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

Wasn't too fussed about seeing the film as I'm not a big Sci-Fi fan but I thought why not!

Stumped up £25 for 2 IMAX tickets but it was well worth it! Loved it from start to finish and didn't think it was too long at all. Great story and visual, definitely one of the most tension filled films I've seen and the missus kept squeezing my bloody arm so she obviously thought the same!

Don't know if it's been mentioned at all but after it had finished my missus said how comparable to Pocahontas it was (story wise), no idea if it is as I can't remember Pocahontas but she was certain it was very similar in story!

Well worth another watch, but I couldn't justify not going IMAX again as it was a lot better than the recent cinema experience I've had. Shame I can't justify stumping up another £25 for a film!
 
My friend mentioned that it was similar to Pocahontas and I'd mentioned Dances with Wolves.

As I've said before :p

Looked stunning, raised the bar in terms of visually (not just in the 3D sense), of which it was stunning.

So so in every other department.
 
One cannot compare it with any other film.

Its the future of cinema.

Forget the plot/narrative/

Just see it for what it is.

There are 8 notes in an Octave and music is just endless reinvention

Give the film a break and see it for what it is....A technical exercise in cinema.
 
Tummy said:
My friend mentioned that it was similar to Pocahontas and I'd mentioned Dances with Wolves.

As I've said before :p

Looked stunning, raised the bar in terms of visually (not just in the 3D sense), of which it was stunning.

So so in every other department.
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It is quite simply the best version of Pocahontas you will ever see.
 
easyrider said:
One cannot compare it with any other film.

Its the future of cinema.

Forget the plot/narrative/

Just see it for what it is.

There are 8 notes in an Octave and music is just endless reinvention

Give the film a break and see it for what it is....A technical exercise in cinema.
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+1 Very well said.

Cinema is getting ruined by reviews, critics and expectations. I tend not to enter a film thread when it's first aired becasue I don't wanna go in and start picking at what's already been brought up and spoil my enjoyment. Some of the comments are like a group of adults talking about the wine and cheese selection. Cinema isn't that sophisticated and neither is the target audience. Stop kidding yourselves in this modern climate that there's time and money for all that.

I'm a big 80s film fan. Things like Alien won't happen again. They have a sense of realism that's more charming than CG. Real sets and props and the actors really reacting with the environment. Green screen acting must be very tough no doubt, but it's the future despite it being a little wooden at times.

A story doesn't have to be groundbreaking, if anthing it's so simple it's anything but the same old IMO. It's all about putting you in the moment and taking in the atmosphere and this film had bags of it. My mum commented on the way back that when they had a long period of the Navai and then it suddenly all went back to Humans, she felt quite disappointed as was brought back to reality a bit. It took her in as it has many others and for that it's very successful. I think the "Avatar" theme is very appropriate in that sense, and it's also why I enjoyed it.

Great cinematic experience.
 
Evangelion said:
Alien was made in the 70s.
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So? My point still stands straight after it. Most of the 80s released films were probably inked and filmed in the 70s but hey ho. My point is we've moved a long way from the physical sets of days gone by but I feel modern CG has been very lifeless. Avatar has changed that for me.
 
Dup said:
So? My point still stands straight after it. Most of the 80s released films were probably inked and filmed in the 70s but hey ho. My point is we've moved a long way from the physical sets of days gone by but I feel modern CG has been very lifeless. Avatar has changed that for me.
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Lord of the Rings showed off what CGI can do. Remember it was Gollum's CGI that showed that Avatar could be made.

District 9 & Avatar just raised the bar in terms of Visuals. District 9 imo was a much better film.
 
Dup said:
So? My point still stands straight after it. Most of the 80s released films were probably inked and filmed in the 70s but hey ho. My point is we've moved a long way from the physical sets of days gone by but I feel modern CG has been very lifeless. Avatar has changed that for me.
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I agree with what you're saying, to a point. But CGI stopped being lifeless in the late 90s/early 00s. Avatar didn't change anything for me; I certainly didn't see anything which hadn't already been done.

Additionally, I found some parts of Avatar visually flat. The 3D effect seemed to fade in and out at times, particularly during the CGI scenes. It worked best when real actors were on screen.
 
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Tummy said:
Lord of the Rings showed off what CGI can do. Remember it was Gollum's CGI that showed that Avatar could be made.

District 9 & Avatar just raised the bar in terms of Visuals. District 9 imo was a much better film.
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Technically it was Jar Jar Binks as he preceded Gollum.

Avatar owes a lot more to the Star Wars prequels than any other film in my opinion.

