If the future of cinema requires you to ignore the plot element of a film, I think i'll stick with the past
James Cameron's 'Avatar' - The next gen of cinema
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If the future of cinema requires you to ignore the plot element of a film, I think i'll stick with the past
Soldato
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Cameron said that it was Gollum that showed him CGI was ready
Hence the word 'technically'.
Jar Jar Binks was still the first (major) CGI character in a live action movie iirc but I'm willing to be corrected on that.
I don't disagree with Cameron's comment about CGI being 'ready' with Gollum but he must have looked at the Star Wars films as well and taken inspiration from them.
Avatar is set to be a trilogy afterall and for me Lucas had the idea right with the prequels, its just that he arguably made them too early. Avatar looks to be (in my opinion) an extension (to use a vague term) of what was achieved technologically in the SW prequels.
If the future of cinema requires you to ignore the plot element of a film, I think i'll stick with the past
+1 for great truth!
Dammit I've still got to write my proper review.
I thought it was interesting that the strongest characters were all heterosexual and enjoyed freedom to choose their own destiny, while the gay and lesbian characters were consistently dis-empowered. It's fair to say that these elements constituted the primary basis of Cameron's sociopolitical meta-narrative.
Casper is the first thing that comes to mind.
Yeah I was thinking of Casper.
Could also include harry potter, the golden compass and such films.
Not sure if this has been posted, but he sums up my thoughts pretty well...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/12/5_live_review_avatar.html
Even down to his thoughts on 3D - I'm still not entirely sold... His final sentence (at 9:00) is basically what I've tried to say a number of times in this thread I think?!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/12/5_live_review_avatar.html
Even down to his thoughts on 3D - I'm still not entirely sold... His final sentence (at 9:00) is basically what I've tried to say a number of times in this thread I think?!
Not sure where you are getting "gay/lesbian characters" from. I think you may be reading far too much into it.
Are you sure you watched the same movie?
I'm with him: if anyone in the film was supposed to be homosexual it was too subtle for me. There was only one love interest of any kind in the whole film. No-one else so much as glanced at someone funny, so where the hell does this gay thing come from?
M
Are you sure you watched the same movie?
You seem to be seeing things that aren't there, consult a physician.
Soldato
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finally went to see avatar last night and i loved it
it was my first 3D film and i was like wow
its a film you really need to watch a few times as there is so much happening
lol just watch a film and enjoy it
you reading way to much it to it
it was my first 3D film and i was like wow
its a film you really need to watch a few times as there is so much happening
+1 for great truth!
Dammit I've still got to write my proper review.
I thought it was interesting that the strongest characters were all heterosexual and enjoyed freedom to choose their own destiny, while the gay and lesbian characters were consistently dis-empowered. It's fair to say that these elements constituted the primary basis of Cameron's sociopolitical meta-narrative.
lol just watch a film and enjoy it
you reading way to much it to it
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Soldato
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Did Casper use a human actor/stand-in and map out their movements using mo-cap? If not, then it doesn't count.
Harry Potter and Golden Compass came after SW Ep.1
I watched this again a week ago and I found myself crying more then the first time.
First time I went, I had a the whole back row to myself (Uxbridge odeon) which is weird as it was on 17th December. I was able to relax, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Second time was in Bournemouth odeon, and I was squashed in just behind the reserved seating area. Better position maybe, but I have to say, that was an extremely uncomfortable experience. Plus the speakers were horribly loud in that cinema, and due to the cramped seating it wasn't possible to adjust position much. I didn't feel much emotion due to sitting tense throughout the show, trying to hold my space while some guy on my right was close to leaning into my seat with his elbow over the armrest. At least I wasn't paying that time.
So for me first time was good; second time, well I try to forget it happened.
The plot was so thin, I had to add a few bits to make it interesting.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
You said
"Jar Jar Binks was still the first (major) CGI character in a live action movie iirc"
not
"Jar Jar Binks was still the first (major) CGI character in a live action movie that used a human actor/stand-in and mapped out their movements using mo-cap iirc"
You can't keep revising the boundries
Though a bit more digging suggests the first fully CGI character was from ILM (as was Casper and Jar Jar along with a host of others) and was 'The Stained Glass Knight' in Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985. Whether you would term that a 'major' character I don't know.
