[Film] James Cameron's Avatar

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Postby Shogo-Kun » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:15 pm

AVATAR II:The Quickening? Is that supposed to be a EVANGELION: 3.0 reference? With these forums, I really can't tell anymore...
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Postby THE Hal E. Burton 9000 » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:27 pm

^no, it's a Highlander reference
View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Dude, if Arnold is in AVATAR II I'll friggin' watch it opening night in 3-D theaters!
I won't if Avatar II ends up being the same, uninvolving story as the first
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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:21 pm

View Original PostTHE Hal E. Burton 9000 wrote:I won't if Avatar II ends up being the same, uninvolving story as the first

I would have enjoyed it much, much more if the movie wasn't so long. I might have even reacted to the shallow characters a little better if the movie was only 90 - 120 minutes. It wouldn't have been perfect, but still.

UPDATE EDIT: James Cameron is getting others to help him write the script for AVATAR 2.

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Postby Ray » Mon Dec 26, 2016 3:23 pm

Reviving this thread to talk about this, because it's blowing up Youtube right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URSOqWtLix4

First viewing of James Camerons 'World of AVATAR' attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Which will feature state of the art animatronics you've never seen before. All to duplicate Pandora here on earth.

I wonder if they'll try to fit this into the narrative of the movie somehow. Like this is a duplication of what was seen on the newly discovered world of Pandora. Making it seem like you're in the movie.

I thought the movie was just okay. But I'm actually looking forward to this. Getting the experience of actually being on an alien world? Count me in.

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Postby TheCarkolum » Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:57 pm

Oh, what a mixed-feelings movie. Even to this day I can't tell whether this movie is average, mediocre or plainly bad. The thing is, James Cameron is a genius... by tricking you into thinking what you're watching is any good. He did the same with Titanic. Here it's the same, but with even better disguise. You got a whole new world and the movie spends its time on getting you in. It does it... for 2 hours. And it's not like Spirited Away, when the atmosphere sucks you in till death but it helps you to get the characters, the places and the plot. Here, when you are hanging around Pandora, the plot is left aside. TOTALLY. And that's a big issue. Idk if it's the biggest, because there are so many problems in this movie. I mean, too many. First, the characters. Underdeveloped, archetypical ad nauseam, underutilized. The only characters I've ever rooted for are Neytiri and Sigourney weaver, and even these characters have inconsistencies and BS. Sam Worthington's acting is bad, bad, bad, and its character is forgettable. Second, the pacing. The extended version is almost 3 hours long, and didn't need too. Why? Because it's a simplistic plot full of dull moments of "atmosphere". Yes, atmosphere is necessary, but in this movie gets really old. And even when the plot is moving forward it makes no sense most of the times.
Third, the plot. Forget Pocahontas (which is worse than Avatar). This plot is bad constructed and thoughtless. It's so obvious that Cameron focused on perfecting the CG (which is amazing and groundbreaking, by the way) and neglected the script. I mean, how can you fuck up the easiest plot ever? You got everything in Avatar: plot contrivances, plot holes, etc. Example: the military forces acting like retards the whole movie, attacking the Na'vi unprotected and letting them to rally.
And the other thing that sucks balls in this movie is the romance. Bland and cliche. I could not stand Neytiri when she forgives Sully for bringing a giant bird to the clan. That was cliche, bland and stupid, and somehow kills the entire relationship. And don't come up with the Turuk Makto thing, it is stupid.
These problems are considerable. It's sad because this movie had potential. Some good things? Well the visual aspect. Looks huge, colorful, amusing and well produced. The bioluminiscent forest is amazing. Also the sound design is OK. Neytiri as a character is interesting too. She is fierce, sensitive and responsible. I also think Zoe Saldana was perfectly casted. The way she moves, cries and talks is very well crafted. The acting is decent... sometimes. Some are good, some are not.The direction is pretty competent and enhances the visual enjoyment. But that would be all.

Actually this movie is not a peace of shit, don't get me wrong.
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Postby Guy Nacks » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:12 am

Avatar, for all the money it made, is far and away Cameron's weakest film IMO. I saw it twice in theaters and liked it, but it's had next to no rewatch value for me after the fact. Aside from the groundbreaking CGI work, the plot and characters are too derivative to be interesting.

Titanic, while it had a similar cookie cutter plot, had a lot more tension and thrills with brilliant practical effects work that stands the test of time. I also liked the framing device of the film and the characters more than in Avatar--they seemed more personable...except for Billy Zane, who kinda goes into mustache-twirling territory. For all the backlash that Titanic started to get in the mid 00's, I think it still deserves praise.

RedLetterMedia also made a Plinkett review of Titanic that completely nails why it will ultimately go down as being more respectable than Avatar.

