Official Film Discussion and Last Movie You Watched

[Zigurd]

Mehvatar (Cameron, 2009)

Meh.

Really ? I heard superb things.

 

[Line]

Really ? I heard superb things.

Parts of it look great, particularly close-ups of the Na'vi. The story thoroughly sucks though.

 

[Zigurd]

Parts of it look great, particularly close-ups of the Na'vi. The story thoroughly sucks though.

What a fucking shame. Visually, is it the breakthrough that they said it would be?

 

[Line]

What a fucking shame. Visually, is it the breakthrough that they said it would be?

Eh, I suppose. CGI is always CGI though. The textural rendering and 3-D were smooth enough, but I hardly see this as the future of cinema, especially given the cost. I'm just not floored by it visually, despite some impressive moments.

 

[tim290280]

Mehvatar (Cameron, 2009)

Meh.

I thought as much. Everytime someone spends so much time proclaiming how good a movie looks in the promotion it shows a lack of time spent on what makes a movie a movie.

Is it still worth seeing on the big screen or wait until DVD/Bluray?

 

[Maxmonzter]

world trade center 10/10, very moving and touching, i almost cried didn´t exspect it to be so good

 

[dilatedmuscle]

Eh, I suppose. CGI is always CGI though. The textural rendering and 3-D were smooth enough, but I hardly see this as the future of cinema, especially given the cost. I'm just not floored by it visually, despite some impressive moments.

I think your over simplifying. Yes It was hyped up a lot but it did acheive a lot of things. The 3-D was integrated very well and it became part of the movie much more then the cheesy "shoot things into the screen and make it look cool because it 3-D" BS that is way overdone.

The facial animations were the amazing, bar-none, best ever. When Zoe Saldana really begins to act i was like "WOW". It looks like actual acting, because it is (insane mo-cap and face-cap). The way the clothing moved and folded on the 3D characters was also amazing.

I think as critics we tend to buy into the hype and if it doesnt meet the hype then its mediocre.... but if it were not overhyped we would be more impressed.

The story i thought was really good. Although it was cliche pocahontas-esque story, It didnt try to be anything more then that and it was really well executed. I did notice some inconsitencies here and there but overall solid. Granted i had low expectations for the story in the first place and needless to say, it surpased my low expectations.

I mostly went to see it because of the technology behind it... I was disappointed by the 3D at first because i wanted to see things flying at me all the time but when u really think about it, that would be completely retarded. The other thing was the new facial animation techniques that i, as i said before, was really impressed. The brilliant color schemes were great since the film industry is over-saturated, or should i say DE-SATURATED lol, by grey-ish brown-ish filters and completely different style from Cameron's past films.

With all the terrible movies we end up seeing in theatres, this movie is definitely atleast worth a try. Dont let the Over-Hype jade you, take it for what it is.

EDIT: as far as the future of film... i would say so for some types of films. This movie costed a ton but for future movies it wont cost nearly as much because the technology and mechanics wont have to be inovated as they were for this film.

 

[Line]

^^ I'll rip that apart tomorrow. Goodnight.

 

[dilatedmuscle]

oh, geez, i cant wait...

 

[Line]

I'll be gentle.

I think your over simplifying. Yes It was hyped up a lot but it did acheive a lot of things. The 3-D was integrated very well and it became part of the movie much more then the cheesy "shoot things into the screen and make it look cool because it 3-D" BS that is way overdone.

You're mistaking my being concise with me being dismissive. I'm aware what the aim of the effects was and how, at many times, these aims were met. Objects showed a more competent relation to space throughout a more integrative, interactive system of depth. Still, some visual cues are still flat and movement reads as less than ideal from a distance -- close ups seem to have benefited the most. Imagery notwithstanding, the film is pretentious. While the technological scope of the project moves it beyond the whole, "Look at me!" 3-D that we've so come to expect, the movie makes several self-aware nods to itself and its gadgetry. For example, the line, "You are not in Kansas anymore," for starters, is meant to compare cinematic progression from the golden era to now. This is all well and good, but it's also a very lofty statement and doesn't play well against the simplicity of the story. Avatar is a film the champions the progression of technology but is content with tired storytelling, which strikes me as wasteful and a bit condescending to those who experimented with the medium's capacity for differentiation. Cameron is doing this merely through technology.

