James Cameron's Avatar

I haven't seen Avatar yet but I don't think it will annoy me more than District 9. I thought that movie went off the rails completely in the second act. Not because of the action, but because of the nonsensical chain of events and absurd attempts at tear-jerking the audience.

my criticisms are not based on the fact that the story has been done before. I'm fine with that.

what I'm saying is that the dialogue was poorly written. Joyrex, I love a good popcorn movie. But we distinguish those that are done exceptionally well and those that are not. "Unobtanium"? I would have written that in high school. Even if you cast the acting aside, the dialogue as written is terrible. And it's really a shame because the world that's created in the movie is engrossing. It deserves a better script.

lol

  On 1/6/2010 at 1:03 PM, Springymajig said:

I'm starting to regret bringing District 9 into this... but I think I can still make it seem relevant somehow :P

 

District 9 was to me what a good blockbuster should be like. Sure it straddles the line of "art movie" (for want of a better term) but let's face it, it's a balls out action movie, with no grander purpose than to entertain. It did it with style, it did it with depth (again, without being preachy), it did it with heart. It showed a realistic understanding of the real world and then planted a completely unreal element in it, and had fun with it, which in turn, let US have fun with it.

 

Avatar seems to show only an understanding of cliches.

what i like about district 9 is that everyone in that movie except maybe the litle alien kid is an asshole but you can sympathize with the characters.

in avatar you can't put yourself in the place of any character and understand it. even the fact that jakesully is paraplegic seems of no relevance to the story at all. as i said, this movie has no characters, just things with names that make things happen.

  On 1/4/2010 at 11:38 PM, Alcofribas said:

  On 1/4/2010 at 10:24 PM, encey said:

 

Lol -- Cookie Monster's ... Avator!

  On 1/6/2010 at 2:33 PM, LOL Alzado said:

"Unobtanium"? I would have written that in high school.

alzado; again, still not seen the movie, but 'unobtanium' is a... how should i put it? a sci-fi archetype - it's sort of like the wilhelm scream or nozz-a-la or klondike 555. it is a sorta beloved cliche in not only scifi but sometimes engineering or chemistry or other things as well.

i thought it was also a joke among engineers, like 'sure if only we had some unobtanium, your idea would be possible'

think of unobtanium as a special form of kryptonite which possesses whatever qualities the plot/theory/stoned rambling needs it to have, but is impossibly rare on earth/[expensive/toxic] to mine/only exists on an asteroid or mars or some shit.

edit: which is also magical.

Unobtanium, flabotinum, folderol, etc...

and yet it's no less retarded

unobtornium

I heard it's the title of the new BoC.

  On 1/7/2010 at 2:32 PM, Gocab said:

I heard it's the title of the new BoC.

lol

I thought unobtainium sounded a bit daft, but if you do much science you'll find scientists name discoveries that badly all the time, I'm almost surprised there isn't a real unobtainium. For example Seaborgium, Ununnilium, Promethium... Or countless biological things with ridiculous names, theres a gene named after Sonic The Hedgehog.

If they were cool in the movie, they would make a laugh about that name.

  On 1/6/2010 at 1:10 PM, lumpenprol said:

I haven't seen Avatar yet but I don't think it will annoy me more than District 9. I thought that movie went off the rails completely in the second act. Not because of the action, but because of the nonsensical chain of events and absurd attempts at tear-jerking the audience.

trust me it cant annoy more than district 9

Hmm. Just got a copy of District 9 today... I was told it was rather gory in some parts.

  On 1/7/2010 at 8:13 PM, Coalbucket PI said:

I thought unobtainium sounded a bit daft, but if you do much science you'll find scientists name discoveries that badly all the time, I'm almost surprised there isn't a real unobtainium. For example Seaborgium, Ununnilium, Promethium... Or countless biological things with ridiculous names, theres a gene named after Sonic The Hedgehog.

A friend of a friend of mine is a mathematician who discovered/invented some kind of math theory thingy that he decided to name something like the Optimus Prime number.

  On 1/7/2010 at 9:48 PM, Joyrex said:

Hmm. Just got a copy of District 9 today... I was told it was rather gory in some parts.

Yeah it is... I love the film (in case you couldn't tell) but I can definitely see why some people don't like it. And it's a fun kind of gore.

  On 12/19/2009 at 10:19 PM, gaarg said:

Ok, here's the real question for you hard-core film freaks:

 

Any of you that love Tarkovski's Stalker or Nostalgia and have seen Avatar, could you say Avatar has ANYTHING at all against those two masterpieces? Aesthetically I mean. This I really want to know.

Nostalgia = 10/10

Stalker = 10/10

Solaris = 10/10

Avatar = 0/10 or maybe 1/10

Saw this evening on I-max 3D and its one of the worst movies I ever seen.

wait what? Archrival didn't like Avatar? This must be a sign the apocalypse is near.

I also love Solaris... and now have grave concerns for Avatar

I cried through Solaris because i wasn't allowed to go to the toilet. Great film.

if you like your scifi action with a dash of Bad Taste or Dead Alive you will love District 9