AVATAR and 3D in general.... — Page 2

No kidding! Those are some striking similarities there. I myself know a bit about Yes, but never really got into them. That second image was also used as the cover to "Symphonic Pink Floyd" in case anyone wants random trivia.

Avatar? Well, I like Terminator; and it is James Cameron... but I dislike movies that near completely rely on CG. I guess I'll take a chance with this one.

I remain unsure.  I sort of trust Cameron, but like I said before- I used to explicitly trust Lucas and Spielberg too.  Has Cameron's absense for the past 12 years protected him from my hero killing?  Will his late entry into this generation of filmmaking save him?  Or just postpone the inevitible?

I have always been a bit unimpressed with cameron since after he made titanic.  His script for spider man was awful. dark angels second season was garbage and so on, the fact that he let the terminator franchise fall into crappy filmakers hands etc.

Not making his promised True Lies part 2, understandable now because cartoon Muslim terrorists can't be taken as a joke after 911.

I have always been intrested in more science fiction from cameron since he directed the first two terminators and aliens and the abyss, too bad all we have had recently is documentaries one film titanic.

Been looking forward to his live action anime project that was put on hold for this avatar thing.

I have also wondered why his film output has been so small, Spielberg and Lucas manage huge companies and still put out a lot of movies, not always quality but at least quantity.  Also digital domain is also no longer reallly a huge player and Companies like ILM and Weta have taken all the most noticeable projects.

DID he start up a new effects company for Avatar or is all the work being farmed out to different people?

True.  I have really enjoyed his three underwater docos (Ghosts of the Abyss, Aliens from the Deep, and the Bismark one) but we couldn't even make it through the 1st season of Dark Angel and I too am sad for our loss of True Lies 2.

This conversation has reminded me of this comparison between Lucas and Cameron:

I like listening to modern Lucas.  He seems to say all of the right things.  I.E.: A Special Effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.  But I just can't get on with any of his modern movies.  It doesn't seem that he follows his own advice much.

I find things Cameron says to be baffling... like how sequels are generally terrible.  I heard him say something like this once: "The mistake in making sequels is in making them for an audience that has seen the previous movies."  This is from the guy who made Terminator 2 and Aliens (2).  Two movies that could be argued to stand alone okay, but are really great in the context of the first movie.  But I love most of his movies.  So... is he following his own advice much?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PXbwNjT-lM&hd=1

New 3 & 1/2 minute TV spot....Come on...It does look pretty good,and  so different to what we've seen before.

Can anyone outside of the UK get the 4OD on demand thing to play?  It told me it couldn't play in my area.

From what i have seen in the trailer this film feels an awful like a sci fi treatment of the American natives land being stolen, which was also done in star trek insurrection.

If district 9 was about how white people were bad to the black people, then this film is how white Europeans were bad to the Indians aka native Americans.

I had enough of that preaching in high school, i go to a film for either a good story or an escape from reality not politics nonsense.

Cameron said he was aware that there was a political line there and he said that he was doing his best to not make it political.  But that did sound a little reminiscent of the Pixar guys saying there was nothing political to Wall-E.  The said something to the effect of "There's nothing political about it.  It's about Global Warming and the effect we're having on our planet.  That's not political."

So... yeah...

Anchorhead said:

skyjedi2005 said:

I had enough of that preaching in high school, i go to a film for either a good story or an escape from reality 

I agree.  I often times go to the movies for a break from the stresses of daily life.  I don't care to be preached to, or scolded - particularly for actions\practices\policies\etc that I didn't participate in, don't agree with, nor would I support.  If it's a historically accurate period piece, such as Dances With Wolves, I'm all for it. (One of my top ten films).   If it's a preachy, self-serving metaphor - I won't bother.  I'd rather see the information much more clearly, in a documentary.

That said....

 

 

skyjedi2005 said:

 

how white people were bad to the black people

how white Europeans were bad to the...native Americans.

...politics nonsense.

 

Racial discrimination & genocide are not political nonsense.

Okay you got me there i agree.  But the theme has already been explored in Dances with Wolves not science fiction, and in science fiction in star trek insurrection.

See this stuff would totally fit star trek, they would just slip an issue in there under the disguise of science fiction settings, still i feel Cameron's gotten far too preachy since T2.  Its his right as a storyteller and director.  I am more interested in the human relationships in the film, even the humanlike aliens.  The action parts are okay i guess too.

