James Cameron's Avatar

Post by **spaz** » November 21st, 2009, 5:11 am

Gang. A few months ago I predicted (actually a few years ago) that the first use of a synthetic cg actor “aping” for real, would not be announced at the point of release but after the film had it’s run in the form of something atypical of an fx film’s perdictable visual boner. A stupid sex/comedy film dreamed up by one of the contemporary gaggle of silly studios who attempt to trick the public in an Orsen Welles manner. However I’ve changed my opinion. If I were going to release the aforementioned , I would need an army of smart guys and a tremendous amount of resources. Cameron has this at his disposal right now. I would not put it past the breadth and scope of this film to sneak in a synthetic human character in amongst the creatures that already exist. The best talent and best budget is there to attempt this. There are no rules when it comes to being honest on how the actor made it to the screen. Joe Letteri is the best shader writer in the world currently. Cameron is driven by innovation. Don’t be too surprised if one of the actors doesn’t have an Imdb page. Just a thought.

Spaz

Post by **EricJ** » November 21st, 2009, 11:50 am

Dacey wrote:Well, lucky for James Cameron, few people on earth actually saw "Delgo," so they probably won't notice that stuff. .

No, they'll just stick to the plain old mainstream "Dances With Aliens" jokes.*

(Still, ROFL when the backlash comparisons start getting into geek specifics...The AvaDelgo comparison YouTube videos should already be up as we speak.)

And like spaz symbolizes, there seems to be a lot more wish for the IDEA of "Wow, CGI actors that fool you into thinking they're real!" for stunt value, than there is for seeing them in an actual script that utilizes them for some genuine artistic purpose....Final Fantasy:TSW stunk on corny ice, and this one don't look any fresher.
I can understand "Only Really Old People think photorealistic CGI is neato", but they do have a tendency to hypnotize the young and naive as well.

(* - My first thought seeing the full trailer--in 3-D no less, with "Christmas Carol"--was Cameron using Titanic to bend our ear with one-dimensional Eat-the-rich soapboxing, and this week, it was "Native white guilt"'s turn:
Drinking-game the number of times one of the Human Army Nasties makes some deliberate Cavalry comparison: "We want that mineral, and we'll throw them off their planet to get it!")

Post by **estefan** » November 21st, 2009, 12:21 pm

EricJ wrote:
Dacey wrote:Well, lucky for James Cameron, few people on earth actually saw "Delgo," so they probably won't notice that stuff. .
No, they'll just stick to the plain old mainstream "Dances With Aliens" jokes.

Well, thanks to a recent South Park episode, people will now be making "Dances with Smurfs" jokes.

Post by **EricJ** » November 25th, 2009, 4:03 pm

Dacey wrote:The LA Times covers Avatar…over and over again!
As though James Cameron’s Avatar wasn’t getting enough press already, the LA Times is now providing a brand new artcile about it every day until the movie’s release next month.

It's official:
"Avatar" has now beaten out "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" for title of Most Needlessly and Delusionally Overhyped Movie of 2009.

(Well....okay, tied maybe. Not that "New Moon" didn't give them a run for it.)

Post by **EricJ** » December 9th, 2009, 12:57 pm

Case in point:

Meanwhile, CBS News ponders whether or not the movie will be able to match the success of James Cameron's last film--a little movie called Titanic--at the box office, balancing out the pros and cons that will be facing it

Uh, IMDB Is Your Friend, CBS News:
Cameron's last movie was a very, VERY little movie called "Aliens of the Deep", riding on his success with "Ghosts of the Abyss"--And while Avatar will admittedly have a bigger opening weekend than either of those two, it's nice to see him now doing a movie that isn't an IMAX documentary for the first time in literally twelve years.

(But does rather demonstrate how audiences are wishfully rushing to this movie to mythologize What They Remember of James Cameron, II, than, y'know...the actual corny dumb plot.)

Post by **Dacey** » December 9th, 2009, 1:05 pm

Yes, it's been known that Cameron has done documentaries, but generally I think that people are seeing "Avatar" as his return to making movies, which is why I reported it that way.

To be fair, the article actually mentions the work that you mentioned, which is why I'm going to slightly alter the post to avoid any confusion. But again, this is being seen by most people as the "comeback" of Jimmy Cameron, and a lot of people are reporting it that way.

Post by **eddievalient** » December 9th, 2009, 1:09 pm

This film looks amazing and I cannot wait to finally see it, not so much because of the special effects, but because it looks like a really great story. If it's as good as it looks, it'll probably tie with Wall-E for best sci-fi film of the decade.

Post by **Meg** » December 9th, 2009, 1:33 pm

http://www.movieline.com/2009/08/delgo- ... ection.php

Post by **EricJ** » December 9th, 2009, 2:04 pm

LOL - Not that there's anything technically prosecutable (as compared to MST3K fans who blew the whistle on Michael Bay's "The Island"), but for EW-style pop-backlash sarcasm, looks like somebody's been watching YouTube...

Post by **Vernadyn** » December 11th, 2009, 1:53 pm

I listened to James Horner's score, and it was all right. Nothing revolutionary; this isn't his return to Star Trek II. (Then again, I've recently been geeking out over the releases to Innerspace, Back to the Future, and The Fugitive. That and I'm not James Horner's biggest fan.) It starts out as very ambient, "ethnic" background music, with snippets of the ubiquitous "four note danger motif" and the theme from Glory. The action stuff doesn't come in until the latter half of the album, and it's reasonably exciting. Track 11 has the wailing woman cliche done to unbearable heights, though. The true test is whether it will work in the film (though from the sound of the music, the film may be more laid back and romantic a la Titanic than action-oriented for the first half.) Except for a few of the tracks (7, 10, 12, 13) I probably won't be listening to it much on its own, though.

Post by **Dacey** » December 11th, 2009, 11:22 pm

For the most part, reviews seem to be pretty good so far:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/

American_dog_2008 · Post by **American_dog_2008** » December 15th, 2009, 4:06 pm

I just read on IMDB that Avatar has Golden Globes for Best Picture?

Post by **spaz** » December 18th, 2009, 3:23 am

saw the film tonight at ILM. there is no visual parallel. the "blue" creatures have believable performances and great joe letteri rendering. i did not like the "general guy" however. he had a look of no past sufferage. the toughest guys i've ever met are silent, not loud. i missed one more classic cameron beat to the entire story , similar to aliens. a lengthier back story about the protagonist, in keeping with the initial story treatment would have solved this. other than that the film is quit a feat. whatever , what the hell do i know, i still watch Smokey And The Bandit every week after 20 Coors.

Post by **Dan** » December 19th, 2009, 7:08 pm

I found the film to be absolutely stunning and breathtakingly beautiful.

The plot we've seen before, but it's executed very well and further enhances the viewing enjoyment. I really couldn't look away throughout the entire 2 1/2 hours, I really liked what I saw. I can't wait to see it on IMAX.

Post by **droosan** » December 19th, 2009, 8:58 pm

I did a small amount of work on the 'pre-visualization' for Avatar. I was only on the project for four months (almost three years ago!), so, I'm not sure whether I have a screen credit on it. There are movies I've done less for which gave me a credit, and others I've done more on which didn't.

Nothing I did for Avatar ended up 'on-screen', anyway; my contributions were entirely for the initial 'mo-cap' testing phase.

I had to sign more NDA's for this movie than anything else I've ever worked on .. so I'm not sure I can say much more about it than that.

I might see Avatar this weekend, if I get the time. But I'm busy finishing up work for my current job so that I can take a week 'off' to visit family for the holidays .. so, it might have to wait 'til next year.