Filming just started today (after months of pre production). James Cameron is set to make 4 sequels. Are you looking forward to the sequel(s)? I can't decide if he's either crazy or brilliant lol. At this point though, I think it would be foolish to bet against Cameron. People thought he was crazy making a 200 million dollar budget about a sinking ship and they thought Avatar would flop too (both are the highest grossest films of all time)
Avatar 2 will be in theaters December 18th, 2020.
I loved Avatar. I thought the 3rd act was worth the price of admission alone. Saw it twice in IMAX 3D (I very rarely would do something like that but I liked it so much the 1st time I had to see it again) So count me in on looking forward to the sequels. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
I don't get this. Not many people hated on the movie when it first came out, but as time goes by more and more people mock it.
I really don't understand what is so bad about it. It's James Cameron near his best. And there is so much they can do with it for sequels.
Exactly! Avatar came out way back in 2009 and the cgi was so jaw dropping and were so great that the word of mouth from movie goers was off the charts. It was that whole "You have to see it to believe it" sorta thing. And so many people saw it in IMAX 3D (which is the way James Cameron intended for the audience to see it in)
Its now the year 2022 and technology has come soooo far since 2009 . Can you imagine how good the special effects will be for the sequels.:-) Cameron has always been known to push the envelope with making movie magic (his filmography speaks for itself ). So I can't wait to see what Cameron has up his sleeve with the sequels. I know he's hinted that he's going to have some insane under water action scenes that sound really cool .
Here's a pic of Kate Winslet (yes you read that right. Kate Winslet from Titanic has a role in Avatar 2 haha) that went viral awhile back filming a scene under water.
Apparently she beat Tom Cruise's record for an actor/actress holding their breath under water while being filmed. (something like over 6 minutes :-) my stoner ass couldn't come close to that haha)
Honestly, the ONLY thing that gives me pause is the child actors. I normally can't stand child actors and find them to usually be annoying but there's been some good ones over the years. Hopefully they won't have big parts.
I totally forgot I made this thread (way back in 2017:-)) Its now coming out December 2022. I pray to God it doesn't get delayed for the millionth time. But with this shitty pandemic you never know. Feels like I've been waiting 84 years for this shit.
Hoping its good! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Pagan View Post
So I read back through this complete thread. I previously posted how blown away I was by the special effects for when they came out and how meh the plot was.
If all you got is special effects, that doesn't usually age well. Not too many think the King Kong from the 30's or Godzilla films from the 50's are the all time cinematic masterpieces of that era.
Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare:
Wizard of Oz
Wizard of Oz didn't stay famous decade after decade merely because of special effects.
It really did capture hearts and minds with the characters and story.
Pay no attention to the wizard behind the curtain.
Toto we're not in Kansas anymore.
The wicked witch is dead.
What similar scene from Avatar would ever have similar staying power?
And then it became famous because it was a part of the American Canon that everyone knew.
I guess a counter example is 2001 Space Odyssey. The book was reasonable but the movie didn't age well as it's not much more than special effects.
However, it shows up on a surprising number of top 100 movie lists of critics that I would guess haven't seen it in thirty+ years. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
This is a reach. It's humans colonizing an alien planet.. has nothing to do with white people specifically.
Anything with colonialism in modern Hollywood that is negative is white guilt/boo the white man. That is the subtext.
It is pretty blatant.
Like I have said before. Avatar had ground breaking efforts with a hack plot. Once you get past the smoke and mirrors, there is simply nothing present to keep people engaged. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Pagan:
I guess a counter example is 2001 Space Odyssey… the movie didn't age well as it's not much more than special effects.
I’m sorry, but what??? Are you sure you’re thinking of the right movie? [Reply]
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
If you want to be a victim that badly then carry on. You're def being too sensitive though.
Haha. The victim card. Typical. You don't have a credible response so you tapout via a lame insult.
Where did I whine? I merely pointed out the typical Hollywood tropes. Colonialism is seen as a negative by academia and Hollywood. Hilarious considering America or the modern world (of which both institutions profit from) wouldn't exist without it.
