny cameras above the faces of his "Avatar" actors, recording their smallest facial expressions and most intimate eye movements.

"What had been missing in motion capture was the 'E' -- the emotion," said "Avatar" producer Jon Landau.

The real test of this hybrid technology, the filmmakers acknowledge, will not be in the 3-D illusion of sending a rocket hurtling toward the audience, but in whether it enhances the tale's emotional resonance.

Hath not a blue alien lifelike eyes?

Oh and:

In August, the studio declared "Avatar Day," showing 16 minutes of the movie for free at 130 IMAX theaters around the globe, seen by 50,000 to 60,000 people, according to Fox estimates. Initial fanboy reaction wasn't all positive. "If Cameron thinks a film that looks like an Xbox game is the future of cinema . . . then he's mental," said one Web critic.

"I thought anyone who saw the early footage would be a convert," Cameron said of the IMAX previews. "It just seemed that everyone who had seen the footage wanted more."

Dude...

What had been missing in motion capture was the 'E'

aha

motion captur?

if you give audiences the 'E' -- the drug ecstasy -- before screening the response is overwhelmingly positive

They have shirts of this movie for sale at Hot Topic, but only in the girls' section.

didn't you read in that new yorker profile how cameron only shops for clothes in the girl's section of hot topic?

South Park offers some anticipatory criticism

that was actually kind of hilarious, something this season of South Park has not had too much of

he "dead-eye" appearance of characters

it's funny cause his models have some of the deadest looking eyes in computer animation - hint you don't compensate for this by making their eyes bigger

Oh boy, the game!

gotta say the film might actually be reasonably okay looking if he simply chose to have these aliens be something other than aggressive smurfs

sexy smurvs

i played the game in 3D.

it kinda gave me a headache/eye twitchy feeling

That's called a 'boner' in smurf world M@tt.

james cameron gargameled my boner for life

gotta say the film might actually be reasonably okay looking if he simply chose to have these aliens be something other than aggressive smurfs

the disney smurfiness feels especially grating and out of date after District 9

maybe the smurfs get all pukey tho

Soundtrack tracklisting revealed plot spoilers blah blah. The "My Heart Will Go On" of this thing is called "I See You." Uh.

last track:

"death of all the avatars and our lead villain"

remember when the "single" from the attack of the clones soundtrack was "qui-gon's funeral"

NICE PLAY SHAKESPEARE

Gotta love the titles of the first seven bits:

1. “You Don’t Dream in Cryo…”
2. Jake Enters His Avatar World
3. Pure Spirits of the Forest
4. The Bioluminescence of the Night
5. Becoming One of “The People”
Becoming One With Neytiri
6. Climbing Up – “Iknimaya – The Path to Heaven”

Six bits, seven bits, WHATEVER.

"Tell me of your homeworld, Jake."

The "My Heart Will Go On" of this thing is called "I See You."

If it's the Juliana Hatfield song that might be kind of fun.

I was hoping it was short for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbdYmFSfrcU

Becoming One With Neytiri = sexin smurfette

You know, this will be totally ridiculous, but I still wanna see it.

probably best to treat it like Cameron made it ten years ago but you never got around to seeing it. "smurfs, wtf, well it was 1999."

probably best to not see it at all

obv i'm referring to the titanic fans who can't resist

I don't know if it's just the smurfiness of it or what but it just seems like th most horrible movie ever made to me. I would sit through a Uwe Bolle film festival before I'd watch this.

1. “You Don’t Dream in Cryo…”
2. Jake Enters His Avatar World
3. Pure Spirits of the Forest
4. The Bioluminescence of the Night
5. Becoming One of “The People”
Becoming One With Neytiri
6. Climbing Up – “Iknimaya – The Path to Heaven”

this makes me want to see it more than ever

half of these ought to have ": sounds of the rainforest" appended to the end

the disney smurfiness feels especially grating and out of date after District 9

― da croupier, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 2:46 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

otm.

(not that district 9 was a perfect masterpiece or anything)

Guys I gotta put in that James Horner did turn out some k-awes film scores back in the day (not so much since he got fat off Titanic though). Wrath Of Khan, Brainstorm, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Land Before Time, Sneakers, those were all awesome scores.

