James Cameron's Avatar

[Ben]

Well said!

[Dacey]

And a question about the concept - if the person is controlling the avatar when asleep when the hell does the person actually get some real true sleep. It seems in the movie that the people are awake the whole time.

It seemed to me that the person was asleep while the Avatar was being operated. Likewise, the Avatar sleeps while the human is awake. It might've seemed like they were "awake" during some of those scenes just because narration was playing over them.

[Ben]

But how would they operate the avatar if they were asleep. They wouldn't be able to have conscious thought.

[eddievalient]

That's why it's called science fiction, not science fact. Don't overanalyze it. Just enjoy it.

[Bill1978]

I'm all for Science Fiction when it makes sense. Time travel isn't possible but if done well I don't question the concept. When it's done bad I've been known to sit down and try to work out how the storyline could be coherent.

In Avatar, the whole premise is presented that you go into a sleep chamber where your consciousness is transferred to your avatar. Which means that while your body is resting your mind isn't. And in relaity your mind needs to rest so your body can function. To just try and brush it off as science fiction, means to accept sloppy science fiction. I Am Legend is Science Fiction that makes sense, the science fiction in Avatar has too many holes to allow me to totally escape into the film, I shouldn't have spent 2.5 houts wondering how it was possible. For all the time it took to get to the basic story, surely some more time could have been spent on the Avatar program that just qucikly saying 'Hey you were an identical twin so it all works out'

And while it was clear that Sigourney's Avatar shared her genetic similarities and the other dude's Avatar looked like him, I struggled to see Sam Worthington in his Avatar, it was like this mystical identical twin looked nothing like Sam Worthington.

I was prepared to hate the film, but I'll admit I can't. But then I also can't say it is totally awesome. If someone asked me for my recommendation I would say it's OK. It didn't feel like an event movie, just a glorified version of a Stargate episode.

I also admit to laughing at the name of the mysterious power source of Unobtainium. Sounds like something one of my students would come up with if I made them write a science fiction story in class.

[Ben]

You know, I saw that movie again the other day, where the humans invade a strange new world and one of them, who connects with the blue-tinged people that live there, starts a friendship with an important member of their society that progresses to a deeper relationship. Slowly he begins to understand that they are linked to their land via a somewhat mythical energy source that feeds from them and protects them all the same. Ultimately, he must fight back against his own humankind to help save this new world he has become attached to, eventually becoming one of them so as to stay forever.

Yep, I actually got a real kick out of watching Atlantis: The Lost Empire again...it was much more fun and exciting than I remember it being, and certainly sharper and less leaden than Cameron's regurgitation of several elements.

[Vernadyn]

Not to add more fuel to the fire (I did like Avatar a lot), but Atlantis also had one heck of a better musical score than what James Horner managed to come up with. I've always liked Atlantis despite its flaws, and I suppose I could say the same about Avatar too.

Rourke did have a much cooler death than Quaritch did, though.

[Ben]

It's odd, because even after just one listen, I can come out and recite some score of a movie right after seeing it, but I can't even remember one phrase from Avatar - even though Horner probably used it previously in another movie somewhere!

[EricJ]

You know, I saw that movie again the other day, where the humans invade a strange new world and one of them, who connects with the blue-tinged people that live there, starts a friendship with an important member of their society that progresses to a deeper relationship. Slowly he begins to understand that they are linked to their land via a somewhat mythical energy source that feeds from them and protects them all the same. Ultimately, he must fight back against his own humankind to help save this new world he has become attached to, eventually becoming one of them so as to stay forever.

Yep, I actually got a real kick out of watching Atlantis: The Lost Empire again..

Yeah, but I liked the one about where the athletic noble-savage babe first doesn't know whether to kill the hunky-if-clumsy new invading stranger who has invaded her land, but suddenly gets a mystical message from the wise mother-tree telling her to trust her heart about his destiny...

(...Oh, wait, we already posted the "Pocahontas" joke, didn't we? Sorry. )

I also admit to laughing at the name of the mysterious power source of Unobtainium. Sounds like something one of my students would come up with if I made them write a science fiction story in class.

I think I was the only one who remembered "Unobtanium" being the mysterious imaginary-alloy from '03's mega-goofy "The Core".
(Where it was the only metal that could withstand the gravitational pressure of tunneling to the center of the earth--Or as Roger Ebert put it, "To venture outside the ship, they would need to make their suits of something stronger, which would apparently be Ugottabekiddingum...")

At first when I read all the fan reviews, I thought everyone was being sarcastic about Cameron making up a metal, and thought, "No, wait...Everyone CAN'T have seen that movie!"
I'd think Cameron had deliberately used the name on purpose, if I thought he had an imagination.

[ShyViolet]

Avatar How it should have ended! Kinda funny LOL.


http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/

[ShyViolet]

This is a really interesting essay on the nature of mo-cap and its relation to Avatar as well as films in general: (linked to from CartoonBrew)

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=7126

[Ben]

Henry Selick says it best (in the original articled linked to):

"Is it animation? Is it a new category? I'm like the academy. I don't know where it fits. I will tell you this, animators have to work very, very hard with the motion-capture data. After the performance is captured, it's not just plugged into the computer which spits out big blue people. It's a hybrid."

[kingmaker]

Its one of the best movies i have ever seen...

[Sunday]

Watch more movies kingmaker. ;p

(Still didn't stop me from seeing this one twice in 3D, though. It's worth seeing and inspecting and discussing and dissecting on visual merit alone! I only hope the animators at some point "have their day in court", if I can turn such a phrase.)

[LotsoA113]

Avatar is likely in my Top 10 films...and I've seen Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Gone With The Wind and Meet The Spartans (hated it...proves I'm sane don't it Sunday )