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sts9fan · « **Reply #20 on:** 19 Dec 2009, 11:37 pm »

South Park got it right. It's "Dances with Smurfs".

rydenfan · « **Reply #21 on:** 21 Dec 2009, 02:55 pm »

Quote from: sts9fan on 19 Dec 2009, 11:37 pm

South Park got it right. It's "Dances with Smurfs".

not at all.

This movie is a true cinematic experience. This is truly ground-breaking technology. Anybody who is a fan of film must appreciate what Cameron has done. He truly created an entire world that is so complex and beautiful. It will likely take a few years for all of this technology to trickle into other films, but he has made going to the movies special again. The depth and dimensionality of the 3D technology is stunning. It took me a bit to get into it but once I did I was fully immersed in it. This could one day be seen as momentous as adding sound to a film; once it happened things were never the same.

launche · « **Reply #22 on:** 21 Dec 2009, 04:04 pm »

Truly Impressive!!!

Surely a game changer and now everyone else has to play catch up.
The visuals steals the show for sure but there is one aspect that we aren't talking about and I assume it's for the sake of spoilers so I'll check back in down the road. I think this movie is so very good is a few key ways that many people don't know how to even process it or better yet maybe their brains don't need too.

For the first time I kind of felt what it was like to be Captain Kirk.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #23 on:** 21 Dec 2009, 05:05 pm »

It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple hours. The technology and the visuals steal the show. I agree with what someone else said, the character development was good for the main character. Some of the storyline was typical of Hollywood and was about at an 8th grade level. We have reached a strange alternate universe of irony when our moral teaching comes from Hollywood. It was about as deep as a puddle in terms of that aspect of portraying the bad guys vs. good guys but that is what works in these types of movies. You don't necessarily want a heavy thinking experience.

I'd give it five stars, it was an enjoyable way to blow $10 and a couple hours.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #24 on:** 21 Dec 2009, 10:38 pm »

What is it about the technology and visuals that make this different from any other CGI movie?

For me the cinematic experience always comes down to the characters and plot. Everything else is supplementary.

nathanm · « **Reply #25 on:** 21 Dec 2009, 11:57 pm »

The last time I was impressed with CGI as a cool schtick unto itself was "Jurassic Park". Now it's just a normal part of the scenery. If the work is done right it shouldn't make you think of CGI at all. But shouldn't Hollywood be way beyond the Gee Whiz, Ain't It Cool? phase at this point?

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 12:18 am »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 21 Dec 2009, 10:38 pm

What is it about the technology and visuals that make this different from any other CGI movie?

For me the cinematic experience always comes down to the characters and plot. Everything else is supplementary.

It was just done better than anything else to date. The movie is nothing special outside of the technology. The story is basic, the characters are predictable and there is nothing new.

If you are looking for a meaningful story about the human experience you better look elsewhere because this is aimed directly at the mass market.

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 12:44 am »

Quote from: nathanm on 21 Dec 2009, 11:57 pm

The last time I was impressed with CGI as a cool schtick unto itself was "Jurassic Park". Now it's just a normal part of the scenery. If the work is done right it shouldn't make you think of CGI at all. But shouldn't Hollywood be way beyond the Gee Whiz, Ain't It Cool? phase at this point?

SPOILER ALERT
Hollywood is lucky to get beyond Gee Whiz and like newspapers most movies have to be dumbed-down for the general population. The story is basic and good guys vs. bad guys. Think Independence Day merged with Dances with Smurfs mixed with an environmentalist message. The bad guys are capitalist humans who have destroyed their planet and want to exploit this new one. The good guy is an ex-marine who has been paralyzed from the waist down and while the technology is available to medically cure him, it isn't affordable for a poor veteran. He has to agree to be a part of this companies mission to remove the indigenous aliens in order to earn his legs back.

The bad guys are a mix of industrial/military bad guys whose evil capitalist motives have them killing the natives, destroying the natural resources and in general just being really rotten stewards of the natural resources of this new world. They treat the intelligent aliens as if they are just animals and kill them without a thought. It turns out, that the flora and animals of Avatar are all interconnected in this one big holistic organism. The aliens worship this "collective biological organism" that spans the globe connecting all animals and plants together.

The main character (the paralyzed ex-marine) falls in love with an alien and the new world and helps them to fight off the evil capitalist humans. In the end he gives up his humanity and becomes a full-time 10ft tall alien who flies around on a dragon.

The cool thing about the movie isn't the story though. The special effects and the portrayal of a completely alien world in a believable (visual) way is what make the movie special.