I thought the themes had their place for instance in district 9 because they were in service to the plot and not randomly thrown in there on some  whim like the bush'ism inserted into revenge of the sith.

Having not seen Avatar yet i was still cannot judge it too much, it just felt a bit like old trodden ground in new fangled 3-D. If cameron creates a believable world with characters you care for and throws in romance and adventure like an old hollywood swashbuckler i'm all for the films success.  I just don't want another unwieldy and overly pretentious film again like Titanic despite the emotional underpinings of the drama the history was junk, the only thing that was accurate was that the Titanic exactly sank.

Now as for Avatar will these themes be only a part of the whole and actually have a point in the plot or a nice little nugget or easter egg for those who care to notice.

I mean will the Navi be like the underdogs sort of like the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, versus the evil planet earth people who come to this new world only for profit.

I mean if they can make a message not heavy handed and connect you with the meanings through the characters i'm all for that.  I guess my only beef with these ideals and messages sometimes is the way in which they are presented and not the thematic material themselves.  Speaking from a purely visceral human level and moving you greatly rather than feeling like you were just at some sermon.

Vaderisnothayden said:

skyjedi2005 said:

dark angels second season was garbage

Dark Angel's second season was considerably better than season 1.

Season one was pretty worthless, but at least somewhat interesting; I liked the setting and plot, and Jessica Alba was kind of fun to look at regardless of the fact that she couldn't act. Season two was just a ridiculous waste of time. Genetically enhanced escaped children is one thing, but streets filled with retarded looking animal people was just plain lame... not to mention the introduction of a character so pointless and obnoxious that he actually rivals Jar Jar Binks.

Hehe, thought it was kind of funny Dances with Wolves got mentioned in this thread; with South Park's Avatar parody being titled Dances with Smurfs.

Does anyone know where the 3D Jabba scene that's on Adywan's Revisited DVD came from?  Did he do it?  Do we know how it was done.  I watched in on the big screen again recently and was really impressed.  I wonder what the screen time:3D conversion time ratio is like.

My feelings on Avatar, I was in the theater to see District 9 and the trailer for Avatar played before the movie. That was the first I had heard anything about it, and all I could think of the whole time the trailer was on was "What a load of rubbish!" It just looked ridiculously stupid to me. I had no idea it was a James Cameron film until I read it in this thread, which doesn't change my mind about the movie in the slightest. 

The thing is Cameron started his moralising on T2 and that is why fans i have spoken to who loved the first film hated the second one.

He did a bit with Dark Angel and Titannic too,but i cannot remember what his political or moral subtext was at the moment.

Octorox said:

(P.S. I realize that my avatar is not lending any validity to the seriousness of my argument)

Take a loot around. Very few of us have "serious" avatars. bkev is a picture of himself with a Megaman helmet, I am an Imagination Land Cylon, Ferris is Lord Helmet, Xhonzi's is Darth Vader being crowned by the Emperor, and ImperialFighter is a tiny stormtrooper with a huge head, Anchorhead's is a picture of a whiny farm boy. And here I have only mentioned a few of the more serious ones...

Anyway, rest assured, your avatar will have no bearing on the perception of your posts content. 

C3PX said:

Octorox said:

(P.S. I realize that my avatar is not lending any validity to the seriousness of my argument)

Take a loot around. Very few of us have "serious" avatars. bkev is a picture of himself with a Megaman helmet, I am an Imagination Land Cylon, Ferris is Lord Helmet, Xhonzi's is Darth Vader being crowned by the Emperor, and ImperialFighter is a tiny stormtrooper with a huge head, Anchorhead's is a picture of a whiny farm boy. And here I have only mentioned a few of the more serious ones...

Anyway, rest assured, your avatar will have no bearing on the perception of your posts content. 

CO's is a picture of a cow swimming with a dolphin...

 Although I am confused... I thought Octorox was a lady... but her/his new avatar has me not so sure...

Really? What makes you think he/she/it is a lady? You thought the Gaffer was a lady too. Perhaps you just have an inclination to assume people are ladies? Or maybe Octocrox actually is a lady and you know what you are talking about on this one.

As for me, I am still the old fashioned sort that doesn't believe in cursing in front of ladies, and since I have the unfortunate tendancy to let one slip on these forums ever now and then, I like to assume this is a mostly estrogen free zone (with the exception of vbangle, who I believe is made up entirely of estrogen; and who will never know I said this about him because he has me on ignore).