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Blue. Visual. Overload.
I’m far too fucking lazy to write a formal review of the movie tonight, so I’ll give you the quick once over. It’s a good movie. It looks insanely fucking amazing. It kinda catches me off-guard in that department though. Does it look as good as it does, because it doesn’t look all CG (looks real) or does it look so good, because it’s all so surreal (colors textures and what) that my basis of comparison is skewed so far from my calibration for what constitutes real, that I’m able to accept more flaws? I’m not really sure, but I was uber impressed with the sensory delivery of this movie. Cameron’s goal was to delivery a monumental cinema experience? Mission accomplished.
The story was standardish, but delivered well. The acting was par all the way through, nothing noteworthy there. The directing of the actors was much of the same. The directing of the vehicle was excellent I’d say, because even being aware that the movie is being elevated slightly because it’s ground-breaking I think the execution of the standard movie-making aspects was done well enough to bring all of those traditional pieces that I label as ‘par’ to above that as a package deal.
We also saw this in 3D. I’ve never done that before, and holy shit that took this world and blew my fucking brain matter all over the dumpy fat kid behind me. It was incredible. I really want to see the movie in regular DLP to get a better sense of the world that was created for the visual experience via the art, rather than just the technology. I don’t expect to change my opinion, or be less impressed, I just want to make sure I’ve really seen it for what it all is.
I walked out very entertained, very satisfied, and very rewarded for a movie that delivered within my expectations, and still managing to wow me.
nice. sounds like length wasn’t an issue either.
now to see if i can talk the wife into seeing it this weekend.
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
Length is never an issue for me. Seriously though, the movie didn’t feel as long as it is, but fucking shit many every place my clothes bunched up in those stupid movie seats ached for hours. They really should have provided a warm ball massage, or at least some ball creme in the bathrooms for some soothing relief after. When are these movie theaters come to come into the current century?
Politically-charged. Environmental. Tirade.
Nah, I didn’t think about that at all while watching the movie — I was too involved with the visuals to care.
I really think that if I were to give the movie a rating, I would have to give it three — one for the story, one for the visuals, and one for the 3d experience. The story, probably a 2.5 out of 4. The visuals, a 3.75 out of 4. The 3d, a 4 out of 4. If you don’t see the movie in 3d, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
I really think that this is one of those movies that everyone should support, because it’s just groundbreaking. And I have to say, I didn’t even think about how the story had been borrowed from other movies until after the movie — during it, I just didn’t care about any of that, because I was so moved by the visuals.
I’ve been talking about it almost constantly since I saw it, because everyone seems to want to know what it was all about — I think that for one scene of graphic blue alien porn, it’s pretty family safe. (In reality, for most of the movie, all the Na’vi are pretty much naked, so it’s more of a tribal sort of nudity, if that makes any sense.)
@rob 42793 wrote:
(In reality, for most of the movie, all the Na’vi are pretty much naked, so it’s more of a tribal sort of nudity, if that makes any sense.)
Oh yes it does. Sexy tribal sense.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
@rob 42793 wrote:
Nah, I didn’t think about that at all while watching the movie — I was too involved with the visuals to care.
I really think that if I were to give the movie a rating, I would have to give it three — one for the story, one for the visuals, and one for the 3d experience. The story, probably a 2.5 out of 4. The visuals, a 3.75 out of 4. The 3d, a 4 out of 4. If you don’t see the movie in 3d, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
I really think that this is one of those movies that everyone should support, because it’s just groundbreaking. And I have to say, I didn’t even think about how the story had been borrowed from other movies until after the movie — during it, I just didn’t care about any of that, because I was so moved by the visuals.
It sounds like what you’re really saying is that the visuals are amazing, but visuals alone don’t a movie make. Okay I guess nowadays they do, but not a movie with a story. So what I’m saying is, if the visuals were amazing but the rest of the movie was just eh, along with some politics on top of it, then instead of saying everyone should support the movie, I’d reword it by saying, at least for me, everyone should support visuals of that caliber, while demanding a better, deeper story, and for the politics to be left at home.
