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James Cameron's "Avatar" (grading and discussion)

Grade "Avatar"

  • Excellent

    Votes: 166 50.0%

  • Above Average

    Votes: 85 25.6%

  • Average

    Votes: 51 15.4%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 11 3.3%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 19 5.7%
  • Total voters
    332
A sequel would ruin the whole effect. What else is there for them to battle except more humans? Yawn.
 
Hey, Star Wars managed three whole movies of Rebels versus Empire.

Avatar will do fine.
 
Yes but each film explicitly left the door open for the next conflict. There was none of that, and quite rightly too, in Avatar. I don't mean to say someone won't try to make a sequel (and a 9 season TV series) but they will be pants, by definition.
 
Cameron was talking about a sequel since before the movie premiered. He says he's got a story for it, so I assume that he does have one which makes sense in the context of this film. I believe the other moons of Polyphemus may have something to do with it...

And besides that, we just defeated RDA, there's no reason to suppose the humans wouldn't return in bigger numbers.
 
Hyperspace05 said:
Oh good, you found the script! :D And you missed the point again. My quote was to illustrate that you were wrong in saying history was not acknowledged.
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You're right, it got three lines in a veritable mountain of gaia gobblygook.

I'm not sure why everyone is so hesitant to acknowledge the bleeding obviousness of the new age "Mother Pandora" MacGuffin. I can only imagine part of it is because the usual right-wing fatheads have latched onto it and tried to make it political.
 
Maybe I missed a thread somewhere, but I'm surprised this isn't getting as much attention as I thought it might. After this weekend's box office estimates, Avatar is now less than $100M away from surpassing Titanic. And at this pace, it should do so in a matter of weeks.

Phenomenal.
 
Kegg said:
Dennis said:
That might have made an impression on the dying culture of Europe.
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Wait, what? Europe was many things in the sixteenth century. Dying was not exactly one of them.
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Overpopulated, disease-ridden, engaged in warfare and competition for resources in its most destructive forms, struggling with outmoded feudal traditions that it could only stumblingly shed - sorry but despite the bravery of the Renaissance, without the outlet of the so-called "New World" that civilization was doomed within centuries. It would have been consumed by the more sophisticated, stable and older civilizations with which it was increasingly forced into contact by economic necessity.

Cameron's screenplay recognizes that parallel explicitly, in Sully's remark about the aliens "returning to their dying world" - essentially, Europe repelled by the Americas.
 
Dennis said:
sorry but despite the bravery of the Renaissance, without the outlet of the so-called "New World" that civilization was doomed within centuries. It would have been consumed by the more sophisticated, stable and older civilizations with which it was increasingly forced into contact by economic necessity.
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Doubtful, and completely spurious historically speaking.

There weren't such civilzations which had either the time, inclination or resources to subsume Europe - and while the Turks did their darnedest to bite off as much as they could chew they don't really fit the bill of being an either more older or a more stable society.

It also overstates the importance of the New World. Just look at Spain - the earliest victor of the Americas, which conquered the greatest empire, got impossibly large amounts of wealth, and was still outclassed by the English and French in short order. Not to mention the great continental powers which never even got to the New World politically-speaking and did pretty okay for themselves.
 
Oooh... there's an art book out? Duh, I probably should have anticipated that. I'm interested in hearing your review of it. The whole look, feel and sound of Pandora by itself ought to be worth a book. It's something I am intrigued by because I have no artistic abilities and imagination, at least not original types of art. Consequently, I'm always interested to see what inspires the real, professional artist when he creats something this fascinating.
 
Hambone, yeah that was posted about... what, 30 pages ago? :)

Dennis/Neroon, Many people seem to think that the Art book is not what they expected, and that it should have had more content. (I have not seen it myself) But perhaps the success of the film can convince them to release more stuff. More of that kind of stuff is always interesting!
 
:rolleyes: China bans Avatar

http://news.icm.ac.uk/business/china-bans-avatar-fearing-social-backlash/5326/

China bans Avatar fearing social backlash


Chinese authorities have ordered cinemas to stop showing James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar in its 2D version, fearing that its parallels with forced eviction could cause social unrest.
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The state-run China Film Group has banned the film from the country’s 1,628 2D screens from this Saturday (23 January), making way for a homegrown biography of philosopher Confucius, starring Chow-Yun Fat.

It will continue to be shown on 900 3D screens until the end of its planned run on 28 February, yet these 3D screens are few and far between on China’s mainland – so the order effectively prevents general distribution of the film.

The film’s story, which tells of the Na’vi’s battle to protect their land and culture from formidable outsiders, appears to have resonated with commentators – suggesting its parity with Chinese citizens fighting to protect their homes and land from government and property developers.
Click to expand...
 
It's not being banned.... The 3D version will still show for a few weeks more.

The issue is that in China, the movie distribution is controlled by the state party. And they want the theaters to make room for the new "Confucious" film for some upcoming holiday. (Most theaters in rural areas are single-screen only)

If they were that concerned about Avatar they would never have allowed it to show in the first place. Avatar has grossed about $75m so far in China, which is a record for a Hollywood film. It may still hit $100m from the 3D theaters.
 
Hyperspace05 said:
Hambone, yeah that was posted about... what, 30 pages ago? :)

Dennis/Neroon, Many people seem to think that the Art book is not what they expected, and that it should have had more content. (I have not seen it myself) But perhaps the success of the film can convince them to release more stuff. More of that kind of stuff is always interesting!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads-up.

You should have seen my family when the "Art of Lord of the Rings" books were released. We pored over every page, completely drawn in to the detail and explanations.
 
Visually a stunning beyond belief movie, but the writing wasn't subtle. It left something to be desired. The parallels hit you over the head like a hammer. I enjoyed it, but it's not the greatest movie ever made. It may be "in" to proclaim it genius, but it wasn't. A very good film, yes. Genius, no.
 
Yeah, the Chinese government is unhappy with Avatar because they've got some, uh, issues with forced evictions there.

The complaints about Avatar's politics come from all over the political spectrum. This is probably a good thing. ;)

On the subject of the art book - for twenty bucks I'm not expecting a lot. What's there should be inspirational, though.
 
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