Avatar

[Jusselin]

cant wait to get this on blue ray and watch it on the LED TV

[venchka]

Thanks Murph.

[wandrson]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Wow, talk about preachy.
I guess I just don't get why the story is seen as "preachy" and why the movie can't just be enjoyed. Especially this one. It's like saying that any movie about the Holocaust is preachy. Or Miracle on 34th St is preachy because it pushes the belief that Santa is real. Avatar does not have an agenda. It's not like they are pushing a global warming scare or an abortion agenda. They just borrowed a few facts from world history to base a story on.
I for one am glad I can just enjoy it. In fact, I think I'm going to have to go enjoy it for a second time.

The preachiness in this case is the misrepresenting of history. There have never been "noble savages" who have lived in "harmony" with nature. From the leftists idealogues view it is civilization and technology that is the problem; however, that overlooks that technology has done wonders to clean up the human waste problem. You don't see diseases like cholera running rampant in civilized places.

Also your reference to the native americans. While I will agree that "modern" tribes claim to live in harmony with nature. History is far from clear cut. There is significant evidence that the ancestors of modern native peoples on this continent contributed to the extinction of at least three major species (Mamoth, Dire wolf, and Saber Tooth) along with many others.

There is also a reason many of these tribes were nomadic, it allowed them to leave the waste and destruction behind. Granted with low population levels this allowed natural processes to clean up. And lets not forget that for the most part these people lived fairly short brutal lives.

The concept of the "noble savage" is a product of the overly romantic and completely unreleastic eighteenth century. A concept that was adopted by the "greens"

[rockpics]

I went to see "Avatar" without having read any reviews. I saw some tenuous but imperfect references to history, some food for thought and some great special effects.
I liked it, in other words.

[ilove2eatcake]

I just have to say that this movie was fantastic! Towards the end I had to remind myself that many of the effects weren't real...it was that good! I saw it Sunday morning since movies are $5 before noon at AMC.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Heard Box Office was a bit down, just $70 mill range, but that could be because of the big east coast snow storm.

Folks Cameron said that this is based on an idea that he has had for many many years (kind of developed in his youth) and it is a bit simplistic in point but jeeze the CGI is REALLY REALLY GOOD!

May try to see it in IMAX 3-D if I go back again and I may have gone back to see a movie at a theatre a handful of times in my life.

I would guess that the 3-D glasses in this case are polarized types? vs red/blue.

[Tim Lookingbill]

Yes, the glasses are the polarized type.

Just a heads up, wipe down your glasses way before the movie starts when you have enough lights to check clarity and a clean cloth with you. Just as the movie was about to start I noticed mine had smudges from the being in the plastic bag and didn't dare try at that point to clean them from all the popcorn grease and dark lighting.

I roughed it through the 2.5 hour movie constantly focusing through this smudge spot in the center of both lenses to the point my eyes felt like they had sand in them when the movie ended.

Oh well at least it gives me an excuse to go see it again except this time with cleaner glasses.

The life like facial expressions and flying sequences were a trip and gave me chills. A very "You are there" dreamlike experience.

[Crashoran]

In the end, they ended up spending over $500 million to create and promote the movie.

I saw it in digital 3D, and it was probably one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen.

[tropicpine]

Just got back from seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D. Even with a bad seat it was mind blowing!

[sbug_adam]

Originally Posted by rockpics

I saw some tenuous but imperfect references to history,

what..? when did we go to the Navi planet and try to retrieve some ore? LOL..

btw, did any feel as though this movie was 2009 CGI Fern Gully

[rockpics]

[QUOTE=sbug_adam;1047034]what..? when did we go to the Navi planet and try to retrieve some ore? LOL..

Like I said, it was "tenuous". Geeez!

[cooltouch]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

You have to set through the credits, I bet there were close to a 1000 people listed!

. . .

Didn't get to see it in 3-D and heard that 3-D kicks it up a few notches, then there is the IMAX 3-D which probably would melt a few brain cellls in this old head.

. . .

Usually don't go to opening weekend shows but went for the first show at Northpark today and I bet the theatre was only 10% full, so not sure if that indicates that people would rather shop than see a movie-this was 11:30 am showing.

. . .

So Rotten Tomato gives it like an 85 or so out of 100 and I say it is that high or a bit more. Gonna take a lot of rear ends to get the money back that went into this though but it will sell a lot of DVD's in 6 months.

They made $75M on opening day, according to one news report I heard. So, it will probably take them about a week or so to recoup their costs :)

About the number of people in the credits -- computer animation is extremely personnel-intensive. My daughter Alex has been studying 3-D computer animation for the past almost four years, and I can see how much time and effort it takes for her to produce just a short and rather simple piece of animation. To produce something like Avatar probably required tens of thousands of man-hours from their computer animation people.

Alex and I saw it on Saturday -- mid-afternoon showing. But we went to just the regular version. No 3D, no Imax. And the theater was mostly empty. I'm guessing that most everyone is seeing it either in 3D or Imax 3D. Alex went to see it again Monday afternoon, but this time at the Imax. The theater was completely full.

And yes, the Imax version definitely kicks things up several notches, according to my daughter. For a few hours, that's all she could talk about after seeing the Imax version.

Here's what I think of this film: it shifted the paradigm. Computer animation on the big screen will be compared to Avatar from here on out. It is not just a great and compelling movie -- it has set the bar so high that the entire CA industry will improve and further mature as a result. Regarding its preachiness, it was less than I had been preparing myself for. It was just the old and shop-worn saw where the industrialist is portrayed as the evil environmental rapist. This has been so thoroughly done to death by Hollywood, I didn't have a lot of trouble tuning out most of it, and it wasn't enough to spoil my overall appreciation for the movie.

[drgibson]

Went and saw it in 3D last night, I found the 3D distracting and some times hard to know where the focal point was.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Heard that about 70% of the tickets sold have been for the 3-D versions and the weekend Box Office was $77 million not opening day number.

[Crashoran]

Opening weekend worldwide is about $240 million