But then again as I’ve mentioned before, no matter how good the visuals of a movie are, if I don’t like a movie’s message or story, I’d rather just save my money and read a book.
Again with the politics — okay, then I didn’t make myself clear — the experience of watching this movie, if you’re a fan of film in general or filmmaking, makes it worth seeing. This doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with movies that you are attempting to lump it in with — this isn’t a “pretty movie with an ok story.” This is a game-changing movie.
Now, this seems to go against what I’ve said before about movies, if you’ve ever paid any attention to me — but I’m telling you, this affected me. It gave me an excitement that I haven’t had in a long time watching a movie, and to me, that’s saying something.
Now, if you go into a movie expecting politics, then I guess there’s not much I can say — it should also say something that I’m willing to go back to see it with anyone who wants to. April said she might be up for it, and I talked to one of my old Blockbuster friends that said he wouldn’t be able to see it until next week, and I’m willing to go see it with him, too.
So no, I wouldn’t reword it at all. I apologize if I seem like I’m coming off like I’m mad or something, that’s not my intention — but this experience elicited a response from me that I didn’t expect, and that was a very pleasant surprise.
just saw it. any of you remember that after doing the prequels george lucas said we have seen the last of the big budget hollywood action spectacles? well with this movie cameron just replied “i’ll see your battle of endor and raise you a blue native american tribe of aliens.”
story? been done many times.
visuals? never been seen in the history of cinema. utterly amazing.
3D? had to change glasses twice because the IR wasn’t activating the lenses properly. i still feel 3D is nothing more than a gimmick. judder is so much more noticeable in 3D. if they are going to do 3D they need to up the frame rate. not by a lot but enough to tone down the judder.
IR? you would think with a movie this big they could come up with a better way of syncing the glasses than with a line of sight technology.
preachy? no. i would have walked out.
environmental? no. i despise environmentalism as a religion.
an appreciation of nature? yes. and i found it very evocative.
i really connected with the na’vi as a representation of native american culture.
i have no problem with the depiction of the military as an imperialistic invasive force. and i’m sure most of you would find me pro-American, pro-military to a fault. because seriously, is there anyone who thinks this isn’t how something like this would go down in real life? the movie wasn’t anti-American or anti-military. it was about power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely. it was about man using technology to invade Heaven (or whatever your religion calls it) in an attempt to kill God (or whatever deity you believe in) and claim the power therein. like some self-righteous prometheus trying to steal fire from the gods of olympus.
this movie was one of the most powerful forms of cinema as art that i’ve ever seen. it was powerful and evocative. i feel fortunate to have seen it at this moment in time. i’m so envious of people that were there on opening day of star wars. now i can look back and say “i saw avatar in the theater on its first run” because i defy anyone to say this will never be in the theater again.
and how many times have we heard directors say that “the fx are only there to drive the story. there are no gratuitous effects.”? i can honestly say there are no fx shots in this movie just for the sake of an effect shot. this is the most cgi i’ve ever seen in a movie, yet all the cgi in this movie serves the story.
amazing.
james cameron, thank you for your patience in waiting for the technology to be at a point where your vision could be realized.
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
Wow, I can’t believe it — I figured it out. I’ve been trying to come up with a good example of why I think Avatar should be seen, and trying to think of a good example.
To me, this movie is like Jurassic Park. When it came out, I didn’t like it. I had read the book, and the movie is like a watered-down version…needless to say, I wasn’t a fan of the changes made in service of the lowest-common demoninator.
But I saw it 4 times in the theater.
And why would I do that? Why would I subject myself to a movie repeatedly where the story wasn’t that great?
Because when you see that T-Rex the first time, you almost shit your pants.
