The _Avatar_ sequel, presumably also directed by James Cameron

I'm excited as hell for the new one but let's not pretend that the first one was not a James Cameron movie with a major studio marketing budget, not exactly the Little Indie Movie That Could

no one's pretending that ffs

it is a labor of love with a major studio marketing budget, the domain of spielberg and cameron pretty much exclusively these days

I saw the trailer for this in the cinema and I absolutely cannot wait not to see this. The purples and teals are like a Thomas Kincade painting, kitsch beyond kitsch, the beings are fully CGI as far as I can tell, with all the problematic mouth movements that implies.. I mean I guess if your favourite part of Marvel movies are the entirely CGI scenes of large groups of magical beings swirling around each other then this is for you

justice for roger dean, i will not rest

I didn't really care about the story in the first one, and barely even remember what it was about, but it looked dope in 3D and felt worth it for that alone.

I was at the premiere in Leicester Square last night! Well I walked past it and it was very loud and there were people watching from the 1st floor of Burger King, then much later I realised what it was. It was as obnoxious as any other premiere in Leicester Square.

xxxxxxxxxxxxetcp Brad, my post wasn't responding to you but also, I get that it's a labor of love but my point being, it's not exactly a miracle that it made $$$$$ at the box office

I barely remember the first one for its plot - but I remember that I saw it in 3D at the cinema in a particular bleak period (weather-wise) between Christmas and New Year and it was like a mini-holiday of a film.

the first movie was dull and looked horrible, there was never any justification for sequels beyond the pursuit of cash, this blockbuster rollout fills me with ennui

Reasonably interested in this following the reviews even though I hated the last one

My chance of wanting to wear someone’s previously warmed-up 3d goggles in the covid era is a strong zero percent however

The thing that actually got me psyched for this movie was doing the 3D Avatar ride at Disney World back in February. That was awesome and made me want more.

Which is to say, if the movie successfully approximates an amazing theme-park ride, I'm in. (Sorry Morbs, R.I.P.)

I found the Avatar 3D ride equally disappointing, although I did enjoy the Pandora boat ride, it was more chill and psychedelic

god of war looks better than this, no idea why anyone would want to return to this nonsense cycle

One of the most credulous-unto-bootlicking reviews I've ever read of anything. "I still believe in him." What are you, eight?

Still remember the day I found out James Cameron wasn't real :(

Lol

Surely it would've been cheaper to just release the first one again?

They dare to hunt sacred water animals in stunning sequences during which you have to remind yourself that none of what you're watching is real.

i don't think i would have to remind myself that none of what i'm watching is real

Surely it would've been cheaper to just release the first one again?

He likes making these films and his audiences like watching them, so where's the harm in churning out a sequel or two? Or five? It keeps him busy and employs a whole bunch of visual artists.

Surely it would've been cheaper to just release the first one again?

The thing that actually got me psyched for this movie was doing the 3D Avatar ride at Disney World back in February. That was awesome and made me want more.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, December 7, 2022 11:48 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was a skeptic going in but was ultimately sold on Avatar Land. It's a cool space with cool rides. Which is what this franchise should be centered on because the movie was like a whole lotta nothing. And the trailer for the new one is like...Cameron, have you taken a gander at any of the sci-fi/fantasy stuff made in the past decade? Because this looks like a mash-up of all that stuff which already exists (and which probably partly ripped you off but still).

It keeps him busy and employs a whole bunch of visual artists.

This reminds me of a story I saw somewhere about how both The Abyss and True Lies have basically been ready to release on Blu-ray for ages--transfers, new extras, the works all ready to go--but they need Cameron to go over everything and sit for his own contributions (interviews, commentaries etc). The producers approached him a few years ago asking for like a week tops to work with them and he said he couldn't even spare a couple days because of everything Avatar.

It's been a long enough time now that they'll have to (if they haven't already) rescan everything now for 4K & above so these things can be released.

Avatar: James Cameron's New Jersey.

Get to know Spider, a human friend of Jake and Neytiri's children in #AvatarTheWayofWater https://t.co/SX6II6W2yk

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) December 16, 2022

More seriously, I just learned that at least some screenings of this are high frame rate. Has any blockbuster tried that since the shitty Hobbit movies, which also looked shitty?

ang lee's gemini man?

once again can't wait to see avatar 2

I had the afternoon off so took in a matinee of this.

