THR and Variety review Avatar- Page 2

[Q]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 10:53am

Especially when they think the bulk of the money will come from the international market.

I'll be glad when this one has come and gone.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 10:58am

I think Mamma Mia opened internationally first, and I'm pretty sure that Evita did, too. I know there are more examples.

Yeah, I have zero desire to see this. I'm sure it will rake in the dough and I will hear how UH-MA-ZING it is, but zero desire. Zilch.

[Q]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 11:03am

In a world where TRANSFORMERS 2 made 835 million worldwide, I'm sure he'll make his money back - no matter how much it cost him. Besides, I've been getting the impression that he expects to make his real fortune off this enterprise from the derived games.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 1:50pm

Eh I don't think so...the games have been pretty much panned and I think they will be a flop across all platforms.

[Q]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 2:08pm

Erik - I didn't say they WOULD, I said I think he EXPECTS to

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 2:24pm

True. I just don't know why he would expect to pull in a ton of money from the games. They haven't generated any buzz in the gaming world and video games based on movies are notoriously crappy and rarely ever sell well.

[Q]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 2:28pm

He has a rather skewed vision of what he's capable of.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 8:56pm

I am thinking it is opening up internationally first due to the stronger currency meaning a lot easier to recoup.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 9:17pm

Gawker was really camping on this to be a failure but now is retracting:
http://gawker.com/5427160/an-apology-avatar-amazingly-does-not-suck

I still would say this will definitely be the 'love it/hate it' movie. I listened to Morning Edition on NPR and it hit me again that there is a completely different language for the alien race. The guy who created basically gave no origins of the language but basically that it would be like Klingon (which supposedly has origins in Mongolian and Turkish) for Star Trek. Again, James is a perfectionist and I swear he might kill himself making his next movie.

[Plum]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 9:43pm

I think that when I was living in London the Harry Potter movie that came out that year was released in the UK before the US. Not sure, though. The Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice definitely was released in the UK first, though.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/15/09 at 11:33pm

Aren't all of the Harry Potter movies out in the UK prior to the US? I know "Azkaban" was because I saw it in England before my friends saw it here.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 12:20am

Harry Potter is technically UK property. Same with Pride & Prejudice.

Like I said before, british pounds are far stronger than USD so that means more money for the film instantly than a waning foreign audience who may stay away after a few weeks of hearing things from overseas. That being said the opposite would be the case with US audiences but given there have been good reviews for the film- given by top, respected critics- it seems this method was a 'just in case'.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 6:13am

Ok just got home from seeing Avatar, let get this out of the way first Cameron has made a stunning, beautiful, at times thrilling film. It works wonderful well in 3D, as the effects are used to put you into the film. The opening moments on the space ship is jaw droppingly real..

But here comes the but, I am not sure if James has just remade his least seen film..

Which would be the Abyss, at times I thought i was rewatching that film.

More thoughts to come.....

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 10:13am

Hmm really? Cause I love the Abyss...it's my favorite of his movies.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 11:11am

The Abyss is one of my favorite films as well, there where moments in Avatar, where the same themes came up. Alien race, war, mankinds willingness to destory everything.

[bethnor]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 2:21pm

don't understand the hubbub over this film.

how is it not dances with wolves in space? does it somehow change the approach to, "someone is sent to assimilate a culture, falls in love with said culture and turns on his masters and directives to save that culture" formula? this film even looks to star "white man as idiot."

at least district 9 took a somewhat unique approach to its themes.

cameron is notorious for taking something and just making it louder and bigger. i loved aliens, but let's face it, it's basically a bigger, louder version of alien--it even ENDS the same way, blowing the thing into goddamn space after ripley "suits up" in a bigger, louder suit, against a bigger, louder alien.
Updated On: 12/16/09 at 02:21 PM

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 2:25pm

beth...I pretty much disagree with everything you say about Cameron including Aliens. Aliens, for better or worse, is a much different film than Alien in tone and style.
And I don't see how you can be so critical of a movie that you haven't seen yet.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/16/09 at 8:51pm

Aliens and Alien are so different from each other that I don't know where to begin. Ripley was the PTSD adult surrounded by precocious children while in the first movie she was in a group of wide-eyed, but serious people. For better or worse it officially established her as the true heroine. It would say it worked for the better because Ripley is still a feminist movie icon (like Sarah Connor) and Sigourney got an Oscar nomination out of it. Not to mention the sequel is surrounded by a major conspiracy. The first movie was just about a crew's unfortunate contact with an alien.

