it made me grit my teeth
― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link
I hate my job
pebble
― that is a whole discussion within itself that is worth debating (forksclovetofu), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I was gonna make a joke about drinking a mr. pibb in france but then I just couldn't do it
― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
"joke"
there's a pile of reviews on AICN now, so I'd say the embargo is effectively over.
― Simon H., Friday, 11 December 2009 18:16 (fourteen years ago) link
wonderfully formed embargo
― that is a whole discussion within itself that is worth debating (forksclovetofu), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
reviews are everywhere now
― krampus activities (latebloomer), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:47 (fourteen years ago) link
might as well spill the beans
It's like being one of Tiger's mistresses and not talking to the media.
― ô_o (Nicole), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I know sexy
― krampus activities (latebloomer), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
xposts - i'm technically an 'arts & culture' critic but have done my fair share of film stuff. glad not to be a full-on film critic tbh. yeah lol embargoin my unprofessional opinion: i am going to see this again next week just to make sure i wasn't high because it was AWESOME (and yet some things abt it could've been better)
― paragon of incalescence (rrrobyn), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:56 (fourteen years ago) link
The thing I keep forgetting re: this movie is that I tend to really really really like James Cameron movies (although some, like "Titanic", have the shine wear off of them really really quickly).
― wtf?!? just randomly started crying! (HI DERE), Friday, 11 December 2009 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
You'll laugh, you'll cry etc.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
while watching you're really not gonna be thinking abt the shine wearing off
― paragon of incalescence (rrrobyn), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Wonder what the first film will be where its embargo just trundles on forever, never to end?
― James Mitchell, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post to a bunch of people
No one talked about the game-changing special effects of "T2" for months in advance. Same with "The Matrix," which, like "Titanic," actually only did modestly at the box office when it first opened ($37 million opening for "The Matrix," $28 million opening weekend for "Titanic" - for some scale, albeit not totally analogous, "Spider-Man" opened with $115 mil; maybe more illustrative, Tim Burton's Batman" opened around $43 million ten years before "The Matrix"). As for "Star Wars" and "Jaws," no one knew what they had until they had it. They were all "game-changers" in retrospect. Cameron called "Avatar" a game-changer MONTHS ago.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
game changer = Phrases I Never Want to Hear Uttered by Talking Heads/Press/Politicians Ever Again
― a triumph in high-tech nipple obfuscation (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Let's see some! I don't know where to look..
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
to start with:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/
― krampus activities (latebloomer), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:24 (fourteen years ago) link
I have no idea what you are talking about re: "The Matrix" considering that entire half hours of entertainment news television programs were dedicated to talking about the filming techniques and wire work that went into the making of it.
― wtf?!? just randomly started crying! (HI DERE), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:28 (fourteen years ago) link
My memory could be wrong, but (and I saw the movie opening night, mostly by chance) I don't recall months of anticipation for and lead-up to "The Matrix" and do recall it taking a lot of people by surprise, which in turn lead to all the making-of features. That's why I cited its opening box office - it was no out-of-the-gate hype-baby hit. Sites like aintitcool were up and running back then, weren't they? Were they going nuts? (Honest question; I've been trying to dig up that site's contemporaneous reviews).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
the matrix was one of those films that once the commercials hit people were like "whoa" (lol), but unlike some of these other flicks it wasn't something that was hotly anticipated. i mean keanu reeves/laurence fishburne sci-fi from the directors of 'bound' could have been anticipated as 'johnny mnemonic 2'
― you are wrong I'm bone thugs in harmon (omar little), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I recall nothing but mountains of hype aimed mostly at sci-fi/comic book geeks in the months leading up to its release.
― wtf?!? just randomly started crying! (HI DERE), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
*anticipated before people started to see the ads, i mean
Original AICN "Matrix" review (for reference): http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=3353
Doesn't read like something he'd been looking forward to for months, seems like it sort of took him by surprise, too, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Wow, the Matrix. I remember downloading my first ever cam of that. After I saw it in the theaters, of course! It took a couple weeks I think....
