_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

its weird but the more distance i get from this the more i like it. saw it in imax 3d on saturday (it owned) (some of the decisions probably make more sense in this format, like the abundance of aerial scenes - the sense of height is dizzying at times), usually the further i get from seeing a movie the more i pick it apart, my initial reaction was 'glad i went but i won't be rushing to see it again' but right now i'd really like to see it again. the quality of the facial animation was probably the most startling thing effects-wise, that was some next level shit imo

my other initial reaction was that one of cameron's bigger gambles (getting people to care about the navi and all the new age hokum about the spirit of the planet) failed, but again in retrospect it kinda works. still i wished there were more moments like the one where the floaty jellyfish seeds are swarming around sully and he swats one away - that got the biggest laugh of the movie.

still wondering how the hell those floating islands had waterfalls

also michelle rodriguez has some fine-ass titties

ribisi & weaver owned tho like jsbhorglb i was str8 gigglin at blue sigourney

yeah Michelle rodriguez was syperhot. lol tomboy crush

her in a tanktop was definitely one of the best uses of the 3d

3DD

her in a tanktop was definitely one of the best uses of the 3d

― De Suggestivistban (some dude), Tuesday, December 29, 2009 9:20 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i totally said this in my review haha!!

you should see your faces

"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.

― Nate Carson, Friday, August 21, 2009 6:52 PM (4 months ago)"

I stand by this. I enjoyed the hell out of the visual aspect of this movie (the plot was entirely forgettable). But I just can't believe that 150 years from now, no matter how bad the economy is, NO ONE will be pushing themselves around in manual wheelchairs.

still wondering how the hell those floating islands had waterfalls

the mist evaporates as it falls into the air, then drifts up and recoalesces as tiny rainclouds that rain down on the island, providing a perpetual waterfall.

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/images/modules/msese/earthsysflr/EFCycleP3.gif

The giant rocks hover, as far as I can tell, because they are filled with very expensive floating rocks, but high-priced technology is not likely to be spent on some crippled army grunt. Anyway, they already bought him a big blue metabody.

I bet fifty years ago people would've said that there's no way people would still be pushing themselves around on fixed gear bicycles or using crutches or etc. in 2010, but here we are.

robots ride m fixie for me

lolol

gey tuposy so ure saying the islands have little stormclouds following them around at all times? I Reject You're Thesis sire.

do not question my science

http://filmonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sigourney-weaver-avatar.jpg

CHUD on the Project 880 script - the early version of Avatar

For those who don't want to read this all, some bullet points. Read the entire piece for in-depth description and analysis, but these bullet points are the main, stark differences between Project 880 and Avatar:

- Earth and its environmental problems are explored
- We see Josh Sully's Avatar being born
- It's revealed the Avatar program exists to train Na'vi to be an indigenous workforce for the Corporation, since it's so expensive to send human workers
- There are more humans, including a bioethics officer on the take, a video journalist, a head of the Avatar program and a second military dickwad
- There is an Avatar controller who is burnt out because his Avatar died with him in it. He committed Avatar suicide because he had fallen in love with a Na'vi girl who had been killed by the military
- The Avatars have a Na'vi guide named N'Deh, who is sleeping with Grace
- Grace survives the soul transfer
- Josh Sully gains the Na'vi trust by being a member of the community. He also excels in a major hunt
- Josh Sully shows his leadership not by taming a dragon but by leading a raid on Hell's Gate to rescue prisoners
- Josh Sully isn't the only Na'vi to ride a big dragon
- Pandora is a living entity and it sees the humans as a virus; it has been mobilizing the plants and animals to attack all along because it wanted to force the humans out
- There is no unobtainium beneath Hometree. The military just wants to wipe out the local Na'vi to send a message to all the tribes that they must be obeyed.
- Some of the humans and the Avatar controllers rise up in the final big battle
- Josh Sully tells the Earth that Pandora will give any humans that return a disease that will wipe out humanity

also

Cameron fills the approach to Pandora with tons of jargon and science fact; I'm not sure how much any of it would have made it in any version of this movie, but there are a lot of interesting facts presented, including a description of just why those floating mountains float. It's actually a description that would have been welcome in the film, as it ties into unobtainium. In the script it's mentioned that unobtainium was the joke name for the metal, which happened to stick; unobtainium is a room-temperature super-conductor, pretty much the only reason the expense of a Pandora trip is worthwhile. It's also what makes up much of the floating mountains; Pandora, while as big as a planet, is a moon of Polyphemis, a huge gas giant with a super magnetic field. The unobtanium levitates in a high magnetic field (Cameron really explains all the science in the scriptment), and thus the mountains. Which, by the way, are very holy to Na'vi.