The Terminator, the original, was gritty and pretty darn cheap for its time (not to mention produced by an independent production company). I know somebody who read the original draft James created and it was incredibly well-done story but there were parts removed that according to my friend, would have made a great movie greater (He is incredibly tight-lipped about the contents of the first draft).

James is incredibly talented but he can create hostility on what is both his vice and virtue as a filmmaker that is no different than a Fritz Lang or a Stanley Kubrick. They all seek perfection. If James Cameron really cared about blowing up things and budgets on purpose he would have made those last two Terminator movies not to mention not wait a decade to make a feature instead of doing documentaries on sea creatures.

I loved The Abyss too. Learning how they made the movie is even more incredible. I will go look into the connecting themes when I see Avatar.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/17/09 at 8:18pm

This was due for day and date release worldwide, why was the american screenings held up?

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/17/09 at 8:34pm

Don't know but a midnight screening is opening at my work/local cinema. I am thinking of seeing it Saturday night.

[BroadwayBenny]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 4:13am

Just got back from the midnight screening....

The look of the film is AMAZING! I would have to compare it to "Fantasia" and "2001: A Space Oddity" as a far as visual stimulation goes. 3D can either look really cool or can give you a headache like nothing else. "Avatar" is definitely the BEST example of how to effectively use 3D I have ever seen.

It is so rare that I ever excitedly urge people to see a film strictly for it's visual merits...not that the story and characters are bad by any means, but they do borrow from plenty of film formulas we have seen so many times before. It is definitely a mash up of "Fern Gully", "Pocahontas" and "Dances with Wolves." I am kind of a tree hugger though, so that preachy nature vs. technology material doesn't bother me. I like the conflict it creates.

[bethnor]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 11:07am

Aliens and Alien are so different from each other that I don't know where to begin.

You're right, they're nothing alike. In Alien, Ripley makes a frantic, last minute escape from a huge nuclear explosion while Mother is counting down, only to find a nasty stowaway in her get-away vehicle, and after a tension filled moment with it, manages to blow it out an airlock. In contrast, in Aliens, Ripley makes a frantic, last minute escape from a huge nuclear explosion while Mother is counting down, only to find a nasty stowaway in her get-away vehicle, and after a struggle with it, manages to blow it out an airlock.

Wait.

Look. I like Aliens. It actually IS one of my favorite action movies of all time. But like it or not, consciously or subconsciously, Cameron borrowed heavily from the narrative structure of Alien. The explosion is bigger, the get-away vehicle is sleeker, the nasty stowaway is much nastier, and the final confrontation is more action-packed, but it is what it is.

The series' most brilliant aspect--having a female protaganist struggle against a creature that metaphorically represents rape, including the implantation of something foreign and alien--was established in the first movie. I will grant that Cameron added a dimension with the mother-daughter relationship between Newt and Ripley to contrast, but that also is what it is--evolution, and not revolution.

And I don't see how you can be so critical of a movie that you haven't seen yet.

Critical? I'm just wondering what the hubbub is about. Do I think this will be a fun romp at the movies? Sure. Will this ZOMFGWTFrevolutionize film the way the hype would make you think? No. BTW, here's a positive CNN review:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/17/avatar.review/index.html

It's basically "Dances with Wolves" in outer space; the tale of a U.S. soldier "going native" (Cameron even casts Native American actor Wes Studi as a Na'vi chief).

Which answers my question. It may have more bells and whistles attached, but it is what it is. There's nothing wrong if people want to embrace it, but I don't see why anyone would deny it, either.



Updated On: 12/18/09 at 11:07 AM

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 11:15am

I'm not denying anything because I haven't seen it yet. It might very well be Dances With Wolves in space...but I'll know that after I see it tonight.
Alien and Aliens aren't really even in the same genre. Aliens is pretty much a full on action movie while Alien is horror/sci fi.
Does Cameron pay homage to Alien...of course..but is by no means retread.

[bethnor]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 11:31am

Huh? Clueless may be a comedy, but it's still at heart Jane Austen's Emma.

DJ Mystic can add a techno beat to Fur Elise and people can go crazy with it at a club, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still Fur Elise.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 12:06pm

lol ok. Except that Aliens doesn't even follow the same story structure as Alien. You can talk about the ending again...but pretty much everything that happens before that bears any resemblance to the story of Alien.