The facial animations were the amazing, bar-none, best ever. When Zoe Saldana really begins to act i was like "WOW". It looks like actual acting, because it is (insane mo-cap and face-cap). The way the clothing moved and folded on the 3D characters was also amazing.

Sure, I've acknowledged this, but I'm just not blown away by such things. Cameron effectively spent a ton of money to make a convincing world of pixels but impressive elements like the movement of clothing or nature still look better when they are, in fact, clothing or nature.

I think as critics we tend to buy into the hype and if it doesnt meet the hype then its mediocre.... but if it were not overhyped we would be more impressed.

As critics? We? I'm not trying to be belittling, but I'm proximal enough to the industry that I know a fair bit about the film's reception and how my own relates to it. Nonetheless, the issue here isn't with hype or expectation, it's with the film's relative arrogance.

The story i thought was really good. Although it was cliche pocahontas-esque story, It didnt try to be anything more then that and it was really well executed. I did notice some inconsitencies here and there but overall solid. Granted i had low expectations for the story in the first place and needless to say, it surpased my low expectations.

Ugh. The story is another in a long line of movies that uses allegorical aliens to flesh-out the insensitivities of man a la a million other recent endeavors. Cultural differences were shown as simplistic and passe and Cameron left little room for exploration - or anything, really - outside his sumptuous visuals. Here is a story with great philosophical implications that becomes nothing more than the world's biggest action showpiece. The black/white morality and cartoonish villiany keep the film from being efficiently affecting. The story is the same 80's and 90's genre-stuff we're used to seeing from Cameron, just told with bigger, more expensive toys. Not to mention the less-than-subtle sexuality of the whole thing, specifically how the film purposefully designed the Na'vi to be sexually appetizing for Americans. The whole thing seems to cater towards basic instinct, which isn't congruent with its technological implications.

I mostly went to see it because of the technology behind it... I was disappointed by the 3D at first because i wanted to see things flying at me all the time but when u really think about it, that would be completely retarded.

Yes, yes it would be. I saw it to have an opinion on it. I was somewhat excited to see it, but was completely indifferent to whether or not I actually enjoyed it, which I didn't, really.

The other thing was the new facial animation techniques that i, as i said before, was really impressed. The brilliant color schemes were great since the film industry is over-saturated, or should i say DE-SATURATED lol, by grey-ish brown-ish filters and completely different style from Cameron's past films.

Eh, I hardly consider Cameron any type of aesthetic master, so I'll refrain from comparing the visuals of his films. Nonetheless, he is competent in the arenas of tone and scale, which is what does work - I guess - in Avatar.

With all the terrible movies we end up seeing in theatres, this movie is definitely atleast worth a try. Dont let the Over-Hype jade you, take it for what it is.

I never said it wasn't worth a try, just that it was a fairly middling result. I'd much rather recommend films that do come out in theaters but are never seen by the common viewer for one reason or another. Not something that will go on to have a fairly high national (despite its insistence that the American attitude is damning the Earth) and international gross.

EDIT: as far as the future of film... i would say so for some types of films. This movie costed a ton but for future movies it wont cost nearly as much because the technology and mechanics wont have to be inovated as they were for this film.

The most big-budget visceral slugfests might go this route. I don't see the technology getting into the hands of Bela Tarr (or someone as equally capable) anytime soon.

 

[dilatedmuscle]

Oh my fucken god... I was almost done replying to every paragraph of that comment when i hit the backspace and took me to the pervious page oh well...

