Avatar {2009}

[ultrazilla2000]

There won't be any confusion among movie goers...if you're a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you will know what to look for as the two stories are vastly different.

[Danno]

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

[Pkmatrix]

[emeGoji]

Happy Avatar Day!

I just returned from the 7pm IMAX preview screening. In all, there were a little over 100 people in attendance. My parents were "blown away." They had zero prior knowledge of the film; my mother thought it was a preview of The Last Airbender. They loved how gorgeous Pandora was; from the lush fauna to the beautiful colors, it was a visual feast. They also thought the action and the Na'vi were simply stunning, and the 3D was unbelievable. My sister had pretty much the same reaction, though was puzzled about why she'd never heard of it before, and why they (Fox) waited till just a few months before release to clue anybody in.

While I'm still sore over The Last Airbender losing its title to a decade old scriptment, I'm now a believer in this film. I'm glad I watched the trailer over a dozen times before entering this screening, as I was completely over the initial shock of the Na'vi designs, and was able to completely immerse myself in the scenes. With all of the hyperbole surrounding the CG of this film, what really delivered in spades was the 3D. It's not a gimmick folks. The composition of these scenes using the extra dimension is nothing short of revolutionary. As each scene ended, I found myself hoping for just one more scene. I fully expect this to win an Oscar for cinematography.

My favorite scene would have to be, surprisingly, the dragon taming/riding. From the Comic Con screening write ups, I totally didn't expect it to be the highlight. But the composition of the dozens of dragons, the mountains, the Na'vi, and the subtitles was stunning and completely immersive.

Oh yeah, and the Fox rep at the screening was handing out these vouchers...



I just wish I had some money.

[TheMaster]

[Danno]

I wanted to post when I got back from my Avatar day screening but lightning took out a transformer.

First off, it looks really REALLY good. The facial expressions are way better than what they show in the online trailer. I love all the night time scenes.

It was also my first time seeing a movie in IMAX and 3D. The 3D was a little disorienting when a chase sequence went through a jungle, but it was awesome during scenes in the jungles at night.

For all you XXXXXX who are anti-Avatar because you don't think James Cameron is a good director... XXXXXX . You just hate the movie because you hate the fact that people praise Cameron as a good director. You don't like being trendy, we get it you high and mighty XXXXXX . Go home XXXXXX to Citizen Kane and go out of your way to post negative XXXXXX about a movie hoping you will change peoples minds to your views hoping people will think you are a sophisticated film expert. I've never seen a group of people talk on a forum about movies and dislike almost everything. Why bother talking on this forum? You seem like the nerds other nerds despise because they complain too much. Damn.

[MouthForWar]

[Danno]

[TheMaster]

Ya know, if theres one thing males 18-40 go for, its heroes that are giant blue kitty people!

[Pkmatrix]

*tiptoes in*

Has the fighting settled down? Good.

Now, as I mentioned before, I never really cared for Cameron or his work - I hate Titanic, The Abyss was meh, Terminator 2 was fun but over time has become cheesy, I liked Aliens, and I didn't care much for The Terminator.

Considering the hype that's generating around Avatar - "will change the way films are made", "greatest CGI ever", etc - so far, I'm not impressed. Perhaps my opinion will change when I'm in the theater, but 3D movies always come off as gimmicky to me. On top of this, while the alien landscape looks fantastic, I'm not impressed by these aliens - the Na'avi, they're called? - so far, the animation/graphics just look like a very high-end fantasy game. What really hurts things, IMO, is that this is trying to be a CGI animated film with live action integrated into it - the result, so far, just looks... odd. Is he going for realism? Is he going for a fantasy/fairy tale look? The trailer doesn't seem to know.

To be honest, while Avatar has clearly put a lot of work into its effects, the effects presented in the District 9 trailer alone are more impressive. The CGI is integrated much more convincingly with the live action footage in Blomkamp's film, to the point where you eventually begin forgetting that it's CGI. I can't see myself doing that with Avatar, based on the trailer.

Again, maybe my opinion will change when I'm in the theater - I'll probably see it when it comes out. But, so far, the effects, the supposed big reason to see this, don't impress me.

As for the story (which, IMO, should ALWAYS be more important than the effects), the tiny bit we've been told really sounds like "Dances with Wolves in Space", with space marines and aliens replacing the cavalry and Native Americans. Clearly there will be more than that, but so far the whole package has me thoroughly unimpressed.

[MouthForWar]

[Robert Saint John]

Postive, negative, I don't care. Everyone please watch your language. If I have to go back and edit messages again, insta-ban. I have better things to do with my time.

[kidnicky]

[lhb412]

[king_ghidorah]

[Robert Saint John]

[jellydonut25]

[INVINCIBLE HASTUR]

[kidnicky]

[ultrazilla2000]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Enshohma]