James Cameron's "Avatar"

[sportsdude]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

Is it in 3D at the IMax?

yeah I'm with fatigue here. If you can see it in IMAX 3D, then do that. If you have to pick between 3D or IMAX, I would go with the 3D.

[thaima1shu]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I think that people on both sides, whether you loved the movie or hated it, need to just lay off the others. Just give your opinion and let it be. Why the hell would anyone care whether another person liked or hated the movie? Does that affect your own opinion in any way? Probably not. If you loved the movie, like I did, then just enjoy it, maybe watch it another time or two, just do you. If you hated it, then just let the movie go and forget about it. Why try to fight with people who did enjoy the movie?

For me, yes, the visuals were great and the 3D was spectacular. There's no question that this movie was gorgeous eye candy. Honestly, the one thing I don't quite understand is how Seymour could think that the CG was anything short of awesome. Where did you watch the movie? What kind of projector does your theater have, and was it on IMAX? Because the IMAX that I saw it at left me with a feeling that I just saw the greatest CG and 3D to ever be put on a movie screen. Perhaps your theater just wasn't that good? I don't know.

When it comes to the story, this is entirely subjective, and people just have different expectations. I absolutely do not need a completely original and unpredictable story to be satisfied with a movie. There were obviously recycled themes and ideas with Avatar taken from other movies, but that didn't matter to me. The world and all the creatures Cameron created and the way the story unfolded still left me very interested. After I walked out of the movie, it wasn't the 3D that impressed me the most. It was the Na'vi and Pandora. It was a universe that I wanted to find out more about, and that's the key for me. It left me wanting more.

To each his own.

[thaima1shu]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I have the option of watching it at a theater with 3D or at the IMax. Which would you guys recommend and why? I'm trying to find the perfect time to watch it with the wife. Think I'll go on Sunday afternoon.

IMAX 3D is easily, easily the way to go. Assuming you have a "real" IMAX screen that is 6 stories tall and not the "fake" one. With IMAX, it fills up your entire field of vision. It lets you get immersed into the movie a lot easier, in my opinion. In a regular theater, the screen size is too small and you're pretty far away. You can see the sides of the screen, the side of the theater room, etc. With IMAX, when you are looking forward you are just seeing this gigantic screen. That's what I loved about the IMAX experience. Very immersive.

[Brankles]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

Wow I guess I must be in quite the minority here but I wasn't that impressed with this movie. It's been a bad year for me with movies because I haven't been that impressed with any of these hyped movies except for Star Trek.

The visuals were amazing, don't get me wrong, but it was amazing in a Pixar kind of way. Watching scenes in Pandora I never thought I was watching a real film. It felt like I was watching a mature version of a cross between Shrek and Monsters Inc. I did not identify with the aliens being real characters in any way and could not be really immersed in the story because they always seemed CGI to me and the fact that the human antagonists were complete cardboard cutouts made it worse.

The plot was recycled (hero goes undercover fighting for the evil empire, falls in love and then switches sides and fights against the evil empire), the pacing off (the 2nd act too slow and the 3rd act way too hectic), and about 20 minutes too long (a Cameron trademark). Cameron was so imaginative in creating this world you figure just he would be just as imaginative with the plot considering it was years in the making.

Although it was a visual treat I thought there was frequent motion blur and close ups of any object was blurry and strained my eyes. My eyes felt tired after the movie and convinces me 3d TV is not something I'm pining for because I could just imagine the motion blur watching 3D football (no thanx).

It was too weak in so many areas that the visual eye candy can't justify it's many shortcomings and the 3D aspect wasn't that special because the previews I saw for Shrek 4 and Alice in Wonderland looked just as dazzling if that's what you based your enjoyment of movies from.

Flame away boys but I thought Up was the better movie because I consider them both to be in the CGI category. I'm actually perplexed at how well this is doing financially and kind of put off that this most likely will end up as the highest grossing film ever because of it's many flaws.