That said, my intuition tells me this isn't gonna be his most inspired music.

this is gonna be such a trainwreck on so many many levels

i wanna see james cameron's house if he has a wax pope under his stairs

No way is his house as cool as Emmerich's, let's be real.

seriously.

it could be if its a smurf cottage

if cameron really lived up to his persona he would be living in a submarine

I wonder if Avatar is about smurf frottage.

cameron has the prop machine guns from aliens mounted on the walls of his house that shoots foam in case of fire. true story.

has the avatar downfall/hitler rant thingy been posted in here? that's kind of lol.

http://uk.movies.ign.com/dor/objects/800318/avatar/videos/avatar_hardware.html

This is very Aliens - except this time the aliens are the good guys!

60 Minutes has a piece on Avatar tonight, fyi.

Pushing this so hard at the cinema tonight. They've had plastic credit card-like Avatar gift cards printed up so you can "give the gift of Avatar" tickets as Christmas presents, too.

saw the 60 minutes piece on a nice HDTV at a restaurant tonight.... and I kind of enjoyed just zoning out and watching the scenery.

I imagine it will be 2 hours of "that looks kinda cool" that will be quickly forgotten and never watched again.

And now it's the interactive trailer! (As proudly linked on the bottom of the page.) And it's important, see:

The "Avatar" Interactive trailer is actually more of a program or application than your usual run-of-the-mill teaser. With Cameron's film taking years to complete, the trailer even took a while to develop, too, with a four-month creation time.

"We kind of look at it as the next generation of movie trailers because it allows users to interact and delve deeper into the content of the movie," says Fox's Jeffrey Godsick, executive vice president of marketing and digital content.

Built on Adobe AIR software, the application not only plays trailers, but also helps you keep track of news about "Avatar" through all kinds of social media. Like the Virtual Echo desktop for "Dollhouse" (RIP), AIR also can be made portable and not browser-based. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube all contribute to the feed that will fill up your entire screen if you choose.

With all of that, the trailer is the centerpiece, and with it are other video pieces that give the user more insight into the creation of the movie. "Hot spots" during the trailer allow users to see vignettes about creature and technological designs and hear character profiles from many of the film's stars.

It can be a bit overwhelming when you first see it cover your whole screen, and for fans who are really anticipating the movie, the officialavatar tweeter pops up with updates even when the program is minimized. It's all a cool interaction, but I wondered how much input Cameron, the tech godling, had in the program's development.

"The incorporation of technology has always been really important to (Cameron). He's really been supportive of the idea because it's cool, but also because it really does allow people to get involved in this world. He and Lightstorm have actually been involved in the creation of some of the content pieces," says Godsick.

The program will continue to be updated as the movie nears. It was also mentioned that Cameron's Lightstorm is developing a Pandorapedia to launch in December that will give an even more in-depth look at the world "Avatar" has created.

I'm seriously waiting for the interactive MMS from Cameron himself to everyone in the world telling us to go see it or he'll cry.

I imagine it will be 2 hours of "that looks kinda cool" that will be quickly forgotten and never watched again.

^^^^^ on this. I want to see it, but I'm not in any particular hurry.

http://www.eggcityradio.com/sharity/xra.jpg

yeah but in 3-D

Wired has a series of stories out:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/ff_avatar_cameron/all/1
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/ff_avatar_5steps/

http://www.wired.com/magazine/wp-content/images/17-12/ff_avatar_5steps4b_f.jpg

The future of movie-making. Yes indeed.

"Godsick" : what a great surname. love to know the history on how that came about.

Yeah I was thinking, "Okay how did a nu-metal band miss that one."

Cameron kept a razor blade on his editing desk with a note: Use only if film sucks.

I realise this makes me a disgusting savage, but I tried to book advance tickets for this at local IMAX and the first week is already *completely* sold out. Looks like it's going to make mad loot.

maybe at imax, people will watch any goddamn thing on those screens. this is like captain eo 2 and perfect for that format.
i dunno about normal theaters.

aren't most new imax releases sold out for the first week way before hand? this is before the first reviews/ the first week of people who actually seeing it saying how bad it is to their friends.

