Avatar

[Converse]

The human ships are designed I'm a edgy teenly. They have huge ships and holographic displays, why the hell do they have open air gun turrets and glass cockpits? Especially on the mechas. Plus all the helicopters seem to be made of C4, blowing up violently from a single arrow shot at a propeller or a bump into a cliff.

The vehicles were awesome man. They were awesome. The helicopters looked like sometihng the US army would actually build in the future. And I don't remember them violently exploding by a bump but isn't it like that in every movie ever ever? And the arrows were like five feet long mannnn

[mauserclock]

yeah i was wondering why everything had glass cockpits
edit: fuck ribs way to write a gigantic essay just before i post

[Wind-up Clock]

My sister was asking why the mech would have a knife in the first place. I said that it was the jungle. You had to have a knife in the jungle. no exceptions.

The movie was pretty, no doubt, but it was pretty damn campy at some times, horribly cliche at the others. I'd say Commander McBadass was one of the better parts of the movie, as he sipped coffee while Yggdrasil burned and holding his breath on at least 3 separate occasions to lay down some whup-ass.

[Converse]

Yeah man he was badass. I didn't like how he told them he could get his scars removed on earth but he wants to keep them to keep reminding him how everything out there wants to kill humans. Who wants to keep scars on their head ?

[Converse]

Also, I like the alien designs a lot but I didn't like how they just had to put six legs on fucking everything. Those horses looked very uncomfortable!  And the thanator was awesome but goddamn it man stop putting an extra pair of legs on stuff to make it look alien!!

[Slurpee]

Saw this movie. Loved it. But I'm the type too make great exceptions when presented with a fully realized fantasy world in my fiction, and Pandora is at least as cool as 9 and Hellboy II, which I gave similar passes.

Everybody says it was predictable, but, come on. It's not completely predictable, you've just seen the basic song and dance before. It might have been obvious Sigourney Weaver wasn't going to make it through the speed force, but I thought the magic brain transfer ceremony payoff would be used to bail Sam Worthington out of wounds he'd sustain with the boss monster, not just at the end for no reason. (little sardonic humor there for ya thanks I'll be here all week) I also thought the breath mask thing would have a cooler payoff. But more importantly, I knew it would have a payoff. The movie's good enough that I could worry about how cool the robot battle suit payoff would be, and not on, say, whether the director understood the basic components of a film, like I've experienced a lot in the last couple of years. Avatar is in that unfortunate place where it's good enough that the critical thinking center of your brain activates, and then it falls short.

My only major complaints are that after nerd guy fell out of his body, and put on a mask and grabbed a gun and ran off to join the battle, we didn't see him again for the rest of the fight. It was just to get him out of the way for the showdown with Commander Badass. Booty! I likes me some nerd guy. I wanted nerd guy to run interference on Commander Badass. He'd just get his ass kicked, but it'd at least mix it up. As it is, the movie closes up the military/capitalism vs. diplomacy/science conflict with a marine fighting another marine.

Also, yeah, the black and white morality kind of took me out of the movie. I agree with the message about the evils of the destruction of nature, and it took me out of it. Let's be straight: there's a reason there aren't any fat Na'vi. They're barely surviving on what subsistence their co-existence with nature can provide. Commander Badass might've been motivated by "Kill for no reason! HOO-RAH!" but to the folks on the dead planet, this operation, and the wonderflonium it would provide, probably would have helped provide a standard of living that would, say, keep their babies from dying of senseless illnesses because they wouldn't be living in a fucking hole in a damned tree. If the Na'vi somehow elevated above these problems without the standard human "try lighting things on fire, and making more space for beef cows and corn" method, it wasn't clear, and if not, their lives probably weren't super sweet. The dichotomy was fuzzy. I watched this movie with my mom and aunt, and they seemed to take away the obvious "Man, that's the same shit we pull all the time," message, but I had to point out that we were in a parking lot on top of where we pulled that shit on our country's indigenous population, and living on the convenience that those atrocities provided. I didn't bother pointing out that the parking lot was probably a lot more useful in most practical senses than whatever grass may've grown there previously, or that our trees don't have a neural network connecting them to a massive organic machine of somewhat lovecraftian nature. We went to Target Greatland afterward. The irony did not escape me. I forget where I was going with this, but I guess the point is Avatar reminded me to feel guilty about ruining the world for my own personal convenience, even if it wasn't exactly laser-targetted about its methods.

I was going to compare the design of Pandora disfavorably to Oddworld, but it would take too long, and I don't really feel that passionately about it, and nobody would read it anyway.

