_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

I actually didn't have much problem with the script/dialogue. Considering all Cameron had to get across, I thought the number of groan inducing "I'm going to jam as much exposition into this spare five seconds as I can" moments were pretty minimal, as far as these kinds of things go. If you think about the sheer amount of info (visual or otherwise) crammed into here, it's pretty impressive. I mean, writing has always been Cameron's weakest link, but the groaners in "Avatar" are <<<<< the groaners in "Titanic," and he was also working with top notch leads in that one.

well if there's one thing i value in storytelling, it's the ability to cram as much information as possible into a short period of time

actually, that would have made more sense if this movie wasn't 3 hours long

I actually didn't have much problem with the script/dialogue. Considering all Cameron had to get across, I thought the number of groan inducing "I'm going to jam as much exposition into this spare five seconds as I can" moments were pretty minimal, as far as these kinds of things go.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, December 21, 2009 2:37 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^^ this

and a lot of the most blatant groaners, as quoted by critics mocking the film's dialogue ("you're not in kansas anymore; you're on pandora!"), were ludicrous in character. most were delivered by quaritch, to emphasize his goonish, action-movie manliness.

ludicrous as it might be, i could totally imagine dudes like him saying those types of things. there was so much clichéd dialog in basic training...

Exactly.

and a lot of the most blatant groaners, as quoted by critics mocking the film's dialogue ("you're not in kansas anymore; you're on pandora!"), were ludicrous in character. most were delivered by quaritch, to emphasize his goonish, action-movie manliness.

― a dimension that can only be accessed through self-immolation (contenderizer), Monday, December 21, 2009 5:04 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/images/nick-griffin-apologist.gif

wham i always apologizin for these nazis?

its set up like hes got some grand plan, and instead he throws them all at a bunch of guys armed with missiles and gunstie fighters, where they're torn to shreds (the only way the ending could be 'happy' was that godhan solo had to interfere!)

The worst thing about this is that you KNOW Michael Bay is going to use this 3D tech on whatever abortion he has planned next.

And now you too can truly know what it's like to be right under a pair of giant robot balls.

^^^But they still can't show us how they taste

ok guise by this time wednesday ill be an avatar imax 3d vet!

be back to share my important impressions!

preview: *_*

By this time wednesday I will only be a 2D vet.

I have prepared myself by watchin Waterworld on Netflix Watch Instantly last night o_O

http://www.emofaces.com/en/emoticons/3/3d-glasses-emoticon.gif

loved the bioluminescent jungle floor - it was the 3d movie equivalent of that room in stoner's houses with all the blacklight posters

http://nerdbusiness.com/articles/218-wallpapers/previews/fluorescence61920.jpg

in fact i feel like this movie is that room of the house if the house is the movie industry

xpost oh man i am totally eating shrooms next time i see this

The worst thing about this is that you KNOW Michael Bay is going to use this 3D tech on whatever abortion he has planned next.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 22 December 2009 02:29 (2 hours ago) Permalink

2nd worst thing: Russ Meyer didn't live to make use of this technology.

in an ideal world james cameron would've used this technology to make an avatar the last airbender movie and m night shyamalan would be doing the live-action ferngully movie

its set up like hes got some grand plan, and instead he throws them all at a bunch of guys armed with missiles and guns tie fighters, where they're torn to shreds (the only way the ending could be 'happy' was that godhan solo had to interfere!)

― =皿= (dyao), Monday, December 21, 2009 8:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u think xwings are the star wars equivilent of na'vi flying on fighting birds using bows & arrows

just pointing out it's kinda silly to be scoring points off of avatar using star wars

yeah im saying that doesnt make sense -- they had a battle tactic wherein outnumbered x wings could still win -- i.e. destroy the death star -- it made some strategic sense, where in avatar they're just throwing themselves in the path of dudes with guns

where in avatarreturn of the jedi they're just throwing themselvesewoks in the path of dudesstormtroopers with gunslasers

i dont think u are following me. they have lasers too. also they are called blasters /nerd

just don't get what gets your goat about this umpteenth iteration of the charge of the light brigade on film

nature only acted because it felt sorry for the na'vi...enough martyrdom and hammerhead buffalo will ride 2 ur aid

maybe nature just wanted to see if her bros would really ride for her

haha

Nature acted because nature has a vested interest in a sequel.

Tho to be fair, nature really should have seen it coming.

ya i agree that the thing about SW is that the rebels had a cogent plan (fly here, shoot into this thing—they used their smarts to find a flaw in the empire's military machine) and i find that more compelling than the "hey let's all get together and put on a show!" thing avatar did

This movie was great!! Trippy visuals! Flying mushroom jellyfish-looking things!! George W. Bush as the main bad guy!! Flying psychedelic dragon-pterodactyls!!

You know, I got the impression the ground "forces" (as such) were mostly just a distraction so that the air forces (with the true element of surprise, since they didn't show on the radar) could take out all the flying machines (which they did, pretty quickly). Once the air assault began, the ground forces, er, turned tail and ran away.

i would have liked to see some guerrilla tactics on the ground. throw shit from the trees, dig a hole, something.

hey how is the music in this thing--i guess there are some unreleased Grateful Dead songs on the soundtrack?

clearly soundtrack should be by YES

the soundtrack was on some generic tribal shit + meaningful celtic titanic music

it was like enya but with more pan-pipes and offended me slightly iirc

but when this comes out on dvd imma synch up the battle scene w/ gates of delirium and it is gonna rock so hard

so it sounds like the Grateful Dead were going in a new direction. . . thanks, everyone. . . i'll have to check it out

Their strategy sounded like Tora Bora -- get the folks with guns into an area where they know the terrain and the opponents don't. Still, they did charge head-on.

Oh, also re the second half being the inverse of Aliens, I thought the first half was the inverse of Aliens, as far as that one being "you all are heading to the most hostile place in the universe" and it was, versus "you all are heading to the most hostile place in the universe" and it's not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrTPrp-fW8

the whole thing is an inversion of aliens i even said so in my review yall!!!!!!

my problem is I don't see why they don't nuke the mother tree from orbit, just to be sure

The inverse of "Aliens" would have been a handful of blue people and a bazillion soldiers.

Man, I hated the score. And as I told someone else, that Leona Lewis song seems designed specifically to send you out of the theater unable to bask in the afterglow so that you're forced to see the movie again to re-experience those feelings.

i would have liked to see some guerrilla tactics on the ground. throw shit from the trees, dig a hole, something.

You're talking Ewok style. The blue people just don't roll that way.

wow this is sort of a compelling concept re uses for motion capture

Cameron: The other thing that people aren't talking about, you can take an actor of a given age, and you can transform their age. Additive makeup can age somebody, but it's hard to make someone younger. Let's say you have a novelistic storyline where you cast an actor in their 40s, but the first time you see them they're 15 years old and the last time you see them they're 80. This is the Benjamin Button idea. Clint Eastwood could do another Dirty Harry movie and look the way he looked in the '70s. He would still be making all the performance choices. It would be his voice. We'd just make him 30 years younger.

http://www.slate.com/id/2239171/pagenum/all

they should have made IEDs out of some kind of weird exploding Pandora jungle nuts.

xpost the score is not good Horner, no. I downloaded it yesterday and it's just a puree of various longtime Horner tropes, not deployed appealingly or memorably.

I'm not a Horner hater though, he's done some A+ work in his time.