Avatar

[StandingInMotion]

Anyone else feel like the first 3 notes of the main theme sound EXACTLY like Titanic's theme? I kept expecting the Na'vi equivalent of Celine Dion to pop out and start singing. Really bothered me...

I have to say I agree. In fact, that was one of the first things I asked my friends when we left the theater, and they had noticed it too. Odd, that it is second to Titanic in gross sales...

As far as the movies goes, I liked it, but I definitely wasn't sucked into it like, apparently, most people are. There were a lot of logical things that made absolutely no sense, but were quickly overshadowed by bursts of color.

Oh, and of course she's pledged to be married to this other guy because tradition would have that, but screw tradition, I love you. Where haven't we seen that?

[Thylacine]

Odd, that it is second to Titanic in gross sales...

You were saying?

[Poke'G]

You're next, North American domestic number one spot.

[JadeAuto]

I hate to ressurect old threads, but this one needs it.

Avatar's out on DVD/Blu-Ray now.

I watched it for the first time tonight. I kept away from the hype machine long enough to have a fairly unbiased opinion.

This movie was great. Yes, the storyline had a few odd kinks in it (that were already mentioned in this thread), but... all things aside, it was fantastic. I liked how most of the story was just introduced on the fly.

They also didn't have a problem killing characters off. Most 'mainstream' movies don't do that very well; or at least, they don't do that to major characters often.

We had what, four or five get knocked off in the final battle?

In closing: I wish I had seen this one in a theater. But owning a copy, that's fair enough for me.

[Melbu Frahma]

They also didn't have a problem killing characters off. Most 'mainstream' movies don't do that very well; or at least, they don't do that to major characters often.

We had what, four or five get knocked off in the final battle

As a major fan of killing off large amounts of main characters in action movies - I think it's done far, far too rarely - I definitely had to give Avatar props for this, even though I could tell who was going to die and who wasn't a long ways in advance. The only exception was Norm; I was surprised as all hell that he didn't die.

Out of curiosity, was I the only one who got annoyed at the complete and utter waste of Trudy and her chopper in the last battle? Wtf was she doing flying around where she was? Tactically, she should've been assigned to destroy the shuttle.

[Thin Crust]

EDIT: And Norm did die.......at least his avatar did.

You know, I checked Wikipedia a couple days ago and Avatar has grossed over 2.7 billion dollars!

[Gario]

I just watched it... While it wasn't terrible, I couldn't stop myself from making terrible, terrible WoW jokes, the entire time, so I can't say I really could follow it, either. I think I got the jist of it, though.

It's not bad, but pretty overrated, imho.

Out of curiosity, was I the only one who got annoyed at the complete and utter waste of Trudy and her chopper in the last battle? Wtf was she doing flying around where she was? Tactically, she should've been assigned to destroy the shuttle.

I thought it was hilarious, but yeah, complete nonsense, from a tactical point of view.

[Theophany]

i'm tellin ya guys, the score is as horrible as they come... parts of it are lifted, some of it is bland and punchless and some of the cues are FROM OTHER MOVIES

very disappointing. about the only thing truly disappointing about the movie.

I don't know how much this was touched on in the thread, but I'm glad this point was made. One cue in particular has been recycled by Horner repeated since Willow (1988 ). The cue was recycled in Troy after Gabriel Yared's score was rejected and Horner stepped in to do it, and recycled again in Avatar. That's why I wish Cameron would have found someone else for the score. With the huge budget on this film, I just think something unique could have been done with the score instead of the trite ethnic wailing and recycled horn cues. Invent some instruments, mix it up with new sounds to make the music something more alien than just another big Hollywood score.

[Red Shadow]

i dont remember if ive posted in this thread already about feeling like i was on acid when i saw this in the theater

if anyone wants a comparison to that and actually watching it WHILE ON acid, ill let you know thursday

[zircon]

I don't know how much this was touched on in the thread, but I'm glad this point was made. One cue in particular has been recycled by Horner repeated since Willow (1988 ). The cue was recycled in Troy after Gabriel Yared's score was rejected and Horner stepped in to do it, and recycled again in Avatar. That's why I wish Cameron would have found someone else for the score. With the huge budget on this film, I just think something unique could have been done with the score instead of the trite ethnic wailing and recycled horn cues. Invent some instruments, mix it up with new sounds to make the music something more alien than just another big Hollywood score.

Actually there was a lot of very unique sound design in the movie using instruments like Omnisphere, Tonehammer sounds and many other custom things...

[djpretzel]

Quick version: I love it... Dances with Wolves, basically, with amazing visuals and less overall substance. Upon rewatching, they really do very little to mask the similarities.

