Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Avatar time!!!

Huh, wasn't expecting Disney/Lucas aesthetic. I vote for more SCIENCE fiction, not fantasy stuff.

EDIT: I mean, of course I'll see it. Honestly, I remember feeling this way about Titanic a few months before it came out. Then I wept like a school girl...
 
My point of view about this movie is from someone who has never seen/read/played/whatever it is you do with Avatar. I have no clue what the heck Avatar is. That being said, I don't like the cartooney/Jar-Jar look of the creature things. Me-sa tired of CG characters.
 
The weird thing is there's live action in there too.

But, yeah, hope the rendering is better in the actual film than in some of the trailer.
 
Gavin Greenwalt said:
Have you seen District9, Watchmen or Dead Man's Chest?
Click to expand...

Agree that those are great VFX films, but the whole time I was watching D9 I kept thinking how much cooler the film would have been if the prawns were actually 'in' the movie. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed D9. CGI just still feels like it's pasted on top of the frame to me. Speaking of Cameran, I still LOVE what he did with Aliens- mostly in-camera effects and some good old latex. You're not thinking about what version of Maya they used or Renderman or whatever or how much better it would be if they used today's software. It's all celluloid. Maybe I'm old school, but I like Yoda better as a puppet...
 
Paul Lee said:
Maybe I'm old school, but I like Yoda better as a puppet...
Click to expand...

I'm with you there.

Weren't the Prawns in D9 a mix of CG and practical? I always thought the mediums/close-ups looked extremely real, much more so than I would expect from even today's CG.
 
I think I read that all of the prawns were CGI except for the dead ones. Even the M and CU shots. Anyone the wiser?
 
My understanding was 100% CG (for the live ones).

Suits and puppets are great if you don't want them to move much or look extremely human. But a character which can't move is pretty limiting. And star trek foreheads get pretty old pretty quick.
 
I have faith in Cameron. I wouldn't be doing what I am doing now had I not watched Aliens on VHS about 3 times a week the summer of '87. Have to watch it at least once a year to make sure I still have most of the dialogue memorized.
 
Just returned from Avatar Day:)

Let me tell you this:
If the trailer was like digging your nose with your pinky, the movie will be like blowing your brains out with a double-barrel.

Releasing that teaser on apple.com was the worst decision so far in Avatar's marketing campaign. I can't imagine it was JC's idea. You just cannot appreciate this in 2D on a small screen. Imagine a great classic composition played on a cell phone.

There are still some issues though, the most apparent one being the 24 frames/sec playback rate. That's just too stuttery for 3D. Avatar does great use of stereo, but there were some scenes with very fast camera movement where you lost track of the action.
The animation is top notch. We're not completely out of the uncanny valley, but we already get a good breeze of fresh air from photoreal mountain.
The skin and facial movements still look mildly artificial. However, the eyes, the most important parts, are totally fascinating! So once you're in for a few shots you'll buy it. Well, at least I did.
The clean overall look actually works in favor of the stereo effect. I also thought "Delgo" when I first saw the teaser, but today it was more like "holy fuck!"

Now come the SPOILERS:

- We start with a speech by the sergeant in front of the soldiers. He goes all Apone on them. @ Paul: I totally feel you:)
- Then we get a scene with Wothington and Doc Sigourney. She puts him into one of the brain connection thingies.
- Next one: Jake (was that his name?) wakes up in the lab - as his Na'Vi Avatar. Feeling his legs for the first time and positively freaking out about it.
- Cut to Pandora. Three Avatars: Jake, Sigourn'Ey and some Nerd'Vi. They teach him how to communicate with the local animals - until he gets his ass beaten by some nasty beast.
- Next: Encounter with Neytiri. And I tell you what: She's hot!! Watch her for a few seconds and you'll totally fall for her. That is, if you don't have a thing for fat chicks;)
It's not so much the look but the performance that got me.
She rescues him from a pack of what seem to be Pandora-Wolves.
- Finally we witness Jake and a pack of Na'Vi approaching a herd of flying animals. Jake has to tame one of the beasts to make it his flying horse. Pretty cool and dynamic sequence.
- Then we get some shots we know from the teaser (I think it's pretty much the complete last third of the teaser). And they look waaaay better than they did on my computer yesterday.

End of SPOILERS.

Long story short: Keep the faith!!!
If you were underwhelmed by the teaser (as pretty much everyone was) and therefore won't go watch the movie: Your loss.

I can still see people not liking the movie. It's always a matter of taste. But please stop judging from the teaser, folks, really. If you still need to rant, go out and shout at some grandmas.

All the others: Feel free to share your thoughts. What systems did you watch it on? Anyone seen it in 2D?
 
Benni Diez said:
I also thought "Delgo" when I first saw the teaser, but today it was more like "holy fuck!"
Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about!
icon14.gif
 
Looks like a few of you nit'pickers are passing on this film, that is FANTASTIC!!! More leg room for me at the theater...
 
Paul Lee said:
I have faith in Cameron. I wouldn't be doing what I am doing now had I not watched Aliens on VHS about 3 times a week the summer of '87. Have to watch it at least once a year to make sure I still have most of the dialogue memorized.
Click to expand...

Sounds eerily familiar :-)

"...Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?
....No, you?"

Indeed, Cameron is one of the guys, in my case in more ways than one, that really lit a fire under my bottom. And as I've been telling people since I saw this very footage a couple of months ago, this is gonna change everything yet again.
 
I have a simple rule:

Blue aliens suck.

Other rules I have become a little more flexible about since there have been notable exceptions. For example:

"Movies that use accordions on the soundtrack... suck".

Except for 12 Monkeys is fantastic, and so are a bunch of other movies the breach my rule. So that rule has since been amended to "MOST movies with accordions on the soundtrack suck... especially ones described as 'whimsical'..."

The blue aliens rule has yet to be successfully challenged.

Case in point:

5e_062DivaSings.jpg


R.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top