Comments on: Trailer Scaler: Avatar

By: Collin H

Collin H — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:28:03 +0000

Well, it’s out, and I just came back from seeing it. It was amazing and utterly destroyed all misgivings I had about it in the first 20 minutes. Easily the best movie of the year in my book, and a theatrical experience I’ll remember for a long, long time.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:14:28 +0000

Laura, Laura: Broad, glorious, and expensive gets your tentative support (to me, it sounds like a kind of mindlessness–which can be redeemed, for me, by wit, surprise, playfulness, all of which look signally lacking in this excerpt–which is why we’re all moaning about predictability)–but Cirque du Soleil, with its extraordinary individual talents and novelty doesn’t? SIGH . . .

By: Laura Mc.

Laura Mc. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:34:24 +0000

Thank you, Jesse. Yes!

Besides, what is the bias all about with the detailed close-up of human conditions?Sometimes movies are broad, and glorious, and expensive and that’s kind of it.

They don’t necessarily suck because of this.

Color me unafraid of the Spectacle of the Blue People. I mean Avatar.

(Though this forgiving premise does not translate to stage for me. Cirque du Soleil= not fun.)

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:06:41 +0000

I trust the trailer far less than I trust the director. I know this is a cop-out… honestly, the trailer ran as a super-cheap popcorn flick for me. It successfully manipulated my epic-action-trope instinct, and this was enough for me to be happy. If it was a crappy director, I’d actually be happy enough with the trailer than I’d never bother with the movie.

However, I DO respect Cameron’s love of storytelling. I suspect that the trailer has been edited into something that looks more conventional and pandering than it actually is. So while I agree with all the criticism… the visuals don’t look that transcendent, and the plot looks totally conventional… I’m going to bypass it and trust Cameron’s ability to invest a relatively shallow premise with a grand scope and courageous directorial decisions. And I’m going to go in hoping that this movie really was created for an iMax screen and 3D glasses, and that its intended context is required for the visual brilliance to come out… I’ll be critical, but I haven’t ruled out being impressed.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:28:42 +0000

I agree with Mark and all–this looks like a pile of swollen, warmed-over clash-of-cultures cliches, not so much a neglect of script values as being deliberately conventional and predictable so that attention can go to the CGI surface where the actionis; smugly, deeply cynical about an audience as distractable as a toddler with a fourth-of-July sparkler.
That said, I’m curious: do you guys think that this is a lost cause? That once a film looks like a high-end videogame, certain expectations almost irresistibly kick in, and standing outside the groundswell bemoaning the lack of story, character, and theme is like standing on a streetcorner bewailing the higher visual quality of Betamax tapes? Wouldn’t higher intelligence, originality, and integrity in this film be a hindrance? I see the images, and my honest-to-god spontaneous response is, “Cameron’s aiming lower than I care to go. Not my kind of film. Punto.”

By: Madge

Madge — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:57:21 +0000

I hate these kind of movies, where we’re supposed to be in a real, non-cartoon space, and are given CGI “people.” It gives me major Uncanny Valley heebie jeebies (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013123353.htm).

I’m with you, Mark – nothing about this movie seems interesting once we get to what is supposedly the point of the whole thing. I only ask one thing of my entertainment, lately – that I be given a reason, any reason at all, to care about the people I’m watching. Which means that a bunch of effects with a “plot” slathered over them isn’t going to cut it for me.

By: Cin

Cin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:16:54 +0000

As usual, I agree with Collin. Oddly enough, Ferngully and Native Americans and colonists crossed my mind while watching that trailer I aint so stupid after all! The more a director WORKS to have me feel a certain way about a character the more I’m turned off. Don’t try to spoonfeed me my own emotions. That said, it looks to be a pretty movie and I will catch a matinee.

By: Bunting

Bunting — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:16:31 +0000

What Will said. The effects don’t look that great to me; the Grand Tragedy looks overbaked and will probably take way too long to unfold; I don’t care what happens to the blue anime people.

Skip.

By: will

will — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:15:38 +0000

@Colin: “Ferngully in Space” Hillarious!

But don’t worry, there’s no reason that you should have likes Transformers2.

Mark is spot-on with this review. I will never see this steaming pile.

And another thing, whatever happened to leaving some of the movie for the theater? This trailer completely develops the first, second, and third acts. I feel like I’ve already seen the whole movie. This is a running theme of late. Do Americans really need that much spoon-feeding to decide if they want to watch the 2.5 hour version?

By: Collin H

Collin H — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:50:56 +0000

Avatar has just as much going for it as it does against it in my mind. I love the artistry of special effects, even more so since we’ve entered into the HD age. If Avatar delivers on the visuals it promises, then I’ll probably go see it.

However, I’m not sold on the story at all. Maybe I’ve just seen too much science fiction, but it just doesnt look like it’s going to tell me a story I havent heard a dozen times before. Humans are evil technological aggressors? Shocking! Funky looking aliens in tune with nature fight for their home? Captivating! It’s really looking like Cameron is making Ferngully in Space.

It’s been an odd year in the theater for me. I’ve loved stuff I shouldve hated (GI Joe) and disliked things I should have loved (Transformners 2). Now Avatar looks like its going to end the year on a neutral note.