SPOILER ALERT

ted_b · « **Reply #28 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 12:46 am »

PLEASE no spoilers, without an alert!

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #29 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 12:54 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 22 Dec 2009, 12:46 am

PLEASE no spoilers, without an alert!

Ok... Spoiler Alert inserted.

Woodsea · « **Reply #30 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 01:26 am »

I really enjoyed this movie in 3d. It had a good message, and the worst words were $hit and ass. My 7 yr old and 11 yr old loved it as well.

JackD201 · « **Reply #31 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 01:27 am »

As a recent victim of floods caused by environmental abuse (Typhoon Ketsana...look it up), this movie to me is more than just visual glitz. It has a message that while lost on the jaded, just may reach deeper into the young. I see nothing corny about anything that makes one reassess the social and environmental costs of progress. I'm not about to don a loincloth and head for the forest but surely there has got to be a better way than what we are doing today.

The imagined world of Cameron's Avatar could be looked at as aspirational. My hats off not just to Cameron but to the hundreds of artists and technicians that brought it to virtual life frame by frame and layer by layer of each of those frames.

This movie isn't the best film ever on my list by a long shot but it ranks high in my list of movies that any lover of the art form must experience. In the here and now it is at the very top of the list.

werd · « **Reply #32 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 04:54 pm »

This movie is epic..... 3D breathes life into this movie that could easily make it one of the best sci-fi/fantasy movies to date. I would've love to have seen Lord of the Rings in this format.

My kid cheered for the humans here so i guess i got some reparenting to do.

Toka · « **Reply #33 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 05:13 pm »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 21 Dec 2009, 10:38 pm

What is it about the technology and visuals that make this different from any other CGI movie?

For me the cinematic experience always comes down to the characters and plot. Everything else is supplementary.

The film used a brand-new, custom camera (talked about on page 3):

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4339455.html?page=1

This really isn't throwing tons of effects at the screen for the gee-whiz factor...its very immersive and in many respects you don't even notice it (the CGI-ness, that is). It is crazy to think what may happen 5-10 years down the road with this sort of technology (just look at CGI from 5-10 years ago to see how far its come already). Avatar is clearly a step above everything else on a technical level.

As to the story, I really liken it to the better Disney/Pixar films. The premise is established, and then you pretty much know what is going to happen but you don't care because it is so fun to watch.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #34 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 10:36 pm »

How much difference does seeing it in 3D make? In other words, if you had to drive an extra 2 hours out of town to see in in 3D, would it be worth it or would you see it in the regular format locally?

nathanm · « **Reply #35 on:** 22 Dec 2009, 10:59 pm »

I would not be at all surprised if Kevin's cynical synopsis was entirely accurate! Heh!

werd · « **Reply #36 on:** 23 Dec 2009, 12:50 am »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 22 Dec 2009, 10:36 pm

How much difference does seeing it in 3D make? In other words, if you had to drive an extra 2 hours out of town to see in in 3D, would it be worth it or would you see it in the regular format locally?

It would be worth the drive, I would not watch this in any other format. The 3d format has a real organic visual feel to it that puts your right there. It's real interesting to see, even if you don't like the storyline. The regular screening won't do it justice compared to 3D.

rawdata · « **Reply #37 on:** 23 Dec 2009, 01:41 am »

Quote from: nathanm on 17 Dec 2009, 03:43 pm

I thought about going, but didn't think it would look very good, especially when the movie could not be any wider than 120 pixels.

I got a good giggle over this comment. Very creative!

Kevin Haskins · « **Reply #38 on:** 23 Dec 2009, 01:47 am »

Quote from: nathanm on 22 Dec 2009, 10:59 pm

I would not be at all surprised if Kevin's cynical synopsis was entirely accurate! Heh!

Hey... there is nothing cynical in that synopsis!

I bet six pack that my Carbon footprint is a 1/100th that of James Cameron.

It was an accurate portrayal of the good vs. evil portrayed in the movie. It was a good flick and I'm taking my 12 year old son and nephew to see it sometime over the holiday.

ecramer · « **Reply #39 on:** 25 Dec 2009, 05:37 am »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 22 Dec 2009, 10:36 pm

How much difference does seeing it in 3D make? In other words, if you had to drive an extra 2 hours out of town to see in in 3D, would it be worth it or would you see it in the regular format locally?

Drive you wont regret it

stuningly good in three d

ed

I went back for a second time yesterday its just flat out good