AVATAR

[creepycrawley]

the nipples are somewhat understated. but there - and quite frequently - for those who can't stop looking for them.

that loincloth flapping around in the breeze is definitely worth a blueray frame by frame viewing as well.

[jharker]

Just saw it. It was fun movie. A terribly simple story told really well. I guess that's Cameron's strongest suit. So , even though I was really skeptic, it did all work out in the end.

But honestly, if you'd ask me at the end of this week to come up with something I thought was really memorable I probably wouldn't be able to name any particular moment.

The visuals were nice, but there was never really a moment that wowed me.
Most of the cgi is so good that it actually becomes a bit mundane. So no goosebump moments for me.

The 3D...I'm torn. It's a cute gimmick. There were even some shots where I thought it added something as a storytelling device.
But the technology still isn't perfect. It still gets blurry sometimes. It's also headache inducing. According to my brother, who never has seen a 3D movie before, he didn't have any problem with it.

For me though, it felt like I my eyes were undergoing that brainwashing procedure from A clockwork orange. It got a little better after an hour or so, but it's a terrible strain on my eyes, which doesn't help the experience.

I've been hearing people compare this film to Str Wars in more ways than one, the last couple of days.

It might be the same kind of technological revolution as that film and I really look forward to what this film means for the future of filmmaking.

But the movie itself, for me at least, doesn't come even close to being as fun and memorable as star wars.

[Moonman]

It might be the same kind of technological revolution as that film and I really look forward to what this film means for the future of filmmaking.

It uses CGI, mo-cap and is in 3D, all of which has been done before. For like...a really long time actually. Where's the revolution?

[creepycrawley]

i also don't get what was so revolutionary about it. it was just the natural next step as far as i'm concerned.

avatar is one up on king kong, which was one up on gollum, which was one up on jar jar binks, which was one up on jurassic park.

nothing that revolutionary about it.

but avatar looks shit hot. it does. if just for the glowing jungle. that stuff looked awesome. there is some serious eye candy in this one. serious eye candy.

and hot aliens. thanks james cameron. now i keep thinking my neighbours cat is flirting with me. if only it was blue.

but thank god for all this eye candy sexiness. for avatar has one of the sloppiest scripts of all time.

- why did the sexy aliens trust the avatars, induce them into their culture, when they knew all along that they were actually humans?

- why don't marines get chastised for evading orders? instead of just being left to aid in the escape of prisoners and theft of helicopters.

- and how DO those avatar things work? how does the sexy elfin body receive the signal from the computers in the lab? and if its just a signal, why does one need a custom DNA made avatar anyway?

was it through the penis' that grew in their ponytails? cos that was disgusting.

[Balak]

the "revolution" is that i've rarely seen realistic CGI characters so goddamn ALIVE!
this is real performance capture, it puts every zemekis movie to shame at this level.
so much acting subtilties sooo well captured, my mind was blown. It's incredibly faithfull to the actor's movement. neytiri is really amazing, and you can tell Moat is acted by CCH Pounder. Funny to see how the stiff acting of sigourney waver translates into CGI too.

so yeah, the script is very simple and "deja-vu", but i was excited during all the movie.
I loved it.

[jharker]

What Balak said.

Maybe revolution is too strong of a word. But compared to "A christmas carol" that just came out last month, this is a huge leap forward.

I feel that future filmmakers are going to owe a lot to Cameron and the technology they created for this film. When future filmmakers want to do a movie with peformance capture, they're going to refer to this film and probably use the same technology that was created for film.

[EddieH]

So were your eyeballs fondled? LOL
I wonder how many chicks will be dressed as Neytiri for Comic Con next year.

[The Armando]

Just got back from it.
A good movie, even a very good one, with indeed the best special effects and CGI to date. Sadly, the by-the-numbers story and the one note characters keep it from becoming something truly special. I kept hearing about this awesome villain that was supposedly in the same league of Hans Landa, The Joker and Anton Chigurh and all I got was formulaic evil military boss #7452839. That said, hats off to Zo? and the Neytiri animators, they've achieved the greatest CGI character ever (and no, I'm not one of these blue nipple lover pervs -it's just too anorexic for my tastes ).
Hope Cameron moves on to Batte Angel next, because, as great of a visual fest it was, I don't really have any interest to revisit Pandora anytime soon.

[dr.hong]

If I had to grade it:

Story : B -

Visuals : A

It felt long.

[Cagliostro]

Just got back from it.
A good movie, even a very good one, with indeed the best special effects and CGI to date. Sadly, the by-the-numbers story and the one note characters keep it from becoming something truly special. I kept hearing about this awesome villain that was supposedly in the same league of Hans Landa, The Joker and Anton Chigurh and all I got was formulaic evil military boss #7452839. That said, hats off to Zo? and the Neytiri animators, they've achieved the greatest CGI character ever (and no, I'm not one of these blue nipple lover pervs -it's just too anorexic for my tastes ).
Hope Cameron moves on to Batte Angel next, because, as great of a visual fest it was, I don't really have any interest to revisit Pandora anytime soon.

Are you are fan of Battle Angel Alita? They are perhaps my favourite series of comics, I would love to see a big budget animation/CGI version of that world but James Cameron isn't the guy to do it justice, there is nothing in the Alita world that sits well with Cameron's style. Not even the action.

[Elliotanimated]

This film would be incredible if perhaps you'd not seen any other movies ever before.
I also think that despite the advances in technology, it seemed really old fashioned (the content, not the technology).

[Derrick Fish]

Man, I loved every frame of AVATAR. It FAR exceeded my hopes and I can't wait to go see it again.

Here's a little fan art love:
[url=http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2009/363/5/d/Neytiri_by_Derrick_Fish_by_derrickfish.jpg]
Click to Embiggen[/url]

[Elliotanimated]

I've seen this for a second time (my wife was keen to see it).
I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this whacking great film on here.

I'm curious to hear what folks have to say about this whole 3D shenanigans.
They seem to work very hard to try and create depth, but I don't think the human eye works the way the 3D needs it to.
Things io the foreground can be out of focus if it's a camera, but such depth really only works in the peripheral vision of the human eye.
I find myself struggling to focus on the screen because my eye is trying to refocus elements that aren't going to.
Should it make any difference if one is sporting spectacles?

[Moonman]

Maybe that's why the thing gave me such a goddamn headache when I watched it.

[Elliotanimated]

Maybe.
I saw it once in 3D and didn't want to revisit, but Rebecca was keen to see it in this format as she hadn't seen anything in 3D before.