Loved Cameron's Aliens, Terminator, T2, the Abyss, Strange Days, Dark Angel and even Titanic.
(titanic not as much as  the others :p)

I just cannot get interested in Avatar...

BUT, I really hope James Cameron carries through with his next "scheduled" project: Battle Angel Alita, which is supposed to be done in the same CG technology as Avatar.

I loved this movie. I saw it in 2d, I want to see it in 3d and I'll buy the DVD. Loved it, loved it.

 I went to see the film because I had heard so much about the 3D and CGI, and they were very good, but we get used to the technology, and that is all Avatar seemed to be selling. The story is as old as the hills: man meets native - man goes native. 

Quote - BUT, I really hope James Cameron carries through with his next "scheduled" project: Battle Angel Alita, which is supposed to be done in the same CG technology as Avatar.

Saw the anime, didn't like the sad ending.

I'd prefer a live action Tenchi or FLCL.

Warning: verbose. :)

I finally saw it the other night in 3d (non-IMAX) and then went right next door to the IMAX to go
through it again on the bigger screen.

Sure, most of us knew how the story was going to play out. Even so I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

I hope I'm not offending here, but most of us on this forum are not of low or even average IQ, so most of the time we need something that challenges our brain, complexities in our entertainment.

This is a story the average person can get into, it's an escape where they don't have to THINK hard about what it means, which is what makes box office smashes. And that's not to say it's stupid or for made for morons - just that it's simple in the story structure; it sets up the conflicts and then resolves them to the intended audience's satisfaction. Notice that they don't go into the science too deeply. Personally, I'd have liked those moments to be a bit more in-depth.

If Cameron didn't know how to make movies the masses can enjoy, he'd be asking if we want fries with that during the day and we'd all probably be talking to him on this forum in the evenings. It doesn't matter how "deep" or "unique" a story is - if an audience can't relate to it, it will fail. Unfortunately the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. Studios can only survive on small or no sales for so long. Avatar succeeds because people relate to it at the same time they're amazed by the visuals, no matter if the story has been done to death or not.

There are very, very few truly original stories out there anymore anyway.

Like it or not, Cameron's redefined scifi filmmaking for the next few years at least and other major studios are going to be jumping all over his new camera system and we'll see a glut of 3d movies. The good ones will rise to the top and the bad ones will also ultimately show their true colors.

I'll probably go see Avatar another 3 or 4 times on the big screen just to enjoy the eye candy
again and to geek out on the CG details of the amazing environments. And to look for AgentSmith in the credits since there are SO many names at the end.

I dare any of us to do something one-tenth as good. I'm with ice-boy, even if you aren't into the aliens or the story, see it for the experience.

And by the way - I'm waiting for the simulation rides they'll have at Universal or Disney... ;)

 I've seen Avatar some days ago (yes, I'm late with it), and I like what I saw. I agree that the story isn't really original or special, they have love, action, exploration and excuses for wonderful imagery, which they used a lot. But then, it's not the first successful movie without a really convincing story. Anyone remembers "Jurassic Park"?

Visually, this movie is groundbreaking. I've seen it in 3D, and I'm happy I did - it'n no cheap effect here, the third dimension helps to bring the story over and is great eye candy at the same time.

I wasn't planning on seeing this movie but after reading through this thread I feel I have to ;)

i think you would like the movie.

I was forced to see it.  Nice CGI, meh story.

Ya know what? I went to see it fully expecting to hate it! I didn't hate it at all. I found it to be a fully engaging and immersive experience that I now plan on repeating in an IMAX theatre.

this is what happened to almost everyone.

they think that there is no way that this movie could work and BOOM.

Quote - this is what happened to almost everyone.

they think that there is no way that this movie could work and BOOM.

Imagine this is true - I went in sort of hoping/wondering if it would be an adaptation of Alan Dean Foster's book "Midworld" which I read as a kid. 

It really was a very cliche story.  Some very bad stereotype, ridiculous characters (Col. Quatrich, all the things Wolf pointed out are true when viewed purely as a script)  But the way it was told was perfect, and the acting was awesome.  3d helped bring the viewer into the experience. 

The story was as much about the "injuns" being helped to survive their encounter with a hostile force as it was the other way around, teaching the "white man" to survive and integrate into a hostile environment and become accepted by it.

There is an older story lurking in the script, but I am not sure if it was intentionally placed there. One of self-destructive aliens invading a peaceful world, and shattering a species' connection to it...  Something about that rings true of ancient humaity (Atlantis / Lemuria story, Sumeria, etc.). 

Anyway - one of the best theater experiences I've ever had, despite the overdone story concept.

