Comments on: In Neytiri, Avatar Producer Sees Oscar Gold

By: danielmuns

danielmuns — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:26:25 +0000

James Cameron has done his best masterpiece. Forget for a moment the best special effects the movie industry has ever seen. He has taken us to our hunter-gatherer roots and convinced us the total happiness we would have felt at that time.

By: linkbuildingservices101

linkbuildingservices101 — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:14:02 +0000

I am not at all surprised with this news. The day i saw Avatar, i made it my favorite movie. I knew it will win some cool Award in the Future.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Gary.
http://www.eloot.info/Link-Building-Services

By: Steven James Snyder

Steven James Snyder — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:54:13 +0000

There’s no denying that EW has more than a little love for those crappy little vampire films….and also that several sites have been prediction a Cameron failure for months and months now. I think there are times when it’s easier to mold a storyline of failure than a measured analysis of something new. Anywho. crispy, I was surprised at how overt some of the green/pacifist themes are, and in my second viewing, I could tell the people sitting right behind me were scoffing at the forest chants and the prayers to the trees and whatnot. But I think that’s part of the fun, starting to understand this whole network of biological information coursing through this world. I’m going to give it some time and then see it once more, to fully get a handle on where the hype ends for me and the film begins. All I really know for now is that this thing looks incredible, and that it leads me to think of the possibilities of 3-D in ways that I never before would have thought possible.

By: masurix

masurix — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:48:21 +0000

Oh man. In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon.”

I can’t tell if that is a “godless Jews in Hollywood” or a “faithless liberals on the left coast” rant. Both? I also like how filthy savages can’t be spiritual because they’re all nature-y and uneducated, and what do they really know anyway? All in all, what a snooty, intolerant piece of sneering on the part of that shirty white guy. (That’s right: shirty!)

By: crispy

crispy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:25:36 +0000

Surprisingly, it’s in the New York Times, not The Onion…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/opinion/21douthat1.html

By: masurix

masurix — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:55:02 +0000

@crispy: I remember exactly when EW.com went Twilight crazy. There was a post on there about a week before New Moon came out that was aimed at Twilight haters and how the one columnist hated it, too. The little Twihards freaked out like no one has ever freaked out before and EW backpeddled immediately. From then out, it was all Twilight all the time. Twilight pays the bills, apparently, and we shall worship at its altar.

I hadn’t read any big Avatar backlash, really, but then, I’m mostly not going to read it even if it’s there. In the ‘geek’ community, there’s always a contingent of haters who get high on bashing whatever is new or popular, and it makes me want to break their little fingers. I wouldn’t mind reading the ‘godless blue heathens’ post, though. Surely, that’s satire. I mean, right?

By: crispy

crispy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:55:18 +0000

Oh, I loved it! Probably my favorite movie of the year, and definitely one of my top 3 film experiences of all time. After seeing it, I’m totally on board with 3D… before I thought it was just a gimmick for hack directors to throw stuff at the audience. But now I understand that 3D can be used to immerse the audience in a fully realized world.

I’m willing to be objective though… even I can admit that the storyline was just Dances With Smurfs. Of course, there are no new stories, just new ways to tell them. Borrowed story or not, I thought that the Pandora ecosystem that Cameron developed was totally original and utterly riveting.

Part of the backlash is a very strong conservative push against the anti-capitalist, anti-war, pro-environment message of the movie. I’ve even read one column that railed against the pantheistic religion of Avatar because apparently they don’t worship Christ in other galaxies.

But my biggest pet peeve is certain websites (*cough*entertainmentweekly*cough*) that have practically morphed into the Twilight fanclub, yet an ambitious movie like Avatar barely gets any lipservice other than a few snarky posts. Sigh.

By: Steven James Snyder

Steven James Snyder — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:29:54 +0000

There’s definitely some backlash a brewing, crispy, but I’ve also seen a lot of positive notes out there. What do you think? Are the same people who promoted it too aggressively before now being too quick to pounce on it? I should also add: This is the last Avatar feature we have planned. Basically, we had those early posts about our first viewing, and then we had four different interviews set up. So this is the last of the interviews. Hopefully we haven’t gone Avatar overboard! I’ve just been fascinated, to talk to Cameron and Landau about the process, and then to Giovanni about his new 3-D obsession. If nothing else – even if you think the film is a letdown – it’s still a technological marvel and worth talking about on that level alone. Give it a few years, and all big-budget movies are going to be released, promoted and made this way. Three months until Tim Burton shows his 3-D thinking.

But I digress – the more I hear from people who didn’t quite know what to expect from Avatar, the more positive things I’m hearing. Maybe it’s just the fanboys who went in expecting something unattainable.

If I remember correctly, though, crispy, you enjoyed, yes?

By: Steven James Snyder

Steven James Snyder — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:21:14 +0000

You know Ian, that’s a fascinating point – was she HELPED by being digitized? Intriguing, I’m going to be thinking about that one as I Christmas shop today -

By: crispy

crispy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:19:06 +0000

I am so glad to see this site still championing Avatar. Elsewhere on the web, the backlash has begun in earnest.

Enjoyed the info about the technology they developed to create these characters. The comparison to Mask is nifty!

By: Ian Politis

Ian Politis — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:48:53 +0000

In no way shape or form was the story sacrificed for the visuals of this movie. I didn’t even see the movie in 3D IMax. I first viewed it in a regular old fashioned movie theatre, and it was still amazing in every way.
The performances are also phenomenal, but there was something extremely surreal about the na’vi’s mind blowingly complex and sincere facial expressions.
I wonder if Zoe Saldana would be nominated for this role if she hadn’t been digitized.