PROCTOLOGIST: A Journey through Jim Cameron
AN IMAX EXCLUSIVE

My kid is getting psyched up for this. We were at the movies the other day and he spent a minute or two staring at the Avatar poster, which is lenticular.

i doubt this will make its money back ($500 million!) but just because us snarky internet types think it's gonna be this huge gigantic flop doesn't mean a lot of people aren't gonna go see this.

its not just snarky internet types though. plenty of people i know have commented on how fucking stupid it looks. the other day i was walking through whsmiths with my nan and even she commented on 'why are they putting the smurfs in a film' when she saw the cover of empire/other-film-mag/whatever-had-it-on-the-cover. know absolutely no-one who is excited about it (although ok i don't know any 7 year olds). just looks dull.

ok it will still make at least 100m and open pretty big but after the initial impact it doesn't look good. and the longer people talk about how bad it looks/will flop, the more likely its gonna be.

it's probably going to explode internationally, here i'd expect the numbers to be "underwhelming" but not catastrophic. the real shocker would be if it shows a quarter of the legs that Titanic did.

xpost

if it bombs, get ready for Terminator Vs. Aliens.

straight to video shocker

don't underestimate the secret furry demographic.

vs. predator vs friday the 13 vs freddy vs

straight to six flags would be cooler. "fuck it, let's just make it a ride."

yeah, it will make bank internationally, and probably recoup loads in DVD sales, etc.

like wouldn't be surprised if it was the sort of thing that got bundled into blu-ray/tv deals at best buy or w/e (it's just so *visual*)

planet 'tar

straight to six flags would be cooler. "fuck it, let's just make it a ride."

― da croupier, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 7:15 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

“Yes,” Cameron said flatly. “They have to have tails.”

“Yes,” Cameron said flatly. “They have to have tails.”

http://www.wired.com/magazine/wp-content/images/17-12/ff_avatar_cameron1_f.jpg

yeah, it will make bank internationally, and probably recoup loads in DVD sales, etc.

I dunno, dog, this movie reportedly cost $500 mil, which is about equal to the Dark Knight's domestic gross

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/20091201_avatar_190x190.jpg

"YEAH!"

*barf sounds*

no lie, if someone took me to an amusement park where the rollercoaster cars looked like the flying things from the "Avatar" previews, I would never leave

this is like captain eo 2 and perfect for that format.

I really wish Cameron had made a sequel to Captain Eo instead of this.

Fox apparently just did a big promo image dump. Scrounge for laughs.

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769368876.jpg

"So your mission is to CLIMB THIS TREE, MAGGOT."

Is the whole movie going to be the scenes from Endor? I don't know if these smurf wannabes are preferable to the ewoks.

ewoks are great.

on rye

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769362620.jpg

I like the ewoks, but they seem to be almost universally hated.

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769364819.jpg

"Tell me of your homewor--"

"I already DID."

Meanwhile on the set of CSI: Pandora:

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769365518.jpg

"Tsu'tey"

see this is why I sometimes hate fantasy

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769362620.jpg

A mishap in the teleporter spliced together Marilyn Manson's backing band, a couple of Thundercats, and the Blue Man group and sent them to Skull Island

Star Trek's future has the Beastie Boys, Avatar's got Harleys:

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769352808.jpg

Okay this one, all you need's the actual caption:

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769358046.jpg

"epic battle" is just like "romantic comedy" for me now

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12573815464295.jpg

this looks like the precursor to an anime pr0n scene

xp: Ned the first thing that came to mind with that pic was "... and pull your knees in tiiiight"

Hahahah nice.

Why is Sam Worthington? He seems like a big charisma vacuum.

Why is movie

JAKE SULLY

A mishap in the teleporter spliced together Marilyn Manson's backing band, a couple of Thundercats, and the Blue Man group and sent them to Skull Island

― tectonic p (latebloomer), Wednesday, 2 December 2009 20:48 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^sounds like a great film i'd enjoy and pay to see, unlike avatar

OMG Michele Rodriguez is in this...she is my personal stamp of C-grade entertainment that works in spite of itself ever since "Blue Crush."