I agree 100%. The story for this movie was just flat out not good and uncreative. The dialogue was typical. I feel like Cameron made this movie just to use the new 3D technology to its fullest extent.

I also had the headaches and a little bit of motion sickness that you're talking about.

I kinda laugh when people say this is their favorite movie. It's basically a 2 and a half hour long video game cut scene to me. To each their own, but Scagnetti, I know exactly what you mean in your post.

[Defel]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I found Avatar pretty boring. I found it boring for the same reasons I've found other critically acclaimed animated movies like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke boring. The immersiveness and visual presentation of the world is definitely there, but that particular feature doesn't hold my attention at all compared to good dialogue or an interesting plot.

People can dislike Avatar for non-elitist reasons. However, if they would have enjoyed it more if it were in Japanese with English subtitles, they're probably full of crap...or they're Japanese.

[jmood88]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I'm Japanese and I can't stand those people, especially since those people who talk about how they prefer everything in Japanese can't even speak the language and are extremely musty.

[Defel]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I'm Japanese, too...My main point is that Avatar has the same strengths that many acclaimed Japanese Animes have had and, if it were foreign, it might have received more slack from the elitist crowd. However, it still had enough faults for people to legitimately dislike.

Just wanted to reiterate that so this didn't get derailed into a subtitles argument or some weird racial thing.

[DickDalewood]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

If I have the extra cash, I might just go see this a third time. I just loved it, lol.

EDIT: I think I'm the only one who really liked Transformers 2 as well... oh well

[luv_mist]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

IMAX in 3D and at movie theaters in 3D. I guess I'm going to watch it twice then. I'll watch the IMAX and then surf the web to see if I missed any Easter Eggs. I'm definitely looking forward to this. Thanks guys.

[CMH]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I have decided that I liked the movie and agree that it's a great 3D experience.

I think the story holds water (though, my sister compared it to Pocahontas, which I laughed at but couldn't disagree) and look forward to Cameron possibly turning this into a trilogy.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/130283/original.jpg

It's all jokes people, but again, I had to laugh because it's true.

Also, don't read that link if you haven't seen the movie.


Also, I take back my opinion of good. The more I think about this film the more I dislike it. Whatever it is, I don't care anymore about it.

[bkfount]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen...3/original.jpg

It's all jokes people, but again, I had to laugh because it's true.

yes it's true, who's ever said otherwise though? It's almost lazy at this point. My first reaction was actually that the story didn't draw me in and I called it ferngully in space. But I can still appreciate the way the story is told, and Avatar's execution is certainly creative enough to make it superior to the list of movies it's being mockingly compared to.

[Jistic]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

It reminded me of Dances with Wolves. But I liked Dances with Wolves better.

[Fresh Tendrils]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I understand that people are attacking the story and basically calling it Dances With Wolves/Pocahontas part 2, but its obviously not the first and it won't be the last where an outsider is accepted into a foreign society and "helps/leads" them in some way or another. The basic plot might be the weakest link, but I don't think its weak enough to warrant all the hate that is being aimed at Cameron and the movie, especially with the way the story was delivered - which I thought was amazing. I don't care how good a story/dialogue is on paper, if it isn't delivered well its going to fail and I think Cameron did an awesome job of developing this "unoriginal" story.

[Brankles]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

I don't know of any people that hate the movie. I know of more people who believe it to be the greatest thing to ever be made, which is certainly not true, at least as an all-around movie.

The Dark Knight was 100x better than Avatar to me, because the story was so much more impressive. Like others have said, for the amount of time and money Cameron spent on the visuals and creating this imaginative world, you would think he would try and do a more original story.

[DueceDiggla]

re: James Cameron's "Avatar"

It reminded me of Dances with Wolves. But I liked Dances with Wolves better.

Dances with Smurfs??


I thought the plot was slightly boring, but the special effects and 3d totally outweighed the negative. The characters and movement of the characters looked very believable, and the enviorment was really cool. All of the unique creatures and plantlife was a cool thing to see.