Matrix definitely took me by surprise, and I was a pretty big scifi movie nerd in HS.
― Adam Bruneau, Friday, 11 December 2009 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link
The Matrix was not in anyway overly hyped when it came out. It was shunted off into a spring release because there wasn't much faith in it from the studio. There adverts for it, but not really any media saturation. It surprised a lot of people, both in its qualities and in its financial success.
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:57 (fourteen years ago) link
pretty sure T2 was hyped to all hell though.
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:58 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^yep. see: GnR video
― a triumph in high-tech nipple obfuscation (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 11 December 2009 19:58 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, but of all the films I mentioned, it was also the only sequel. And sequels, by definition, get hyped and anticipated. But c. that GNR video, no one knew T2 would change movies and make "morph" a household word.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 20:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i did! and i tried to tell everyone! and i got shoved into a toilet for my troubles....
― that is a whole discussion within itself that is worth debating (forksclovetofu), Friday, 11 December 2009 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, I mean, I did, too, but I was under embargo at the time.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
T2 et al didn't have special effects in every single frame, though.
― Action Orientation (Eazy), Friday, 11 December 2009 20:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, those movies were absolutely packed with effects, regardless. Heck, half of "The Hangover" appears to have been shot against green screen. As far as all-effects arbiters go, "Phantom Menace" was all FX, all the time, and that was ten years ago.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 December 2009 20:52 (fourteen years ago) link
four stars from rog:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091211/REVIEWS/912119998
― real bears playing hockey (polyphonic), Saturday, 12 December 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
And Cameron and his artists succeed at the difficult challenge of making Neytiri a blue-skinned giantess with golden eyes and a long, supple tail, and yet--I'll be damned. Sexy.
― krampus activities (latebloomer), Saturday, 12 December 2009 04:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Glenn Kenny
RIP Embargo I guess
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:45 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah all the cool kids are saying PWN.
― Smokey and the S'Banned It (history mayne), Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:51 (fourteen years ago) link
i think he's joking?
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Saturday, 12 December 2009 13:55 (fourteen years ago) link
feeling more and more like i'm gonna be a lonely voice in the wilderness on this one.
um, not that i'm expressing any of my reactions to this movie.
― donde está mia farrow, fa la la la la, la la la la (s1ocki), Saturday, 12 December 2009 18:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Titanic was hailed by a huge number of critics as a masterpiece when it came out, and I'd like to see how many have changed their minds. I think people are just wrapped up in it. Or, more likely, once the embargo is officially lifted, there will be a healthy number of naysayers.
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Saturday, 12 December 2009 18:44 (fourteen years ago) link
i mean, it ain't the phantom menace, but this is getting ridiculous.
― donde está mia farrow, fa la la la la, la la la la (s1ocki), Saturday, 12 December 2009 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Cameron's Twitter is terrible. Decrying 'best of decade' lists before people have seen Avatar.
― The Devil's Avocado (Gukbe), Saturday, 12 December 2009 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah even i think these initial reactions are kinda over the top, and i'm on board
― paragon of incalescence (rrrobyn), Saturday, 12 December 2009 19:38 (fourteen years ago) link
never underestimate the super geekdom of film critics i guess
but damn if i'm not seeing this again asap
― paragon of incalescence (rrrobyn), Saturday, 12 December 2009 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i think these initial reactions are kinda over the top
Yeah, it makes the months of internet chucklehead snarking look sober by comparison. What am I saying, no it doesn't.
― DavidM, Saturday, 12 December 2009 19:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i think the embargo is in place bcuz avatar marketing ppl will know that the only people to break the embargo are the people w/ positive reviews bcuz those people know they won't get bitchslapped in the future by said marketing team. therefore early word of mouf is all positive and momentum builds, etc...
someone up thread may have already suggested this.
― Astronaut Mike Dexter (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 12 December 2009 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link