James Cameron's 'Avatar' - The next gen of cinema

Well it's going to be a great 'action movie' because that's what Cameron does good.

The plot is bound to be boring/melodramatic/predictable because that's how the plots of his movies are (never anything spectacular there).

The tech used in the film will be good, I mean the FX will be top-notch although I don't expect anything being re-invented. It's a 3D movie mixture of film+CGI. I don't expect to see anything different to other 3D movies (mainly animation) as it's the same tech - nevermind the rubbish publicity stunts and rumours to 'biggen' the effect of the movie and get people at theatres. He only (tries to) works with blockbusters to clean off every now and then so that's what you should expect.

Watching the trailer I thought "what the hell is this, can it be any more American 2-a-penny storylines?" Good soldier goes to alien planet to get stuff so that he can save his homeland, realises that the army is in reality 'bad' while he falls in love with an alien (!) and then decides to save them by fighting the - now - bad soldiers. Oh give me a break!!!! I'll become diabetic if I watch this, I know..

The FX will be nice though..
 
kgi said:
The plot is bound to be boring/melodramatic/predictable because that's how the plots of his movies are (never anything spectacular there).
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Let's not get confused with Bay territory here...

One of Cameron's gifts is he doesn't tend to dumb down his characters and is pretty inventive with his stories...

'Boring?' Cameron? Hmmm... Or are you just after some attention? ^^^ there you go! You got some :)
 
NeilFawcett said:
One of Cameron's gifts is he doesn't tend to dumb down his characters and is pretty inventive with his stories...
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So Arni on T1/2 was a 'smart' character according to you, or the characters of the Titanic, those where pretty unvonventional too.

Rambo was an amazingly smart character, never dumbed down!


Stating one's opinion doesn't equal to seeking attention, or is everyone who has a different opinion to you an attention seeker? Oh dear.
 
kgi said:
So Arni on T1/2 was a 'smart' character according to you
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LOL! The worst strawman in history of strawmen! Classic!

When you wish to join other level headed people, step on up :)


No one is declaring Cameron to be a God of cinema or similar, just that he has make pretty solid, intelligent action flicks, with intelligent* characters. Cameron = Boring scripts? It doesn't compute!


*they behave in a realistic manner, not that they demonstrate an IQ off the scales :rolleyes:


And as for your silly example, actually, yes, Arni was an intelligent character. His rules were clearly set out and the script followed them and permitted an interesting ride with that character. In the first film his character was a damn fine villain. In the sequel, you actually had compassion for a lump of metal? Prettyy intelligently written character in my mind! :)
 
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tntcoder said:
Is every cinema going to have to offer 3d goggles for this? Wont be a cheap operation will it?
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No different to every other 3D showing at the moment.

A lot of cinemas are now kitted out with 3D digital projectors, and they charge you an additional charge to go and watch 3D films on them usually... Which I imagine pays for those 3D specs :)
 
NeilFawcett said:
No one is declaring Cameron to be a God of cinema or similar, just that he has make pretty solid, intelligent action flicks, with intelligent* characters. Cameron = Boring scripts? It doesn't compute!


*they behave in a realistic manner, not that they demonstrate an IQ off the scales :rolleyes:


And as for your silly example, actually, yes, Arni was an intelligent character. His rules were clearly set out and the script followed them and permitted an interesting ride with that character. In the first film his character was a damn fine villain. In the sequel, you actually had compassion for a lump of metal? Prettyy intelligently written character in my mind! :)
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I think you are confused. Realistic characters are not the same as smart characters. Smart characters are not the same as "fascinating action movie". A smart character is a Dickens character, for example. Arni or John Rambo (lol) is not one of them, by far. Their script could be printed on an A4's one side with 20 size fonts and wide margins, therefore you saying that they were well developed in the context of the script is funny the least. The fact that they were different, or unusual characters does not mean they were smart.

As for you empathising with T2, well, I'll not comment on that - it takes all kinds and tastes I guess.

