Yavin

That's exactly the terminology that popped into my head after I saw it on the weekend as well. After the umpteenth "bonding" scene it got really silly. Reminds me now of the overuse of the full head disguises in MI2.

I'm pretty sure that the reason Grace's consciousness could not be transferred to her Avatar body was because they didn't format the destination drive first. Either that or there was insufficient space on that destination drive. :P

bdshort

That was one of the elements I really liked! Different strokes, I guess...

Mabuse

I saw Avatar at the Irvine Spectrum this weekend. The image did not go all the way to the top and bottom of the screen, nor did it fill in all the horizontal space. The image was aprox 1.77:1 or 1.85:1 projected onto the full 1.44:1 IMAX screen, this gives Avatar a projected image suspended in the center of the screen with black areas on all four sides. That screen is designed for full 16 perf 70mm IMAX. Avatar was not filmed in that format, and therefore does not occupy the entire screen.

Superboy

from IMDB:

I guess even the movie's actors don't believe the message of the movie themselves.

I hated this movie, but not for the same reasons that people hated Wall-E. I felt like people who hated Wall-E because they thought it was a crucifixion of humanity didn't really understand the movie. It's not a treatise on capitalism, or overconsumption, or anything like that.

But this movie... dear god almighty... there were so many things that offended me, and it only got worse as the movie went on.

Mabuse

I know this is from several pages back, but Kevin Costner did write the screenplay for Dances with Wolves.

Boba Fett

Yeah, it's The Roseway. It's easily the best theater in Portland, despite not having stadium seats. $9 for 3D shows is also a great selling point.

Liver&Onions

thanks. I noticed the GKleinman also pimped the Roseway for it.

shanester

Costner did not write the film he just directed it.

johnnysd

You were OFFENDED by Avatar? Serously? WOW

ckw4b

Indeed.

Unless, "Michael Blake" is a pseudonym, Costner most certainly did not write the screenplay for Dances with Wolves.

Michael Blake (screenplay)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099348/

So you're saying that an actor has to sleep in a rain forest in order to show that they believe in a movie's message?

I've heard of method acting, but that's just taking it too far.

Supermallet

WALL-E wasn't a treatise on overconsumption? When the world was destroyed by over collective trash and the remnants of humanity are being turned into carbon blobs by a company called Buy-N-Large?

Now, don't get me wrong. I loved WALL-E. But the idea that it ISN'T about consumption or capitalism is ridiculous. And I don't know what possibly could have offended you about Avatar. Gummo offended me. Gummo featured malformed kids harming animals. That's offensive. What, exactly, about Avatar offended you?

CaptainMarvel

I saw it tonight. It was incredibly entertaining, in large part due to its amazing visuals. I could do without the hamfisted political and environmental messages, but it was great other than that.

My Monday night, 7 PM showing was sold out. That's pretty impressive.

Blu Man

Yeah, their really wasn't anything to be offended by. I went with some friends who are strictly conservative and Christian and they loved it as much as I did, they were not offended at all. I don't know how anyone could be offended by anything in this movie, it's not preachy or anything.

Supermallet

Let's not wear blinders here, it can get pretty preachy at times.

shaun3000

Here's one thing that bugged the hell out of me during the movie: All of the photographs and computer screens, even the video log, were in 3D. What gives??

Supermallet

Cameron believes that ultimately all of our media will be in 3D. Clearly he extrapolated that into the world of the movie.

Phod

Saw this tonight, I'm a huge Cameron fan.

And while this movie is an A++ looker, a real technical marvel... I mean, it's so good that you forget you're looking at fake. Maybe the first time a movie has ever done that.

But man, the story, ugh. The dialogue is so bad, the characters are so one-dimensional. The story is really, really pedestrian.

Still, didn't hate it. Just kinda feel like while it was an amazing work of art, the rest was just average.

superdeluxe

It can be, but I think we have been hammered over the head with the whole 'white guilt' message so much, that honestly it doesn't really effect me anymore. Maybe that has to do with me being half-korean, who knows.

wm lopez

I give it 3 stars for IMAX 3-D, but 2 1/2 for just movie.

Superboy

The people aboard the Axiom aren't greedy, or slothful, or "evil" in the way that we traditionally view capitalism and consumption. They just don't know any better because their lives have become so automated. They can't make their own choices in life because it's already been done for them.

Contrast that with Wall-E - He's an automaton that ultimately starts to make his own choices and starts to see the beauty in the little things around him, as opposed to the humans, who can't even see anything that's not put right in front of him. That's really the message of the movie.

The tired trope about colonial imperialist ambition that is somehow assuaged by the romance of a native. That is egregiously offensive to me. Somehow that simply because one of the conquerers who is teetering on the edge of his loyalties can somehow manage to muster up the courage that the natives lack (when in reality, what they lack is force).

Also, the plot did not make any sense whatsoever.

Dr Mabuse

Finally saw it tonight at a late show.

Cameron's dullard, cookie cutter, spoon feed the dummies in the audience crap took it down considerably. Could Cameron be more stupid and blatant with exposition and characters choices? No. I just sat there thinking "what if this budget and technology had been in the hands of a skilled and talented director". Too many stupid plot points to list.

But I can't deny it was a blast. Me and my friend had such a good time at the movies with this. It was so cool to see I would forget the poor directorial choices for fairly long periods.

4 stars because of that.

Too bad this was in the hands of such a mediocre director.

Man that 3D looked amazing.

Burnt Thru

which directors are able to handle the logistics of a huge movie and at the same time focus on intelligent story development and interesting characters? the only two i can think of are spielberg and ridley scott, and neither of them have been doing too well recently. cameron's an excellent director when it comes to being the general who marshells his recources to maximum effect. he's less effective at storytelling, but that's not generally the nature of these kinds of films unfortunately.

Burnt Thru

apathy is no excuse. if you don't view the people in the world of wall.e as slothful then it'd be interesting to know what your definition of the word is. evil doesn't have to be mustache twirling to still be present. the movie is a very good look at the way our own lives have started to go, and our own particular evils.





you seem to dislike the politics of the movie due to your own political bias. a little upset about the america/iraq situation still? that's fine. though the formulaic nature of the plot is certainly no worse than other blockbusters (as has already been mentioned many times) such as star wars or titanic.

btw the natives don't lack courage, they lack organisation.

bluetoast

Loved this movie, amazing visuals when you think that Cameron and co. created and scientifically designed all the plants and grass and placed them strategically, created this entire planet, the space station, not even mentioning the Na'vi....wow. James Cameron is back. I'm definitely going to have to see this again. Yes, some of the main military commander's dialogue was not the best (Would Wizard of Oz references still be relevant 150 years from now? Possibly...), but that wasn't a major issue.

MBoyd

Interesting thought. I think I could see the Kansas reference surviving long into the future when people have forgotten the source material. Similar to the way some Shakespeare quotes survive today.