James Cameron's "Avatar"

[Lancemc]

So you liked the half hour of Will Smith driving around talking to mannequins?

 

[No spoken words]

So you liked the half hour of Will Smith driving around talking to mannequins?

It hit home for him.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

yeah, that was cool, he should have had DJ Jazzy Jeff with him though

 

[Lancemc]

iRJazzy

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

either that or Martin Lawrence - SHIT JUST GOT REAL!

 

[U2DMfan]

I've said this before, but if Lucas/ILM made travelogues about fake planets, I'd watch. 2 hours on Kashyyyk? Yes, please.

Actually, so would I.

I become some kind of Comic Book Guy (Simpsons) when it comes to Star Wars.

That said, I don't think I've watched more than 5 minutes of the Clone Wars (animated). It just doesn't do it for me. Animation, generally speaking ain't my thing.

 

[LMP]

Completely agree. I think the pros outweigh the cons.

I just hate how many scenes are completely undone by bad dialogue/acting.

And while the battle scenes at the end of Phantom are splendid, especially when Maul is in town....the battle sequences at the end of Clones blew me away in the theater. All those Jedi fighting was pretty awesome, but then you have the two armies getting it the fuck on....good shit.

Yeah, fuck the scene with Obi-Wan talking to Dex, seriously. I understand that Lucas wants to experiment with using all-digital characters and that it drives the story forward, but it's always rubbed me the wrong way... at least when they share the frame with each other, and hug. I'll accept well-integrated CG in any case, but found that to be unnecessary.

Not Jabba in the Star Wars Special Edition unnecessary, but close.

Up until the creatures/vampires/zombies/whatever the hell they are were revealed I was digging it... after that it was painful to watch.

After the dog dies, it all goes downhill. The botched ending seals the deal, too.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

The botched ending seals the deal, too.

Have you seen the alternate ending? It doesn't do much for me either

 

[LMP]

Have you seen the alternate ending? It doesn't do much for me either

It at least, you know, doesn't undermine the entire film. He finds out that they're sentient and that he's truly the "monster" of their nightmares, and that's powerful enough by itself. I agree that the execution isn't that great, but it's still pretty solid for a flawed film.

Not the all-time classic that Ben Lyons believes it to be though.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, fuck the scene with Obi-Wan talking to Dex, seriously. I understand that Lucas wants to experiment with using all-digital characters and that it drives the story forward, but it's always rubbed me the wrong way... at least when they share the frame with each other, and hug. I'll accept well-integrated CG in any case, but found that to be unnecessary.

The hug was cheesy, but I liked the facial expressions, and the guy doing the voice was pretty funny. Plus I loved that he was some greasy short order cook.

It at least, you know, doesn't undermine the entire film. He finds out that they're sentient and that he's truly the "monster" of their nightmares, and that's powerful enough by itself. I agree that the execution isn't that great, but it's still pretty solid for a flawed film.

That's the ending of the original story, if I'm not mistaken. At least it's how the Vincent Price version ends.

 

[LMP]

The hug was cheesy, but I liked the facial expressions, and the guy doing the voice was pretty funny. Plus I loved that he was some greasy short order cook.

That's the ending of the original story, if I'm not mistaken. At least it's how the Vincent Price version ends.

"Heyyyyy, whaddya know..." became a decent in-joke between me and some friends. Clones truly is a mixed-bag for me, if there ever was one.

Yep, and it didn't test well. Aw shucks.

 

[Jive Turkey]

I have a theory that Lucas created Nute Gunray with the sole purpose of putting the final nail in the coffin of animatronics. Theres no way that lip syncing was the best they could do

 

[No spoken words]

If I could get inside the head of just one character from the prequels, it would have to be Lama Su.

I mean, just visiting Kamino would be cool, but to chat it up with the Prime Minister? A Prime Minister with a clone breeding program? Plus, he just seems to relaxed and confident. I think I could learn a lot from him.

 

[lazarus]

I have a theory that Lucas created Nute Gunray with the sole purpose of putting the final nail in the coffin of animatronics. Theres no way that lip syncing was the best they could do

And did they grab the janitor to do the voice or something? The Nemoidans sounded terrible. "I don't know. But we must find out what's going on DOWN THERE!"

If I could get inside the head of just one character from the prequels, it would have to be Lama Su.

I mean, just visiting Kamino would be cool, but to chat it up with the Prime Minister? A Prime Minister with a clone breeding program? Plus, he just seems to relaxed and confident. I think I could learn a lot from him.

Plus, you'd have Taun We as your bitch. BIG PIMPIN'.

 

[If you shout...]

So, this looked a lot better to me than expected, tonight. All in all, the CG models looked a LOOOOOOOOOOOT better than they do in the teaser. Still, there is a creepy aura of pastel cartoonishness to the scenes featuring just the blue mo'fuckers...since, really, they are 100% rendered shots, with zero live action photography. This means that there are no compositing issues, true, but also that the film sometimes looks real, sometimes looks like a live-action FX picture, and sometimes looks like a videogame. It's jarring even in small doses, but it does look better than the teaser led us to believe. Predictably, everything looks a lot better in low or uneven light than high light; I know that that's the nature of the beast, but I cannot stress enough just how much of a difference this made.

