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

[Blue_Trek]

Well somebody finally made a video of Pocahontos & Avatar together to show how close they are, the video excerpts are from Pocahontos, attached to the Avatar trailer.

http://vimeo.com/9389738

But it doesn't matter all the movies combined that are like Avatar are under half it's total gross!!!

Pocahontas-$346,079,773 Worldwide.
Dances with Wolves-$424,208,848 Worldwide.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $32,710,894 Worldwide
The Last Samurai - $456,758,981 Worldwide

So the average movie goer is not that tired of this story line after all.

 

[Peak]

Thanks to Avatar our little town will get 3D.

Saw it on our local cinema in 2D when it came out. Now I have to see it again at the end of March when the 3D-equipment have been installed.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well somebody finally made a video of Pocahontos & Avatar together to show how close they are, the video excerpts are from Pocahontos, attached to the Avatar trailer.

http://vimeo.com/9389738

But it doesn't matter all the movies combined that are like Avatar are under half it's total gross!!!

Pocahontas-$346,079,773 Worldwide.
Dances with Wolves-$424,208,848 Worldwide.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $32,710,894 Worldwide
The Last Samurai - $456,758,981 Worldwide

So the average movie goer is not that tired of this story line after all.

Well, they aren't necessarily the same moviegoers.

On the subject of the sequel, AICN reports that Sigourney Weaver has said that she's already discussed it with Cameron and is expecting to be in it.

 

[wamdue]

Well somebody finally made a video of Pocahontos & Avatar together to show how close they are, the video excerpts are from Pocahontos, attached to the Avatar trailer.

http://vimeo.com/9389738

But it doesn't matter all the movies combined that are like Avatar are under half it's total gross!!!

Pocahontas-$346,079,773 Worldwide.
Dances with Wolves-$424,208,848 Worldwide.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $32,710,894 Worldwide
The Last Samurai - $456,758,981 Worldwide

So the average movie goer is not that tired of this story line after all.

looking at that list Ferngully is very unappreciated.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

On the subject of the sequel, AICN reports that Sigourney Weaver has said that she's already discussed it with Cameron and is expecting to be in it.

"I already have your digital model so you're going to be in it whether you like it or not so you might as get well paid for it."

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well somebody finally made a video of Pocahontos & Avatar together to show how close they are, the video excerpts are from Pocahontos, attached to the Avatar trailer.

http://vimeo.com/9389738

But it doesn't matter all the movies combined that are like Avatar are under half it's total gross!!!

Pocahontas-$346,079,773 Worldwide.
Dances with Wolves-$424,208,848 Worldwide.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $32,710,894 Worldwide
The Last Samurai - $456,758,981 Worldwide

So the average movie goer is not that tired of this story line after all.

looking at that list Ferngully is very unappreciated.

Looks about right, really. I finally went and looked at some of the trailers and excerpts from it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccURwir7C_o

It looks awful.

 

[Kegg]

On the subject of the sequel, AICN reports that Sigourney Weaver has said that she's already discussed it with Cameron and is expecting to be in it.

Obi-Wan it is!

looking at that list Ferngully is very unappreciated.

Dennis is right. I grew up with that movie and it's absolutely godawful to the point I'd repressed all memories about it until people started talking about it online.

People may not be tired of the Dances With Wolves/Avatar type story, but they aren't keen on terrible examples of it.

 

[wamdue]

Well somebody finally made a video of Pocahontos & Avatar together to show how close they are, the video excerpts are from Pocahontos, attached to the Avatar trailer.

http://vimeo.com/9389738

But it doesn't matter all the movies combined that are like Avatar are under half it's total gross!!!

Pocahontas-$346,079,773 Worldwide.
Dances with Wolves-$424,208,848 Worldwide.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest - $32,710,894 Worldwide
The Last Samurai - $456,758,981 Worldwide

So the average movie goer is not that tired of this story line after all.

looking at that list Ferngully is very unappreciated.