[Converse]

To be honest... I didn't think eywa would answer his prayers. It might sound so obvious t osome that they will want to beat the fuck out of me for this but his prayer seemed so pointless. Kind of reminds me of real prayers and stuff. I was happy when all the dragons and armoured dino cows joined in!  Although the viper wolves seemed kind of pointless. Also, did anyone think that they spent too much time showing the animals? Like at the beginning, those tree monkeys; what the hell was up with that. Or the horse eating from the flower... Okay didn't need to see that. Or the viper wolf with babies.. Also didn't need to see that

[Thor]

Very good analysis of the movie corpsy. To clearify, by the main character not having motive I meant along the lines of him running around like crazy when he got in the new body, him splitting off from the group to molest plants shortly after, fucking the blue smurf, attacking the yellow plower things cameras and then later not explaining why he did it, ect. This character is just a never ending well of stupid.

You're comments are all spot on though

To be honest... I didn't think eywa would answer his prayers. It might sound so obvious t osome that they will want to beat the fuck out of me for this but his prayer seemed so pointless. Kind of reminds me of real prayers and stuff. I was happy when all the dragons and armoured dino cows joined in!  Although the viper wolves seemed kind of pointless.

They wouldn't have bothered showing him praying unless gaia was going to grant his wish. Especially since by that point they had already scientifically proven that the planet-god exists. Also, I couldn't think of any way other than sending animals the planet would answer. I'm figuring that's why all the animals have that convenient mind-link tentacle thing, for talking to the planet. Anyway, seemed pretty obvious to me.

Also, did anyone think that they spent too much time showing the animals? Like at the beginning, those tree monkeys; what the hell was up with that. Or the horse eating from the flower... Okay didn't need to see that. Or the viper wolf with babies.. Also didn't need to see that

That was to show the beauty of nature and show why the main character was falling in love with the planet. Also a chance to show off the pretty wildlife models the CG team made.

[Loki Clock]

The CGI was mediocre and the story was terrible and racist.

[Loki Clock]

What's your idea of "good" CGI?

Something with artistic integrity. On that point and technically, Pan's Labyrinth's CGI is much more realistic and immersed, "gelled" as Biblo put it. At least from what I remember.

[DWARFINATORclock]

Your face is kind of vague.

[DWARFINATORclock]

Yeah man he was badass. I didn't like how he told them he could get his scars removed on earth but he wants to keep them to keep reminding him how everything out there wants to kill humans. Who wants to keep scars on their head ?

Whiskey wants to keep scars in HER FACE.

[TequilaClock]

Saw it two days ago.

I liked it, but my complaints are:

• The deal was not "HUMANS ARE BAD OMG NOOOO", it was the villain being "I LIEK 2 BLOW SHIT UP AND STUFF Y'ALL SCIENSTSISTS R DUMBSHIT YEEHAW". It was more annoyingly stupid than reasonably bad.
• DeviantART, but not like we never saw it coming.
• Not directly related to the movie but, why the fuck didn´t Ubisoft hire Michel Ancel (Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, Peter Jackson's King Kong) for the official game they whored the license so much about? I mean, the deal of alternate worlds and the relation of nature and magic is something he works a lot with. I will forgive it if they wanted him to focus 100% on BG&E2, though.
• I know that it's not news to find a comparison with 'Dance With Wolves', but it's just so uncanny sometimes. So whatever.
• He went all Rambo apeshit at the end. It's not something bad, but I found it weird.

[Mashed Potato Johnson]

In what way? Be specific.

hahahaha

[Kombucha]

Who wants to keep scars on their head?

Someone who wants to be ugly.

[Loki Clock]

That's kind of vague, could you elaborate?

The models were just not that amazing. Texturing, sure, the skin is above par, but that's icing on the cake when you're boasting about revolutionizing 3D. As for the animation, it was all either stiff and unnatural or generic Disney overacting (see part where lady hisses when dude comes near dude's body). The creatures were better in animation realism in some cases, but much worse in that respect on form and general appearance.

The words and names were generic, uninspired fantasy shit (foreign-sounding, with reduplication and vanity apostrophes). The subtitles were in a tasteless Papyrus-esque display face.

It rehashes the old trope of the white man coming into (race goes here)'s tribe, at first being thwarted for lack of their tribal folksy wisdom, but then learning their ways and easily besting them, as is natural for a white man to do.

[Converse]

Grr those subtitles ruined my experience! RAGE

[Loki Clock]

Grr those subtitles ruined my experience! RAGE

Let's cherry pick!

[PirateClock]

ITT Loki is to big of a geek to watch a sci-fi movie.  Mindblowing really.

[OvenmittClock]

Also this movie is a lot more fun if you go with friends and make jokes about it the entire time IMO