_Avatar_, directed by James Cameron

Loved the shit out of Avatar in the theater. Have not rewatched since then.

maybe “Avatar 4,”

*prays*

cameron is so fucking hate-able

for the most popular movie of all time its kind of amazing how a year or two later it has zero cultural currency at all... am i wrong about that?

i kind of felt that way two weeks after it came out!

it's the "jolson sings again" of 2009

to be fair i kind of like "jolson sings again"

cameron is so fucking hate-able

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, May 7, 2012 6:09 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

for the most popular movie of all time its kind of amazing how a year or two later it has zero cultural currency at all... am i wrong about that?

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, May 8, 2012 12:11 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cameron is eminently, definitively hateable, and yeah, avatar's currency did evaporate pretty much upon issuance. i did dig it though, and am looking forward to the sequel. pity me if you must.

"am looking forward to the sequelsequels. pity me if you must."

I've asked this before, but did this movie make an impression on the most impressionable? On 11 and 12 year old kids? Do kids play Avatar? Do they dress in Avatar costumes?

I mean, I'm sure Cameron does, but other than him?

thats what im saying

I dunno I mean as far as major_pop_culture_events no one talks about ANYTHING after it's been out a few months do they?

yes

There is still a considerable cultural footprint for (EG) Aliens, Terminator and Titanic. There's still things you can do to reference them in a joke and be certain people* will get the reference. Avatar, not so much.

*of an appropriate age

There was that avatar hair sex joke on 30 rock this season.

ya or titanic, which was the big record holder before

avatar is more like a ride© than a movie

© copyright dr morbs

"Avatar" didn't introduce 3D to the world either, I saw "Beowulf" in 2007. And it had a 3D naked Angelina Jolie demon.

how is that different than just naked angelina jolie HAHAHAHA BRAD PITT

B.R.A.D. P.I.T.T.

duders 3D goes back like many decades

i think it's ~interesting~ how little this matters now

Yes, but actually good 3D is a relatively new thing. As a massive and vicious generalisation, Avatar wouldn't have made this much if you still couldn't use 3D and regular glasses :)

old 3D was much better than new 3D, tho - greater dimensional depth, greater clarity of image, more impact etc etc

good 3d does not exist

3d is kinda counter productive, except in avatar

good 3d does not exist

CORALINE

yeah, disagree that good 3D does not exist. great 3D may be in short supply, but there's plenty of good stuff.

There is still a considerable cultural footprint for (EG) Aliens, Terminator and Titanic.

the extent to which avatar has dropped off the map is kind of funny/weird. i mean, compare with pixar's cars, which is still alive and kicking, minting money hand over fist - and was even before the sequel. kids glommed onto that and never let go. much more so than they did with wall-e, which got all the critical love, and certainly more than they did with avatar. if you want proof that pop culture event films can linger long in the cultural mind, you don't have to look any farther than star wars.

i don't think it's funny/weird, the movie is really stupid and bad and everybody knew it at the time.

more interesting that it was such a successful spectacle upon release, but that's not that hard to figure out either i guess

If ever you feel the need to enlighten us...

Successful marketing, hype, etc. It was the most-hyped movie since The Phantom Menace.

the phantom menace was so bad

i just rewatched all the 'new' star wars movies and that one is just the worst.

Hype doesn't bring in the repeat business, though, or the (sorry) long tail. It still pulled in a million dollars on week 17.

no way, the second one is the worst, by far. with all that terrible "romantic" dialogue. awful. at least phantom menace had the podrace setpiece.

(xpost)

if James Cameron wants to go far with his crazy vision and really franchise Avatar, he should build Avatar World. because for sure it's a better ride than a movie.

There's this earnestness in Avatar that just rubs me the wrong way. You can watch the Star Wars prequels and know they are trash, wooden acting, stupid plots, etc. I think everything awful about SW prequels is pretty easy to enjoy in a Bad Movie kind of way.

(I have to admit that it's kind of hard for me to judge The Phantom Menace objectively, because I tried so hard to love it and so I probably rate it higher than II and III, which are pretty indefensible. Still Liam Neeson's Sanjuro impersonation raises it bove them, IMHO)

podracing was great, that's true.
but almost nullified by way too many "cute" attempts to appeal to kids (jarjar, etc), which make me cringe more than romance stuff. yeah, maybe it's the earnestness in that but more the transparent marketing-department interference.

at any rate, i will take George Lucas's inflated ego over Cameron's any day

How do these compare to John carter? There's a good essay to be written for crappy alien worldbuilding spectacular overwrought sci-fi actionfests

Cameron should just make his version of Terminator 3 and make it 3D. He could even just call it Terminator 3D.

i don't think it's funny/weird, the movie is really stupid and bad and everybody knew it at the time.

i don't think that's true at all. avatar received near-unanimous critical praise, and not just for the spectacle (though, yeah, that was a big part of it). that's what's funny to me about it's disappearance from the pop cultural viewscreen/mind. it was loved in its moment, loved by critics and fans alike. people went to see it over and over again, wept in their seats, made fan pages about wanting na'vi body mods, avatar-themed weddings, to live on a virtual pandora if possible. think pieces were written about how it was damaging people's souls by presenting a fantasy that reality could never live up to.

for the most popular movie of all time its kind of amazing how a year or two later it has zero cultural currency at all...

As someone who doesn't give a shit about cultural currency, I don't think Cameron has ever approached Aliens since, but Avatar was a defensible time-waster and I'd rather rewatch it than all the "relevant" Marvel wanks and spaghetti western tributes.

People were lusting for a fantasy that included, y'know, genocide? I missed that.

Also pretty sure Gone With the Wind is still the most popular movie of all time ($18 tix and history-blind industry hype still suck).

i saw it as a critic in fact and loved it and cried even and then a few hours after it was over i felt like i was coming out of a drugged-out haze! i think it has teh subliminal messages

i 98% loved it for its spectacle though

Am I the only person who found it Just Plain Boring from the first minute until the present? Not bad, good, embarrassing or anything except dull?

Hah, two of my friends were fascinated by that whole subculture, and started jokingly announcing to each other that they'd had a shit day in work via "I could really feel my tail today".

i recognize its flaws but think it's a solid and even admirable sci-fi adventure flick (of the family-friendly variety). defended it at length upthread, and don't wanna go through that again.