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Avatar

Please don't tell me that I'm the only one who thought Avatar was going to be about Avatar: the Last Airbender until the previews came out.

I heard that the CGI is pretty good. But I'm really skeptical about the plot though; there's so much hype it's hard not to be.

I might go watch it sometime. If the tickets don't sell out.
 
I saw it in 3D on the biggest screen in Britain and afterwards my eyes ached. It had the most amazing graphics I have seen, and I chime with opal that somehow the cliches and absurdities never became unbearable. But twenty years ago this same man wrote and directed Terminator 1 and 2 and also Aliens, a film which deeply impressed itself on to Avatar, in the machines, the characters, the plot. He is not near to matching any of his best old films.
 
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Please don't tell me that I'm the only one who thought Avatar was going to be about Avatar: the Last Airbender until the previews came out.
You're not. I thought the same thing.

Honestly? I dunno what to expect from this. Might go see it sometime when I have time, but... I dunno.
 
I'm not sure if I want to see it or not. It looks good, but I'm not sure I want to spend any money. Boyfriend saw it Sunday and said it was amazing and several other people have said the same thing. A group of people I know from school want to see it and get sushi afterward, but again I'm not sure if I want to see it.
 
Woo, I'm hopefully going to see it (and Sherlock Holmes, yay movie marathon) with friends tomorrow. And we get it in 3D too!
 
and Sherlock Holmes,
NO DON'T IT IS LITERARY RAPE cough cough don't know how that came out, sorry

Yeah, the plot was pretty shitty but I don't think it made the movie as a whole bad. It was amazing to watch, that's for sure, and it's good that they're trying to make films with more subtle environmental messages (*cough*).
I walked around in freezing cold weather and snow up the middle of my shins and it was worth it, so I don't regret watching it.
 
It was really amazing as far as visuals go, and had awesome forests and robots and aliens and a really epic fight scene and all sorts of elements that make movies cool! But, yeah, the plot really wasn't the greatest thing ever. It was a nice story, but it wasn't a particularly original one. The cast consisted more or less entirely of stock character types too.

So, yeah; great visuals, plot and characters were okay but nothing particularly memorable there. I want one of those spinny helicopter lizard things.

Bonus crappy review: Sherlock Holmes was a fun way to pass the time, I guess. Like one of those action movies you go to see because it has a hot actor in it, and it's entertaining while you're there, but not exactly something you'd buy on DVD. :v
 
The cast consisted more or less entirely of stock character types too.

While this is true I feel the actors deserve a lot of credit. Sam Worthington could have easily ruined the movie by being too much of a typical hero type and Zoe Saldana's performance was phenomenal.
 
You guys sound like a bunch of parrots.

It looked great visually, yeah - I had a bit of trouble distinguishing between the CGI and the meatspace stuff.

But goddamn it if it wasn't a good story. "oh no there are literary tropes in this movie! FUCK THIS SHIT COULD'VE BEEN BETTER" dude if it was way out there and alien everyone would've complained even worse. jesus christ.

anyway 9/10
 
I just don't think it has a very good story because you could see it coming from a mile off is all. It's been done a million times, but it's a working formula.
 
so I saw it today

jesus christ visually it's like the most amazing thing ever. flying continents? truly alien ecology? lots of explosions? wonderful~

but the plot is rather painful. hippie elves Na'vi, Gaia Hypothesis (this is one of my literary pet peeves - whenever it's used it ends up being saccharine). and I dearly hope that I misheard, but did they seriously use the term "Unobtainium" without any irony?

on the other hand it was kinda cool to see the alien invasion trope being reversed somewhat. also, props for at least making an effort to avoid English-Speaking Aliens.

fun thing is, /m/ (one of those bits of 4chan that isn't totally shit) currently hates Avatar because the guys with mechs lose.
 
My impression of the entire thing was something like "zzzzzz".

So. Boring.
 
Actually, not all the animals are six-limbed - I was specifically watching for that and it generally seemed reasonably evenly split between four-limbed and six-limbed creatures, leading me to believe that two different body plans evolved on Pandora, one four-limbed and one six-limbed, and they each branched into various different species. Which of course is still more scientifically consistent than some random one species being six-limbed and all the others four-limbed.

Anyway, I loved it. It was ridiculously pretty, of course, but the story, while very predictable, held my attention throughout, and though the Gaia hypothesis is generally rather painful, I think it worked about as well as it possibly could here; it was established scientifically as literally involving a neural network connecting all the plants on the planet as well as the different creatures being capable of connecting their nerves physically with those of other creatures. Of course, then it had to go and make the scientist go all "Eywa is real and I'm with her!" and having a bunch of creatures that were not neurally connected join into the fight, but for most of it it actually worked, if just barely, which I found pretty cool.

Something random I really loved for some reason: when Neytiri was cradling Jake's real body in her arms and he looked so utterly tiny and fragile and vulnerable next to her. I don't even know why, but it really stuck with me.

But yeah, the predictability was annoying. I see the army general in his mecha, and I think, "He's going to be using that in the final showdown, isn't he?" Neytiri explains about Turok Macto, and I think, "Oh, dear, Jake's going to manage to ride one, somehow." They bring in the ritual to move the "soul" between bodies, and I think, "Yeah, Jake's going to have them move him to his avatar body at the end." The chopper pilot comes into the prison and I think, "She's going to free them," and later in the final battle, "She's probably going to die." And of course all of it comes true. Admittedly it did successfully make me forget that the real bodies were there, so it took me by surprise when the general suddenly turned away from the avatars and went to kill Jake the easy way, but otherwise most every turn of the plot could be seen from orbit.

That said, it doesn't really matter, because the story is still captivating enough so as not to be boring in spite of being predictable, and it's so pretty that it could have no story at all and it would still be a joy to watch, so.
 
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I should think inventing a language goes beyond mere "making an effort".
well yes but the aliens are just too good at English. the humans have only been on Pandora a short time, they had one language school that closed down, and suddenly a good number of the Na'vi are fluent with not much of an accent and an almost perfect grasp of grammar? unless they're all geniuses, this seems a little far-fetched.
 
...I have to go see this.

From all the previews, etc. that I've seen, it looks absolutely amazing. I really don't care at all about its plot; it could be excellent or terrible, I'd still go and see it just for the special effects.

Still, I have to decide if I should watch it in 3-D or 2-D. What a hard life I have.
 
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