Avatar made me want to throw up

[destrekor]

EXACTLY.

The film is garbage, more or less. But it's beautiful garbage, and absolutely needs to be seen in a proper theater.

The sand-in-vagina illiterate military sort that don't get it are babbling cyphers, their opinions overshadowed by the brainless simpletons that simply enjoy pew pew pew and shiny colors.

For the first time, I stand with the latter crowd.

I'm neither crowd. More than brainless, and not illiterate.
But I do enjoy mindless pew pew pews and shiny stuff.


Oh and the ROTC comment...

When did they mention ROTC in the movie? I've seen it twice and I've yet to hear them say "ROTC" or "rotsee". I may have been paying more attention to the shiny 3D things though.

 

[Mide]

I don't remember them being Americans. I remember them as being mercs hired by the mining company so the helo pilot turning on her fellow mercs = A'OK...she went over to the other side because of a moral issue (not being able to shoot the big tree) not because of money.

 

[PottedMeat]

For some reason I imagine OP is ROTC Lt. Niedermeyer from Animal House.

"Douglas C. Neidermeyer was killed in Vietnam by his own troops" lol.

 

[kitchiku]

1. OK 2. The "Sky People" never once made the first move without due warning. They wanted the tree and so they took it. Eminent domain. I am sure the resources provided under that tree could be used to help save many American lives - why else would it be so valuable. The natives were being greedy. They did not have to die and they did not have to retaliate. If they wanted to retaliate, that is fine, but do not expect sympathy. If all had gone according to plan, NO ONE would have died and who knows what benefits would have come. Not to mention, they are not even humans. If a dog is sitting on top of an epipen and I get stung by a bee, you better believe I will put my human life over that dog's to get it. And be justified. I am saying this as an ASPCA volunteer, too. 3. Treason can be considered worse than murder and rape when you look at it like this: a government is set up by people to protect those people. That protection includes protection from things like murder and rape and then also punishment of violators. Treason, specifically, is the betrayal of that government and the entire system. Destroying the government also destroys laws and essentially ALLOWS murder and rape. 4. The ranks matched up specifically with those of America - not to mention American names, dialects, armor, features, etc. 5. I put that in there to say that I might be biased. You are a douchebag for turning that around any other way.

First of all they were not the US Military nor any other military for that matter. They were ex-soldiers hired by a MINING COMPANY to protect their mining activities.
Second, this mining company was going to land-grab the properties of the natives to get to the resources regardless of murduring hundreds of natives along the way. THE MINING COMPANY WAS GREEDY not the natives. If you watched the movie, the scene where sigourney weaver confronted the top executive regarding the negotiations with the natives illustrates this.
I think you should go watch the movie again. Maybe just because the security personnel were former soldiers makes you think they were serving the government or any country for that matter.
Additionally, your arguments remind me of what the US goverment did to the native american indians in the 1800s just because of gold. Forced eviction and massacre.

 

[TheNinja]

I don't think they were American Soldiers. I thought they were just mercenaries. Therefore treason really does not apply.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm neither crowd. More than brainless, and not illiterate.
But I do enjoy mindless pew pew pews and shiny stuff.


Oh and the ROTC comment...

When did they mention ROTC in the movie? I've seen it twice and I've yet to hear them say "ROTC" or "rotsee". I may have been paying more attention to the shiny 3D things though.

I remember him saying something about rotsee in one of the first scenes--wen he wakes up from hibernation and is getting debriefed.

You know, the pointless exposition BS.

 

[Matthiasa]

So how did you get it to be anti-Americana when the Chinese government took it as anti-Chinese.

OH right because you're seeing stuff that isn't there.

 

[destrekor]

I remember him saying something about rotsee in one of the first scenes--wen he wakes up from hibernation and is getting debriefed.

You know, the pointless exposition BS.

aw. Well, ROTC is the subject of many jokes, and having gone through almost the entirety of the 4 year program (2 quarters left), I reckon there's a lot of fact.
You get a wide range of personality types, and some of the worst are the ones that make the program look ridiculous.
There's the 'just damn stupid' group
The 'I only want free school' group
The 'I'm the most Patriotic of all' group
...
and then there's my group, 'discipline challenged but will prove themselves at the end'.

 

[growled]

finally saw avatar (3d version) tonight. it was an excellent movie - the story was not all that impressive nor the cinematic feel all that great, but the sheer beauty and liveliness with which the world of pandora was made is what truly makes this movie. definitely a must see solely because of that.

