10 years -- for that?!?!
Doesn't look like the promised "groundbreaking" CGI we haven't seen before. In fact the creatures in THE PHANTOM MENACE looked as real!
Hopefully it'll make sense in the finished film, or be more effective...but the visuals don't look overly encouraging. Maybe the story will work, even if it seems entirely predictable what direction it's going to go -- marine "goes native," helps indigenous people overcome "evil military people." Is there anything else to it?? I hope so.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/
AVATAR Thread: POCAHONTAS in Space!
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
AVATAR Thread: POCAHONTAS in Space!
Last edited by AndyDursin on Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
On August 21st certain select theaters and IMAX theaters are going to be showing either a full fledged prescreening or a bunch of scenes. They basically want to put this thing out there, feel audiences out, and do whatever might be needed that can be done with the remaining 4 months left until full fledged release.
http://www.avatarmovie.com/
I'm not surprised that the trailer isn't going to give a lot of things away but from what I've been reading, I think this thing is going to set some new standards at least in terms of some of the technological sides of film making.
I'm looking forward to this.
Music by James Horner. Wow. FINALLY Horner returns to sci-fi. That score will be an immediate, blind purchase by me sight unseen.
http://www.avatarmovie.com/
I'm not surprised that the trailer isn't going to give a lot of things away but from what I've been reading, I think this thing is going to set some new standards at least in terms of some of the technological sides of film making.
I'm looking forward to this.
Music by James Horner. Wow. FINALLY Horner returns to sci-fi. That score will be an immediate, blind purchase by me sight unseen.
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
Well I've been reading all of that too -- but the actual footage of the creature the Sam Worthington character turns into isn't what I was hoping for. It looked no more detailed than any other CGI project, and given Cameron's talk of how "groundbreaking" this movie was going to be, it left me utterly crushed. If this came out of some other movie you'd never heard of, you wouldn't think anything of it. It's like he becomes Jar Jar Binks!
Maybe the story and everything will work fine, and maybe Horner's score will carry it too -- but I just can't shake the feeling that it looks like DANCES WITH WOLVES on an alien planet, with a simplistic story. I really hope it delivers more than what I've seen from it, because the expectations are sky high.
Maybe the story and everything will work fine, and maybe Horner's score will carry it too -- but I just can't shake the feeling that it looks like DANCES WITH WOLVES on an alien planet, with a simplistic story. I really hope it delivers more than what I've seen from it, because the expectations are sky high.
I had the same reactions to the trailer, but today on AVATAR DAY I saw the 20min at the theaters and the trailer doesnt do it justice! The NAVIS looked so real, I have never seen anything like it... heck they even showed emotions better than many actors out ther! That was truly unbelievable, also the whole design of the creatures with their colors and fluorescent skin and textures, the whole planet glowing at night... a feast for the eyes!!!
Sigourney Weaver was also great to see back in action in a serious role, she still looks like she could kick an Alien's ass!
The story seems fairly simple, but character's seem deep and intelligent and touching... and Cameron never failed on that level Id say!
Im not sold on the 3-D though... he doesnt use it to throw things at you, but the picture has depth and looks plastic, but for me, I dont see the point... it is not improving the film at all. Whats the point of that?
Score seems to go very experimental on Pandora, very percussionish, choir etc... but sounded very nice, though it might have been temp music, but still it shows you what direction Cameron goes in that regard. Dont expect ALIENS or something...
after those amazing 20min Im baffled how ordinary the trailer looks... and how weak the cgi appears... dont worry... it blows you away on the screen...
it will certainly not be the change of filmmaking, but a hell of a film definitely!
Sigourney Weaver was also great to see back in action in a serious role, she still looks like she could kick an Alien's ass!
The story seems fairly simple, but character's seem deep and intelligent and touching... and Cameron never failed on that level Id say!
Im not sold on the 3-D though... he doesnt use it to throw things at you, but the picture has depth and looks plastic, but for me, I dont see the point... it is not improving the film at all. Whats the point of that?
Score seems to go very experimental on Pandora, very percussionish, choir etc... but sounded very nice, though it might have been temp music, but still it shows you what direction Cameron goes in that regard. Dont expect ALIENS or something...
after those amazing 20min Im baffled how ordinary the trailer looks... and how weak the cgi appears... dont worry... it blows you away on the screen...
it will certainly not be the change of filmmaking, but a hell of a film definitely!
