AVATAR Thread: POCAHONTAS in Space!

[AndyDursin]

If WALL-E was the best film of the decade -- that's really, really sad.

I liked it...but that's it.

[Eric W.]

If WALL-E was the best film of the decade -- that's really, really sad.

I liked it...but that's it.

I don't have a problem say it's one of the best films of the decade in a rather sizable pool of sorts, but that's as far as I'd go with it. Same with Up.

It really wasn't that great of a decade for movies and their scores if we're really honest about it so, yes, that is indeed sad and telling on a lot of levels.

It was a decade of decline in more ways than one.

I'd have to think long and hard about which movie I'd really consider the best of that decade. That's not easy to come up with.

[AndyDursin]

I admit I'm one of those Pixar-is-overrated people. Yes I LIKED Wall-E, and I liked Up, but in both of those movies -- I found the set-up, the initial part of those films, more entertaining than their conclusions. The second half of each I could take or leave, and I find that's a common theme with Pixar movies. They initially enchant and bedazzle you, but once the "plot" kicks into gear and the second half of their narratives develops, I find myself bored. That happened during UP in particular.

Personally I liked THE INCREDIBLES and particularly FINDING NEMO a great deal more than both UP and WALL-E, but that's just me.

[Paul MacLean]

Personally I liked THE INCREDIBLES and particularly FINDING NEMO a great deal more than both UP and WALL-E, but that's just me.

I consider The Incredibles of of the decades best. I never saw Finding Nemo.

Wall-E got positive notices because of its "green" message. And there's nothing fundamentally wrong with a "green" messages (hey I like the outdoors too), but a film should be judged on its artistic merit, not its ideology.

Besides, Wall-E's message is difficult to swallow, when the "couch potato" culture it satirizes is mostly caused by Disney and other Hollywood studios, with their fast food merchandizing and encouraging of people to sit and watch movies while stuffing their faces.

[Paul MacLean]

Here's a satirical list of "facts" about Avatar by my friend Brian Sack...

http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000680.html

[mkaroly]

Here's a satirical list of "facts" about Avatar by my friend Brian Sack...

http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000680.html

•The Na'vi dialect has even more apostrophes than Klingon.


•If you were to pit people who taught themselves Na'vi against people who taught themselves Klingon, no one would win because they'd all be losers.

LOL!!

[Eric W.]

I'll take the Klingons easily, any day of the week.

[John Johnson]

SBIFF Tribute to James Cameron!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43908

[mkaroly]

On 60 Minutes last night Cameron was asked about maybe losing to Bigelow at the Oscars and he said "When I lose to...." When pressed he said (and I am paraphrasing from memory) basically that when it comes time for the Academy to vote, they will not be able to resist the urge to give Bigelow the Oscar because she would be the first female director to win that award. AT least I think that's what he said.

I don't know exactly what he meant by making that comment (whether he meant it as a compliment to her or whether he was complaining about his chances getting the award for AVATAR), but Cameron came across as an arrogant pig in my opinion. I'm tired of seeing his face and hearing him speak. The Academy better not give him best picture or director.

[Eric W.]

There's no doubt in my mind Avatar is cleaning house at the Oscars and there's no doubt in my mind that the obvious heavy handed political messages in this thing are what will carry it over the top and past "traditional" territory for sci-fi films.

There's no suspense or intrigue here whatsoever. If Cameron wins Best Director, Best Picture go to something else. If we see the first female director win the Oscar then Avatar wins Best Picture. I'll be stunned if it's anything outside of that combination and I still wouldn't be surprised if it was a dead sweep for Avatar all the way. I really think the politics can and will carry it that far.

[AndyDursin]

I disliked AVATAR so much I will be rooting for any movie to dethrone it, the problem is it wasn't a very good year. Even THE HURT LOCKER was overrated -- certainly a better movie than AVATAR, but it wasn't a "great" film. Still I hope there's some way the film wins.

The issue is none of these other movies has any buzz surrounding them. UP IN THE AIR didn't really take off, HURT LOCKER has a shot but I doubt it's winning Best Picture. So that doesn't leave a whole lot there to replace AVATAR, even though a lot of critics didn't care for it.

[AndyDursin]

I don't know exactly what he meant by making that comment (whether he meant it as a compliment to her or whether he was complaining about his chances getting the award for AVATAR), but Cameron came across as an arrogant pig in my opinion. I'm tired of seeing his face and hearing him speak. The Academy better not give him best picture or director.

I can't believe Cameron is writing a prequel NOVEL to Avatar. I seriously can't believe it -- the very worst part of that film was the story, the insipid dialogue and characters, and yet he's going ahead because people "want a taste of that world."

Then again, I can't believe how "important" the movie is to some people, how it "means something" to them. Guess they don't play videogames very often or they could get the same "other world" rush in a more satisfying form of entertainment!

[Eric Paddon]

Then again, I can't believe how "important" the movie is to some people, how it "means something" to them.

The crazed over-the-top reaction to "Titanic" baffled me as well when that happened. Reading Cameron's aura of narcissism surrounding this movie it's like having a deja vu attack from back then.

[AndyDursin]

Then again, I can't believe how "important" the movie is to some people, how it "means something" to them.

The crazed over-the-top reaction to "Titanic" baffled me as well when that happened. Reading Cameron's aura of narcissism surrounding this movie it's like having a deja vu attack from back then.

Like any big success of a film some fans can take it too far, though I can understand the mass success of TITANIC far more than AVATAR. The love story connected with people, the historical aspect and the recreation of the sinking itself appealed to others -- this movie, on the other hand, is nothing but special effects with an insipid story that has not one original aspect and no human connection at all. I know some people didn't care for TITANIC and I respect that, but it was a far more acclaimed and embraced movie artistically among critics than AVATAR.

For me there's no comparison that can be drawn between the two in terms of filmmaking, story and entertainment, outside of how much money each of them have made.

[Eric Paddon]

I was one of the inside-out Titanic buffs who was offended by the film for (1) its lack of a decent script and (2) giving us an ahistorical fictional romance centered on characters I really didn't find admirable or likable at the expense of real history and the many stories that made the Titanic so compelling. What shocked me though was that if you expressed this view in Titanic circles at the time, you ran the risk of getting attacked as someone who probably never had a meaningful romance in life etc.