Unobtainium? That hits me the wrong way every single time. Lamium, more like, AMIRITE?

Dances with Wolves had a much, much, much better soundtrack; Andy might be correct that Avatar had some neat sound design going on, I don't even know, I just know the whole thing sounds extremely pedestrian, like a severely diluted version of 'Baba Yetu,' without the strong melody. It is Horner's most forgettable work, in my opinion, but I still dig the film.

[Radiowar]

did this movie really need to come out on EARTH DAY

no, imo

[q-pa]

i dont remember if ive posted in this thread already about feeling like i was on acid when i saw this in the theater

if anyone wants a comparison to that and actually watching it WHILE ON acid, ill let you know thursday

Yeah, my friend and I saw it in IMAX 3D and walked around our mall in a daze for like 10 minutes after.

Watching it on acid would be pretty interesting

[Gario]

The music was made by Horner? I did notice at all... That is a pretty weak soundtrack, for him. It wasn't bad, but it was forgettable (which should never be the case with Horner). Ah well, whatever puts bread on the table, I guess.

[Native Jovian]

Does the DVD have extended scenes of Quaritch being even more awesome or anything like that? Because then I might actually buy it.

[Theophany]

Actually there was a lot of very unique sound design in the movie using instruments like Omnisphere, Tonehammer sounds and many other custom things...

Bad zircon!!! Don't defend James Horner!!!

[The Vagrance]

i dont remember if ive posted in this thread already about feeling like i was on acid when i saw this in the theater

if anyone wants a comparison to that and actually watching it WHILE ON acid, ill let you know thursday

I watched it on shrooms and it did surprisingly little for me, even to the point where I assumed that I got ripped off (I didn't).

I also agree with zircon about the score, its nothing revolutionary but it did have some really interesting moments.

[Red Shadow]

i ended up doing a thousand other things but the computer my friends downloaded the movie to decided to fuck with us

would not transfer to the guy's ps3, though every other movie would

thus we moved on

oh well! at least ive finally seen fear and loathing in las vegas

[Thin Crust]

Got it for my birthday(22) yesterday. It came with 2 disks: one blueray and one standard def dvd. I didn't really want it, seeing as I've already seen it twice in theatres, but I still liked the movie a lot.

[prophetik music]

i'll take it if you don't want it.

[The Author]

Unobtainium? That hits me the wrong way every single time. Lamium, more like, AMIRITE?

Tell that to the scientists who coined this term on earth to discuss a possible material... God forbid sci-fi be rooted in actual science...

[Thin Crust]

What the heck!?? Absolutely no special features on the 2 disks (one blueray one dvd) that came with the movie? That's terrible. I feel cheated now.

[Level 99]

http://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Two-Disc-Blu-ray-DVD-Combo/product-reviews/B002VPE1B6/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

Looks like the 1-stars are piling up on Amazon right now. Basically divided into three categories of negative reviews: some people are commenting on Fox's attempt to "Triple Dip" on the movie (movie-only release, followed later by special edition with extras, followed then by the 3d release), some people commenting on the apparently-rampant DRM issues (seems like there's a lot of blu-ray players that refuse to play the disc, even with updated firmware), and then a small category of people negatively reviewing the movie.

According to an article on softpedia, it looks like the DRM issue has boosted the amount of piracy for the movie, similar to how the DRM issues with Spore helped boost that to being one of the most pirated games of that year.

Edit: Something doesn't sit right with me about a movie-only release that still comes with two discs. So it comes with the blu-ray plus the dvd....so freaking what? Fox was either really sly or REALLY lucky to have bundled a working version of the dvd with a blu-ray that has massive DRM issues. It also seems deceptive to buy any movie that comes on more than one disc that has ABSOLUTELY NO ADDITIONAL FEATURES.

[Hum4n After All]

Maybe some people just have cheap shitty blu-ray players.

I'm glad I went for LG's BD390. She's a beaut'!

[TSori]

Unobtainium? That hits me the wrong way every single time. Lamium, more like, AMIRITE?

Tell that to the scientists who coined this term on earth to discuss a possible material... God forbid sci-fi be rooted in actual science...

We use the term unobtainium in engineering all the time. Though we always use it as a JOKING way of referring to some ridiculously wonderful, non-existent material that would solve all our problems.

that said. the first time they said it in the movie, I about fell out of my chair laughing. I thought it was great that the joke made it in....Of course when i realized they were going to treat it like a legitimate name, it became not nearly as funny.

my two cents on unobtanium.

I actually really enjoyed the movie though