I actually felt the acting was pretty strong. Sam Worthington may have had a few somewhat flat moments when driving his avatar, but I definitely became invested in all the characters. And I think it's a little difficult to compare the struggles of the main character in this one with that in District 9, considering one was forced into the journey he took and one was not. Similarities yes...but their motivations were completely different. But I tell ya what... Spoiler the scene towards the end of the second act...where he admits to Neytiri his original intentions and how he had changed and fell in love with the world of Pandora and her... personally I felt that moment. You could see it in their faces; how it was hurting him badly to admit the truth and how it broke her heart when he did
For those that have cant decide if they liked the movie because the story may not have been deep or some of the acting may not have been Oscar worthy I have the following message from Maximus Decimus Maridius: Spoiler <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FsqJFIJ5lLs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FsqJFIJ5lLs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Were you not entertained? After all isn't being entertained the most important part of any movie?
You know, thinking back, I thought the character of Neytiri did a great job as an actor. I guess I had a harder time believing his character's decision because I didn't see such strong emotions (obviously, this is only the first time watching it so a second time through might show different things). I can see how people became invested but for me, personally, it didn't really matter whether Worthington's character lived or not towards the end as the story concluded. I see what you're saying about the motivations and that makes sense. I guess what I wanted was to see more of a struggle for the choice he eventually made throughout the process (because a normal person probably would've felt a certain way throughout the whole process). I thought the scene you reference was good but there was no building up to it at all from what I remember. As to what crash5179 said, I was entertained. But I'm not sure I feel it's the most important aspect of a movie. I'm entertained by a lot of movies, such as Transformers, Spiderman, etc. but I wouldn't consider them great movies by any stretch. I find great movies to be the ones that get me thinking afterwards and questioning what happened in it instead of just saying, "okay, action occurred, hero won." I normally don't really say much about movies, but since Avatar was given such great praise, I'd thought I share my two cents. Either way, everyone should see this movie regardless of what I've said.
Saw it today in 3D (no IMAX, unfortunately) and I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable. This is after being very...very skeptical up until the release. It didn't feel quite as revolutionary as I was expecting, and the storyline was fairly "point A to point B" so to speak, but I thought most of the acting (especially Jake and Neytiri) was very strong and believable, and as an experience I felt the movie really delivered. Definitely recommended, although probably not as strongly as most in this thread.
Dances with Smurfs Spoiler <embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:southparkstudios.com:255337" width="480" height="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="window" flashVars="autoPlay=false&dist=www.deadline.com&orig=" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" allownetworking="all" bgcolor="#000000"></embed>
Jaw dropping....one word......EPIC. EDIT: Didn't get to see in IMAX, would have if East Texas was caught up with today's tech. Saw it in 3D. Movie was fantastic, really made you feel for the World of Pandora.....just .....amazing. I will probably catch this in IMAX when I arrive in Bahrain on Friday.
Really really enjoyed it. Visually stunning, story and acting were okay not great. For an action flick there were some decent emotional moments and I caught myself getting really immersed. It was long but even my wife who doesn't have patience for most movies felt it kept you entertained throughout. A must see IMO.
You know what really opened me up more to the story was reading Harry Knowles review. He loses a little credibility when he says the story was the best part, but he did talk about the simple things that made the story so involving; that it's not always about the dialogue between two characters. And that got me thinking about the movie again, and he's right... Spoiler another one of the notable scenes for me was seeing Jake's two worlds slowly turn on end...seeing how he slowly comes to accept his Na'vi body as his true self and starts to feel like the real world was in fact his dream state. Seeing him start to dread coming out of his avatar and having to accept the grim reality that he's been dealt, that he's an empty shell of a man who's lower part of his body is a fraction of what is used to be...I really thought that was a powerful transformation, and hardly any part of it involved dialogue, save for a few voice overs[/spoilers] I definitely agree here. The movies that resonate with me are the ones I think about days and weeks after seeing. Avatar has done that for me...not necessarily to the extent other movies have...but to a certain degree. Everybody's gonna react differently though, and I'll readily admit I'm a little biased because I'm such a huge Cameron fan anyways.
Finally saw it in 3d tonight. Awesome, just Awesome. One of those flicks you'll be bragging about seeing on its opening weekend years down the line.
Sorry guys, I'm just not feeling it....Don't get me wrong, the atmosphere and the visuals were gorgeous, and I've never seen anything like that before. I felt the environmentalism themes were way too heavy-handed, and the humans way too sinister. Thinking back on it now, I did like it. I would spend the money on it again, I was just a bit disappointed. They had a chance to make a classic Sci-Fi epic, but instead we just got a regular ass movie that looked totally, totally awesome.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/avatar-narrowly-beats-record-after-all/ ‘Avatar’ Narrowly Beats Record After All Twentieth Century Fox is doing cartwheels over box office figures that show that its expensive space adventure “Avatar” performed sharply better on Sunday than initially expected. Fox said Monday morning that “Avatar” sold $77.3 million in tickets in North American theaters over the weekend – instead of a projected $73 million – to narrowly beat a record for a December opening. The stronger-than-expected showing indicates that positive word of mouth is fanning interest in the 3-D picture. (The initial box-office figures that come out on Sunday are based on actual ticket sales for Friday and Saturday and the studio’s best guess of Sunday’s grosses.) The “Avatar” tally is a whisker ahead of “I Am Legend,” which opened in 2007 to $77.2 million in domestic sales and holds the December record, although that does not account for inflation. The powerful snow storm that pummeled the East Coast over the weekend took a significant bite out of Saturday sales for “Avatar,” with analysts referring to the initial total as “solid but unspectacular,” especially given the movie’s jaw-dropping cost (some $460 million to produce and market, before deducting about $30 million in tax benefits). It was a different story overseas where “Avatar,” directed by James Cameron, sold a strong $159 million in 106 countries with several big markets – Japan, China – still to come.
i think because of its length (nearly 3 hours!) its even more impressive less showing and strong numbers? i believe this wont be like other big movies where the drop off in week 1 to week 2 numbers is like 50% i expect that avatar will have strong numbers for a while
^^ It's biggest competition in the weeks ahead is Sherlock Holmes and then you get into the dumping grounds of January. It's exactly why Titanic did so well....strong word of mouth with no real competition (aside from Bond)...and well a big female pull too.
This film definitely won't have the staying power of Titanic. Women went and saw Titanic multiple times. There were studies done on the "Will Jack die everytime?" phenomenon that struck women who went back to see it repeatedly thinking Leo DiCaprio might live.
I liked it a lot. Cut out all of the super special effects and I still think the storyline was ok. Signourney Weaver was a nice addition to the cast and I was pleasantly surprised that she had more than just a few lines. I found most of the main characters to be engaging and worth some emotional investment from me as a viewer. Take that and add the mind-blowing eye candy that this movie was and I think it's a winner. I think I'll see this one again in theaters.
:grin: Thank you for seeing my movie and making me MEALEONS of DALLAHS, beetches! Sincerely, But, really, don'he look-a-like a man? Spoiler
