_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

but cliff-jumping is so much better than it used to be

jesus shakey, stop being such a morbs.

i mean seriously, i'm hardly this movie's #1 defender, but if you're going to have an opinion—a strong one that you're going to spend your time pompously trotting out and defending—on a movie you might as well fucking see it.

maybe he's afraid he'll like it ;-)

I saw "Avatar"
And I liked it
The flash of the pyrotechnics
I saw "Avatar"
Just to try it
Hope my film friends don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'll miss
Foreign Film Night
I saw "Avatar"
And I liked it
I liked it

(if all I've done is get Katy Perry stuck in people's heads, I'll consider that a success)

a stanning that dare not speak its name

oh u dick xpost

SUCCESS

I can see Shatner reciting that.

London just spat out its dinner. >_<

sheep's heart, liver, and lungs all over the keyboard

hahaha

http://www.chronicart.com/cinema/chronique.php?id=11577

«Vingt ans qui déboucheront sur ce space-opera écolo un film-monstre où le rapport de force humain / digital se renverse en un plan, celui du premier contact : en 1989, c'est l'alien qui se reflétait sur le casque du plongeur ; en 2009, c'est le visage du soldat qui se réfléchit sur le corps de son avatar. Un signe des temps.»

The only film I've ever been to where the audience stood up and applauded (normal cinema goers) was, ummm, Fahrenheit 9/11... I was well confused when it happened, even if I did enjoy it.

xpost.

la dargis:

He hasn’t changed cinema, but with blue people and pink blooms he has confirmed its wonder.

how does this compare to, say, Beowulf 3D

Angelina Jolie's boobs weren't nearly as immersive.

This "confirming cinema's wonder" type argument really STICKS IN MY CRAW. Go on a fuckin motionmaster or something if you want ooh wow it looks so cool type crap, man. Or take some drugs, I dunno. I could be entirely wrong, it just seems silly to think that the wonder of cinema consists of special effects w no decent context (haven't heard anyone standing up for the plot etc so far, after all)

Most of the positive reviews I've read are basically 'eh the movie mostly sucks but FUCKIN A 3-D'

yes, this makes sense, the future of hollywood should be 300 million dollar productions

the "confirming cinema's wonder" argument depends on more than just eye appeal. it depends on the film's ability to immerse (that word) you in the its universe and moment, so the eye candy becomes real to you, becomes a better-than-real world. it works best on kids, and that's why people who were kids in the late 70s will always be the biggest star wars fans. the measure of avatar probably isn't how adult critics react to it in the here and now, but how young adults remember it a decade or two down the line.

Like the way kids who are 26 now think fondly of Titanic?

I wasn't born when Star Wars came out and I love it, tho

in terms of pure escapism video games have had movies beat for the past 10 years or so

uhhh

Dude, that's the thing! Why're movies competing w a medium they can't beat? Unless you can tell the characters what to do etc, this is a stupid principle to be acting off

xopost

except, most ppl don't play video games on cinema screens, with cinema sound systems.

immersiveness is a false grail imo

any good art should be immersive

yeah, when i want this kind of jolt, i just play a game

http://img.slate.com/media/1/122939/2207695/2237022/2238895/CA_091217_avatar.jpg

^^^think this is going to be indicative of the HARD JOURNALISM directed at this for the next 48 hours

really cannot believe in this day and age people are still talking abt movies and video games as if they do the same things

seems silly to think that the wonder of cinema consists of special effects w no decent context

Kinda agree there, but on the second hand I also think a lot of movies these days hinge wholly on plots that are so unbelievable and half-assed the suspension of disbelief is getting worn out. Maybe some big budget eye candy with no narrative would be a cool future for cinema.

pretty sure this movie would do roughly the same thing for me as playing uncharted 2

just not in all EYEPOPPING 3-D but i will trade you that for being in a theater on opening night any day

I might be more receptive to the idea of "all spectacle" if the spectacle wasn't so blandly unimaginative.

I'm sure it'll be a fun 3 hours and whatnot, but it still looks like Delgo with a bigger budget. Which is really just removing half of what was lame about Delgo.

yeah cause movies are always filled w/scenes of u trying to jump over a pit and falling on spikes repeatedly for two hours - movies and video games are less similar than wikipedia and a novel - they both compete for yr entertainment time but past that xp

That's a terribly poor point

yeah cause movies are always filled w/scenes of u trying to jump over a pit and falling on spikes repeatedly for two hours

don't give lars von trier any ideas.

as someone who's done his fair share of both, movies and video games do NOTHING like the same thing to me... even so-called cinematic ones like uncharted. i've never, ever been emotionally invested in anything that happens in a video game (or any character), never wondered how the story was going to develop... they are barely in the same universe for me

i saw this today. i won't say much 'til people have had a chance to download it or wahtever, but it was better than i thought it would be.

i just came back from it. basically slocki otm BUT

...

yeah i agreed with slocki's review, though the blue people didn't bother me as much. thing about them that i admired was that i it really didn't take too long for me to think of them as "people". there was no uncanny valley distraction (which is good because this movie would have failed utterly if it had, since the movie depends on the audience empathizing with them to work on any level).

it is TOTALLY ferngully with guns btw

...in a good way, mostly!

the earth mother gaia hooey does get to be a bit much after a while

yeah, and some of the more sentimental scenes sort of made me cringe. the two things i found the most annoying were the music and the accents. just this sort of generic indistinct ethnic otherness.

thing about them that i admired was that i it really didn't take too long for me to think of them as "people". there was no uncanny valley distraction

yeah, i was impressed the most by this. overall the f/x were great. they generally had a nice tangible, physical feel to them despite not being 100% photoreal.

also nice to see action sequences that had clear geography and were easy to follow. don't know why that's so rare in modern movies.