Now, there’s a lot of the movie that I really like. Jeff Goldblum was perfect casting, Sam Neill was great, and the action scenes really are pretty awesome. And what a score! But what really set it apart for me was the special effects — that’s what made it special to me. That what looked like a real fuckin’ T-Rex walking in that street. And that we were on the cusp of a CG revolution.
The difference here is — I really like the story. It’s good. There’s no surprises, really. It’s strangely derivative of other movies. It’s still a perfectly watchable story, but maybe a bit simple.
But it’s the effects this time that really set it apart. It just feels like, once again, I’m excited again. I hope all that makes sense.
EDIT: Nice, Larkitect. You made me think about it in a new way.
@Larkitect 42804 wrote:
… judder is so much more noticeable in 3D. if they are going to do 3D they need to up the frame rate. not by a lot but enough to tone down the judder …
That’s a bummer, it was very noticeable and quite distracting in the Avatar Day preview footage but I hoped they’d have it fixed for the final deal. Glad to hear you guys had a good time though.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
@rob 42803 wrote:
Now, this seems to go against what I’ve said before about movies, if you’ve ever paid any attention to me — but I’m telling you, this affected me. It gave me an excitement that I haven’t had in a long time watching a movie, and to me, that’s saying something.
Hence the mid-movie change of pants, and the paper towel for the back of the head of the person sitting in front of you.
If there’s noticeable judder in the 3D version and it lasts the whole movie, that sort of thing would give me a headache as sure as a slightly flickering screen would, so if I do go see it instead of just waiting to rent it, I’ll go to the local 2D theater.
Judder? I don’t think I noticed that in my print — Lark, was it a DLP showing or film showing? All that seemed to be available in 3d in our area was also DLP…
Yeah, Digital – frickin’ movie geek wood.
@rob 42808 wrote:
Judder? I don’t think I noticed that in my print — Lark, was it a DLP showing or film showing? All that seemed to be available in 3d in our area was also DLP…
Yeah, Digital – frickin’ movie geek wood.
yeah, it was a dlp show. i assumed (erroneously?) that the 3D showing had to be on a digital projector. i thought a transfer to traditional film would have to be 2D?
@rob 42805 wrote:
EDIT: Nice, Larkitect. You made me think about it in a new way.
thx, that’s cool coming from an even bigger fan of movies than myself.
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
@digitaltopia 42807 wrote:
Hence the mid-movie change of pants, and the paper towel for the back of the head of the person sitting in front of you.
If there’s noticeable judder in the 3D version and it lasts the whole movie, that sort of thing would give me a headache as sure as a slightly flickering screen would, so if I do go see it instead of just waiting to rent it, I’ll go to the local 2D theater.
just as with 2d, the judder is only really apparent in certain types of scenes. a lot of motion on screen and you’re fine (its there but minimized). panning when you have a talented dp (like bill pope) and you’re fine (again, minimized). but panning across a scene with heavy motion and there it is.
there is really only one scene that jumped out at me in this way. its shortly after the character gets to play around inside his avatar so its early in the film and i wasn’t quite ‘sucked in’ just yet.
i didn’t intend to scare anyone out of seeing it because of this. i mainly wanted to vent that if 3D is making a comeback they really should think about at least upping the fps to 48Hz per eye. 48Hz on 2D is smooth enough to still look like film and not have that “soap opera” look. so surely 48Hz per eye wouldn’t be too much for them to strive for.
no flickering to speak of. you would be doing yourself a major disservice not to see this in 3D at least once. i would really like to see it in 2D to compare, but for a first time viewing you need to see the 3D vision that cameron intended. i will admit i did have to move my head to the left once to avoid a collision from the screen. 🙂
My essence still senses Bucho's women.
I assumed that all the 3d screenings would be in DLP as well. I have noticed though that frame rates are detected differently by each person, so I was just trying to make sure there was something I didn’t know about. The only “issue” I had during the movie was my own damn fault — my eyes kept drying out because I wasn’t blinking!!
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