FXramper From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 7023 posts, RR: 93 Posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2519 times:
I'm completely surprised how much I enjoy this film. I'm home for a week from work, and went to see Jim Cameron's newest soon to be classic. I don't know what he smoked back in 1994 to get the idea for this movie, but he did a hell of a job. Saw it with my twin and his brother in law.
Casting Sam Worthington was brilliant. I plan to see the remake of the classic, Clash of the Tians, with Sam in the lead role after seeing Avatar.
Visuals are second to no film I've seen. Acting is great. Direction and casting was fantastic. Story is worthy of recognition. Film was just right on time, not too long, developed all characters. Action packed with a romantic tale and history of the people.
A little slow in 2 spots, cheesy in 1 spot, and I don't know why he really focused on the natives with the American Indian twist, but overall I gave it a 9 out of 10.
I highly recommend seeing it at a IMAX theater if possible.
Revelation From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 10453 posts, RR: 20 Reply 1, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2505 times:
I don't like science fiction either, but I quite liked it. Visually, its very stunning. The story isn't that far fetched either. The basic premise of it has occurred in the past. Just this time the setting is dramatically different.
Teo747 From United States of America, joined Nov 2006, 132 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 2424 times:
I saw Avatar this afternoon in 3D. While the plot was a little predictable and certain parts dragged on a little bit, the visuals were quite simply stunning and unlike anything I've ever seen before. For the visual effects alone, I would highly recommend it for any movie fan regardless of whether or not you enjoy the science fiction genre. If this is the future of CGI animation in movies, I'm very excited to see what comes next.
AF340 From Canada, joined Jul 2007, 2786 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 2419 times:
I just saw it and was disappointed. Maybe it was all the hype or the incredibly basic plot, but I just didn't really like it. The special effects were pretty cool, but not as stunning as I expected. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Liam
He's faster than a speeding bullet, he can leap tall buildings in a single bound; he's Obamaman!!
Af773atmsp From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 2574 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 2393 times:
Just saw it. Best movie I've seen! I want to see it again!
ShyFlyer From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 10, posted (3 years 5 months 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 2384 times:
Probably not. Most of the trailers I've seen for the movie don't really explain what the movie is about. Mostly they describe how awesome and fantastic and magical James Cameron is.
Mke717spotter From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 2310 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 2303 times:
Is this going to be the next Star Wars?
Will you watch the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions on Sunday? Only if coach Eric Mangini resigned after a loss.
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6150 posts, RR: 25 Reply 13, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 2293 times:
Movie and visuals were exceptional.
Story was stilted and lame. Poor plot and character development.
Theredbaron From Mexico, joined Mar 2005, 1699 posts, RR: 4 Reply 15, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 2257 times:
Saw it in 3D.
Superb eye candy.
Great creatures.
Believable environment.
Script is like the Smurfs meet the Matrix, meets dances with wolves with Ferngully added on top of it.
I will see it again just for the wonderful CGI. the rest is..... a 6.5 at best.
Airstud From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 1855 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (3 years 5 months 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 2243 times:
Quoting Revelation (Reply 1): 3D is useless to me, since I do not have binocular vision.
Same here!!!!
Isn't it frustrating how so many fun-looking movies are coming out in 3D these days?
I sure would like to see visual whiz-bang like this Avatar dealy on a IMAX screen, but it's tough to find in a non-3D format. And for you and me seeing it in 3D would mean seeing a sea of purplish blurriness.
Why couldn't they have left 3D movies in the 1950's where they belonged... sigh...
JAL From Canada, joined Apr 2000, 5057 posts, RR: 8 Reply 17, posted (3 years 5 months 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 2192 times:
The movie was amazing! Not only did it have amazing acting and special effects also love the message of peace and unity and the need to more aware to protect our environment.
Homer71 From United States of America, joined Jul 2001, 2209 posts, RR: 17 Reply 18, posted (3 years 5 months 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 2173 times:
I'll see it...and root for the humans
"On spaceship earth there are no passengers...only crew."
EISHN From Ireland, joined Feb 2007, 1506 posts, RR: 8 Reply 19, posted (3 years 5 months 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 2156 times:
The problem is that it has been so incredibly hyped up, and far too many people had perceptions as to how they think the movie should be, and not how it really is, or how it's creator truly envisioned it.
If you to see it with a completely open mind, you'll be amazed. I was.
I'm a huge Cameron fan, and have avoided trailers, stills, articles and interviews about the film, and went in with a completely open mind, and was very, very happy.
The story was good, and there was good character developement, the thing is, we've seen it all before, but that doesn't make it bad.
The effects are astounding, and at times I had to remind myself that the natives in the film (the Na'vi) were all filmed using an enhanced motion capture system, and realised with photo-real graphics by Weta (famous for Lord of the Rings, and King Kong) who are now the industry's premier effects house.
The effects are there to tell the story, enhance it, whereas the likes of Transformers is more about shoving as much as you can on screen and making a quick buck, rather than giving us depth and heart, which is why Tranformers is so boring.
With Avatar we are given an emotional attachment through the characters, and the story, helped by the fact that we can relate with the Na'vi, and detest the humans.
The film is not like so many others these days which focus around enviormental parables (The Simpsons), instead commenting in imperial colonialism. Considering this is an American film, it is unusual to see the insurgents winning the battle, rather than the domineering military force, but then Cameron is Canadian.