U know, they should have made the aliens disgusting jellyfish creatures who live in clouds of methane. Wouldn't that be awesome?

See, look, tails!

http://cinemablend.com/images/reviews/2043/_12597769368975.jpg

Plus rocks and hair.

So I assume Giovanni Ribisi:Avatar::Paul Reiser:Aliens.

"So Sigourney, your motivation in this scene is--"

"Yeah, thanks, got it."

"He Poos Blue"

Maybe there's some secret scene at the end and Arnie comes in in Terminator drag and kills everyone.

U know, they should have made the aliens disgusting jellyfish creatures who live in clouds of methane. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Cameron would still be adamant that they had to have breasts

Ender's Nowhere Near as Interesting War

I wish this was the theme song:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/102975/saturday-night-live-what-up-with-that

Which makes me wonder why the hell he didn't just get Paul Reiser. I imagine he's just sitting at home watching Food Network or something.

Imagine how awesome this movie would be if they replaced Sam Worthington with Kenan Thompson.

Isn't Paul Reiser now bald and fat? From what I recall, that pretty much precludes him from ever being in a James Cameron movie again.

this really looks like Aliens and Titanic's secret deformed lovechild that was hidden away for ten years then finally was allowed to see daylight

they should have made the aliens disgusting jellyfish creatures who live in clouds of methane

U really shouldn't talk about Andy Sturmer that way.

Paul Reiser in 2005:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Paulreiser05.jpg/200px-Paulreiser05.jpg

For the 'unusual details' thread:

Atlanta (Centers on a man and a woman who meet at a funeral and can't seem to stay away from each other)

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/00028241.jpg
http://www.topnews.in/files/Robert-Pattinson_1.jpg

James Horner is not out to unground the film

Paul Reiser had an inexplicable cameo in Funny People; why didn't Apatow ask him to reprise Burke?

xpost is it me or is there a slight similarity in the proportions / width of the eyes / between Jake-tard and Pattinson?

Hahah how appropriate:

'Avatar' to close Dubai film festival

Maybe this whole thing is a plot just to wrap this decade up in one convenient place and sink it in the bottom of the ocean.

You know, the game cover image is ten thousand times better than the actual stills because this really DOES look like a cover of a game from 1986 or something:

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gamelife/2009/11/avatar_game_box_350.jpg

All I ask schadenfreude-wise is that this movie make less (at least in the US) than Alvin & The Chipmunks 2: The Squeakel.

James Cameron's JOUST: THE MOVIE

...actually why hasn't that been done yet? Seems a logical choice these days.

http://img.youtube.com/vi/f8KUB-Ufric/0.jpg

“Yes,” Cameron said flatly. “They have to have tails.”

surely it should be The Squeakening

'Munkment Day

Revenge of the Alvin

Tailiens

All I ask schadenfreude-wise is that this movie make less (at least in the US) than Alvin & The Chipmunks 2: The Squeakel.

― da croupier, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 4:09 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

just what we need, another unnecessary squeakquel

2 Alvin 2 Chipmunks

A Chip Off The Old Munk

28 Squeaks Later

Actually, going back to my first post on this whole thing:

Both actors have signed on for possible future installments as well because Cameron and Fox see "Avatar" as a potential franchise.

Fear.

Alvatar

Avatar 2: Avatarly

more like AVATARDED

Avaturd

Avatars On Vacation

Avatar 2: Avatarder

Weekend At Na'vis

Flight of the Na'vigator

The Avartark Knight

"Na'vi 5 is alive."

Avatarmageddon -- directed by Michael Bay

Pearl Avatar

"Sir we've seen the breasts. They're the size of Texas." xp

Another old quote from way up near the start:

Said Cameron: “We know the oncology and composition of the atmosphere, the geography and species of plants, the culture and the history of the Na’vi people.”

...and all we got were these lousy furries.

Ishavatar

xpost i can always tell when directors haven't figured out the oncology in a sci-fi movie

“Yes,” Cameron said flatly. “The atmosphere has to have an appropriate mix of nitrogen and oxygen in the troposphere to ensure that vertebrates who don't have gills can develop via accepted evolution-based theories.”

also i'm guesssssing he meant ecology unless there's a cancer subplot

are they only showing one type of terrain (jungle+floating rocks) of this planet? presumably there would also be ice wastes, deserts etc. if no reason to show them

"We also know, like on earth, that there's only one intelligent species, and that they all look and talk alike and possess the same language."

