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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
How many times do we have to see the evil modern society vs the good natives who have a special affinity with a tree cliche?

I personally opted to see that twice and could easily be talking into see it a third time, something I would never consider for any of the "Terminators."

Brit
 
How many times do we have to see the evil modern society vs the good natives who have a special affinity with a tree cliche?

I personally opted to see that twice and could easily be talking into see it a third time, something I would never consider for any of the "Terminators."

Brit
Yeah....like I said, the movie grows on me the more I see it. But still, these are plot stumbling points for me. Would have liked to see them kick ass without the aid of a human.
 
Sure, you could pull off a Heath Ledger and Dark Knight, but honestly, would he have got that award if he hadn't died?

I think that's being a little cold-hearted, don't you? The Academy loves nominating and awarding actors for villainous performances.
But are demonstratably more shy about comic book and science fiction films. Aside from the example you gave of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I can't think of any others.

Besides Heath Ledger The Dark Knight didn't exactly clean up even in terms of nominations, so, if the film can avoid being nominated for best film I'm sure Heath might have been denied best supporting actor.
 
But are [demonstratively] more shy about comic book and science fiction films. Aside from the example you gave of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde I can't think of any others.

Precisely why Ledger's performance was so good, because it was the first of its kind to be nominated. Christopher Nolan raised the bar with The Dark Knight and Ledger's performance raised the bar in terms of what you expect coming out of a comic-book film.

Besides Heath Ledger The Dark Knight didn't exactly clean up even in terms of nominations, so, if the film can avoid being nominated for best film I'm sure Heath might have been denied best supporting actor.

It received a total of eight nominations. How does that not constitute "cleaning up"?
 
I meant demonstrably. That was hurriedly typed, apologies.

Precisely why Ledger's performance was so good, because it was the first of its kind to be nominated.
That's an interesting logic. It is good because it was the first to be nominated? Wouldn't it still be as good were it not nominated? Has the Academy ever overlooked great performances in nomination or winning processes? Quite arguably so. My money would be on Heath Ledger not winning but then winning a year or two later for a prestige picture. Good certainly has something to do with how nominations work certainly probably I'd assume, but it's likely not the only factor also.

It received a total of eight nominations. How does that not constitute "cleaning up"?
It didn't get nominated for any of the big five? I recall Dark Knight fans being sore about that. Christopher Nolan may have raised the bar but he didn't get any shiny golden men to put on his shelf as a result.
 
I loved The Dark Knight, and I thought Heath Ledger's performance was absolutely amazing. He owned that picture, and now the role of the Joker, as well. I could almost write a paper on the reasons why he was so good in that film.

I have to agree with Kegg, however. I don't think he would have won without dying. Maybe a nomination, but I son't believe he would have won.
 
brilliant The Dark Knight it's a great movie and I think Heath Ledger really was just so great as The Joker hope that doesn't annoy you a girl liking it.
 
That's an interesting logic. It is good because it was the first to be nominated? Wouldn't it still be as good were it not nominated? Has the Academy ever overlooked great performances in nomination or winning processes? Quite arguably so. My money would be on Heath Ledger not winning but then winning a year or two later for a prestige picture. Good certainly has something to do with how nominations work certainly probably I'd assume, but it's likely not the only factor also.

Funny you mention that, because Heath Ledger was nominated for a prestige picture (Brokeback Mountain) years before doing The Dark Knight, yet he lost. I just find it hard to believe that people are so easy to dismiss Ledger's performance. I'm not saying that Ledger's performance was good because it was nominated, I'm saying it was so good so in fact it received a nomination. I think it's similar to Anthony Hopkins and The Silence of the Lambs. That was categorically a horror film and horror films aren't usually nominated by the Academy, but Hopkins' performance was so good he received a nomination and won.

It didn't get nominated for any of the big five? I recall Dark Knight fans being sore about that. Christopher Nolan may have raised the bar but he didn't get any shiny golden men to put on his shelf as a result.

