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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
Avatar was a spectacle. It was a movie event, a "must see in theaters" kind of thing because of the amazing visuals. That doesn't make it a higher quality film, though.

You can't judge a the quality of a film on how it was marketed.
 
you know there was one line I thought was odd, whilst Jake is flying on the smaller winged creatures he says "I was born to do this" in what way was he born to do that? when he was born as a human on Earth, or when he first took control his brothers avatar created by genetic science.

I know previous to that we had the line about how it feels like a dream when he is human, so its cleary a sign of his mental state, just seems an odd thing to say.
 
Looks like the Oscars went for substance over style.

As some wag tweeted last night,

"Army beats Na'vi".... :p
flamingjester4fj.gif
 
"Army beats Na'vi"....

Love it. :lol:

Presenters did feel it necessary, more than once, to remind the audience that Avatar is "the most successful motion picture in history." Not a bad consolation prize. ;)

Hopefully Hurt Locker's awards will give Bigelow a big leg up in getting future projects funded and greenlighted. She came across last evening as a grounded, authentic and gracious person.
 
you know there was one line I thought was odd, whilst Jake is flying on the smaller winged creatures he says "I was born to do this" in what way was he born to do that? when he was born as a human on Earth, or when he first took control his brothers avatar created by genetic science.

I know previous to that we had the line about how it feels like a dream when he is human, so its cleary a sign of his mental state, just seems an odd thing to say.

Did you miss the first scene in the film? Where narrates how he has always had dreams of flying. (over a jungle, no less)
 
you know there was one line I thought was odd, whilst Jake is flying on the smaller winged creatures he says "I was born to do this" in what way was he born to do that? when he was born as a human on Earth, or when he first took control his brothers avatar created by genetic science.

It's just another of the steps along the way in which Jake was dubbed as some sort of chosen one for no reason apparent within the story itself. He had no character quality that marked him as heroic, he did nothing that marked him as heroic (in fact, most of the movie he's a craven infiltrator), except of course to suddenly and magically have the ability to tame the Turok - yet again marking him as a chosen one, for no other reason than that he needed to be the chosen one at that moment in the story.

But I am shocked that Avatar didn't win Best Picture - I thought the Oscars had long since sold its soul to the almighty dollar.
 
I've written off the Oscars a long time ago, it's mostly a political/popularity contest among Hollywood insiders. My guess is that 1. they hate sci fi films as evidenced by the continued snubbing and 2. I think they're still POed at Cameron for his "I'm King of the World!" announcement when he won for Titanic and it's payback.
Was Avatar the best film nominated? Maybe, maybe not. But I liked it more than the Hurt Locker (and I think part of its appeal is that it's the first good Iraq War movie to come out) but that's the Oscars for ya.
 
the oscars just don't care about sci fi, Kathyrn Bigelow hope she feels happy now that her Iraq drama won but in my opinion Avatar should have ah well too late now
 
I've written off the Oscars a long time ago, it's mostly a political/popularity contest among Hollywood insiders. My guess is that 1. they hate sci fi films as evidenced by the continued snubbing and 2. I think they're still POed at Cameron for his "I'm King of the World!" announcement when he won for Titanic and it's payback.
Here's a crazy, naive notion:
They may have liked Hurt Locker.

Anyone think that was important?

It'd be easy to say if Avatar won both best director and best picture that the Academy was snubbing women.

the Hurt Locker (and I think part of its appeal is that it's the first good Iraq War movie to come out)
Very true, though.
 
I've written off the Oscars a long time ago, it's mostly a political/popularity contest among Hollywood insiders. My guess is that 1. they hate sci fi films as evidenced by the continued snubbing and 2. I think they're still POed at Cameron for his "I'm King of the World!" announcement when he won for Titanic and it's payback.
Here's a crazy, naive notion:
They may have liked Hurt Locker.
Indeed, as they should.
 
"I was born to do this" is an expression, generally meaning "this fulfills me." There is nothing literal about it.
maybe on Earth (the real world Earth) that is the case, however on Pandora, everything really is connected, both physically and to Eywa. It is quite possibly that a Na'vi could be born to fly a Great Leonopteryx, Eywa provides what the Na'vi need, and in return they only take what they need, and give back.

So if we assume a Na'vi could be born to fly a Great Leonopteryx, we ask ourselves why a human was born with that ability, is Eywa bigger than Pandora, as mentioned Jake was having dreams even before he joined with his avatar body, so it suggest that Jake was born with that ability, not the avatar body.
 
I've written off the Oscars a long time ago, it's mostly a political/popularity contest among Hollywood insiders. My guess is that 1. they hate sci fi films as evidenced by the continued snubbing and 2. I think they're still POed at Cameron for his "I'm King of the World!" announcement when he won for Titanic and it's payback.
Here's a crazy, naive notion:
They may have liked Hurt Locker.

Anyone think that was important?

It may be important for some people but AFAIC in terms of war movies I've seen better and I'm still scratching my head over how Saving Private Ryan didn't win and say what you want about the Hurt Locker but I thought Spielberg's film to be more involving and memorable than the one-note Hurt Locker.
 
say what you want about the Hurt Locker but I thought Spielberg's film to be more involving and memorable than the one-note Hurt Locker.
I'm pretty sure awarding the 2010 Oscar to Saving Private Ryan would be in violation of their rules though.
 
I thought Avatar was clearly deserving of its Best Art Direction and Best VFX awards. The only one that wasn't as clear cut was cinematography, but one can hardly say it wasn't deserving of that award, either. Congrats are in order.

As for Best Picture, I can't say that I'm either surprised or disappointed that it didn't win. It's a fun film, worthy of being the top-grossing film of all time. But I wouldn't call it the best of the year. There were other pictures I saw in '09 that were better overall.
 
^^^
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.

Consider how "Avatar's" box office receipts would have changed, were it not able to justify theatres charging $12-$14 per ticket. While it's still going to make a TON of cash, the number is liable to drop by more than a noticeable amount.


As some wag tweeted last night,

"Army beats Na'vi".... :p
Consider that swiped.......


Presenters did feel it necessary, more than once, to remind the audience that Avatar is "the most successful motion picture in history." Not a bad consolation prize. ;)
Bingo. Regardless of which film did win or should have won, that is actually a pretty nice award to point to.


Hopefully Hurt Locker's awards will give Bigelow a big leg up in getting future projects funded and greenlighted. She came across last evening as a grounded, authentic and gracious person.
I'm glad so many people are noticing this. I'm not sure what it was in her manner, but she came across as so genuinely happy for everyone involved in the film, so very surprised at what awards it won. I know nothing of her other than her past with Cameron, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt abd wishing her continued and increased success.
 
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