The _Avatar_ sequel, presumably also directed by James Cameron

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.

weirdly this is the 2nd time someone has mentioned Extreme Prejudice to me this weekend, going to obey the will of the universe and watch it this week

this movie felt like a propaganda film to support the na’vi war effort

not necessarily a bad thing haha

loved this

just rewatched avatar 1, it’s still dope, the insane bioluminescence of literally everything, the constant stream of beautifully plotted action and aerial ballet in the last thirty minutes where you also feel the impact of every death

people who don’t like it are nerds

seeing way of water tomorrow afternoon :)

people who don’t like it are nerds

nah. they're just people who don't like all the same things you do.

it’s an enormous spectacle and it is 100 percent successful at being that. ppl caught up in the plot or lack thereof or the acting ffs are denying themselves immersion to appear smart. huge nerds

Seeing this Friday, psyched

ppl caught up in the plot or lack thereof or the acting

lol that's setting the bar low. Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

"Ooh, cartoon whales pretty!" *claps hands*

way of water was miles better than the first avatar. the things that were issues in the first one (lack of plot, stock characters, white savior narrative) are marginally improved upon, while the visuals and action go up several notches

did you read my post. do you think it’s easy to create effective, clean, dazzling spectacle. given the past 20 years of blockbusters i would say it isn’t

it’s a beautiful movie. the plot is spare bc there’s such a visual feast going on that nothing should get in its way! but i find it thematically resonant regardless bc yes the military and the capitalists are the problem and they should be marched off the world

the avatar/going native stuff being icky for some is fair and i acknowledge it! i get major trans vibes from abandoning your traumatized earthly body for one that feels more like home to you tho

this movie reminded me more of titanic than avatar 1, tbh

only a few hours from now and i can’t wait!!! maybe should’ve watched titanic last night instead of the first avatar

Written by...well...

Unmasked at last!

I totally get where Brad is coming from, but I think the counter argument is legit, too: if the acting/writing/plot is good, a movie might have less need to be so visually resplendent/spectacular.

I think the other argument is, why are we demanding that a visual spectacle have a mega complex story when we lap up other action movies that are largely visual? it isn't as if Commando had a Charade-esque story going on.

I don't really think either Avatar story was 'bad' either. both of them tread common ground, have some broad-stroked baddies, and almost all of Giovanni Ribisi's dialogue was terrible in the first, but two spends a lot of time culture/world-building in a way that is very effective.

i think it's part of cameron's point with these movies tho, that if you build a compelling enough sandbox and hit the right story beats, you don't need that stuff. it's pure cinema, removing any vestigial elements of the stage

it was funny, back in 2009, with all of my theatre buddies railing against the piece, and listing all of the problems they had with it,which basically amounted to "we want movies to be like theatre"

cameron executed the story very well in both films (he knows structure!) but i massively prefer the "family of refugees attempts to adapt to new home" story to the dances with wolves/last samurai rip of the first one

The problem is the novelty of the visuals does wear off. It's a three hour movie!

I didn't hate this fwiw, just more of a *shrug*. I like JC's brand of cheese and would prefer he'd not spend what looks like the remainder of his career doing these movies over and over.

I'm sure Brad will dig it though. Enjoy!

And I also don't require some complex story at all. Just conflicts and characters that are interesting. I struggled to care about anyone in the movie.

Sigourney's the only one who popped for me.