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Poltergeist · December 13, 2009, 09:02:46 AM

Quote from: Biblo;1704385Planet of the Apes won an Oscar for the ape makeup effects the same year 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn't even nominated.
Let me put it this way: Eminem has an Oscar. End of Oscar discussion.

And the reason why people are hating on it is that James Cameron is an arrogant prick who loves the sound of his own voice. He has this reputation as the "master storyteller" which is utter bullshit as none of his films are remembered for their strong storytelling. And before you say "HAY TERNIMATOR WAS COOL" you should remember that not only do those films have a massive fucking hole in them, he also acknowledged that he essentially lifted the story from 2 episodes of the Outer Limits.
He has also been pompously gloating about Avatar for a full decade about how it's going to "change movies forever" and all this arrogant bullshit, so people are ready to jump on any slight flaw in it just to burst his dickhead bubble.

Also, Titanic was shit. Stop disagreeing.

Also also, no matter what your opinion of Aliens, it took an excellent innovative horror film and turned it into a dumbass testosterone pumped action movie. This is annoying.

Also also also, Dark Angel sucked.

<3

Slurpee · December 13, 2009, 08:23:05 PM

haters gonna hate B]

mauserclock · December 14, 2009, 04:21:25 AM

i mostly liked aliens
mostly

ActionClock · December 17, 2009, 05:03:13 AM

hmm, im not huge on seeing it, but it'll probably be decent

Biblo · December 19, 2009, 08:36:48 PM

WORDS EATEN

I really liked this film!

I'll start by saying I've never been a fan of Cameron's. I don't like the Terminator movies and Aliens always pissed me off because I loved the original so much. And Titanic was so overblown and stupid it annoyed the crap out of me.

But this...
First thing I'll say is it's very long. Too long? Hard to say, but certainly very. About an hour before the end I was thinking "this is dragging a little. oh fuck, am I gonna be hating it and begging it to fucking stop by the end like so many other movies?" but it came back and the last 20 minutes are absolutely great!

(This bit doesn't have any spoilers per se but I talk a bit about the story structure and character elements so make your own decision)
The story isn't particularly ground breaking but it's solid and works. Sometimes sticking to the formula is a good idea and it certainly is in Avatar. It's essentially Dances With Wolves with a kick ass action sequence at the end.
The characters aren't exactly brand spanking new either, it has quite a few clichÃ©s in terms of characters (a General who's sick of the science guys and wants to get to the action) and dialogue (you have a good heart.) But again, it works. It's more of a "haha, oh jeez ok" rather than a "oh fuck off that's so tired!!"
The emotion and the action sells and I gave a fuck during the final showdown. Which is all that's really needed in a movie like this.

The special effects are astounding. The new motion capture methods are beautiful and subtle, especially during the facial closeups. I found myself wanting to just watch people's faces for the entire movie, studying their lips, teeth and nose wrinkles. They really gel. Do they look 100% real? Hard to say, but they look consistant. There's no glaring "UGH THAT LOOKS FAKE" moment. Everything gels together in a great way. If you watch The Jungle Book, none of it looks real, but it all looks like it fits in the same world. Avatar does this except there's live action elements as well so that's very impressive.
The 3D is cool and helps to immerse you in the film but I found my eyes straining and hurting pretty early on and it's a long fucking film (161 mins!) so that's a tough call. Some of it was very nice though. Flakes of ash floating around, very pretty.

So all in all it's a good movie! Decent flow to it, good atmosphere, satisfying action and impressive visuals.

Only Cameron film I like!

Will it change cinema forever? The motion capture technology will certainly widen some scopes but otherwise it's just a solid action flick.

SnakeClock · December 19, 2009, 09:31:36 PM

I'm glad you liked it, Biblo. It left me pretty speechless.

I'll see it again in IMAX 3D, but I need to give myself a few days to... let my pupils re-dilate, shall we say.

OvenmittClock · December 20, 2009, 07:48:58 AM

im going to see it today

TorchClock · December 20, 2009, 12:29:46 PM

Saw it last night in 3D. It was breathtaking. While I'm no movie critic or something, I'm going to say that was the best movie I have ever seen. I really want to go see it in IMAX now.

I just really hope they don't make sequel. That would just put it to shame.

Munglai · December 20, 2009, 12:41:17 PM

Quote from: torch;1706985Saw it last night in 3D. It was breathtaking. While I'm no movie critic or something, I'm going to say that was the best movie I have ever seen. I really want to go see it in IMAX now.