Looks about right, really. I finally went and looked at some of the trailers and excerpts from it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccURwir7C_o

It looks awful.

you got me there, that is a rubbish trailer, the voice over guy sounds bored.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

On the subject of the sequel, AICN reports that Sigourney Weaver has said that she's already discussed it with Cameron and is expecting to be in it.

Obi-Wan it is!

I could imagine Grace manifesting her image via those bioluminescent floating creatures and perhaps receiving sensory input from them, but I wonder how she would be able to vocalise.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The first movie pretty clearly sets up for Grace to manifest herself - I really expected her to do so explicitly when Sam prayed to the Tree of Souls, and was mildly surprised that Cameron forebore this (and one or two other obvious payoffs to setups) - so one might well expect this in a sequel.

 

[startrekrcks]

Did you think the scene with Neytiri holding Jake in human form was beautiful or were you not moved by Avatar in a way just wondering.

 

[T'Baio]

I've seen Avatar three times, and each time I was moved by Neytiri holding Jake near the end. I thought not only was it spectacularly done on a technical level, but the many levels to which the image and emotion worked was also well done.

 

[startrekrcks]

Jake says I see you really moves me it's hard not to cry at that special moment and it shows that Neytiri loves Jake no matter what don't you agree

 

[Rii]

I finally got around to watching Titanic and I'm struck by how similar the two films are, having been poured from the same mould of pretentious Hollywood extravagance which is never quite convincing. Pearl Harbor is another film in this vein, although not nearly as well crafted.

 

[Kegg]

I finally got around to watching Titanic and I'm struck by how similar the two films are, having been poured from the same mould of pretentious Hollywood extravagance which is never quite convincing. Pearl Harbor is another film in this vein, although not nearly as well crafted.

I'm not a fan of Titanic by any means, but Pearl Harbor is a spectacularly half-assed attempt to imitate it.

Say what one will of Cameron's overblown extravagance, but he does it with a much defter hand and far more effective manipulation of the viewer's emotions than the loud, dumb, rude, poorly paced and obnoxious sheen that one could get from Michael Bay, or indeed the pompous ineptitude of screenwriter Randall Wallace (also known for the gloriously bathetic Braveheart.)

Simply put, at the sort of epic that Cameron makes, he's one of the best people to make it.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Yeah, the Michael Bay comparisons are a bit far-fetched IMO.

Unlike Bay, James Cameron knows how to restrain himself, he knows when the action sequences fit the overall movie and when it would be too much.

Had Michael Bay directed "Avatar", the movie would have probably started with an explosion-laden sequence right away... perhaps a war scene on Earth which shows us how Jake Sully ended up in a wheelchair, with loud rock music played to it in the background.

 

[wamdue]

I finally got around to watching Titanic and I'm struck by how similar the two films are, having been poured from the same mould of pretentious Hollywood extravagance which is never quite convincing. Pearl Harbor is another film in this vein, although not nearly as well crafted.

I think if you look hard enough you will always see something similar between movies.

I saw Aliens last week, and spotted some stuff that was similar to Avatar.

 

[RoJoHen]

I saw Aliens last week, and spotted some stuff that was similar to Avatar.

I hope you didn't have to look too hard.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I've seen Avatar three times, and each time I was moved by Neytiri holding Jake near the end. I thought not only was it spectacularly done on a technical level, but the many levels to which the image and emotion worked was also well done.

Yes, I love that scene. It's damned near perfect, and an example of how and why the simplicity of the dialogue in the film is so powerful.

 

[wamdue]

I saw Aliens last week, and spotted some stuff that was similar to Avatar.

I hope you didn't have to look too hard.

TBH I got bored, and stopped watching after they found Newt, but even up to that point there was a couple of things that seemed to feature in both movies.

One thing I will say is that I wish Aliens had started at the same point as Avatar, everyone waking up from their cryogenic sleep, rather than Ripley being on "trail", that stuff almost put me into cryogenic sleep.