From a gent @ AVS who saw the 3D "preview":
From a review of same by The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog ... es-cameron
I think this movie is going to be something special.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... st17041605Talk about immersion, in 15 minutes you get totally sucked into this world, not like a 2d movie where you're always aware of the distance between your seat and the screen. This is like being at the edge of a huge endless 3d box that contains the world where the action takes place, kind of like a live play but you're closer, almost in it. This is like nothing I've seen before...Cameron is a God
From a review of same by The Guardian:
Careful with this article, it apparently contains quite a bit of spoiler material. I stopped reading at the above quote.With Avatar, 15 minutes of which was screened to audiences today around the world, James Cameron has dared go one step further. The film is a rare, madly ambitious attempt to not just show, but to immerse cinema-goers in an alien landscape. And judging from what I saw on screen earlier today, Cameron has pulled it off spectacularly.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog ... es-cameron
I think this movie is going to be something special.
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
I'm sure the 3-D is impressive (it ought to be; the movie only cost several hundred million, after all!), but I'm still in the camp that thinks 3-D is a gimmick.
For a guy who is supposedly into pushing boundaries, the story of this picture is anything but groundbreaking. And the visuals don't seem to be anything on the level of what he was boasting about -- I'm sure they're terrific and all, but it doesn't look groundbreaking to me.
For a guy who is supposedly into pushing boundaries, the story of this picture is anything but groundbreaking. And the visuals don't seem to be anything on the level of what he was boasting about -- I'm sure they're terrific and all, but it doesn't look groundbreaking to me.
-
Paul MacLean
- Posts: 7076
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 10:26 pm
- Location: New York
Yeah, me too. How many times -- in the past 60 years -- have they tried to convince the public that 3-D is next big thing?AndyDursin wrote:I'm sure the 3-D is impressive (it ought to be; the movie only cost several hundred million, after all!), but I'm still in the camp that thinks 3-D is a gimmick.
Paul MacLean wrote:Yeah, me too. How many times -- in the past 60 years -- have they tried to convince the public that 3-D is next big thing?AndyDursin wrote:I'm sure the 3-D is impressive (it ought to be; the movie only cost several hundred million, after all!), but I'm still in the camp that thinks 3-D is a gimmick.
I'm really starting to see a lot of chatter about "3D" this and that in the theater circles and the electronics circles.
As long as I see STILL the need to have to wear funky glasses for it to work, I'll never take it seriously and I'll never bother with it.
Wake me up in at least ten years when we can have real 3D without any glasses or any gimmicks and it doesn't cost a king's ransom and then we'll talk.
As far as Avatar goes, I think we all knew the trailer wasn't going to show us a lot, but by just about every account I've seen out there from the people that were able to see whatever they showed in select IMAX and regular theaters yesterday...every person to a man was blown away by what they saw.
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
My main problem is no matter what the visuals are, the story seems unbelievably cliched. You can sense every direction it's going based on the trailer and everything he's said about it.As far as Avatar goes, I think we all knew the trailer wasn't going to show us a lot, but by just about every account I've seen out there from the people that were able to see whatever they showed in select IMAX and regular theaters yesterday...every person to a man was blown away by what they saw.
I don't think this is going to be anywhere near the blockbuster they're hoping it's going to be. I hope I'm wrong, but the goofy creatures and cliched story...I have my doubts. Banking on 3-D alone to sell it -- meh.
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
IGN view...have to agree on the videogame comment, sadly. 
"And how did yours truly feel? Well, this is the second time I've seen these scenes (the first being at SDCC) and I must say I'm still underwhelmed. By God, I want to love this movie. As an IMAX 3-D experience, it is breathtaking.
But after seeing nearly half an hour of it so far, I still can't say that I feel anything for any of the characters; it just feels hollow to me. Much has already been said about the less than groundbreaking but still impressive special effects, and I will add my voice to that chorus. Avatar looks cool, but like the greatest videogame ever made and not a work of cinema that will, as the filmmaker has promised, change the way you view movies. I realized tonight that I bought the world of Pandora and all the creatures that inhabit it ... except for the Na'vi. They just look like cartoon characters to me. The Na'vi are to the Smurfs what the Wookies are to Ewoks. Their much taller, more ferocious cousins.