Cameron is objectively a masterful filmmaker and though the need for more Avatar films leaves a lot to be desired, his overall filmography is a testament that any film he directs will be worth seeing.
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Postby Gus Hanson » Fri May 18, 2018 10:58 pm

I just saw the four part behind the scenes documentary Capturing Avatar. Made me appreciate the mythos even more. I didn't even know that the military choppers had their own names like the Scorpion. :tongue:

Even though Sam Worthington was a relative unknown during the making of this and Zoe Saldana was starting to become a household name, that little bit shot with the demo actors of Daniel Bess and Yunjin Kim as Jake and Neytiri would've made an interesting full movie if they had gone with them instead of Sam and Zoe.
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Postby Chuckman » Sat May 19, 2018 2:03 pm

That theme park looks existentially horrifying. "Let's turn Native Americans into a theme park, but use a bastardized version with blue aliens." I looked at the corporate website for it, and it's just so fucking bizarre. The movie lazily copying Dances with Wolves because Cameron was too busy with the design and effects is one thing, but this just breathtakingly bad taste.

Let's watch a traditional Swotu Wayä Na'vi Drum Ceremony so we can experience the joy of native savages turning their culture into entertainment for bored tourists and their snot-nosed kids, without the guilt of their genocide being foundational to our way of life!

Nice random ä in there too, has that authentic "your language is just gibberish to us so we'll make up random shit to imitate it" feel for maximum family fun.

Cameron could redeem himself if Avatar 2 is about the animatronics in the theme park coming to life and forcing humans to march thousands of miles away from Florida and die of starvation.
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Postby Reichu » Mon May 21, 2018 6:30 am

If a conlanger using a diaeresis to distinguish one of the vowels of the Na'vi language offends you, I think you might just be looking for things to be outraged by.
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Postby Chuckman » Mon May 21, 2018 3:59 pm

I feel I should congratulate you for singling out the least significant detail of my post.
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Postby Reichu » Mon May 21, 2018 4:53 pm

If you are that sensitive about people only responding to the meat of your post, then don't bloat your outrage with lazy assumptions you can't even be bothered to (easily) double-check the validity of before making. All that's doing is asking the kinds of people who would otherwise not respond to the post at all to correct you when they happen to know better. Regardless of how you respond to an attempt to inform, there are other people reading this, and I'd rather say something to stop a misconception in its tracks when I can.

If you want a "real response", I could mumble something about "concern trolling". Of course only you know for sure, but the general sentiment in your post sounds all too similar to the warcry of the common Internet slacktivist whose mode of action is to act offended on behalf of other groups, regardless of the opinions people from those actual groups have expressed, regardless of whatever a creator's intent may have been. Cameron is a rich white guy, so obviously nothing he can make could possibly be a tribute of respect intended to increase awareness and so forth. Cynical exploitation is the only possibility! Maybe you are referring exclusively to the theme park, but since you minimize Avatar itself to the usual "it's kind of like Dances of Wolves, and as we all know a story can only be done once before it's spent and everything else is just a ripoff", I'm guessing you don't have a very high opinion of the film either. So I guess the only answer here is to never let "indigenous" culture inspire anything in the mainstream, since letting endangered cultures receive as little exposure as possible is so much healthier for them than reimagining them in the context of sci-fi parables which get tons of exposure through the Hollywood money machine and could inspire plenty of young ones to look deeper and get involved.
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Postby VUX » Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:32 pm

I’ve heard that good old James Cameron is making a few more Avatar films, and I am excited for them, but I don’t know how they will compare to other blockbusters, since the last Avatar was made almost nine years ago, and some people will forget about what happened in it. Movies like the avengers are released on a yearly basis, and people will be more invested to watch them.
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Postby Gendo'sPapa » Fri Jun 15, 2018 6:16 pm

I stan for James Cameron and his AVATAR universe.
I also think he's really going to blow some minds with these sequels.
Really I think the only thing that will be different this time around is none of the AVATAR sequels are going to have the theatrical longevity of TITANIC (fifteen weeks as the #1 Grossing movie at the domestic box in the US) or AVATAR (seven weeks as the #1 Grossing movie at the domestic box office in the US) simply because the model of when giant movies get released (not to mention how streaming businesses are cutting into sales) has changed so drastically that there will be a mega-blockbuster hitting theaters in February a mere month & a half after AVATAR II hits theaters.*** Most likely I can see AVATAR II winning 4 weeks at the domestic box office before something takes its place. Though I do expect AVATAR II will have one of those massive $200 million opening weekends as opposed to the modest $70 million the original did.
That and these films no matter how snarky domestic audiences will be towards them (and they will) they are going to be HUGE overseas in the rest of the world.


***As an aside, if the Comcast bid does win 20th Century Fox away from Disney - it could happen - then I could very easily see Disney almost out of spite start moving the first post-Episode IX Star Wars & a Marvel movie or two closer to the release date of the first AVATAR sequel.


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