I went and saw it in IMAX 3D and it was 100% freakin' awesome--see it in IMAX or at least 3D if you can. The visuals are stunning, the characters fun and engaging, the action exhilarating--and did I say the visuals were stunning? As a 3D digital illustrator and animator with my own motion capture system, I'm certain that I understand the technology behind the making of this movie better than 99+% of those seeing it, and even still I can't get my head around the fact that it was pretty much all digital, it looks that real. To get hung up about the "familiar" plot is to miss the point of the movie--it's far more about creating a unique sense of place than about what happens there, and in that respect it totally blows away almost any other movie you've ever seen. The aliens and the world and its creatures are absolutely fantastic in all the best senses of the word--it's an immersive experience on the big screen, and as such, if you wait to see it on DVD I think you're doing yourself a great disservice by not seeing this giant step forward in digital effects in its best light.

The key word for this film is "Immersion". To hell with the storyline. It's the immersion experience that's worth paying for here folks!

re: Pocohontas in space...

Funny thing is, the real Pocohontas died of TB in London, after marrying some other guy who lived in Jamestown (apparently, Smith blew her off or somesuch).

Personally? I'll pass. Yep, the FX look awesome and all, but seriously? If I were (insert evil corporate org here) and wanted some rocks out of a planet, and the locals wouldn't cough up? I'd have at least three options at my disposal that would solve the problem a lot faster and easier than trying for some stupid-assed frontal assault:

1) Nuke the rebels as an example to the rest of the population - then strip-mine the joint at a leisurely pace. Wave your swords and dragons around all you want, but they don't hold up so well under a 50 megaton mushroom cloud. Of course, I suspect that Mr. Cameron, not being completely stupid, likely came up with some sort of plot device to prevent such an obvious thing, so...

2) engineer yourself a xeno-ebola strain, especially since you apparently (judging by the trailers) already have a goodly database and grasp of the aliens' DNA. Sprinkle said germ liberally about the planet, hang back a few months to let it do its magic, check for possible cross-contamination, then mine the planet at leisure. Let robots do all the work if you're still not sure.

3) if you don't really want to deal with complications from #1 and #2, grab a couple of mile-wide asteroids from the system, and steer them a little to slam into the planet. Hang back for six months after the impacts, just to let the resulting mass extinctions happen. Then, show up like you're some sort of savior to the survivors, who would be grateful enough for the assistance to let you do whatever the hell you want. As a bonus, you can lie your ass off about the whole thing and claim that you're some sort of science expedition who saw the impacts, and hurried over as fast as you could to help the inhabitants out.

Quote - He made a lot with titanic because it was like pron for teen-age girls back in the archaic days before broadband.  Just because you had a hit yesterday doesn't mean you are going to have one today.

I dunno - I actually enjoyed the hell out of Titanic, though considered DiCaprio to be a minor annoyance.

I liked it because they actually went out of their way to make it as accurate as possible, and did one hell of a great job in re-creating the Edwardian/Gilded-Age atmosphere of the time. They also managed to present the most common-sense outcomes of the various officers and real-life folks that were portrayed. They could've added a few bits here and there - the Californian seeing flares in the distance but doing nothing about it, the Carpathia hearing the SOS and moving balls-to-the-wall to try and get there, etc... But, given the constraints, it was actually pretty good, and the best effort I've seen at cinematic accuracy concerning the events.

(Hell, even the stupid-assed sex scene had a kernel of accuracy - the real Titanic actually was carrying an early-model car in its cargo holds).

 You could do the ebola thing and then come in as saviors. Same result as number two with less damage to the planet and fewer witnesses.

THAT would be more dramatic, and a more plausable story. You could still have a big Tom Clancy like story dealing with the aftermath of that including shoot-outs and danger and all the immersive effects,too.

I guarantee that the aliens who survive who find out will want to shoot someone.

Cameron just took a cliche story because it's easier to pitch in Hollywood, and he's no Tom Clancy!:laugh:

There is already buzz about Avatar 2 in 2011. Look for it. :lol:  Haven't seen the first yet, but I would like to, regardless of the buzz.

Quote -  You could do the ebola thing and then come in as saviors. Same result as number two with less damage to the planet and fewer witnesses.

THAT would be more dramatic, and a more plausable story. You could still have a big Tom Clancy like story dealing with the aftermath of that including shoot-outs and danger and all the immersive effects,too.

Indeed! That's part of my gripe with the film as it is - I mean, there is so much more that could have been done, that would have been a lot more believable, and would have provided more compelling drama and a better plot.

Instead, I think that Cameron played it safe and stuck with a (IMHO) boring, overly-moralistic, and predictable storyline.

I mean, if you look at a lot of his past films, you can see where he took a chance. Big example? Alien (and especially Aliens), had a better storyline that you weren't always sure would end as you thought it would (the rest of the series? sucked IMHO, mostly because they played it to death).

...and you're right - the Tom Clancy reference w/ ebola came straight out of the Rainbow Six series - good catch. :) 

Quote - I guarantee that the aliens who survive who find out will want to shoot someone.

