Avatar - astonishing!

[Lizban]

Oh my god people ENJOYED that. I took my 10 YO niece and we both hated it. About 50% too long, no storyline worth talking about and the bit when they do their mass arm waving yoga to regenerate the bodies well at that stage I was crying with laughter. First time I've been asked to be quiet in a cinema before.

 

[rich p]

Oh my god people ENJOYED that. I took my 10 YO niece and we both hated it. About 50% too long, no storyline worth talking about and the bit when they do their mass arm waving yoga to regenerate the bodies well at that stage I was crying with laughter. First time I've been asked to be quiet in a cinema before.

You've almost tempted me now!

 

[Crackle]

Our family was split. Kids and Mrs Crackle loved it and I didn't. I thought the storyline unoriginal, the characters undeveloped and cheesy, the ending silly and the dialogue poo, with big bored moments throughout the film. However I've had to keep my 'misery' to myself because everyone else liked it. This is the first chance I got to say why I didn't like it, sorry Swee'pea

 

[swee'pea99]

Why apologise? No harm done! You didn't enjoy it; I did. Wouldn't life be dull if we all liked the same things?

FWIW, for all that I like 'Dances with smurfs' - excellent! - I still stand by words like astonishing and astounding. Quibbles about storyline, acting, plot etc seem to me rather beside the point. Seemed fine to me, and entirely in keeping with the level of those aspects of movie-making you expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster. (Terminator, for just one eg, is a great movie...but I don't remember Arnie getting any nominations.) Noir it ain't. But then it never pretended to be.

But as a cinematic experience it's on a whole new level. The world created is breathtaking, the animals fantastic, the war machinery utterly believable - and terrifying. And the central theme, however 'old' (hey, there only ever were seven plots) is also one that might, whatever else, give pause for thought to your average mid-western 'my country right or wrong' redneck republican. Who's side are we on?

No, I'll stay with astonishing. I found the experience overwhelming. Immersive cinema like I've never experienced. The 3D was excellent, and I never felt it flagged for a moment.

But each to his own, eh?

 

[Cubist]

I enjoyed it. Does that make me a ****?

 

[rich p]

I enjoyed it. Does that make me a ****?

Implying that you weren't one before?

 

[Cubist]

Implying that you weren't one before?

Perhaps just confirming what I have taken 46 years to realise?
How the hell can anyone go and watch a sci-fi fantasy film and expect highbrow intellectual material for philosophical debate. It's a film FFS. Go and be entertained, suspend belief and enjoy, or spend the cash on a copy of Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward. That'll give you something to think about.

 

[Piemaster]

I'm with SW on the 'experience' especially as I watched it on an IMAX screen . It was actually made in native IMAX format too - Cameron is a bit of a fan of it.
Ok, maybe not the greatest plot/acting/directing/whatever but then I didn't go expecting to see an intellectual art-house film and enjoyed it for what it was.
I liked the 3D thing, and after 10 minutes sort of forgot it was in 3D and looking for the 3D effects. I reckon it was mostly well done, just giving some depth to screen, without much of the, imho, gimicky things flying out of the screen towards you. More of a stage type effect, like a visit to the theatre.

 

[Happiness Stan]

I recommend you go and see 'Lawrence of Arabia' on 60mm print in the cinema if you ever get chance.

400 real bedu charging across a real desert on real horses - now THAT'S an experience and no flippin' CGI to be seen.

'NO PRISONERS!! NO PRISONERS!!!'

 

[Lizban]

I'm with SW on the 'experience' especially as I watched it on an IMAX screen . It was actually made in native IMAX format too - Cameron is a bit of a fan of it.
Ok, maybe not the greatest plot/acting/directing/whatever but then I didn't go expecting to see an intellectual art-house film and enjoyed it for what it was.
I liked the 3D thing, and after 10 minutes sort of forgot it was in 3D and looking for the 3D effects. I reckon it was mostly well done, just giving some depth to screen, without much of the, imho, gimicky things flying out of the screen towards you. More of a stage type effect, like a visit to the theatre.

But surely it's not enough to just look good as a movie that cost £400m. Or am expecting too much to ensure that the dialogue is above that you'd expect a 8 YO to write?

 

[mr Mag00]

Or am expecting too much to ensure that the dialogue is above that you'd expect a 8 YO to write?

lowest common denominator

 

[swee'pea99]

"Run! Definitely run!"

Oh, I absolutely love Lawrence of Arabia. Another mind-boggling spectacle, to be sure.

 

[Happiness Stan]

Perhaps just confirming what I have taken 46 years to realise?
How the hell can anyone go and watch a sci-fi fantasy film and expect highbrow intellectual material for philosophical debate. It's a film FFS. Go and be entertained, suspend belief and enjoy, or spend the cash on a copy of Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward. That'll give you something to think about.

Can you get in on Blu-Ray?

 

[Crackle]

[quote name='swee'pea99']
But each to his own, eh?[/QUOTE]

Definetly. I think part of my dislike was a certain disappointment that it didn't match the hype but the sfx were excellent. I've found somewhere close showing it in 3D. I would consider going to see it again just for that.

I don't know how much sci-fi you've read but the avatar theme has been explored before, Simak is the one that springs to mind but Asimov, clarke et al have all done it, as long ago as the fifties, hence why the storyline didn't feel fresh to me but did to the rest of the family.

 

[Happiness Stan]

[quote name='swee'pea99']"Run! Definitely run!"

Oh, I absolutely love Lawrence of Arabia. Another mind-boggling spectacle, to be sure.[/QUOTE]


On the cinematic 60mm print (the screen wraps around you) it's astonishing. The sound also is amazing also, the exhuast note of the Brough Superior flaps the flares of your trousers.