I thought not explaining why Unobtanium is so valuable was a major flaw. Maybe an extended DVD cut will correct this.

Also: why does Hometree obstruct scanners and communications, but not the Avatar link?

it floats!

no not explaining unobtanium is a plus! it makes the allegory more ~deeper~ and ~symbolic~

oh yeah! I misunderstood this because it was so deep and I'm just another stupid American consumer.

Thanks for clarifying! ;)

not explaining lots of stuff is one of the good things abt the movie - exposition overkill is generally one of the sucky things abt scifi

btw someone just defriended me for pointing out that hes a republican in a comment following his status saying this movie had the omg stupidest plot ever - was jus sayin a republican is prob gonna find a liberal polemic stupid jeez

not explaining lots of stuff is one of the good things abt the movie - exposition overkill is generally one of the sucky things abt scifi

― ice cr?m, Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:37 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

totally

also I thought the fact that this guy rolls around in a manual wheelchair was meant to show how ~tough~ this ~ex-Marine~ was

Also: why does Hometree obstruct scanners and communications, but not the Avatar link?

hometree didn't obstruct scanners, did it? i thought that was just the flux vortex, where the tree of souls was. that's why the military dudes had no trouble flying in and taking out hometree.

anyway, the avatar link worked in the flux vortex because ... you know ... the connection was so deep. and stuff.

all your questions will be answered in the novelization as well as by numerous products set in the Avatar Expanded Universe which will be available to you at reasonable prices soon

honestly as much as people reflexively eyeroll at the possibility of sequels and spinoffs, it could really be a good thing if they take the technology and general concept here and let maybe some writers and directors other than Cameron run w/ them and come up with their own ideas of what to do with it.

not explaining lots of stuff is one of the good things abt the movie - exposition overkill is generally one of the sucky things abt scifi

― ice cr?m, Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:37 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

totally

― De Suggestivistban (some dude), Tuesday, December 29, 2009 11:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i agree too. what would some dumb made-up explanation have added to the movie

honestly as much as people reflexively eyeroll at the possibility of sequels and spinoffs, it could really be a good thing if they take the technology and general concept here and let maybe some writers and directors other than Cameron run w/ them and come up with their own ideas of what to do with it.

― De Suggestivistban (some dude), Wednesday, December 30, 2009 12:34 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so basically u want fan fiction about blue dudes and ladies in a magical forest

How could there not already be too much slashfic about that.

Pick a story, any story

cameron in 2006:

Both the "Avatar" and "Battle Angel" series, he added, will begin with self-contained debut movies along the lines of the original "Star Wars" trilogy. "The films have to play as individual films, but they have a greater story arc that goes over the three-film cycle," he insisted, saying he isn't a big fan of "The Matrix Reloaded"-like cliffhangers between chapters. "I think that's how it works the best. I don't think you want to just run people off the cliff after the second film."

http://haal9000.com/dvd2002-3/coming/return_blue_lagoon.jpg

thinking this franchise wouldn't be a bad way for more promising younger sci-fi action directors (of now or of a few years from now or w/e) to get their hands on big crazy special effects budgets isn't really the same as welcoming a flood of creepy slash fic websites.

2nd move should be the navi attacking earth

that's district 10

avatar gt

maybe the sequel should be the navi using human avatars

2 Ava 2 Tar

navatar

sock puppetar

avatar: heaven's blue fury

in this movie an internet message board community is trolled by a bored navi controlling a human avatar

heaven's blue furry

E. Tar

AvaTarBaby

(controversial racial allegory)

ava2ar

so this was fun

I'd forgotten that 3D movies give me massive headaches, though.

Navi vs Predator

Just saw this, have not read whole thread yet (totes intend to tho) but i *DID* ctrl-f "mononoke" and was pretty flabbergasted that there has been no mention of the heavy debt to it, esp. the forest scenes.

Avatar 2-D

hmm haven't seen it in a long time but mononoke feels like a good call. also nausicaa! doesn't she control some giant nature bugs in the end?

okay, half way done with thread.

1) slocki y u hardmanning shakey mo for doing exactly what 99% of everyone in this thread was doing for the first half of the thread?

2) also slock w/r/t: "did we really need separate scenes of Worthington learning to ride a) an alien horse, b) an alien bird and c) a bigger alien bird?" 1c did not occur in the cut that i watched! it was like "yo matalk yogurto will never expect me to jump his ass from above" (cut to black... then the hero returns)

3) the CGI WTA hype is real, on first view this is way better than LOTR/Kong/Star Trek.

4) this is not high cinema, but if you enjoyed The Matrix and Dances With Wolves and Princess Mononoke/Nausicaa and would like to see them mashed-up in a CGI 3D fantasy world, you should check this out.