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TVs Frink said:Someone's still waiting?
hothstation said:TVs Frink said:Someone's still waiting?
Ha! I just saw this movie for the first time a week ago and thought the lack of interest in its sequels speaks volumes.
TVs Frink said:hothstation said:TVs Frink said:Someone's still waiting?
Ha! I just saw this movie for the first time a week ago and thought the lack of interest in its sequels speaks volumes.
I will still defend this movie despite its many flaws. It's more a commentary on how long the sequels have been a thing without ever being a thing.
hothstation said:TVs Frink said:I will still defend this movie despite its many flaws. It's more a commentary on how long the sequels have been a thing without ever being a thing.
I actually enjoyed it very much... The visuals were stunning, even for an "older" film. It is just odd that there seems to be no real anticipation for more Avatar at this juncture.
iridium_ionizer said:hothstation said:TVs Frink said:I will still defend this movie despite its many flaws. It's more a commentary on how long the sequels have been a thing without ever being a thing.
I actually enjoyed it very much... The visuals were stunning, even for an "older" film. It is just odd that there seems to be no real anticipation for more Avatar at this juncture.
I met a young person last year that said she really loved Avatar, but that's just one person. And I assume there were a lot of people that went to the World of Avatar attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park (the accountants must have looked at some numbers before building and opening it in 2017). I just don't think that fan base is anywhere near the size of those for Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Doctor Who.
Yes, there is definitely a dearth of interest by film aficionados and general movie-goers that like the sci-fi and action genres (at least as gauged by people I know and YouTube). I feel that some of this disinterest is due to how the film has been thoroughly deconstructed on the internet.
I don't feel that its flaws were grave ones. In the 1990's they would have surely been excused or ignored. I didn't notice them in the theater - except for the overly simplified good vs. evil conflict of the humans exploiting Pandora's resources at the expense of the Na'vi. But yeah, there's a whole lot of baggage that the movie brings once you go home and think about it - especially when aided by the detail-oriented internet critics. In a lot of ways the whole outsider becoming the insider (and parallels to Dances with Wolves and Fern Gully) would have been more palatable in the long-term if it was less by the numbers and had more nuance to it.
Add to that the fact that the 3D trend in theaters and in home TVs has largely dried up and is largely seen in retrospect as a corporate cash grab - although most would agree that James Cameron would be its sincerest proponent. Most were amazed by the advanced 3D images of Avatar in 2009, but tired of the poor post-conversions afterwards that demanded the same inflated ticket. Furthermore, there is a significant (though small) proportion of the population that due to eye-strain or nausea, do not enjoy the experience of even the best produced 3D films - my wife included.
Personally, I would give Avatar 2 50-50 odds of being a dud vs. rekindling interest. I think James Cameron will try to do something different and compelling - and not just more realistic underwater scenes that utilize a new break-through technology. Anyway even though Avatar 2 just got pushed back due to covid-19 delays, there are some behind the scenes "promotional" news reports that are popping up and we would suspect that Disney will use its full marketing muscle as the release date approaches (December 2022?). We will see.
Moe_Syzlak said:I remember the interest in Avatar being more about the experience. It seemed everyone wanted to experience the so-called leap forward in immersive movie theater experience rather than people falling in love with the story or the world of the movie. I just don’t think people are clamoring to see more of the story told. But if Cameron creates something truly new in the theater experience, it could be a similar hit. I’m just not sure what that would be at this point.
I just watched this the one time in the theater... any feelings about how the extra bits improve the film (or don't)?Avatar (2009)
I opted to revisit the nearly 3-hour "Collector's Extended Cut" because if I'm going back to Pandora, I want to see it all!
That's odd to hear.... Avatar has always seemed to me like a poster child for film buffs who complain about CGI ruining live action. CGI Spider-Man, for example, looks real and impressive on the theater screen, but once you watch at home, I can see the criticisms that it looks like a really good video game. For me, Avatar is the same...looked fantastic, but you had to see it in IMAX. I watch those clips you posted and totally get the video game look complaints (even though I personally enjoy it and don't care.)your brain just excepts them as flesh and blood 10-ft blue aliens.
The "villain complaint" bandwagon that everyone is on these days is exasperating. I envy these people who have never actually met real-life people who are genuinely pretty one-dimensional and unreasonable and intractable. I grew up in Florida. They exist. I've met tons of guys like the Colonel.Stephen Lang's merciless Colonel Quaritch has been criticised for being one-dimensional
I just watched this the one time in the theater... any feelings about how the extra bits improve the film (or don't)?
Avatar has always seemed to me like a poster child for film buffs who complain about CGI ruining live action. CGI Spider-Man, for example...
^Hmmm...sounds like it's almost a mental barrier as much as from eyesight. Like "I know this was not really done, therefore I cannot accept what I'm seeing."
Yeah my problem with avatar two is that I'm not invested in the story at all. It's just not well written enough. Was it spectacular? Sure.Watched Avatar for the first time in over a decade with the kids. The effects hold up pretty well vs. modern effects. Though I’d say that’s just how little effects have improved. For me the composits and green screen elements very much stand out. Human characters react to things in a way that seems unnatural when in obviously CGI environments. The pure CGI parts, as I said, hold up pretty well. But they still feel not quite right. I suppose that’s why they made Pandora have a little less gravity than Earth. Might be the smartest writing of the movie. Still it’s so much better than the Prequels and at least on par with modern Marvel-esque CGi. I’m hoping the new one resets the bar.
The writing is still pretty bad to me. Scientists don’t behave like scientists and the military and corporates are one dimensional mustache twirlers. I’m not really led to care about Jake at all. He has his Dances with Wolves transformation but, on a personal level, I still don’t really know him or care about him. And whatshisname has never worked for me as a leading man; he just doesn’t have the charisma. And his Captain Willard VO simply doesn’t work and worse seems like lazy writing. The Na’vi are so reductionist Native American stereotypes that it’s cringeworthy. I’m a bleeding heart liberal environmentalist and that’s how I feel. I can’t imagine how anyone outside the choir would feel.
I’m reminded of a songwriting maxim I’ve heard that if you stripped away all the flash and had just a chord progression and a melody would it still hold up. I don’t think this would hold up without the flash. I’m seriously hopeful that more thought went into the writing of the sequels.
Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention that the attack on the tree, when the tree comes down all the Na’vi continue to run in a straight line in the direction the tree is coming down instead of, you know, moving sideways out of its path. That was rightfully skewered in Prometheus but I’ve never heard anyone critique it here.