Nevermind. I found it. 755 Don't know if this thread has another 255 posts in it... Especially since there's not as much in-depth back and forth plot discussion.
Didn't Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock already have sex like this in Demolition Man a few years back?
I thought the CGI was great! They really captured the emotions of the characters and made them feel real. That was my biggest complaint with movies like BeoWulf where I couldn't tell if they were angry, mad, sad, happy. They had blank faces throughout that movie. I didn't have that problem with Avatar though. My eyes adjusted too quickly to the 3D though and then the glasses just became annoying. I felt like I wasn't seeing anything in 3D for the longest time until some of the embers in the air were floating down. I'll probably go see it again in 2D though. I'm glad the plot wasn't overly complicated. It was very straightforward and that should not only appeal to most adults but children as well. They'll be the ones growing up to this movie for a long time as we did when we were young with movies like Star Wars. Plus it was complex enough for me where I was so busy watching the effects and I could still understand what was going on. Epic movie for me. Really enjoyed it. Can't wait to own it on Blu-ray. Funny though that people compare it to Dark Knight and that's basically the only other movie I own on Blu-ray.
Hmmm, ... there are 2 main things about a movie. 1) Visual. Check, seems that you like it. 2) Story. If you feel you have seen it 20 times, it must mean you have watched the likes of Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves ... 19 times. Why do you keep coming back for this kind of story and then complain about it?
Here's some cool Avatar stuff. Na'vi Spoiler In case you guys don't know James Cameron, the cast of the film, and even the special effects artists have said that Avatar was meant to be a four hour R rated film, but that it had a lot cut down for the time limit of IMAX 3D and movie theaters. In particular Cameron has said there is 10 to 12 minutes of completed footage that was taken out of the film which would have made the film 3 hours long. Besides this there is said to be also another hour or more of extra footage that was started upon and nearly completed. The extra hour would have made the film four hours long, R rated, and been a closer match to Project 880. I am sure at this point though with the film already making over 1 billion dollars that a Special Edition that is 4 hours long and rated R is assured. 1. Several scenes of Quatrich's men being under attack by the Na'vi wildlife. Includes base being under attack by stingbats, a soldier being attacked and eaten by a slinger, and another soldier torn apart by a medusa. 2. Several scenes of Jake in the cafeteria of the base, eating food there and talking to a chef about the situation on Pandora. 3. The film really only showed about half of Jake's training to become a Na'vi. There were several other rituals Jake had to participate in for him to be deemed worthy as a a Na'vi. Uniltaron or Dream Hunt is a ritual as important for a teenage Na'vi as Iknimaya. In Uniltaron Jake has to make a stone jar and then capture an arachnoid to store in the stone jar. The arachnoid's venom is used to give Jake a dream vision that is supposed to reveal his spirit animal. Besides this Jake was supposed to become a master at riding the direhorse to engage in a sturmbeest hunt. Lastly Jake was to be shown making a bow from the branch of Hometree which would complete his training and make him an adult Na'vi. 4. Several scenes of the Na'vi were cut. Including a large sequence of the Na'vi dinner scene where they discuss various views on Jake. There was also a large sequence of the Na'vi engaging in a circle to sing the Hunt Song before a stumbeest hunt that was not in the theatrical cut. Lastly the massive sturmbeest hunt where the Na'vi hunt a large sturmbeest herd was supposed to be in the film. 5. Several scenes of life on Earth were supposed to be in the film. Including scenes that shows a massive Earth city and the death of Jake's brother Tom. Besides this the sequence of the RDA explaining to Jake about Pandora was supposed to be longer where they state that RDA is not allowed by the government to have any weapons of mass destruction on Pandora. 6. Several character scenes that gave more depth to the characters were cut. Including more scenes on Jake, Norm, Dr. Grace, Selfridge, Quatrich, Trudy and Neytiri. 7. A scene was cut right before the final SecOps attack on the Na'vi where Selfridge turns against Quatrich and Quatrich nearly kills Selfridge. 8. Another scene was cut of the Na'vi after defeating Quatrich attacking the RDA base. 9. The sex scene between Jake and Neytiri was supposed to be a longer actual R rated material sequence. This sequence has been filmed and is said to return in the film for the Special Edition. 10. The scene of the humans leaving Pandora was meant to be slightly longer. Got the info from IMDB . Hopefully we get the extra 1hr and 10 mins for the blu-ray edition. Since it raking in alot of money, I'm pretty sure the they're going to put in some money to complete those shots. I'm dying to see the Earth scenes.
Its funny to read that, because when I brought up the similarity between Avatar and Dances with Wolves with family the other day, they said that there wasn't an equivalent to the famous bison hunt scene. That would have been it.
From what I've heard or read. James Cameron took from many iconic and familiar stories out there and place them into Avatar the movie. I have to agreed as a creative story or originality it is not. But come on. This is a well done movie at least. There are plenty of movie out there are doing the same thing and telling the same story with a different twist. If you take a look at Disney The Lion King ripping off Kimba: The White Lion. But still the Lion King was a good movie.
Here's a video interview behind some of the tech behind Avatar if anyone interested. I mean Avatar no doubt about it raise the bar on humanoid like animation that we have never seen before. I don't know about you guys but I love to see Thundercats the movie using the same technology that's being use in Avatar. I DONOT want to see human in stupid prosthetic makeup or suits. I wouldn't be surprised that one of these day they will totally create a CGI movie star. If we can't find another Conan that look like Arnold, imagine the possibility to recreate Arnold in his younger days or use CGI to create the Conan from scatch to have the look and built that a real human cannot have. Even if you do find a perfect human Conan, but can he act? All they need to do is get a performance actor to play the CGI Conan and you'll have a perfect Conan character.
And considering that most tribes feature such "coming of age" rituals, it only makes sense to include it in the movie. So it's not so much that Avatar borrowed from specific films or stories like Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas or John Carter of Mars or Fern Gully, etc, but that it used common themes found in many and all cultures. That these themes are used in so many forms is a testament to the power and resonation of the message.
I couldn't say it better myself sir. Nicely put. I'm pretty sure James wanted the Aliens to be Universal. If he created an Aliens race where their cultures and beliefs aren't similar to our own. Then the story wouldn't resonant with the audiences.