A-yep. There's a lot more you can do with a storyline that isn't so pre-schoolish. :)

Quote - There is already buzz about Avatar 2 in 2011. Look for it. :lol:

I have a feeling that I won't have to go looking - the hype will likely soak the Internet as badly as this one did.

Quote -   Haven't seen the first yet, but I would like to, regardless of the buzz.

I may end up doing it, though not in a theater. The last time the missus and I went to a theater, we saw Paranormal Activity - and trust me, that one isn't worth the crap camera-work (the movie is a royal headache-generator) and the ungodly-over-long drag out of what should have been a 45-minute story. :)

..Alien was Riddley Scott directing ;)

Quote - ..Alien was Riddley Scott directing ;)

D'oh!

(dammit... heh.)

Cameron directed the second Alien film, no?  I thought one of those films was his ...

I got me up way too early the day after Christmas, all worked up about going to see Avatar.  My son has been harping at me for a couple months saying this is THE movie to go see at the cinema for the decade.  So I finally watched some trailers.  Wow, this IS gonna be good!   I knew it would be immersive beyond anything CG before it.  Why?  Cause in the trailers, you just can't separate the actor from the avatar.  THAT kind of "motion tracking" and interpretation is new.   Meaning the kind that works!    NO film I've ever seen has done such a perfect job of this as I saw in the slew of trailers.  OK, so I was up too early, took a nap.  Got up just in time to catch the first matinee.  Got ready, ran out the door, buzzed over to the cinema, got me ticket, bag of popcorn, box of raisinettes and a Coca Cola and sat exactly in the theater where I wanted (2D screening for me).  Watched the last 2 minutes of the previews and then started AVATAR.    From beginning to end credits, I LOVED IT!   While the story was predictable, it is quite workable with great individualization the characters give it.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, WILL go see it again, and WILL buy the DVD.  THIS may well be the film that has me buy into BluRay.  I'll get a decent BluRay drive for the PC first though. :)

The flying machinery Jim Cameron created was cool.  But the articulated contained twin rototors are impossible.  No visible means of power transmission TO the rotor heads.  Given, they looked really good, there just isn't any way of getting the power from the twin turboshafts to those heads.  That IS fixable, they just didn't do it.

The world of Pandora is absolutely believable, and totally wonderful!   I installed the game demo just to enjoy a bit of that.  

Say whatever you want about fanbois, simple classic predictable story lines, financial matters of the film, Cameron himself or any other trite elements surrounding  this film.  One thing you ain't getting is just how good the film IS, if you don't see it in some form at a cinema.  It was definitely worth far more than the paltry $4.00 I paid to see it!

Quote - > Quote - He made a lot with titanic because it was like pron for teen-age girls back in the archaic days before broadband.  Just because you had a hit yesterday doesn't mean you are going to have one today.

I liked it because they actually went out of their way to make it as accurate as possible, and did one hell of a great job in re-creating the Edwardian/Gilded-Age atmosphere of the time. They also managed to present the most common-sense outcomes of the various officers and real-life folks that were portrayed. They could've added a few bits here and there - the Californian seeing flares in the distance but doing nothing about it, the Carpathia hearing the SOS and moving balls-to-the-wall to try and get there, etc... But, given the constraints, it was actually pretty good, and the best effort I've seen at cinematic accuracy concerning the events.

I'm not saying that the film didn't have it's positive points.  What I did say is he got a target audience who repeatedly saw it, as it looks like is happening again.

Anyways 2 tickets, plus mandatory 3d glasses fee, plus two bottles of water, and two hot dogs put the cost of the movie into the $40 range.  Way too bloody expensive for me for what I got out of the movie.

Quote - Cameron directed the second Alien film, no?  I thought one of those films was his ...

yup he did Aliens

this render was inspired by the soldiers from the movie. if you noticed in the movie there is a lot of green bounce light from the ground when they are in the jungle. i added a green plane under M4.

 Umm, you might want to check those rotorheads again. If you look at the scene where they are spinning up on the tarmac, you can clearly see the driveshaft from the rotor hub to the pivot. It was usually masked by one of the housings structural supports, but it was there

 It's arrived to Italy too. Obviously we are the last ones to have it in our theaters... (and it's not our worse problem, actually... it's Silvio, but that's another story).

What can I say? I loved Avatar. I loved it very much.

The story is not original? So what? It's just a little part of the experience. And it's a GREAT experience.

I want to add just a little thing. At the end of the movie, in the whole theater there have been an ovation. A long applause. Don't know in other countries, but here usually no one applauds in movie theaters (only in stage theaters, with live actors). I did not hear applauses for a movie from the times of E.T. the Extraterrestrial. This means something.

DarkEdge, best compliments! Do you plan to release the Samson or it's just a private model? I would be very interested in it!

Giorgio