Off the top of my head, I can't actually think of many other massively CG heavy 'epic' movies.

Yes, you have stuff like Sin City and King Kong even but they're not really the same. Although I haven't seen Avatar or District 9 yet so what do I know...
 
Evangelion said:
Please watch District 9. I found the CGI in that movie utterly jaw-dropping. The integration with live actors was utterly seamless.
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We have it on DVD though. :(

I may sell it and and replace with a Blu-Ray later on. District 9's concept doesn't sound anymore inspiring than Avatar's though and that kind of movie is more common, i.e. locations and sets with interpersed CG characters...not that I doubt it'll be good, just the colors used and the tone seem a bit last decade (i.e. desaturated visuals mixed with familiar-ish story).

That was basically why I was interested in Avatar in the first place, I wasn't too bothered with how the film actually turned out, it was more to do with the direction taken, the money invested and the style of visuals, which is why I don't mind missing it at the cinema (hey, at least I'll get to see it in color and not through some darkened filter glasses). ;)

District 9 still looks very interesting though and doubtless will be well executed; I like the ugly aliens, I assume the audience is asked to sympathise with them? I need to re-buy Star Trek on Blu aswell come to think of it...

eggyoke said:
I read the screenplay and there are so many things that missed the final production. It would have been amazing to see it without the chopping and changing. Much more character interaction between Jake and the other Na'vi.

It'll be interesting to see the deleted scenes and extra footage on the bluray release. I'm actually itching to go and see this again :o Very, very rare for me to be like this over a movie.
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Doesn't this happen to most films though? Stuff getting lost from script to screen. Its easy to write in a tonne of embellishments and add depth to what you already have but to convert all of that into a movie given the constraints of filming and the scale of this project in particular, I'm not suprised a lot was missed out. Words at the end of the day are free (well, if you're writing your own film they are) whereas filming isn't and they must have been on a hectic schedule, not to mention still getting to grips with new tech.
 
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Evangelion said:
Additionally, I found some parts of Avatar visually flat. The 3D effect seemed to fade in and out at times, particularly during the CGI scenes. It worked best when real actors were on screen.
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I can't say I thought Avatar was visually flat at all. The entire thing was a feast for the eyes.

However I agree that the 3D effect faded in and out. When it worked it was amazing, but sometimes it was too vague or blurred to me. While it was the best 3D I've seen in a movie, there is definitely room for improvement.

The CGI in Avatar was the only time I have watched a CG movie and not been constantly reminded that I'm looking at a computer animation. I just forgot all about it and for most of the time, the entire world fooled me into believing it was real. Even the spaceship and the camera panning of the gas giant and its moons at the very beginning was the most realistic space shot I've seen in any movie.

Apart from the obvious fact he used real actors in the performance of the Na'vi, I think one of the major reasons they appeared so real was because of the strange back-light glowy effect he used on all shots, including the live actors. It helped immensely when the movie was flipping between human actors and the Na'vi world.



Chimerical said:
Doesn't this happen to most films though? Stuff getting lost from script to screen. Its easy to write in a tonne of embellishments and add depth to what you already have but to convert all of that into a movie given the constraints of filming and the scale of this project in particular, I'm not suprised a lot was missed out. Words at the end of the day are free (well, if you're writing your own film they are) whereas filming isn't and they must have been on a hectic schedule, not to mention still getting to grips with new tech.
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Yeah I agree with you :) I was just highlighting the screenplay because I would have loved to have seen the entire thing played out in the final release, as unlikely as that is.

One of the scenes I would have loved to see and think it would have made his integration into the Na'vi a lot more believable, was a scene that had him eat the toxic worm to find his "spirit animal." Some of the Na'vi don't survive the test, and Grace warns him that she doesn't know how it'll effect his Avatar brain. He eats it and goes on a LSD type trip and eventually finds his spirit animal to be the Leonopteryx (the huge red dragon thing.) It made sense because it linked numerous parts of the film together.

I think Cameron has said that the bluray will include 10 minutes of extra footage that he had to remove was because it was bogging down the middle of the movie.
 
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Can't believe how booked up the Waterloo IMAX is, it's mental :p Wouldn't be surprised if they extended the run, every showing post-5pm and weekends is completely booked to the end of February bar the odd seat here and there or right at the front. Crazy :p
 
Rich_L said:
Can't believe how booked up the Waterloo IMAX is, it's mental :p Wouldn't be surprised if they extended the run, every showing post-5pm and weekends is completely booked to the end of February bar the odd seat here and there or right at the front. Crazy :p
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Wow! There's gonna be a sequel :)
 
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