my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews   » Avatar 2009 (plus lots of off-topic, non-review junk) (Page 15)

This topic comprises 19 pages: 1  2  3  ...  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19

Author Topic: Avatar 2009 (plus lots of off-topic, non-review junk) Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 01-26-2010 07:28 PM                     Except some of the close-ups which are actually people in make-up - they're quite real.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-26-2010 08:26 PM                        According to the "inflation adjusted" numbers, Avatar's BO $ is at number 34. (I read this on www.boxofficeguru.com so it must be correct!)  |  IP: Logged Joe Elliott Master Film Handler Posts: 497 From: Port Orange, Fl USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 01-27-2010 12:35 AM                     I think it is so popular because most people saw the previews, and were not impressed, thus very little hype. Once they saw it, they were surprised, and thus now the hype. Much like Titanic. How many of you saw the Titanic previews and said "I gotta see that movie!!". I know I didn't, and if my wife had not dragged me to see it, I would never have seen it. I do concede that it is a very good movie, but not all the hype that followed its release. I think Avatar falls in that same category.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-27-2010 12:38 AM                     quote: How many of you saw the Titanic previews and said "I gotta see that movie!!". I did. I waited months until the day I got to be the first person to run print #1 way before its release at a private Fox/Paramount screening.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-27-2010 01:59 AM                     quote: Joe Elliot How many of you saw the Titanic previews and said "I gotta see that movie!!". quote: Brad Miller I did. Me too. Fox distributed it here and were having a terrible time trying to get it booked (all 190+ minutes of it) in the middle of our summer. They sent out the 4.5 minute trailer and I set it up for the chain's management to watch. They were pretty positive they wouldn't take it and were really just appeasing Fox by watching it. It took about 1 minute for them to say...we're in. By 4.5 minutes, they couldn't wait for December 18 to arrive...neither could I.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 01-27-2010 12:20 PM                     On the contrary, the Avatar trailer I saw beforehand told me "this movie has some really strong suck potential". I was right. ...yet it continues to sell. There is no hope for good movies anymore.  |  IP: Logged Patrick de Groot Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sprang-Capelle, Netherlands Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-27-2010 12:57 PM                     There is nothing wrong with Avatar. It's an involving ride and it just works. Not for everyone sure, but it's really not a bad movie. Doesn't rely on 3D. Do you think the story of T2 was great? No, it's the execution. I at least cared for what was going on on screen. That's the key. I didn't have any expectations. It never said it had a deep complex story (I think?). It was meant for the masses (as it was EXPENSIVE to create). Yes it could do better in the character development area. However, there were some really nice concepts. And that is why I am glad I didn't have any knowledge about Avatar before seeing it. Those idease is what is part of Fantasy/SF.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 01-27-2010 06:32 PM                     ^ But it still ain't "Best Picture" material, though, is it? The first trailer was crap; it looked like a video game cut-scene. The second one wasn't so bad but not mind-blowing.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Jorgenson Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1002 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: Feb 2005 posted 01-28-2010 07:48 PM                        quote: Stu Jamieson But it still ain't "Best Picture" material, though, is it? With ten slots to fill? Definitely it's "material" enough to be nominated. Was it the best film of 2009? [and, a totally separate question] Should it win Best Picture at the Oscars? No to both. But, oddly, the Academy doesn't ever really seem to listen to me.  |  IP: Logged Tom Petrov Five Guys Lover Posts: 1121 From: El Paso, TX Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-02-2010 12:28 PM                    I've seen most of the films on the ballot list and it come down to Avatar vs Hurt Locker for best picture and director. Overall Avatar was better in my opinion than Hurt Locker. On a grand scale and having many people involved, it just seemed to come together all together better. Hurt Locker was good but the lack of commercial success leads me to believe that it didn't do well with "word of mouth"...and thats just it, it was very good but I am not sure I would recommend it to the average movie goer...they just might not like James Cameron will likely lose anyway. Everyone took the "I'm the King of the World" comment to seriously and the academy can't get over it  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 02-02-2010 03:27 PM                  quote: Patrick de Groot There is nothing wrong with Avatar. It's an involving ride and it just works. Not for everyone sure, but it's really not a bad movie. Doesn't rely on 3D. Actually it's a terrible story with an obvious