The world that Cameron has created is a mouth watering visual feast, and even more impressive considering it doesn't exist anywhere apart from the mainframe in Wellington.
Cameron is an action film director at heart, and this shines through at the end of the film, teaching the others how it's really done.
Avatar offers a story we can easily become attached to, and a side we can easily root for, a world so detailed in both looks and sounds, great action sequences, and effects to wow over the most hardened effects cynic.
If you can see it in 3-D, I highly recommend it. It's not the type of 3-D where it comes out into the audience nauseatingly, it instead gives the world great depth and further enhances the film.
This is not something that you just save to watch on DVD/bluray, go out there and see it on the biggest screen possible.
Go see it with an open mind, not determined to love it or loathe it, or to see what you believe you should see, but rather what Cameron has offered us. It's his vision, and it's up to you to seriously make you own mind up. I did, and I loved it.
St. Flannan/ Fhlanain- She took off to find the footlights, And I took off for the sky
Arsenal@LHR From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2001, 7791 posts, RR: 23 Reply 21, posted (3 years 5 months 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2128 times:
If 3D animation is the future of movies, then that's quite depressing, i've never like animated films and never will, it just feels way too amateur/cartoonish/childish. Where are the Predator/Commando/Rambo style movies?
AerorobNZ From Rwanda, joined Feb 2001, 6325 posts, RR: 14 Reply 23, posted (3 years 5 months 16 hours ago) and read 2037 times:
Quoting FXramper (Thread starter): A little slow in 2 spots, cheesy in 1 spot, and I don't know why he really focused on the natives with the American Indian twist, but overall I gave it a 9 out of 10.
Not just Native Americans, it's the story and similar beliefs of Indigenous peoples the world over. African costumes too...
I have to say I really was not interested in the slightest in going - and actually thought I'd really dislike it, but I was dragged along by the g/f. I actually quite enjoyed it. There were aspects of all the James Cameron films in it i thought. As always it's a pleasure watching the human race getting smashed by the animals, some of the fight scenes at the end were laugh out loud cool in the way that Jurassic Park dinosaurs eating humans are.... It was perhaps a little preachy at times, and cos I was watching in 3D it took a while for my eyes to really adjust. I would have liked a bit more 3D violence, but I'd give it 7 or 8/10.
FLY2HMO From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (3 years 5 months 15 hours ago) and read 2031 times:
Just saw last night, non 3D. I'll give it a 6/10.
The plot is extremely predictable (and no I don't watch tv or have any way of getting bombarded with hype), within 10 minutes I already had figured out the whole movie ( I do have a very good knack for predicting movie outcomes though). It's the typical militaristic-evil-corporation-taking-advantage-of-a-minority-but-the-minority-overthrows-the-evil-corporation-and-throws-a-big-party (with some bits of love sprinkled here and there) type movie. *yawn*
As far as a visual experience, yes I'll give credit where it's due, it is in and of itself quite an achievement. But I couldn't help myself feeling overwhelmed. There's just too many scenes where it's clear that the only purpose to them is to create oooohs and aaaaahs from the audience. It got old very quick.
Also, the soundtrack was rather disappointing for a movie of these proportions. Sure, it does the job, but an epic movie needs an epic sound track. They should've gotten John Williams to do the job.
Anyways, my (as always, cynical) 2 cents.
[Edited 2009-12-23 14:50:29]
25 AerorobNZ: absolutely agree - I forgot to put that cos it was so obvious... . I demote my grade by 1 point.
26 Braybuddy: Just saw it tonight, and if I were to sum it up, I'd say Iraq war meets 9/11 meets Deep Forest meets acid. I'm not a fan of action-packed blockbusters
27 Airport: As a huge film score enthusiast, I must highly highly disagree. I just saw Avatar (absolutely loved it, though I hated the 3D, which I think might be
28 Mirrodie: And I stopped reading the rest of the thread after that sentence. Though I heard if made even MORE $$$ this weekend, I am cautious as many are really
29 Aaron747: Nonsense. Episode IV brought a whole new fantastic world to the screen without powerful computers and whiz-bang CGI studios in New Zealand that can d
30 Cytz_pilot: I saw it with a bunch of people who really wanted to go see it (I had only seen a brief trailer and really didn't know anything about the movie). I th
31 2707200X: I saw the movie, I really liked it but the theater was packed, no sitting spaces at all, people where standing against the walls and the rails.
32 Airstud: You know what's a great film score, is James Horner's work for Apollo 13. (Mmmmmmm pancakes...)
33 BNE: Exactly my thoughts; and for someone going to a new world why wouldn't you know about the creatures and some of the language; yes I know he was filli
34 Captaink: I like how the story was basically about the world's environmental problems, and it's attitude towards the environement, and America's war against 'te
35 Vega9000: Just saw it this weekend, and I agree with most of the reviews here. The plot is predictable, there's way too many loopholes (they are using current w
36 AirPacific747: I've seen it just before Christmas in 3D, and well I think it was easy to tell that the story was made up by an American (no offense) with all that US
37 Kappel: IMHO big mistake, this is one of those movies that is MUST be seen in theatres to fully enjoy the ear and eye candy. (especially eye candy of course)
38 Homer71: His theme to Glory (1989) is one of my favorites...a travesty the score didn't get an Oscar nomination.
39 Airport: Completely agree...I actually posted about that particular score here in this forum not too long ago when I joined. Definately one of my all-time fav
40 Homer71: Can't believe I missed that, thanks for the link!
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