That is what Avatar was. A what if the pure and innocent indigenous people were able to fight off those evil Europeans fantasy with a environmental lesson.
People who pretend that the movie is something different amuse me. [Reply]
For anybody who thinks mocking Avatar became fashionable years later, here's the first thing I posted about it after returning from the theater back in 2010.
Originally Posted by Frazod:
Just got back from watching Dances with the Last Blue Braveheart Alien Samurai-er.... I mean, Avatar.
I divide this film into the first third and the last two-thirds.
The first third was visionary, magnificent, wide-eyed wonder the likes of which I haven't seen since the first time I saw Star Wars back in 1977. The special effects are every bit as next-level as I was led to believe.
But the last two-thirds of this movie was ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE poor noble savages v. evile white douchebags story we've seen time and time again. There's no need to hide this in a spoiler, because if you've seen Dances With Wolves, and The Last Samurai, and Braveheart, you've all ready seen Avatar. Hell, Cameron even rips himself off with healthy doses of Alien (apparently Jeanette Goldstein is now too old to play the Jeanette Goldstein role, so Michelle Rodriquez has stepped in).
Seriously, I could have written the script as I went along. I knew everything that was coming. EVERYTHING. Either I'm a psychic genious, or this was the most unoriginal story put to film in years.
To tie such breathtaking FX with such a lame been there/done that story, seriously, it's damn near criminal.
So just to be clear, we can never have a movie or a story about an advanced society attacking a primitive society without it being deemed white guilt? That seems a bit...weak. [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
So just to be clear, we can never have a movie or a story about an advanced society attacking a primitive society without it being deemed white guilt? That seems a bit...weak.
Strawman alert.
Who said that? No one.
The context of the story determines it. Avatar clearly operates on the concept that colonialism was nothing but evil Europeans taking away resources and lands from those poor innocent natives. It is an allegory in space with clear themes.
Not every advanced/primitive society story involves colonialism but Avatar does. [Reply]
How is it different between any non-white conflict? When farmers from Bolivia, Columbia, Brazil, etc. burn down swaths of rain forest and push out local tribes, is that also "European Colonialism"? Is every story involving a bully usurping the weak an allegory for "European Colonialism"?
I'm seriously asking here. I just don't get it. Early American atrocities against native peoples is not unique. I mean, genocides are occurring all the time on this planet. Why does everything have to be considered an attack on America? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Frazod:
For anybody who thinks mocking Avatar became fashionable years later, here's the first thing I posted about it after returning from the theater back in 2010.
Honest trailers has one of their better takes on this one.
It was entertaining enough until the story got predictable; I wasn't really sure how to take the 'connection' angle with the tail thing. It seemed really inappropriate in the context of the film.
I have the Blu-Ray however I don't think I would play it just to watch it like I would some other movies like Terminator or Aliens.
Even after knowing what is supposed to be happening in 2001, I still have no idea how the audience is supposed to understand why HAL was killing everyone or what the whole acid trip through the monolith was about. [Reply]
It was entertaining enough until the story got predictable; I wasn't really sure how to take the 'connection' angle with the tail thing. It seemed really inappropriate in the context of the film.
I have the Blu-Ray however I don't think I would play it just to watch it like I would some other movies like Terminator or Aliens.
Even after knowing what is supposed to be happening in 2001, I still have no idea how the audience is supposed to understand why HAL was killing everyone or what the whole acid trip through the monolith was about.
Funny you should mention 2001. That's another perpetually overrated piece of crap starring groundbreaking special effects and little else. The story, as presented, was largely incomprehensible (although at least it was original), and the lead actors' performances were so wooden that their noses would have grown had they lied. And that interminable final sequence - hey, look a bunch of long helicopter shots over barren landscapes with the colors skewed - woohoo isn't this neat? I remember getting flashbacks of that while watching the equally bad first Star Trek movie.
I did enjoy the book, though. And I loved the sequel, 2010, which featured a solid, understandable plot and world class actors. [Reply]