Camerons films are about action, well orchestrated and directed - of course - but action movies (almost all of them) nonetheless. They are not about character development or anything like that. The films are realistic only in the sense that the blow-ups and the FX are realistic, the characters are certainly NOT realistic (how realistic is the 'Terminator' ??!?). They might interact realistically with their surroundings but that's just about being a good director and not taking it too far with your FX.

I would bet Avatar is a good looking movie, but an interesting one? I would doubt that.
 
For comparison I saw the Avatar trailer in 2d in the cinema last night, frankly awful. It's going to be a 3d or nothing film it seems, anything non foreground was blurred and mushy, and that scene of the lead guy rolling off the ship in his wheelchair somehow managed to look even worse.
Seeing the 2nd longer trailer in 3d has convinced me that the 3d version will be a worthwhile cinematic experience, I'm just not convinced as a standalone film it'll be any good.
 
I'm considering going to see this at Imax, as far as I'm aware it was shot using imax cameras for a lot of the film. The dark knight was truly exceptional. :)

Anybody else going to an imax cinema or considering it?
 
Eliot said:
i just dont get the appeal of this film. its 3d....wow so is monsters and aliens, the hypefactory on this film is unbelieveable people are going off a few minutes of footage and throwing around phrases like gonna be the best movie for years , gonna reinvent cinema HUH?
dont get me wrong im gonna watch it cos it looks GOOD however it aint AMAZING till youve seen it and until then its just a 3d blockbuster
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cinema is probably going the way of gaming.

graphics > gameplay
special effects > story
 
NeilFawcett said:
Unfortunately while people keep paying for things like 2012, I guess that's what we'll keep getting...
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I disagree, 2012 is a disaster movie, within that genre it's actually a good film. The CGI was done really well and definitely helped sell the film, it had tension and suspense and was paced almost perfectly.
 
LeJosh said:
I'm considering going to see this at Imax, as far as I'm aware it was shot using imax cameras for a lot of the film. The dark knight was truly exceptional. :)

Anybody else going to an imax cinema or considering it?
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Yep, got tickets. :) There aren't many decent seats left around christmas though (at least in the big london one).
 
bam0 said:
I disagree, 2012 is a disaster movie, within that genre it's actually a good film. The CGI was done really well and definitely helped sell the film, it had tension and suspense and was paced almost perfectly.
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Not seen it, so can't comment... But the reviews I've read imply the opposite. Escape after escape after escape after escape... interspersed with lots of meaningless people getting mashed and chickens in peril...

Can't say I'm much of a Emmerich fan TBH...
The Patriot :rolleyes:
Day After Tomorrow :rolleyes:
10,000 BC :rolleyes:

He seems the perfect example of leave your brain at the door action flicks. While some might enjoy this sort of stuff, I tend not to. Just my personal taste...
 
NeilFawcett said:
Not seen it, so can't comment... But the reviews I've read imply the opposite. Escape after escape after escape after escape... interspersed with lots of meaningless people getting mashed and chickens in peril...

Can't say I'm much of a Emmerich fan TBH...
The Patriot :rolleyes:
Day After Tomorrow :rolleyes:
10,000 BC :rolleyes:

He seems the perfect example of leave your brain at the door action flicks. While some might enjoy this sort of stuff, I tend not to. Just my personal taste...
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Sure, in the overall area of cinema, it's not of great value for artistic merit, message, plot etc. Within it's genre of action/disaster films like Poseidon, Volcano, Armageddon, Deep Impact it was a good film.
 
bam0 said:
Sure, in the overall area of cinema, it's not of great value for artistic merit, message, plot etc. Within it's genre of action/disaster films like Poseidon, Volcano, Armageddon, Deep Impact it was a good film.
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I haven't see it so can't make comparisons... But Poseidon and Deep Impact I suspect are not good comparisons to 2012? I'd imagine they're far more even handed (realistic) character driven pieces? Not something surely Emmerich bother himself with too much. Sure he throws the idea in there, but it's only as an excuse for the character to move onto the next peril :)


I guess with action cinema you're either an Armageddon or Deep Impact person... I found Armageddon cheap and cheesy... I'm more your Deep Impact person I guess :)
 
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