Also, the 3D I saw was nothing even remotely special. Very ambitious, yes. Very. But like in most of these films, the shots where there's a lot of 3D are jarring, physically uncomfortable/disorienting, and, when there's a lot of camera movement, at times beyond incomprehensible.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Avatar > everyone who has posted in this thread

 

[Canadiens1131]

Even though it gets shit on quite regularly, I really like Phantom. Its got a different feel than the rest of the films, but looking back, it felt really fresh. I think I've watched the pod race about 100 times. That plus Darth Maul, Watto, Sebulba, Boss Nass and the new music makes for a good time. Too bad Jar Jar had to come and nearly ruin it for everybody

TPM is still my favourite of the prequels, despite Anakin, Padme, and Jar Jar. The other two really lost the lighthearted, swashbuckling action of the original trilogy and it feels like a different director did them, despite obviously having to deal with very dark story points.

Darth Maul killing Qui-Gon had more emotional ressonance for me than the rest of the prequal trilogy....figure that out!

Oh, and the Avatar teaser was extremely underwhelming and I had no idea as to whether to expect a surreal, cartoon-like blue people action flick or a more Starship Troopers kinda thing. The only thing I can say for certain is that Cameron has failed miserably if I am taken out of the film by the LIVE ACTION shots of the soldiers....it was jarring how bad it looked.

 

[No spoken words]

TPM is still my favourite of the prequels, despite Anakin, Padme, and Jar Jar. The other two really lost the lighthearted, swashbuckling action of the original trilogy and it feels like a different director did them, despite obviously having to deal with very dark story points.

Darth Maul killing Qui-Gon had more emotional ressonance for me than the rest of the prequal trilogy....figure that out!

Oh, and the Avatar teaser was extremely underwhelming and I had no idea as to whether to expect a surreal, cartoon-like blue people action flick or a more Starship Troopers kinda thing. The only thing I can say for certain is that Cameron has failed miserably if I am taken out of the film by the LIVE ACTION shots of the soldiers....it was jarring how bad it looked.

I'm curious...because you're you......how did you like Star Trek?

 

[If you shout...]

TPM is still my favourite of the prequels, despite Anakin, Padme, and Jar Jar. The other two really lost the lighthearted, swashbuckling action of the original trilogy and it feels like a different director did them, despite obviously having to deal with very dark story points.

This.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I'm curious...because you're you......how did you like Star Trek?

I thought ILM did a great job with the Star Trek CGI. It felt "weighty", even when my eyes were getting clusterfucked. The only CGI that made me think "damn, that's CGI" was the the vagina monster; the rest of the film it didn't even register.

 

[No spoken words]

I thought ILM did a great job with the Star Trek CGI. It felt "weighty", even when my eyes were getting clusterfucked. The only CGI that made me think "damn, that's CGI" was the the vagina monster; the rest of the film it didn't even register.

Well, cool...but I more meant, did you like the film overall?

 

[UberBeaver]

So after seeing the trailer am I actually less excited for this film than I was before.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

You didn't seem very excited to begin with...

 

[UberBeaver]

Exactly. And I believe that stance was justified.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Well, cool...but I more meant, did you like the film overall?

It was everything I could have hoped for, and more. The plot faults and weaknesses meant nothing when I left the theatre. Great, optimistic, fun, everything it needed to be.

 

[No spoken words]

It was everything I could have hoped for, and more. The plot faults and weaknesses meant nothing when I left the theatre. Great, optimistic, fun, everything it needed to be.

Cool, glad you liked it. I thought it was a blast, and a nice foundation for future films with that cast.

 

[LMP]

Cool, glad you liked it. I thought it was a blast, and a nice foundation for future films with that cast.

Yeah.

I think for the second film to truly work as an "anything goes"-type reboot, one of the main characters has to bite it. Probably Chekov or Sulu. What do you think?

 

[OrARoundabout]

I thought ILM did a great job with the Star Trek CGI. It felt "weighty", even when my eyes were getting clusterfucked.

I loved the CGI in Star Trek...and the lens flares...

WHAT THE FUCK?

 

[Canadiens1131]

Yeah.

I think for the second film to truly work as an "anything goes"-type reboot, one of the main characters has to bite it. Probably Chekov or Sulu. What do you think?

Meh, I'm not too big on that.

I think they should do an 'exploration' type film and maybe set up a supervillan or a big war or something for the third one in the closing act. They did a great job with mining the old universe for cool little tidbits in Star Trek, so I hope we get some TOS character cameos like Harry Mud or Janice Rand.

 

[LMP]

Meh, I'm not too big on that.

I think they should do an 'exploration' type film and maybe set up a supervillan or a big war or something for the third one in the closing act. They did a great job with mining the old universe for cool little tidbits in Star Trek, so I hope we get some TOS character cameos like Harry Mud or Janice Rand.

I'm iffy on the idea myself, but I do think it would enforce the idea of an alternate universe if they truly wanted to go for it.

Ideally, I'd love to see a back-to-back overarching set of sequels that finishes this series of films and leads into a new TV series, but when have those ever been that satisfying? I could see those two characters coming up, just hope that if they create a villain it's a villain for this particular group, not something lazy like digging up Khan again.

Throw some Klingons in the mix, maybe some Romulans... but avoid the Borg. Shit yeah, they're awesome, but it's complete fanboy nonsense to have them show up this early.