I agree with what you said. Overall i think they made some conscious decisions to make the film more kid and family friendly.... But then again they shouldnt have been so overtly sexual. Creating unrealisticly humanlike aliens was effective for their cause since it wouldve been difficult to get humanlike emotions across from the actors to the cgi characters and then to the audience otherwise. Although clothing and nature do look better in real life... it wouldve defeated the purpose of making an actual CGI film like they did. A lot of those effects will transfer over to future movies and videogames.

I didnt say that you said it wasnt worth a try. I was meerly reccomending it to people who werent sure about watching it... hell, there are a lot of people who wasted money on transformers and other garbage..

Overall i think it was an extremely flawed project, the fact that it was around 3 hours long left more room for error. They created an entire language for the navi so i think they spent more time with the navi dialogue then the horrendous human dialogue. The main character was abnoxious in the first quarter and srpinkled some more annoying attitude throughout. I overlooked a lot of the plot holes and unconsistensies as well as the cliche aspect of the story and i found the movie more then entertaining.

 

[Natzo]

I enjoyed Avatar a lot !

actually I'm going to see it for the second time today...

I agree with line that the story could be more ellaborate but it is a freakin good movie! the first movie that made me think that humans should loose the war..

isn't it a bit like Pocahontas?















Neytiri is hot..

9/10 movie..

 

[Line]

the first movie that made me think that humans should loose the war..

It's more about race than species.

 

[kn609]

Neytiri is hot..

I think this thread is for you: http://www.musclemecca.com/showthread.php/new-movie-avatar-47775.html


2 movies that I watched in school a couple days ago:
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly-
Very touching movie. If you haven't heard about it before, it's about a French man by the name of Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and is hit with a very rare physical condition called locked-in syndrome where he is physically paralyzed but mentally fine. His only way of communicating is by blinking his left eye to a unique sequence of the alphabet ordered by it's consistency of use. He wrote a book by doing this. The movie is just about the events he's been through since the incident happened.

It's A Wonderful Life-
Classic movie. Seems like a lot of stories/movies were based off of this, being this movie came out a veryyy long time ago when movies were in black and white. Great movie, if you haven't watched it, you should give it a try even if it is old and in black and white.

 

[Zigurd]

Avatar - <3 / 10

Not rateable in my opinion. Awesome movie, would watch again.

 

[dilatedmuscle]

I think there were some subliminal messages that were supposed to have depth but with me they didnt fall flat, they just didnt hit the base at all. It felt like such a simple "2 dimentional" movie. I dunno why but watching this movie gave me the same feelings and enjoyment as when i first watched Pocahontas or The Lion King. A time where i was too young to care about the meaning, stucture and polish of a movie and i just sat there enjoying it. I really dont know what it is but it just captured me. It grabbed me by the nuts and didnt wanna let go lol

 

[Line]

Not rateable in my opinion.

Cowardice.

 

[BigBen]

Line name a movie that you liked. Or a movie that you enjoyed at least most of when you were watching it. So i am not misunderstood, I am not saying that you hate something about every movie. I just want to see what qualifies as a good movie to you. I realize your using a some what objective scale when you give your critiques. That is why I'm asking what movie great.

 

[tim290280]

Bad Santa
Meh

Wolverine
Again. Enjoyed some parts more, a lot of parts less the second time around.

Breakfast Club
Still find this painfull yet engrossing. Can't decide if this is a great film or indulgent tripe.

Hoping to see Sherlock Holmes soon.

 

[Line]

Line name a movie that you liked. Or a movie that you enjoyed at least most of when you were watching it. So i am not misunderstood, I am not saying that you hate something about every movie. I just want to see what qualifies as a good movie to you. I realize your using a some what objective scale when you give your critiques. That is why I'm asking what movie great.

Lately I've watched This Sporting Life, Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, Fists in the Pocket, and Santa Sangre, which were all varying degrees of good. There's also that whole "Line Top 100 Movies" thread with some of my past favorites in there. I don't necessarily love all those movies as I had but I still hold an affinity for them. I'll be doing a new top 100 thread soon.