I just really hope they don't make sequel. That would just put it to shame.

haha that's a brilliant review

OvenmittClock · December 20, 2009, 06:18:26 PM

I loved it, the 3D glasses made my face hurt though. I want to see it again.

patriotclock · December 21, 2009, 12:39:40 AM

Just saw it in Imax 3d. Long story short = movie is baller

patriotclock · December 21, 2009, 01:12:20 AM

Quote from: chrimssas polterggeist;1704347It may shock you to hear this, but Oscars don't denote quality. they're usually "which film made the most money and took the least risks and still qualify as 'good'?"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/

I don't care if it has an 8.0, if you watched and actually enjoyed this movie you must be I'm a edgy teen somehow. More examples: How Green Was My Valley beating Citizen Kane, Forrest Gump beating Pulp Fiction, Kramer VS Kramer beating Apocalypse Now, Ordinary People beating Ragin Bull, A Beautiful Mind winning anything at all. Kubrick only ever got one Oscar for special effects, of all things. Fuck, Hitchcock never won best picture. Jesus, the BLIND SIDE is being talked about for an Oscar nomination.

To be honest, a great deal of Directors don't give a shit about the Oscars, becase the Oscars usually only make safe choices: movies that deal with "big issues" and made lots of money. Right now the most pretigious awards for film makers is the Cannes Film Festival's Gold Palm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palme_d%27Or

And I wouldn't really blame you if you hadn't heard of a great deal of those winners.
Also I didn't despise Titanic or anything, I just didn't really care for it much. It was far too long for what it was, and the drama felt forced and incredibly maudlin.

Actually Hitchcock directed Best Picture 1940, Rebecca. Maybe you should only bold things if you are correct next time champ.

Also I prefer Ordinary People to Raging Bull and Forrest Gump is my favorite movie of all time sooooo...

mauserclock · December 21, 2009, 03:40:02 AM

i saw it
i mean it looked nice but so the fuck what the story was so predictable and tired that the visuals didnt really recover it for me

Biblo · December 21, 2009, 04:34:49 AM

Quote from: PatriotClock;1707309Actually Hitchcock directed Best Picture 1940, Rebecca. Maybe you should only bold things if you are correct next time champ.

Also I prefer Ordinary People to Raging Bull and Forrest Gump is my favorite movie of all time sooooo...

you're embarrassing yourself

(User was banned for this post; Reason: Forrest Gump> anything you can think of)

Converse · December 21, 2009, 08:34:01 AM

Wow, this movie was great. The part at the middle (at least I think it was the middle because that's when the cinema had a break.) was sort of boring, I mean the obvious training montage of him becoming really good and stuff was kinda lame but the movie made up for that with the cool fights at the end and also the beginning was pretty great because everything felt so big. I mean the bulldozer runs past his wheelchair at the start and you can see these huge arrows lodged into the tires that was just superb. I'm really glad I saw it

ActionClock · December 22, 2009, 12:53:15 AM

liked it, only complaint was some of the dialouge being too cliche and a huge chunk of that coming mainly from the general. really pretty to look at also.

Converse · December 22, 2009, 06:38:59 AM

Quote from: ActionClock;1707674liked it, only complaint was some of the dialouge being too cliche and a huge chunk of that coming mainly from the general. really pretty to look at also.

Yeah the story was pretty clichÃ©. But the visuals.. Jesus Christ. That planet at the very beginning woahhhh woaahhh woahhhh

TheClockNessMonster · December 22, 2009, 12:21:18 PM

i think it looks alright. the CGI is getting better. remember final fantasy? everyone that was pretty good CGI but now THIS comes along. with tenchology getting better, im thinking the visual effects will run the movie. Plus Cameron has always been know for good scripting as well.

Converse · December 22, 2009, 01:01:42 PM

I don't really care if most of it was done in front of blue screens I am impressed that the actors looked so much like their na'vi counterparts although sigourney weaver was a pretty ugly na'vi

SnakeClock · December 22, 2009, 06:54:00 PM

Haha, the Bum Review of Avatar said he didn't like it, and that somehow seemed to bring out all the Nostalgia Critic fans that are "calling out" Avatar for being "unoriginal and just pretty" and calling people that liked it "duped".

It's funny how opinions can go when someone famous suddenly agrees with you.

I wish I could have avoided seeing people take sides on it, since I really liked it and didn't want my admiration for the film marred by conflict, but I guess that's just naÃ¯ve.

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