I am still hopeful for the final film and looking forward to seeing it in full before passing judgment on it, but let me leave you with this: a month before Heath Ledger died, Christopher Nolan screened the first six minutes of The Dark Knight (the opening heist scene) at The Bridge for members of the press. I was instantly won over and left wanting more. July 2008 simply couldn't come fast enough. The full trailer, which was released afterward, only made me more eager for the movie. That's what sneak previews are supposed to accomplish, right? I've now seen 25 minutes of Avatar, as well as its trailer, and I am still not pulled into it.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/101/1017232p2.html
"And how did yours truly feel? Well, this is the second time I've seen these scenes (the first being at SDCC) and I must say I'm still underwhelmed. By God, I want to love this movie. As an IMAX 3-D experience, it is breathtaking.
But after seeing nearly half an hour of it so far, I still can't say that I feel anything for any of the characters; it just feels hollow to me. Much has already been said about the less than groundbreaking but still impressive special effects, and I will add my voice to that chorus. Avatar looks cool, but like the greatest videogame ever made and not a work of cinema that will, as the filmmaker has promised, change the way you view movies. I realized tonight that I bought the world of Pandora and all the creatures that inhabit it ... except for the Na'vi. They just look like cartoon characters to me. The Na'vi are to the Smurfs what the Wookies are to Ewoks. Their much taller, more ferocious cousins.
I am still hopeful for the final film and looking forward to seeing it in full before passing judgment on it, but let me leave you with this: a month before Heath Ledger died, Christopher Nolan screened the first six minutes of The Dark Knight (the opening heist scene) at The Bridge for members of the press. I was instantly won over and left wanting more. July 2008 simply couldn't come fast enough. The full trailer, which was released afterward, only made me more eager for the movie. That's what sneak previews are supposed to accomplish, right? I've now seen 25 minutes of Avatar, as well as its trailer, and I am still not pulled into it.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/101/1017232p2.html
^^ He's not the only reviewer I'm seeing starting to trickle pieces like that out.
I certainly don't think anything super revolutionary is going to happen here. I just want something generally good and cool. If it achieves a total package of being something special, that would be great.
Starting to temper my expectations a bit more though based on some of the reading I've been doing. I had not seen that IGN one yet.
^^ These points I'll agree on and share your concerns about the story.AndyDursin wrote:
My main problem is no matter what the visuals are, the story seems unbelievably cliched. You can sense every direction it's going based on the trailer and everything he's said about it.
I don't think this is going to be anywhere near the blockbuster they're hoping it's going to be. I hope I'm wrong, but the goofy creatures and cliched story...I have my doubts. Banking on 3-D alone to sell it -- meh.
I certainly don't think anything super revolutionary is going to happen here. I just want something generally good and cool. If it achieves a total package of being something special, that would be great.
Starting to temper my expectations a bit more though based on some of the reading I've been doing. I had not seen that IGN one yet.
P.S.
One thing I'm confident about even sight unseen except for the trailer is this:
There's absolutely NO way this thing can or will live up to the incredible hype that's been put around it, starting with the hype Cameron himself has put out there. There's just no way.
I certainly seeing a lot of that particular sentiment out there, even from a lot of the people that really liked what they saw by and large.
One thing I'm confident about even sight unseen except for the trailer is this:
There's absolutely NO way this thing can or will live up to the incredible hype that's been put around it, starting with the hype Cameron himself has put out there. There's just no way.
I certainly seeing a lot of that particular sentiment out there, even from a lot of the people that really liked what they saw by and large.
-
AndyDursin
- Posts: 34318
- Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:45 pm
- Location: RI
Pretty amusing comparison between AVATAR and, as Paul mentioned earlier, DELGO...of course the AVATAR script was written 5 years prior to DELGO (allegedly), but it's interesting.
http://www.movieline.com/2009/08/the-7- ... -delgo.php
http://www.movieline.com/2009/08/the-7- ... -delgo.php
-
John Johnson
- Posts: 6095
- Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:28 pm