$50 million was spent on Na'Vi research

Can't wait for that DVD extra.

and about 1 million on ontological research; bad prioritites

Oh hey, read the book!:

A field guide to Pandora—the mesmerizing world of James Cameron's Avatar.

Four years in the making—and 15 years since its conception—Avatar is a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivering a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

In Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora we are introduced to Pandora—a pristine and beautiful moon in a distant solar system—its exotic ecosystems, and the indigenous race called the Na'vi. By piecing together photographs, scientific field notes, and research data, citizens on Earth have collected the information in this field guide as a way to highlight the lessons Pandora can teach the people of Earth, who have struggled to survive as their planet's critical resources are depleted.

Though Pandora has proven to be an exceedingly profitable source of natural resources, the environment—from its gravity-defying floating mountains to the small but venomous hellfire wasps and the gigantic carnivorous thanator—poses continual dangers to RDA. Catalogued with unparalleled precision and access, this field guide provides highly detailed descriptions of the unique creatures and plants found on Pandora, the culture, language, and physiology of the native population, as well as RDA technology and weapons.

Eager to save the Earth, the activists have culled this information in hopes to expose the corporate greed and disregard for the native inhabitants and their environment that governs RDA's presence on the foreign moon.

This is the evidence in their case to save Pandora—and themselves.

You can kinda hear the "DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNN!" after that conclusion.

if only they had the board lawyer power of ILX

Wait:

Pandora—a pristine and beautiful moon

It IS Endor!

Kinda appreciate how the aliens are giving us the finger here:

http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/0/9780061896750.jpg

David Lynch had like 5 movies in the 90s for which he couldn't drum up enough money (10-20m).

but 500m for 3d furry porn is doable.

"When the monkeyfurrycatpeople die, everybody gonna cry."

and that they all look and talk alike and possess the same language

arrrgh fuck off

:-D

Hey look what I found at Target:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_gx9UOgOAfb0/Sxb_rKzeH7I/AAAAAAAAAow/kqZ2mAocQQI/s512/IMG_0652.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_gx9UOgOAfb0/Sxb_sVnFn-I/AAAAAAAAAo4/iKzkaPJgpfE/IMG_0653.JPG

it looks like they are in the big womb things that keanu wakes up in during teh matrix

hate this movie solely for ruining my ability to appreciate this shade of blue ever again

Future bargain bin finds xp

So is the audience meant to take the side of nine foot tall furries over humans?

Let's see, it's been 24 hours, there should be a slew of stupid new quotes and behold:

Cameron, whose filmmaking has always been notable for its technological innovations, explained it simply: “I basically sat down and put everything in this that I ever wanted to see in a movie – and that’s why it’s such a grab-bag of visual concepts.”

With a cup of coffee in hand and looking relaxed and in a pair of jeans and casual shirt, he was talking in his private projection room after screening 30 minutes of Avatar to a small invited group. It is impossible not to be fascinated and enthralled by his action-filled 3D vision of adventure and battles in an iridescent jungle on an alien planet, where hideous, dragon-like creatures appear to leap off the screen, flora and fauna wave in the air and a heroic avatar does battle with a pterodactyl-like beast before subduing it and soaring off on its back.

“It came from all the science-fiction books I read when I was a kid and it just gestated over time,” he said. “I did a lot of fantasy art and I had drawers full of drawings of creatures, characters, robots, spaceships and all that sort of thing. So for me I was just going back to my roots.”

And what's today, kids?!?!

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/movies/a/avatar/live_stream/448x252.jpg

The time is here folks. Stop reading and proceed directly to the MTV Movies home page. Why? Don't you know by now?!!?!?!? "Avatar" director James Cameron, along with stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are answering questions from fans -- submitted on MTV.com or via the Facebook event page -- about the movie in a special MTV live stream event.

