Avatar redux
 

just thought I would share this story. We all know what a huge hit "Avatar" was. I saw the movie only once, on a 3" screen on a flight about 6 months ago, not the best way to enjoy it.

Over the weekend, I rearranged furniture and hooked up my bluray DVD player to our LCD HD tv, so I figured what is the best movie to test the image & sounds? and went to rent "Avatar" bluray.

When I came home, my wife rolled her eyes, she hates Science Fiction, War or action movies and tends more towards chick flicks/romantic movies.

She who must be obeyed mentioned something about some work she had to catch up on, so I told her "just stay 5 minutes, it's like Titanic, you'll like it".

Within 10 minutes she was hooked, she teared up when the village was destroyed, cheered when the colonel met his end and we wound up watching it a second time.

now "Avatar" is gorgeous on Bluray/HD tv & w. a good sound system :o; but the real power of the movie is in the story telling, you don't hook a customer like my wife with special effects.

James Cameron does have the knack. His two biggest hits so far "Titanic" and "Avatar" are at the core, just basic love sories, but he does know how to tell the story in a captivating fashion. Others have tried to copy the formula without the same success, for example "Pearl Harbour".

Aye, it wasn't all that bad in the end. :yep:

Eh, your mileage may vary I guess. The whole time I was rooting for the humans :arrgh!:

it was all a bit 'dances with wolves' if you ask me.
Looked great in 3d though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXraSkgssFk

Avatar is not bad as a technical showcase, but in all other aspects it is medicore, enjoyable and very pretty, but nothing special.

The special effects are nicely done, but "Iron Man", "Star Trek", "Hellboy", "Terminator Salvation" all had very nice special effects without connecting with a substantial female audience.

"Inglorious Basterds", "The Hurt Locker", "Up in the Air" all had more interesting, innovative story lines and better acting.

The story in "Avatar" is very simple and predictable: Boy meets Blue Alien girl, Boy and Blue Alien girl fall in love, Boy surmounts various obstacles to win over Blue Alien girl and live happily ever after...actually, the story line is very similar to the one in Titanic if you substitute "very rich" for "blue alien".

so why did it click with audiences? it can't just be the 3d, although that seems to be what Hollywood thinks. Is it perhaps that audiences are suckers for a well told love story, even a predictable one?

That film is excellent. :up:

YES!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

Avatar sucked.

oooooh no no no.

It was literally, a TOTAL imitation of Pocahontas.

Did anyone think the fight scene at the end was a repeat of the one in Alien? I enjoyed the movie, in particular 3-D, but it did feel like James Cameron was borrowing ideas from previous films....

Avatar is worth buying in Blueray imo.


Ask your wife to watch Dances with the wolves(Kevin Costner) with you
your second choice would be Forrest Gump.

The first would tell if someone has a heart.:D

This thread makes me so glad my GF likes horror movies for some reason.:O:

Yup, just dressed them up in new effects and set them to 3D.

Although the actual fight scenes in Avatar were pretty righteous. (I have never wanted a robot suit as badly as I did when I saw the movie)

Well as long as she didn't choose you for the same liking :haha:

I never saw "Avatar" -- it was one of those times when I opted not to follow the herd. Hearing the plot later, I knew I hadn't missed much. Cameron sure knows how to press our entertainment buttons, and that's a good skill to have.

However the story itself wasn't so hot. Sure we all feel bad about the genocide of native tribal peoples in the New World, but making a fantasy about noble savages defeating the greedy modern guys doesn't actually help, IMO. It's just anesthesia for guilt.

In truth, had the humans studied their own history, they could have crushed those nice blue people even before deploying the Space Marines -- using an engineered virus fatal only to Na'avi. 90% fatalities, for ex. Was that in the movie?

I know, I'm a bad, bad human!

Least you're an honest one! :haha:

I always refer to Herbert in these cases:

So did my soon to be ex wife! She was also afraid of spiders, but bought any movie with spiders in it!:doh:

The Martians showed surprising incompetence when it came to waging a total war against an inferior enemy; they failed basic grand strategy, weapon design, reconnaissance and preparation. Indeed, it is of my opinion they only achieved temporary success only due to their superior technology and the element of surprise. On the other hand, humanity has centuries of experience to rely on, so we shouldn't be having so much trouble dealing with a bunch of disorganized savages with inferior technology and obsolete notions of warfare.

Anyway, Avatar wasn't a bad movie, but it was not an especially amazing one either. I always wondered about the ending; by throwing the humans out, didn't the blue people ruin all chances of diplomacy (Which the humans were quite agreeable with before), thereby dooming themselves to a short and bloody war of extermination when the humans returned with a proper military force under competent leadership and, in essence, destroying their chances for collective survival?

Ah, that's for the sequel -- but of course!