Avatar: See it this weekend, and see history...

...saw it tonight and it's the most amazing film I've ever seen. Not necessarily the most amazing movie, but the most amazing FILM. It is the first movie of the 21st Century. Words can't describe it.

 

Every time I see the trailer, I think of Jar-Jar Binks. Don't think I'll be seeing it anytime soon.

 

Not sure I understand the difference.

 

The Toronto Star and the Globe both give it three out of four stars. Neither went ga-ga over it.

 

My friend who's a critic gave it a very tepid review.
Interesting technology, but fell down in the most important, least technological aspects of movie making - story and character.

 

I think Tiger is trying to differeniate between the making of the movie (technique, etc.) and the actual storyline.

 

If 'Avatar' were a football player, he couldn't play for Mike Singletary.

 

From Roger Ebert's review of Phantom menace (I know . . ."Jar Jar sucked!! Avatar is better!!!!!" Perhaps so. Are Cameron's military characters still as sadly archtypal as the ones in Aliens?):

"Many of the early reviews have been blase, paying lip service to the visuals and wondering why the characters aren't better developed. How quickly do we grow accustomed to wonders. I am reminded of the Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall," about the planet where the stars were visible only once in a thousand years. So awesome was the sight that it drove men mad. We who can see the stars every night glance up casually at the cosmos and then quickly down again, searching for a Dairy Queen."

 

I've got nothing against special effects, but if special effects are carrying the movie, the movie is a novelty.
Special effects can be very entertaining in the service of a good, well told story.

 

I have a bad feeling about it. Of course, I thought Titanic was going to bomb.

I think history has shown us not to doubt James Cameron. I just have a feeling this movie will either bomb or be one of the best films in the last decade.

I don't usually get wrapped up in something looking really cool. I think Terminator 2 is the last time I saw some effects in a movie and thought "Wow"

I want a good story. I have my worries that Cameron has gone George Lucas to the point where he thinks he can do no wrong and that impacts the film. I hope I'm wrong.

 

Very true. They're meant to be tools for telling a story.

I always thought it was a tribute to ILM that when Phantom Menace came out, everyone said "Jar Jar sucks and is annoying! I can't understand him!" and no one said "He looks fake!"

In the case of Avatar, I wonder if critics will regard the visuals as breathtaking, and allow that to affect their view of the story. Based on Cameron's previous work (and I have not read any reviews) . . . I'm expecting two hours of predictable popcorn entertainment with two-dimensional characters. With amazing visuals that will cause people to elevate the film itself to a place it shouldn't be.

 

With the exception of the first 'Terminator,' I'm not a Cameron fan.
Even my continued fondness for 'Terminator' is just nostalgia. I was 14 when it came out.