That's what I thought as well. An excellent movie overall.

 

[Kadarin]

I finally saw Avatar over this past weekend, and my point of view is still that the OP is a complete fucking idiot. For the same reasons.

- Mining company mercs who take orders from a corporate lackey != the US military.
- OP conveniently forgets that the mercs at the end have the entire planetary ecosystem acting in concert against them.

Sure, maybe it would have been possible for the mercs to blow up the soul tree or whatever the hell it was, but it's highly unlikely that this tree would be the ONLY one on the planet. There are now only two ways for this corp to get significant quantities of "unobtanium": (1) ask the natives very nicely, or (2) sterilize the planet from orbit first.

 

[destrekor]

finally saw avatar (3d version) tonight. it was an excellent movie - the story was not all that impressive nor the cinematic feel all that great, but the sheer beauty and liveliness with which the world of pandora was made is what truly makes this movie. definitely a must see solely because of that.

according to my brother, the 3d version really makes a big difference in the visual details of the world.

Yeah, I cannot imagine having any desire, or even ever agreeing to, watching this movie in 2D. It offers nothing in terms of directing, story telling, or the story itself.
The basic qualities of the movie are average, and don't do anything to make it a bad movie. As a movie itself, it is merely there. But couple that with the dimensionality and how the world is brought to life in 3D, and it's a wholly different matter. I've seen it twice now in RealD 3D, and don't regret the decisions. As a whole package, it's enjoyable.

Also, it makes me stoked for Battle Angel. I don't care for mangas, anime, or anything related.. but I read the basic premise of the Battle Angel manga on wiki after seeing that it is the next major project for Cameron, and I feel I NEED to see it. It seems to have the story content, and I think combining similar production levels of Avatar, using the same technologies, we might be seeing a shift in the importance of 3D. I think Avatar is worthless without 3D, absolutely amazing with it. There was a quality to the presentation I've never known 3D to have. If Cameron can pull that feat with the same level of quality, and actually have a real quality script and story, we might have something that truly breaks new ground. Well, Avatar broke ground, Battle Angel might serve to now build up. Avatar was revolutionary for 3D film-making, and the next project might be evolutionary.
And I really think that's what Cameron wanted to do. He wasn't dumb when he changed his mind on the order of projects, as Battle Angel was going to be first, then Avatar. But Avatar became something rather basic in the story department but needed the 3D technology. Cameron might have been thinking, "Avatar will be what makes viewers realize MY 3D is worthwhile." Battle Angel will ride that momentum but bring something relatively fresh.

 

[biggestmuff]

Damn. I've been avoiding this thread until I saw the movie. Wow, if there is someone that saw the movie, but didn't get it, it would be the OP.

Have you never seen a Cameron film? It contains all of the stereotypical elements even the money-hungry corporation.

I thought it was interesting that the story jumped right into the plot without the lengthy character introductions that I thought were going to be part of the movie. But then, as I stated above, JC must also know that all of the main characters are stereotypes straight from his and other similar movies. They're all there; the gruff, gung-ho, ex-military guy, the hard-nosed, bossy, perfectionist, the fish-out-of-water protagonist, the chieftain, the chieftain's daughter that our protagonist falls for, the chieftain's daughter's future husband who hates the protagonist, but concedes to him...

The score seemed dull and stereotypical, too. Look, mysterious natives! "Well, with have to have gobs of percussion to symbolize the primitive people and we'll just go ahead and reuse a solo flute to parrot their strange and mysterious ways." I was expecting more from Horner, but JC's really never been much about the music in his films. I can't think of a single melody from The Abyss and that's my favorite JC movie. Terminator and T2 had similar main themes and I can hum those, but they were also written by someone other than Horner. I was just expecting something cool and original as well as other-worldly.

 

[0roo0roo]

oh lol...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ent...ed-from-2d-screens-by-chinese-government.html

....According to a report in the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, the move was made at the urging of propaganda officials who are concerned that "Avatar" is taking too much market share from Chinese films and drawing unwanted attention to the sensitive issue of forced evictions.

Millions of Chinese have been uprooted to make way for high rises and government infrastructure projects. “Nail House” is a popular term given to homes of dwellers who refuse to leave though they are surrounded by demolished homes. In "Avatar," human colonists try to demolish the village of an alien race in order to obtain a precious resource buried below it....