[Rugdog]

The trailer is out.

what do you guys think?

[NiGHTS Noob]

What the fuck? What is this shit?

Maybe I'm crazy, but the first impressions that gave don't look entertaining at all.

This post has been edited by NiGHTS Noob: 23 August 2009 - 03:30 PM

[Rugdog]

NEW trailer! IS this completely CG? If so, looks freaking amazing! I dunno if it'll make a good movie,or have that great of a plot, but at least it looks good.

This post has been edited by Rugdog: 02 November 2009 - 07:11 AM

[Mr. Retro]

The premise seems to be that no matter what humans say or do, the "naturalistic" forces will win, even if we seem to display the level of technology and enough access to their genealogy to whipe them out with a genophage. We may be assholes, but god damnit, we're efficient assholes.

[Red]

The plot was really generic and was very mediocre. The main character, along with half the other characters were bland and predictable. What, the Texan military man who hates Pandora and all its inhabitants is the bad guy, and the main character is going to side with the N'avi(who are apparently better than humans in every way, and do nothing bad and are good always)? NO WAY. The acting was...alright. But I can't get over how stereotypical and hilarious some of the characters were, especially the aforementioned Texan military man.

The visuals were great, however. The 3D was done very well, not in the gimmicky "hey look stuff is flying RIGHT AT YOU OMG AMAZING RIGHT???" way it's usually executed. The settings and designs were all beautiful and out of this world and although some might disagree, I found Pandora to be very immersing and was constantly wishing to go back to it as the film cut back to the humans.

I think the mediocre plot and acting isn't enough to make you NOT see the film, as the visuals and world in my opinion make up for it a lot. Plus I guess the big fight at the end was enjoyable too. Definitely see it in 3D in theaters because you won't be able to appreciate as much when it hits home on DVD and Bluray.

This post has been edited by Red: 30 December 2009 - 02:48 AM

[Kvitne]

Here's a (relatively) short review that I wrote after I saw the movie and posted on my blog, which, incidentally, can be found at: http://tasteoftomorrow.wordpress.com/

Quote

To start off this review I’ll admit, I walked into Avatar not really knowing all that much about the film. I had done my best to stay away from the hype machine, knowing full well that it’s very rarely that a film actually lives up to expectations. I’ll also admit that I left the theater with far too harsh of a view of the movie in my mind. Despite my best efforts to keep the hype in check, I went in expecting a life-changing experience. When that didn’t happen I was disappointed. Very disappointed. Thus, I decided to wait to write about my thoughts on the film. This being my first relatively full-length review of a film, I wanted to have my view of the film in order before I wrote some scathing commentary that the film didn’t deserve.

I’m glad I decided to wait, because my thoughts on the film have definitely changed and matured since then. Oh, there was never any doubt that the visuals were spectacular, never a feeling that the film was somehow unfinished, or left unpolished. What I walked out of that theater in disappointment at was the film’s story. Story is a very important part of any movie-going experience to me, as it should any self-respecting film buff. Sure, I like to take in the occasional mindless action movie, but if I’m going to go to the theater and shell out good money for an epic film it had better damned well be epic. Sure you can point out epic aspects of the film, like the stunning CGI, or the scope of Cameron’s Pandora, but the story was the classic Cowboy and Indians tale. It was a matured Fern Gully (yes, I’ve seen and loved Fern Gully. We were all kids once). A futuristic Pocahontas. A sci-fi Dances With Wolves. I could go on, but you get the idea. This is where I was disappointed. I kept expecting to be surprised, to find that the story wouldn’t turn out as predicted. However this never happened. It played out just like the same story had played out countless times before. Remember, I came into this movie expecting to be blown away on all fronts. To have my view of cinema forever changed. I fully feared that this film would best “(500) Days of Summer” as my top film of all time.

When that didn’t happen, I was saddened by the lost potential. Cameron had played it safe, used a story almost as old as time itself. You would think that if you were going to pour 15 years and $400,000,000 into a film, you would at least write a story that wasn’t so damn predictable. However what I’ve come to realize is that Cameron really had no choice but to play it safe here. He had taken chances on so much, from the scope of the project, to the budget for the film, to the camera equipment that was invented for the film itself. If he had also taken a chance on the story and put out something that had fallen flat in that department it would have all been for naught (I don’t care if this isn’t the real reason for the clichéd storyline, it makes sense to me and that’s what matters). George Lucas once said “A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.” I find this to be a pretty ironic statement coming from the man who created Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III, but the statement works here regardless. Cameron used a storyline that he knew would work well to insure the special effects had a story to fall back on, so that people would have a reason to watch. Now, I’m not implying that he made the film solely to push the envelope in the CGI department. I know that he first wrote the film’s script back in 1994 (meaning this film is older than my sister, by the way) and that he had an original view for the project that was so incredible that technology had to catch up with his fantastical visions. I’m just going through the rationalizations in my head, and this makes the most sense to me.