anti-American military slant. The dialog is cringe-inducing (like most Cameron writing) and the story is a blatant rip-off of "Dances With Wolves" (another anti-American military film). Avatar is saved by the great 3D visual effects. This was a $300 million film at best if it were only released in 2D. Hell...if you subtract the "premium" for the 3D from the box office numbers it probably lowers it by at least 30%. Then subtract half again for the people who wouldn't have gone to see it. I went with my dad and uncle and it was my uncle's second time (he only went again to see it on IMAX film). That's four out of four tickets that would not have gotten sold were it 2D. The IMAX was sold out at 3PM on a Thursday afternoon in mid-January weeks after it's release. You think that would have happened to ANY 2D film? I admit this film is a huge industry event...but only because of the gimmick. This is the kind of film that killed 3D every time it's been tried.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 02-02-2010 04:01 PM                     ^^ I can see 3 films in the BP noms list that are streets ahead of Avatar: A Serious Man, Inglorious Basterds and Up. I haven't seen Hurt Locker, Up In The Air, Precious, An Education or The Blind Side. From what I've heard all of those are also likely better than Avatar with the exception perhaps of An Education. The only one on the list that I'd confirm is worse than Avatar would be the even more highly over rated District 9.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 02-02-2010 04:11 PM                     I just don't see this as an anti-military film and all my friends currently in and relatives not serving anymore don't find it to be. If a director can make you hate your own military in 3 hours, that's either damn good acting (Stephen Lang was very good) or a damn good job on the director's part. Yes it's an overused plot, but nowadays, what isn't? How many films are completely original? Not a sequel, a remake/reboot, or based upon a book (comic or otherwise)? As for a 2D film doing this well, look at Dark Knight's numbers. It's 8th weekend out it was still top 3. It was in the top 10 for 10 weeks(domestic and international), so a 2D film can do it. I go the movies for big picture and loud sound. If I want great acting or a good story, my 26" at home works perfectly fine. I know that I'll be ridiculed for being a "fanboy", or simple minded, but oh well. Just expressing my opinions. And I'll be going to see Avatar in large format again sometime this week, for the 6th time.  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 02-03-2010 10:35 AM                  Jonathan - I didn't say the film made me hate the military but you have to be in serious denial not to see how it obviously makes the military - and by extension capitalist society - the enemy. The "heroes" still lived a primitive existence. Cameron would have to be brain-dead not to know it consciously as he was writing it. It's OK with me...every movie needs a villain...but this one is made worse by the (as you state it) "overused" plot. You might see in another thread that I thought Stephen Lang should have gotten an Oscar nomination. If you want to see more of him I recommend "Gods and Generals" and then "Gettysburg" (in that order). It's funny you compare Avatar to Dark Knight as I was thinking about DK numbers while writing my last post. Are you saying that without 3D Avatar is comparable to DK from any standpoint? Dark Knight is not only a great film but it set a new standard for it's genre - and earned the respect of many who wouldn't have given a "Batman movie" a second thought previously. Yes, Ledger was brilliant and would have collected that Oscar himself had he lived but it's much more than that. It's a multi-layered script with clearly defined characters and relationships. It's a film that is masterfully executed at every level. Not that I thought Avatar sucked. There were some good things about it. The aforementioned performance by Lang, of course, but also the amazing subtlety of the CGI especially considering how much there is of it. George Lucas could take a lesson from that. It had technical problems too...primarily the "planing" look of some of the 3D. But the rehashed plot (Michael Blake should sue) and the lapses into douche-chill writing are my main complaints. I laugh at it's "environmental" message since it comes out just as the "facts" about "global climate change" (notice they dropped "warming") are all being unveiled as fraud. Hey, I am 100% into doing all I can to preserve the environment but I do not need to be preached to in the movie theater by some guy whose "carbon footprint" (can't believe I just used that term) is probably 50 times my own - and that's just figuring his personal life and not his work. quote: Jonathan Althaus Yes it's an overused plot, but nowadays, what isn't? For a start? Stories where the US military is heroic. Haven't seen that in while.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-04-2010 06:14 PM                        quote: Joe Tommassello the "facts" about "global climate change" (notice they dropped "warming") are all being unveiled as fraud. That's just because it's winter and there are record snowstorms and cold snaps all over the country. Next summer when the wildfires are burning, the "global warming" phrase will return.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 19 pages: 1  2  3  ...  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.