OK, so here's my review of Avatar.
If I had to sum up the movie in two words, they would be: loud; colourful. You get plenty of noise for your money and your eyes will be overloaded by stimuli. Visually, it's gorgeous. Graphics are smooth and elegant. Cameron must have cranked his AA settings right up to the max. ("nVIDIA: the way it's meant to be played"!)
The 3D, sadly, is a mixed bag. There were some great scenes like when some little shiny particle things were drifting around and it honestly felt like I could reach out and touch them. I also had a few good "wince" moments when stuff flew at me from the screen. But as I've said in a previous post, the 3D effect seemed to fade in and out. Scenes with real actors looked best; scenes with a predominance of CGI varied in quality. Some were jaw-droppingly real; others felt rather flat. This is not ground-breaking, history making stuff. It's just vanilla 3D with chocolate sauce, in need of some more beta testing.
An unfortunate side effect of the CGI was that it tended to disassociate me from the Na'vi (the blue space monkeys who inhabit the planet of Pandora). While I really enjoyed the switch between Jake's two "worlds" (blatant deus ex machina but nevertheless very well handled) the CGI stuff never felt real and the graphics used to create them seemed a trifle cartoonish. Consequently, Avatar looks like it's been pasted together with vidcaps from a sophisticated MMORPG.
The Na'vi were shamelessly based on the classic "noble savage" stereotype, which immediately made me care less about them than I do about the dust under my fridge. A curious mixture of Native Americans and African Americans (two peoples traditionally enslaved and abused by white Americans, ironically enough) they were so dumb and hippyish that I couldn't take them seriously. During the rare times when they weren't babbling pseudo-mystical nonsense at the humans, they played "cowboys and Indians" with each other and hung around looking moody. Like that's going to save the planet from intergalactic invasion?
Even worse, they had no idea how to mobilise themselves against the humans. It took Jake (a symbolic "Great White Chief from the Skies") to unite the clans and get them doing what they should have been doing since before the movie even started. Apparently only Jake could do this because - having spent all of several weeks on Pandora - he had magically become a complete expert in every aspect of their language, culture, society, politics and history. Or, to put it another way: only Jake could do this because he was a white American (Avatar is replete with heavy overtones of cultural imperialism and white supremacy). Huzzah!
I've barely touched on the plot holes. Examples could be multiplied. There were also some dizzying leaps of logic - but don't even go there, girlfriend.
To cut a long story short, Jake leads his new people to war after becoming even more of a noble savage than the noble savages themselves and accomplishing the great "once-in-a-lifetime-feat-which-only-five-of-the-clan's-greatest-Na'vi-have-ever-achieved-in-the-entire-history-of-Pandora." Which we knew he was going to do because the movie blatantly telegraphed it at least an hour beforehand. As, indeed, it did with so many of the plot's crude developments.
You see, the problem with basing your movie on stereotypical plot elements and stereotypical characters is that everyone can see what's going to happen from miles away because they already know what to expect from the stereotypes. Avatar slavishly adheres to this tired old formula which is why the story just isn't very interesting. It wastes new technology on old cheese.
I was checking my watch at the 90 minute mark, yawning after 2 hours and wishing I could grow a third buttock for extra coccyx support by the time we entered the final 20 minutes. That's when I wasn't laughing loudly at the atrocious acting and cringe-worthy dialogue.
In fact, there were quite a lot of laughs in the cinema and when the movie finally ended everyone just sort of shrugged and walked out. No applause, no "WOW!", no excited chattering. Like me, they were simply glad it was over.
5/10
If I had to sum up the movie in two words, they would be: loud; colourful. You get plenty of noise for your money and your eyes will be overloaded by stimuli. Visually, it's gorgeous. Graphics are smooth and elegant. Cameron must have cranked his AA settings right up to the max. ("nVIDIA: the way it's meant to be played"!)