To summarize, I ask myself the question that everyone has been asking about this movie: Does it revolutionize cinema? The answer: Yes and no. It is certainly revolutionary in the sense that no movie before now can measure up to the visual effects put on display in this film. It’s eye candy in the highest form, and is worth the price of admission alone. Cameron has created a gorgeous world that is so easy to get lost in it’s not even funny. However, if you’re going to this movie looking for something new in the storytelling department let me be the first to tell you that it’s nothing awe-inspiring. It’s certainly a well-done version of the classic tale, and the message conveyed in the film is a good one that everyone should pay attention to. The characters are well-done and you really start to care for the well being of the Na’vi. My only gripe – and, despite the first few paragraphs of this review, believe me it is a small gripe – is that the story really doesn’t bring anything innovative to the table. Should you still see the movie? By all means do. And enjoy it. It’s definitely one of the best films of the year, and that’s saying a lot, since it’s been an incredible year for cinema.

…One last gripe from me about the film (yes, I know I said my only gripe was the story, but this has to be said): The subtitle script. I mean, really James Cameron? Papyrus? You spent $400,000,000 on a film and you couldn’t be more creative in the realm of fonts?

Okay okay, that’s it. I’ll shut up now. Hope you enjoyed my first review and keep coming back for more. I’ll get myself a more unique look for this blog once I finish my redesign of my portfolio site. I’m going to get them all integrated together and it’s going to look really spiffy. In the meantime put up with the generic layout.

[Mr. Retro]

I just wanna come back to this. Like I said earlier, we humans should have one. What I'm tired of is directors getting away with painting humans as the bad guys for what we do in these sort of things, like we're the worst species on the planet. This isn't something exclusive to Mr. Cameron, either. The Matrix did it too with the Animatrix and showing how we brought it upon ourselves. Or like in Elfquest, how every single human being is mindlessly racist and ugly compared to the main characters, because Elves are so fucking special. Call me a speciesist, but compared to the rest of the known animals in existance, humans are the most awesome things out there.

Now, I'm kinda getting off track, because, well, humanity was doing wrong, right? I mean, we were going to cut down the blue monkeys' precious tree to get the Unobtainium, right? (I did like that little joke) WRONG. Very, very wrong. It's already established that there's not that many Na'vi. I'd place their population at... 20 000? Yeah. We need that Unobtainium to support billions. I don't care how unfair it is, I will always support the majority of humanity over some pretty blue people any day. I say genocide them and take what we need. Sound callous? Well, really, if we need that, would you prefer every human on Earth slowly die because stupid aliens believe in the natural order and try to hoarde things, or we just kick their ass and take what we need after attempting diplomacy first. Drive the bastards to extinction -- They've already shown themselves to be unlikeable as a whole, anyway. It's like a big species of "Free Waterfall Jr."s. Augh.

Sorry. It's just these anti-human sentiments popping up in the media these days drive me up the wall.

[Jackson]

Avatar was a spectacle, I’ll grant you that. The film’s 230-million-dollar budget guaranteed extravagant and often beautiful 3D special effects. But as I left the cinema last night, I couldn’t help questioning the weird mind behind it all. Was it James Cameron’s intention to be so nauseatingly patronising? And how could the famously Left-wing director have failed to pick up on his film’s racist subtext?
I won’t spoil the plot, but here’s the basic set-up: a group of mercenary humans have colonised a faraway planet, called Pandora, in order to extract an enormously valuable mineral found there. Pandora’s “natives” – a race of tall, blue-skinned aliens called the Na'vi – live on an area of land which is set to be mined. They won’t relocate, so the humans attack.
But the Na’vi aren’t your average extra-terrestrials. Blue skin aside, they’re essentially a childish pastiche of the “ethnic”, with recognisably human features. They wear Maasai-style necklaces and beaded jewellery which Cameron has borrowed from tribal East Africa. Their long, dark hair is dreadlocked. Their clothes are apparently Amerindian. They are armed with bows and poisoned arrows, and wear facepaint into battle. The main Na’vi characters are voiced by four black actors: Zoë Saldaña, C. C. H. Pounder, Laz Alonso and Peter Mensah; as well as one Cherokee, Wes Studi. The evil humans, needless to say, are white, male and middle-aged.
James Cameron has been very open about the politics behind Avatar. It’s about how “greed and imperialism tend to destroy the environment,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s a way of looking back on ourselves from this other world.”

[pridkiki]

thank you for goods.