Why Cameron thinks he needs 5 movies to tell this story is kinda beyond me when there’s really barely a story in this 3 hour movie. Looks great, as to be expected, but after the novelty wears off this world and its conflicts and characters are still unfortunately just… dull. Why main dude has like, idk, 5-6 kids in this who take up a lot of screen time yet are mostly indistinguishable and given just shards of a personality is beyond me.

Only really takes off during the action sequences and when cool military tech shows up. The stuff Cameron’s always good at. But even that’s kinda wearing thin and feeling repetitive.

So yeah, it’s an Avatar movie I guess. Don’t know what I expected. Maybe that it would build into something more interesting after the stage setting of Pt. 1, but unfortunately it doesn’t.

RE: frame rate. Not sure if there’s a full 48 FPS version of this, but my screening would switch between 24 and 48 frames per second. 48 for the Big Spectacle Moments obv. The 48 stuff definitely popped more, I kinda dug it even though motion smoothing features on TV’s make me gag.

As expected, I enjoyed the new one. It has all the same strengths and weaknesses of the first one - can't imagine it will interest anyone who didn't like the first movie. The story was a little more complex this time around, but the extra runtime it added was not really worth it; it takes like an hour to get to any new locale. Pare the story and number of characters down and this could have been a tighter movie without losing any of the best parts

But man, pretty much any shot showing above or below the ocean is gorgeous

Also kinda funny that the final set piece is like 3-4 different Cameron movies in a blender

Yeah my wife said it was like a James Cameron greatest hits album. We enjoyed it, with all the caveats noted above. The family consensus was a solid 7 out of 10, primarily for the visual experience of it. I agree there's not a lot of actual story, but at the same time it's kind of laden with subplots, which is what makes it longer. Still, I will go see these movies on big screens as long as he makes them. I think he's the only person who should be allowed to make 3D movies.

One of the most credulous-unto-bootlicking reviews I've ever read of anything. "I still believe in him." What are you, eight?

― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, December 14, 2022 11:38 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Written by...well...

Jaymc ALWAYS mentions his "film-critic friend"!
― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Thursday, October 6, 2005 4:53 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Haha. You hate him.
― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, October 6, 2005 5:30 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ah! It's a "him"! The first clue has been spilled.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:01 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

is it Ray Pride? Rosenbaum? Roeper? Roger?
― gear (gear), Thursday, October 6, 2005 7:36 PM (seventeen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

We wanted to go to the cinema today but this thing has taken over - five out of seven screens and the other two just have kids films.

Enjoyed this a lot. It's spectacle, but pretty spectacle.

Agree that I have no idea what they need five movies for though

especially when the only plot he can apparently think of for these is "everything was great.. until some bad guys showed up!!!"

I mean it worked in Terminator

I mean that’s even the plot of Die Hard, John Wick, opening scene of The Wild Bunch, every marvel movie…I don’t mind it. I kinda wonder if this is gonna have the massive impact of the first. Probably to some extent. We’re getting how many more of these, three or four?

yes exactly, die hard, terminator, john wick... all franchises that got very dire & bad by 4th, 5th, 6th entries, due largely to same recycled plots getting v boring

Wild bunch 4 though!

lol tbh i could have sworn there was some kind of forgotten low-rent Wild Bunch sequel in the later 70s, had to google to confirm i was imagining it

some kind of forgotten low-rent Wild Bunch sequel in the later 70s

No sequel, just an 80s reboot/tribute:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/WEBP_402378-T2/images/I/81Xoa62PZXL.jpg

That movie rules, basically the best possible modern era remake of that movie.

yes exactly, die hard, terminator, john wick... all franchises that got very dire & bad by 4th, 5th, 6th entries, due largely to same recycled plots getting v boring

― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Saturday, December 17, 2022 11:40 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

the terminator sequels beyond 2 (not including dark fate which is highly enjoyable and guess who’s involved) aren’t bad bc of recycled plots … they’re bad bc they’re soulless and stupid and actively undermine the themes of t1 and 2

god i need to see extreme prejudice so bad

Nolte totally somehow chiseled in that one, totally devoid of his frequent shagginess and shabbiness.

anyway i’m into the late work of an artist being a collision of basically every idea they’ve ever had and if i’m reading the reviews of this right we’re in jim cameron’s late period

The cast of bad guys is just fantastic, major scenery-chewing in the best sense of the term.

god i need to see extreme prejudice so bad

It might not be the best Walter Hill movie but in many ways it's the most Walter Hill movie. There are so many moments in it where your jaw just drops.