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The eyes have it. Avatar day kicked ass.
In case you missed it last Friday was Avatar day nation wide. Movie nerds of varying degrees of health and temperament waddled down to their local Imax theater to view 15 minutes of the new film. What followed was a blog bombardment that could have leveled the walls of Jericho.
I did manage to see the 15 minute clip selection from Avatar in full Imax 3-D and I have to tell you - I've never seen anything like this movie before. Say what you want about the CG excesses and the mighty ego of one Jim Cameron but the performances he culled out of his synthetic cast feel more real than Brad Pitt's Aldo Rain or anything we saw in the Star Wars prequels. When you see this world he created, how colorful it is, how deep it goes beyond the camera's limitations - it's hard to summon anything else but a terrific sense of awe.
The Na'vi are first cousins to Peter Jackson's Gollum. They look and behave like the genuine article. Sure the effects are especially sharp in 3-D but I've got to give credit to the writer here. When a writer treats a special effect as an actor instead of a 50 million dollar combination of animation and Microsoft Paint you get an actual character. These guys read their lines like seasoned professionals. When they move, whether running from dinosaur-sized monsters, (wow did that scene rock - King Kong's got some competition in the creature department) or were taking their first steps as an "Avatar", or were breaking in flying dragons for sky-riding, they took on a life all their own. These guys have much more in common with the Mayans of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto than they do with anything that walked or crawled into Attack of the Clones.
After 8 minutes of Avatar day footage I leaned over to my wife and said: "I've never seen anything like this before."
Now I know that seems premature to say this about a film that I've seen 5% of the final product, and I'm really putting myself out there for all sorts of abuses if this film is a massive flop. But gawdamnit it's nice to believe in something positive again. I think the cinema masses were severely burned a decade ago when every single one of us hoped and dreamed that The Phantom Menace was going to change our adult lives forever from then on. When it didn't we turned a little bitter and cruel. The Episode 1 aftermath has created an empire of cheap-shot artists and amateur film cynics. (me included) We had one good time during this last ten years - one time where we all got on the same page and loved something at the same level - and that was during the three years of Lord of the Rings. I'm not saying that this new film will be those films. But it's hard to ignore that on his last voyage out of dry-dock James Cameron made the highest grossing film of all time. Something even Peter Jackson's outstanding films failed to duplicate. And from what I saw last Friday night Avatar looked like it could be on that level.
It's nice to see someone with serious film-making skills attempting to make "the next big thing" again. Whatever Avatar is and will be it's got to be better than that last Indy movie or that terrible Planet of the Apes remake we all lined-up for so many moons ago. I'm hoping that its arrival will wipe the memories of Wolfgang Petersen, Stephen Sommers, and the never-ending slew of cruddy cartoon-to-live-action films forever from the record of our planet...
So yeah, I went "Full Avatard" on Avatar day. And I guess I could blame the buzz I got off of fifteen minutes of this big, be-yu-tiful blockbuster on the state of unconscious misery that I had through 98% of Inglourious Basterds. Cameron may have affected my Tarantino jones last Friday. Thank you James Cameron. Now do it again on December 18th please.
If you'd like to check out Sam Worthington's reaction to all the negative bullsh**t internet jockeys are leveling at this new flick you can check that out here. Other than that keep hope alive - I think this movie's going to be HUGE. So huge I just may have to collect the action figures - you know, as uh, investments.
Comments
you'd go balls out for this CG laden trash and flip on the genius of Tarantino or the originality of D9.
Noob.
Figures - I also get a little bit of money every time you click on something that I write. Please keep reading!
Boob.
I saw the trailer online first (mmmeh was sorta cool looking) and then went to the 3-D preview at the IMAX and was floored & amazed! What a HUGE difference it made to actually see it in 3-D. This will be one of the coolest movies of the year (my opinion of course!)
Roestel - as long as u keep writing I'll be the fly on your sh!t. I don't care if u make a penny on my clicks. I just call it like i see it.
Doosh bag.
I couldn't agree more Roe. I haven't even seen the preview and I am excited. I don't understand the nerd rage going on. The trailer looks pretty amazing to me, and I can understand that it will be amazing in IMAX.
I think the fanboys are angry because they didn't want James Cameron to be the guy who did this. They never really respected Aliens and they're still p!ssing on Titanic twelve years after it soared. They wanted Lucas to be the one who brought out the big guns in this first decade of new frontier movie making, and instead they got Jar Jar Binks. Then they wanted it to come from Spielberg and instead they got Indy 4. Peter Jackson did LOTR but it still didn't beat Titanic, and now here comes Cameron again. Saying something negative is just a knee-JERK reaction. The fact is that everyone on the planet who can walk, roll or crawl to an IMAX theater is going to be seeing this flick, and Cameron will be King of the World again. THAT'S what they can't wrap their heads around.
Figures - Then we have a binding contract. I'll keep writing sh!t and you'll keep eating it up. Excellent. So did you see the 15 minute preview of Avatar or did you just need a spot to unload the word "doosh bag" today? You should be the National "Doosh" Examiner. You've got the nose for "doosh" my friend. You're a "doosh" hound if I've ever known one. It's almost mystical the way you can sniff out a "doosh"....
Duzy - Totally and completely in agreement. I'd like these nerds more if they weren't so prone to throw temper tantrum's over the silliest stuff. Every single one of these naysayers will be stuffing the box-office with their ten bucks come December 18th.
Thanx for furthering Cluing us in Jase Sir...I admit it....u got me looking forward to this movie...And even Camerons worst movies are better than most regular directors movies-it will be great to see another Cameron movie movie...bout time! Since I is down in Tacoma no Imaxs here...so didnt see the 15 min preview but Jason is helping us see how awesome it was! Thanx bud! For YOU to say its original is something...yah based on what I have read I doubt I want to see Inglorious Bastards..I like Tarantino but he is far from a flawless filmmaker...he frequently has awesome ideas that when he does make into a movie aint quite as great as you thought they would be...When the best thing about a Tarantino movie is his cameo in it then you know its not that great and he has made a few of those...Now Cameron...Titanic, brilliant, Aliens brilliant, T2 brilliant brilliant, t1 brilliant, The Abyss brilliant True Lies(ok not brilliant but fun) etc...
Looks really cool, better then D9 haha,
Do you get paid by the comment or do they count the characters? Muscle builders, teeth whiteners and colon cleansers.
It's a terrific system Oakland. I get 68 cents every time someone calls me any variation of the term "douche". If someone were to bring up hygiene products or rectal and physical supplements - I get a bonus of 14 cents PER PRODUCT! It's a limitless market Oakland old boy.
Jim - I can't promise that the entire movie will be as good as what I saw Jim Nightshade. But what I saw is well worth the trip out of Tacoma to see this new Cameron film at either the Seattle Cinemax or the Imax at the Pacific Science Center.
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