The 3D, sadly, is a mixed bag. There were some great scenes like when some little shiny particle things were drifting around and it honestly felt like I could reach out and touch them. I also had a few good "wince" moments when stuff flew at me from the screen. But as I've said in a previous post, the 3D effect seemed to fade in and out. Scenes with real actors looked best; scenes with a predominance of CGI varied in quality. Some were jaw-droppingly real; others felt rather flat. This is not ground-breaking, history making stuff. It's just vanilla 3D with chocolate sauce, in need of some more beta testing.
An unfortunate side effect of the CGI was that it tended to disassociate me from the Na'vi (the blue space monkeys who inhabit the planet of Pandora). While I really enjoyed the switch between Jake's two "worlds" (blatant deus ex machina but nevertheless very well handled) the CGI stuff never felt real and the graphics used to create them seemed a trifle cartoonish. Consequently, Avatar looks like it's been pasted together with vidcaps from a sophisticated MMORPG.
The Na'vi were shamelessly based on the classic "noble savage" stereotype, which immediately made me care less about them than I do about the dust under my fridge. A curious mixture of Native Americans and African Americans (two peoples traditionally enslaved and abused by white Americans, ironically enough) they were so dumb and hippyish that I couldn't take them seriously. During the rare times when they weren't babbling pseudo-mystical nonsense at the humans, they played "cowboys and Indians" with each other and hung around looking moody. Like that's going to save the planet from intergalactic invasion?
Even worse, they had no idea how to mobilise themselves against the humans. It took Jake (a symbolic "Great White Chief from the Skies") to unite the clans and get them doing what they should have been doing since before the movie even started. Apparently only Jake could do this because - having spent all of several weeks on Pandora - he had magically become a complete expert in every aspect of their language, culture, society, politics and history. Or, to put it another way: only Jake could do this because he was a white American (Avatar is replete with heavy overtones of cultural imperialism and white supremacy). Huzzah!
I've barely touched on the plot holes. Examples could be multiplied. There were also some dizzying leaps of logic - but don't even go there, girlfriend.
To cut a long story short, Jake leads his new people to war after becoming even more of a noble savage than the noble savages themselves and accomplishing the great "once-in-a-lifetime-feat-which-only-five-of-the-clan's-greatest-Na'vi-have-ever-achieved-in-the-entire-history-of-Pandora." Which we knew he was going to do because the movie blatantly telegraphed it at least an hour beforehand. As, indeed, it did with so many of the plot's crude developments.
You see, the problem with basing your movie on stereotypical plot elements and stereotypical characters is that everyone can see what's going to happen from miles away because they already know what to expect from the stereotypes. Avatar slavishly adheres to this tired old formula which is why the story just isn't very interesting. It wastes new technology on old cheese.
I was checking my watch at the 90 minute mark, yawning after 2 hours and wishing I could grow a third buttock for extra coccyx support by the time we entered the final 20 minutes. That's when I wasn't laughing loudly at the atrocious acting and cringe-worthy dialogue.
In fact, there were quite a lot of laughs in the cinema and when the movie finally ended everyone just sort of shrugged and walked out. No applause, no "WOW!", no excited chattering. Like me, they were simply glad it was over.
5/10
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Soldato
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they only listened to him after he had bonded with the Toruk
only 5 in there history had done that and not because of what he had learned in the 3 months he was there etc or that he was a "a symbolic "Great White Chief from the Skies" .
was you watching the same film i was lol or had you looked at your watch again and was bored
the cinema where i went wasn't like that at allIn fact, there were quite a lot of laughs in the cinema and when the movie finally ended everyone just sort of shrugged and walked out. No applause, no "WOW!", no excited chattering. Like me, they were simply glad it was over.
5/10
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Dude, you have to read the meta-narrative. It's all about subtext.
Does anyone want to explain how he was able to bond with the Toruk (despite the fact that he's not even a real Na'vi and has only been on the planet a few weeks) when it's supposed to be such an incredibly difficult thing to do? Probably best to leave that one well alone because it simply doesn't make sense.
You got an easy crowd.
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