Avatar (Theatrical)

Just another elitist critic snob who doesn't understand what the people like. Everyone in my theater stood up and applauded before, during and after the movie and wouldn't leave until the police showed up to clear them out. Everyone except you love's it, you stupid moran. Its the greatest movie ever ever, ever made since Dark Knight and you suck and so does everyone you know. .

LOL!!! That was awesome, Chris!

i'm surprised that fans of these kinds of movies are still alive after watching "the dark knight", "transformers 2", and "avatar" in imax. you'd think that the audio alone would've killed them by now.

Hollywood is great at producing run of the mill movies with one dimensional characters in stories that have been told a million times before. The movie equivalent of Kraft Dinner. It will fill your stomach, keep you alive, and doesn't taste half bad. But it's not oven baked macaroni with real cheddar cheese.

So there you have it. Avatar is oven baked Kraft Dinner. It's chewy like real macaroni and cheese, but underneath it all, it's still just Kraft Dinner.

I like Ketchup on my mac & cheese.

Tim,

Did you watch it in 3D?

I admit the storyline is quite pedestrian and dialogue mediocre, but luckily for me the great 3D presentation and the very convincing animation won me over in the end. It's quite an achievement that the characters look like living creatures...unlike the dead-in-the-eye Beowulf or other Zemeckis films. Even Gollum was iffy in parts. Maybe the 3D blinded me...with science.

For reference, I watched the movie in a nice theater with some newfangled 4K digital projectors in the RealD format.

Quote:The way I see it, when you´re checking your watch and nodding off a couple times in the movie theater, things can´t be too good.

I agree 100% with that statement Tim. BTW, great review!

Quote:for me the great 3D presentation and the very convincing animation won me over in the end.

That's what actually convinced me for Episode I and II!!

YCH,

No, saw it a normal room. I find those 3D glasses tend to trigger a migraine headache for me. I can only handle about an hour of that kind of 3D, so close to three hours would have been a major headache for me.

Quote:
That's what actually convinced me for Episode I and II
Hmm, I'm not sure if there is enough special effects wizardry in the world that would make me like Episode I and II. Same with Transformers.

Quote:No, saw it a normal room. I find those 3D glasses tend to trigger a migraine headache for me. I can only handle about an hour of that kind of 3D, so close to three hours would have been a major headache for me.
Ah that's a shame. I have a sneaky suspicion that had I watched the movie in a regular 2D showing, it would have been a mediocre experience at best. The 3D somehow elevates the entire experience in a way that isn't easily described. Maybe it's one of those 'gestalt' things.

The only way to see "Avatar" is in 3D. The use of 3D to make an immersive movie experience definitely sets Cameron's movie apart from other gimmicky 3D flicks. The serviceable plot with above average performances combined with new-age 3D special effects elevates Avatar beyond "Transformers." I completely agree with YCH. 3D is the only way to experience Avatar.

What if one gets a headache from 3D? What if, as with people who wear glasses instead of contact lenses, the 3D glasses becomes a physical burden? The physical act of watching a movie shouldn't induce pain, so when it does, it's an automatic FAIL.

Well I guess that's just too bad you can't view any 3D films comfortably, then.

I wear eyeglasses. The 3-D glasses for "Avatar" fit over them fairly well (unlike the cheap cardboard glasses that currently come with the disc releases). However, wearing two pairs of glasses at the same time did become awkward and eventually uncomfortable.

Also, the dark 3-D glasses dimmed the movie's colors. Just lift off the glasses during the show for a moment and notice how much more realistic the hues look. If you normally enjoy wearing dark glasses all the time in real life, I guess it wouldn't bother you.

I found the 3-D effects in "Avatar" unobjectionable and even fun for the first few minutes of the show, but after I got used to them, I sort of forgot about them. And I didn't think they added much to the movie itself, except perhaps to take my mind off the dismally shallow plot and characters.

John

Hey John,

I found the 3D eyewear slightly uncomfortable too since I wear glasses myself. I eventually ignored the slight discomfort, but it definitely is a minus of this technology.

Quote:Also, the dark 3-D glasses dimmed the movie's colors. Just lift off the glasses during the show for a moment and notice how much more realistic the hues look.
I have to disagree on this point. When I took off the 3D glasses, it was obvious that the image was overly bright and may have too much red in it, presumably to compensate for the light attenuation and color response of the 3D glasses. So today I looked through some public whitepapers from Real-D and it looks like they have compensated for the 3D glasses.

http://www.edcf.net/edcf_docs/real-d.pdf