What are you still doing here? Go watch (starting at 3pm EST/12pm PST)!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il_NAXpDHZ4

“Yes,” Cameron said flatly. “They have to have tails.”

for someone whos hair is on fire, she doesn't seem fazed. she does have boobs tho

Oh wait, another one from that first link:

“We’re telling the story of what happens when a technologically superior culture comes into a place with a technologically inferior indigenous culture and there are resources there that they want,” said Cameron. “It never ends well.

“It’s also a love story about an awakening of perception through the other person. That person must teach him something and there has to be a greater reason for him to be in love with her other than she’s a hot blue alien chick.”

I hope this means an introductory scene where they tell Sam Worthington's character they picked him because of his hot blue chick fetish.

If you have such an unfortunate fetish, this movie must be a godsend. "Finally, something for ME."

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,390,000 for smurf fetish. (0.55 seconds)

oh god no

Hey, we had the corner on blue-skin fetishes first!

http://www.trekp.com/posters/gw051-andorians.jpg

bonus points to whoever can rustle up the first porn cartoons of these smug blue motherfuckers

Based on that quote from Cameron, he already did those cartoons when he was 15.

andorians?

The more you know... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorian

In the Deep Space Nine relaunch novels, four-person Andorian marriages were extrapolated into four sexes--the two roughly male thaan and chan, and the two female-like shen and zhen. The novels imply that the rarity of compatible foursomes produced extremely low reproduction rates which, in tandem with genetic weaknesses, led to the species' near extinction.

"That person must teach him something and there has to be a greater reason for him to be in love with her other than she’s a hot blue alien chick"

You are one sick puppy, Mr. Cameron.

http://www.sonofmacenstein.com/images/blue_paul1.jpg

Is there really a race of blue people?

http://www.wired.com/magazine/wp-content/images/17-12/ff_avatar_cameron2_f.jpg

You think for the amount of money Cameron has to play with he could afford something a bit nicer than a friggin' Behringer Eurorack mixer.

Sigourney doesn't look all that into 3d smurfs.

A clip of Sigourney and Giovanni that will make your brain bleed:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/rorschachsrants/news/?a=12414

omg i want this to fail so badly
i normally don't have these feelings
but i'm going to say i want this to fail
that clip is so bad

so you can pick up unobtainium, but you can't sit it on a desk, it has to hover on a special levitation coaster?

and who the fuck calls them oral hygienists? Isn't the term dental hygienist?

Or is it different in the FUTURE?

really can't get over him saying 'unobtainium' with a straight face

omg i want this to fail so badly
i normally don't have these feelings
but i'm going to say i want this to fail

^^ this! I have been actively wishing for this film's complete crash and burn ever since I saw the first trailer, and the feeling only gets stronger every day.

unobtainium

People have been gunning so hard for this to fail that it almost makes me want to see it succeed.

But then I glance back at those screen shots and I'm all "fuck this shit"

“It came from all the science-fiction books I read when I was a kid and it just gestated over time,” he said. “I did a lot of fantasy art and I had drawers full of drawings of creatures, characters, robots, spaceships and all that sort of thing. So for me I was just going back to my roots.”

To be fair that is EXACTLY what this movie looks like: a bored 6th grade kid's notebook doodlings.

I seriously want someone to ask Cameron about the unobtainium hover coasters, since every element of this film is so painstakingly reasoned and all.

Why did the aliens all go to the English language school if they don't get on with the humans?

why did indians go to the English language school if they didn't like the colonialists?

this is just gonna be a hardcore cliché snoozefest once i stop laffing at how bad it is (in 10 years time when it is telly, as i will refuse to pay to see it)

it's been dubbed obviously

avatat

SPOILERS, if anyone cares

Over time, Jake integrates himself into the Na'vi clan, and begins to fall in love with Neytiri. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Pandora and the Na'vi.

Which side will he choose, I REALLY CANNOT GUESS.

his best friend is a talking pie

wow there are some moments in that clip that almost reach dr. tongue levels of 3d-shown-in-2d posing

when he held up the rock i was sure he'd start waving it back and forth

when the audience stands up and starts throwing toast at the midnight showings of this, you gonna be sorry you dissed it.

They're more likely to initiate furry sex.