Does it honestly matter? The real argument here is Ledger's performance. So what if The Dark Knight didn't walk away with any of the "big five"? It was nominated for eight awards, which is very prestigious in its own right. I don't remember any other comic-book film walking away with eight nominations. I mean, this is all trivial. Ledger's performance was extraordinary and it was rightfully nominated and awarded for an Oscar. If you believe he won simply because he died, well, that's fine, even though I think that's extremely cold-hearted and completely dismissive of Ledger's talent and his fantastic performance. Are you saying that Peter Finch's win for Network was solely because he had died? I mean, give these guys a little credit here.
 
If you believe he won simply because he died, well, that's fine, even though I think that's extremely cold-hearted and completely dismissive of Ledger's talent and his fantastic performance. Are you saying that Peter Finch's win for Network was solely because he had died? I mean, give these guys a little credit here.

I think you're just putting too much stock into the Oscars, JA. I don't think it's cold hearted to say Ledger would have never gotten the Oscar if he didn't die. What it is is acknowledging the Oscars are far more about politics, ratings, advertisements and press than who is really the best actor. That's why Ledger won. They were hoping it would make for good ratings and good press.
 
On Thursday Avatar was the number 1 movie again at over 1.6 million. It's legs continue to amaze me. This thing will be in the cheap theaters right until the DVD comes out.
 
Not only that, it's foreign total alone is now at what Titanic was worldwide. It's quite incredible, really.
 
I think you're just putting too much stock into the Oscars, JA. I don't think it's cold hearted to say Ledger would have never gotten the Oscar if he didn't die. What it is is acknowledging the Oscars are far more about politics, ratings, advertisements and press than who is really the best actor. That's why Ledger won. They were hoping it would make for good ratings and good press.

I think it is. I'm sorry, but I know the Oscars can be attention hungry at times and I even think upping the Best Picture nominees from five to ten is certainly attention-grabbing, but at the same time I think they sometimes go against the popular vote and pick whatever they think is best. I mean, in previous ceremonies, the most popular film or actor certainly didn't equate to winning the golden statue.
 
Funny you mention that, because Heath Ledger was nominated for a prestige picture (Brokeback Mountain) years before doing The Dark Knight, yet he lost.
Yes, but I never said a prestige film is an automatic win. T'Baio is pretty much on the money also: It's not a personal dismissal of his performance, just the likelihood of him getting an Oscar for it.
 
If Ledger had not died, there would not have been the pressure to give him the award as a "last chance" - many who voted for him might have chosen someone else for a variety of reasons, willing to assume that given Ledger's thus-far remarkable career he'd get another chance at the gold ring later. He wouldn't be the first actor in that situation.
 
Well I think Avatar should have beat The Hurt Locker, I saw The Hurt Locker, it's a decent movie. Nothing I really dislike about it. But how can a movie that makes just over 21 Million WORLDWIDE be better than Avatar who beat that in one day.
The Hurt Locker is also the lowest grossing Oscar winner.
I was looking at the golden globe winners and comparing them, this is a much more realistic of the winners. The actor and actress were exactly the same.
Avatar won it there.

To me the best picture award has always been the weak link at the Oscars, it doesn't really reflect what the best movie actually was.

I guess I am ticked that this year there was a chance for 3 excellent sci-fi movies to win an Oscar and they all failed.

Star Trek
District 9
Avatar

This truly is the last frontier for sci-fi. If no Star Trek or Star Wars movie or the highest grossing movie of all time can't win it, then what can? :wtf:
 
I'm sick of people bringing up Avatar's box office as a reason it should win Oscars. The amount of money it made has absolutely no bearing on its quality. Were that the case, Transformers 2 should have had a Best Picture nomination as well.
 
^^^
Yeah but Transformers has a poor ratings across the board, and nothing as innovative as Avatar was done in that movie.

To me capturing the highest grossing movie of all time is worth something, maybe they should create an award for that.

Also the ability to appeal to movie goers around the world has value too, just look how Star Trek failed in this area, yet Avatar succeeded.
 
But how can a movie that makes just over 21 Million WORLDWIDE be better than Avatar who beat that in one day.

Because popularity and quality are not the same thing.

True, but quality is in the eye of the beholder, the beholder in this case is the average movie going public, and they beheld that Avatar was the better movie.

The old saying "follow the money" has some merit as well.
 
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