Oh, you mean Transformers 2!

Yeah, I think the accepted abbreviation for Transformers 2 is TF2, since T2 has been synonymous with Terminator 2 for almost 2 decades.

Something that i made an issue of in the TF2 thread. T2 is Terminator 2...not Transformers 2. I too was confused by his abbreviation at first.

yes, your over the top worship of this film certainly is.

I did finally see it today with my 10 year old daughter. she thought the 3d was cool. when the Na'vi chief started talking and i instantly recognized his voice as Wes Studi - a detail I had not heard - I almost did a spit take...luckily for the kids in front of me i limited it to a short guffaw.

I loved how the chief was an Indian, but the wife was African and the music was out of the Lion King...with a little Matrix Revolutions tossed in for the orgasmatron life saving connected chant thingy.....that was hilarious. Then Ribisi couldn't decide if they were Indian or African either - one scene their "fly bitten monkeys" - the next their "dirty savages"....all hilariously over the top. You also had the perfect Indian stereotypes in all of the clans - the "horse people of the plains" - i.e. Sioux/Comanche/etc - with the People of the sea...so you could have Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimo AND Moshoeshoe! It's the perfect Post-colonial indigenous revenge fantasy!!!!!!



In the end, it WAS pretty to look at, and I was entertained for 3 hours - my daughters first words at the end: "that was the LONGEST. MOVIE. EVER!!!!!!" - But anyone proclaiming this a GREAT movie is simply blind to the pathetic unoriginality of the story. In my world, stories still count, and there was simply no excuse for such lazy writing. I could write that story in a day...and it felt like Cameron pretty much did. people all over the theater LAUGHED when Ribisi explained "Unobtanium"!!!!

You are perfectly welcome to love this with all your might...I don't have any intent to deny that...and liking it doesn't make you an automatic masturbatory fanboy - Labor's effusive fawning does. It is a remarkable technical achievement surrounding a puerile story riddled with stereotypes and copycat stories. So on the one hand, it's jaw droppingly amazing...on the other it's jaw droppingly silly. put those together and it's a fun way to spend an afternoon...nothing more nothing less.

it is nowhere NEAR the best picture of the year...Great movies have great stories, acting, etc along with cinematography and direction. this satisfies only half that requirement.

You should see a Miyazaki film or two. Princess Mononoke for starters.

Finally got around to Avatar today. I'm middle of the road on this one - visually stunning (although not perfect on the foreground 3D imagery) and interesting story, but as others have put - derivative, predictable, and personally, it felt like a smorgasbord of familiar films all wrapped into one - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Gaia concept), Princess Mononoke, Pocohontas and The Last Samurai.

I haven't seen a 3D film since Jaws 3D and I was totally sold on the developments Considering the recent Bloomberg article, with production companies rushing out to access the cameras/tech used to create Avatar, it spells out well for the industry. Can't wait to see what the future holds in the 3D realm.

I enjoyed it despite how contrived and predictable the story was. It was entertaining to the point I was surprised how quickly its 150 minutes seemed to fly by. It's not a great movie but one I'd like to buy on BD. Well, once they establish a 3DTV format cos you know it'll get an eventual re-release on BD.

Just a movie people. No needed to go to war just because someone didn't like it or thought it was great.

On a different note during some of the gunfire scenes I almost wanted to duck out of the way to avoid getting hit.

Seriously. There have been plenty of "lazy" movies that blatantly steal plots and characters from other, better movies. But they don't get nearly as much shit as Avatar, probably because everything else about them hasn't been as outstanding in every other department.

James Cameron has never been the one to push the envelope of storytelling in terms of actual plot and writing. That has been left to others with more skill and tact. But Cameron has been the one who knows how to manage balancing the new technology against the story; simple stories maybe (Titanic was a really simple love story in the end), but powerful and effective because he knows the archetype and can use it well with the emerging technological hotness.

It's strange to see so much emotion from both sides aimed at a movie that is both simple and complex at the same time, and neither side can see the other's argument.

Speaking for myself, I can see the other side's argument just fine. It's a flawed movie and there are legitimate reasons not to like it.

Where I have a problem is the people who attack those who like the movie as "scary" or "blind." But it's the same level of dickishness you see in threads about movies, TV shows and music --- the people who think they're so cool for hating something popular that they can't help but share their sense of self importance.

True. I don't think the movie is perfect, but it was very entertaining to be sure.

I don't look for perfection in everything I see, but some folks seem to be equating hype with reality and getting seriously annoyed when they don't equal out. There needs to be a balance between what the internet and global media tells you and what you think about it for yourself. Just because that equation doesn't zero out doesn't mean the movie sucks, it just means that something in the equation is wrong, and I find it's usually the hype. Once I can see that it isn't the Second Coming™, I'm usually happier with the experience overall.

Anyone think the fistbump will still be en vogue in 2154?

Obviously.

the two fingered salute has been around a hell of a lot longer than that..

I certainly don't think anyone will still be quoting "The Wizard of Oz". The Script Generator 3000™ that obviously wrote this thing must have pulled that line from the database of "tired movie quotes".

really? i'll bet you're wrong.

Wizard of Oz quotes will last longer than the fistbump. Hell, we still have plays around from Ancient Greece.

Exactly.

There are plenty of movies that are very popular or are worshiped here as the epitome of film art, which I didn't like. But it would never occur to me to denigrate those who do like them.


I saw Avatar again last night, this time in 3D, with a couple of friends. Liked it more the second time around and noticed a lot of things I missed the first time. And I really was impressed with the immersive quality of the 3D, as others have mentioned. This isn't going to be my favorite movie or anything like that. But it was worth my $6.50. Since I'm not going to have home 3D anytime soon, the best way to see this movie is to catch it at the theater. I think that may be why it is doing so well at the box office: it needs to be seen on the big screen in 3D.

I ventured to Pandora for the 2nd time yesterday... about the only question I have is when they're communicating with each other during the final battle. Are they just using some spare communication devices or something? That wasn't really explained.

I'm guessing they took the devices from the trailer with the avatar equipment.

"Et tu, Brute?"

I thought they were given those by the humans previously, since it looked like they had them from the beginning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100125/...s_china_avatar those crazy commies.

I wonder if they'll start painting their citizens blue...